This is a god damn Pokemon.
Screw the Leaf Sheep. It’s all about the North American House Hippo.
they aren’t the only animal that does it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptoplasty#Animals
Before you fantasize how this could be used in humans in the future, producing that single thought cost more energy than leaf sheep produce via photosynthesis in their lifetime - feeding of it requires energy efficiency any warm-blooded animal just isn’t suited for.
Still cute though.
It looks like it was designed by Aardman Animations.
Kinda but not quite:
Costasiella kuroshimae are capable of a physiological process called kleptoplasty, in which they retain the chloroplasts from the algae they feed on. Absorbing the chloroplasts from algae then enables them to indirectly perform photosynthesis.[6]
Source: Costasiella kuroshimae
So vampire photosynthesis.
That’s metal af.
The really interesting thing about costasiella kuroshimae is that its digestive system branches and goes up into all of those ‘leaves’, which is how the algae makes its way there to have its chloroplasts extracted.
And I’m pretty sure there are also jellyfish that live in symbyosis with algae that they carry along with them which photosynthesize, creating sugars for the jellyfish.
Reminds me of Lichen! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen
homo sapiens is known to use photosynthesis through symbiotic relationships with various grasses to create sugars, lipids, and proteins for itself
Eh, that’s a few dozen steps removed. By that standard, every herbivore “uses” photosynthesis.
These guys (coral & lichen too) use photosynthesis much more directly, completely encapsulating the algea and supporting it internally. It’s much closer to mitochondria.
True haha, thats a good distinction. I’m just joking here.
Kind of interesting that chloroplasts in plants seem to be a sort of symbiosis as well, like mitochondria, considering the cell walls around them.
Pass. Charmander would wreck this guy.
I doubt that seeing is how this thing lives in the ocean
Lol, grass types live in the forest.
Lotad has entered the chat
Charmander is a great driving force of global warming, this poor thing will be extinct in the blink of a great many eyes.
Agreed, this feels like a water pokemon that can learn solar beam/solar blade, absorb, giga drain, etc.
