Did Cardassians evolve from reptiles?
- Thread starter indolover
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They look like they are. Cardassians remind me of crocodiles 
They have scales, like dark, humid places and sitting on hot stones. They're reptilian enough to me, if we tak under consideration Earth's fauna. Cardassia might have different types of animals, so they can be something close to our lizards, but evolved not exactly at they would here on the blue planet.
I would personally suspect the Cardassians to be therapsids...which is an evolutionary track that we could have taken ourselves, in a different universe. The only living descendants of the therapsids on Earth are mammals, mammaliformes, and marsupials, but an evolutionary track would have also been possible with different blends of traits than what we see on Earth for the most part. Cardassians may be a bit more mammalian than reptilian (they give live birth and nurse their young), but I don't think they are fully mammalian.
Here are a few evolutionary steps back, going from the most mammal-like to the least. If you look at the pictures, though, you'll notice that some therapsids still look quite reptilian on the outside, even though there are some structural changes, and other changes on the inside.
Here are some articles...
Mammalia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammals
Therapsida: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapsid
Synapsida: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synapsid
Reptilia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptilia
The Cardassian vole would also be an example of a therapsid, if we follow this theory--and it does look a lot like a much uglier version of a cynodont.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynodont
Oligokyphus in particular has the most similar build: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oligokyphus_BW.jpg
Here are a few evolutionary steps back, going from the most mammal-like to the least. If you look at the pictures, though, you'll notice that some therapsids still look quite reptilian on the outside, even though there are some structural changes, and other changes on the inside.
Here are some articles...
Mammalia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammals
Therapsida: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapsid
Synapsida: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synapsid
Reptilia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptilia
The Cardassian vole would also be an example of a therapsid, if we follow this theory--and it does look a lot like a much uglier version of a cynodont.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynodont
Oligokyphus in particular has the most similar build: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oligokyphus_BW.jpg
Actually, reptiles evolved from Cardassians.
I always thought that Cardassians were based on reptiles. On Earth, humans evolved from mammals (more specifically, apes), but in the vast universe, there's certainly the possibility that a race of intelligent beings could evolve from reptiles. They are show to have reptilian qualities. In one of the DS9 extras I saw on YT, a writer or someone talks about the "reptilian brain" of the Cardassians. Like those Benzanite people (all blue) probably evolved from fish/amphibians.
We've seen more clearly reptilian species, like the Xindi-Reptilians and the Saurians, so it's definitely happened in the Trekiverse. But compared to those...the Cardassians aren't exactly a comfortable fit in the reptile category.
Something I've never understood is how different Trek aliens manage to have children together. Like Dukat, surely Cardassians and Bajorans are different species and by definition different species can't breed to produce fertile young. Of course it is a bit of a crazy coincidence that most aliens look human apart from a funny nose/chin/head/etc.
Here's a rare shot of Dukat laying eggs. Maybe they are reptiles.
^ ha!
was that when he got a spike in the bum? I know it wasn't exactly clever comedy but it made me laugh. It was mostly funny because it was Dukat and he needed Kira's help to get it out of his bum.
was that when he got a spike in the bum? I know it wasn't exactly clever comedy but it made me laugh. It was mostly funny because it was Dukat and he needed Kira's help to get it out of his bum.
The idea is that the first humanoids seeded the galaxy with their genetic material. Compatibility was something they apparently had in mind when they did this. Obviously IRL that would be impossible, but as far as the Star Trek universe goes, that's how it's supposed to work.
Yeah, plus for once Dukat actually had to laugh at HIMSELF and see his own ridiculousness. He never did that again, ever.
Cardassians are born from Trix cold cereal?
Here's a rare shot of Dukat laying eggs. Maybe they are reptiles.
No. That would suggest that in a few millions years Cardassians will be identical to humans, and that assigns the human form a preternatural superiority. Believe that if you will, but you might as well believe bananas are evidence of God's existence because they're easy to eat.
Cardassians are aliens that evolved on the alien world of Cardassia - a planet with its own biological divisions. You might as well call a Cardassian a primate if you try labeling them with Earth current terms, because their reptiles likely look as much like Earth reptiles as Cardassians look like mammals. It's like a kid calling a bumble bee a bird because that's the only word he has for flying animal.
In fact, I bet that if they created a Cardassin bird for an episode as excellently conceptualized as the Cardassians themselves, many here would say that Cardassian birds evolved from insects.
Cardassians are aliens that evolved on the alien world of Cardassia - a planet with its own biological divisions. You might as well call a Cardassian a primate if you try labeling them with Earth current terms, because their reptiles likely look as much like Earth reptiles as Cardassians look like mammals. It's like a kid calling a bumble bee a bird because that's the only word he has for flying animal.
In fact, I bet that if they created a Cardassin bird for an episode as excellently conceptualized as the Cardassians themselves, many here would say that Cardassian birds evolved from insects.
No, it doesn't suggest that Cardassians will EVER be like humans, nor that they will ever become mammalian as we understand the term. Their traits fit their world, presumably, and have continued to do so for many eons. It simply suggests that evolution took a different track and that types of life cannot be divided in the same way on Cardassia Prime as they can be on Earth, that different terminology is required. (If anything, without the Permian-Triassic extinction, we would have stood a chance to be more like them.)
At least, if it's my particular theory you're talking about, I don't know why you chose to read some sort of hidden racism into it.
At least, if it's my particular theory you're talking about, I don't know why you chose to read some sort of hidden racism into it.
Is there any biological law stating that sapient life must be mammalian?
Perhaps on cardassia millions of years ago, mammals were always a lower taxonomic group. There could have been hominid reptiles so to speak, similar to that of human evolution, and the rest is history.
Exactly. At least when I imagine Cardassia, I imagine something closer to Earth mammals as being lower animals that live in the northernmost/polar areas. None more evolutionarily "sophisticated" than a wolf or bear.
