The Corvosapien

A million years from now, Corvosapiens is the greatest intelligence on Earth. Humans are now a matter for their archaeologists to debate, while none yet realize that the Third Order Stars are the last remaining artificial satellites.

But they will soon. Their three-dimensional assumptions, in addition to the observations of the planet made by athletes flying at high altitudes, give them an easier philosophical route to space than humans ever had.Below, we see a typical Corvosapien, in this case a Second Observer of the Nineteenth North Coastal Flock with notable anatomical distinctions outlined. The head is feathered, but is shown here transparent to allow the reader to view the features that distinguish it from a modern crow.

A typical Corvosapien, in this case a Second Observer of the Nineteenth North Coastal Flock with notable anatomical distinctions outlined. The head is feathered, but is shown here transparent to allow the reader to view the features that distinguish it from a modern crow. He is shown naked so you can see his anatomy, but I’ll get to their material artifacts, as well as some cultural sophontology, later.

Corvosapiens stand at about a meter tall, though the Second Observer here is considered a little small. He has always borne mockery about his size with good, if sarcastic, humor.

Though the Corvosapiens has a proportionately larger, heavier head than its crow ancestors, its whole body has evolved aerodynamically that the species has retained the power of flight. In growing larger, evolution has favored an increase in Reynolds Number of its wings, rather than the higher-efficiency, but fragile, solution of a higher aspect ratio.

The “hammerhead” eyes are unique among birds and, indeed, all of dinosauria. Like the beak found in all modern birds, it is a uniquely avian structure.

And speaking of the beak, take a look back a couple of posts and you’ll see how it works. It has grown two “knuckles” in the top jaw and one in the bottom. The top jaw is jointed at the skull and just before the beak proper, while its tongue has grown parrot-like and dexterous. Because of this evolution, the beak is fairly weak, but these fine manipulators, in association with the use of one foot, have allowed for the meteoric development of Corvosapien material culture. They build tools and weapons, they write, and they build machines and city-like structures. While these inventions began as compensation for changing habitat, they have since become the subject of the near-obsessive Corvosapien curatorial impulse, fed by an instinct for admiration of unusual sights.

I hope to get back to these friends later! I’ve been thinking about their body decoration a lot, since you can’t put clothes or non-aerodynamic jewelry on a body that flies and expect it to keep doing so. I’ve got some underformed ideas about their architecture, too, as well as some of their governmental forms.

[Want to read more stuff about crows? Perhaps their super-efficient development of “router” neurons? Or their ability to count? Or their apparent personal and cultural choice about whether to migrate?]

Like weird creatures like this? Help me make more!

 

 

 

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