What do you think about plant animals?

[RocketWizardzX]

Will there be a hybrid of plants and animals at some point? Probably not in the near future, since for that to happen, it needs to either:

Be a result from Mutation Breeding

OR

Be alien life that is on a really sunny planet.

There is no way that Mutation Breeding can result into plant animals, and therefore, alien life that is a hybrid of a plant and an animal can't exist.

[RainDreamer]

Eh...depending on how you define "hybrid of plants and animals", but there is one on earth, just got found in 2012: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21353-zoologger-unique-life-form-is-half-plant-half-animal.html#.VTAu-yGeDRY

[Greenfire32]

plantimals eh?

As long as they talk faster than TreeBeard did, I guess I'm ok with it.

[Bill Phil]

You mean like macroscopic Protists?

I would say it's more likely for a mutualism symbiosis, similar to lichen except animals instead of fungi.

[Slam_Jones]

With what we are constantly learning about nature, I wouldn't be surprised is such things already exist... we just haven't noticed them/realized what they are.

One thing that I always think of when looking into a question like this, is something my Scoutmaster (who was a retired firefighter) told me long ago: "Fire is almost an animal. It requires oxygen to breathe; it requires fuel to "eat"; and uses these resources to reproduce."

[Fel]

Err... bahh, I am trying to find it.

The separation between "Single Celled Organism" and "Multi-celled" is the "distinct separation of processes" in a "multi-cellular network" composed of "individual independent cells" that work together to achieve a desired task... survival.

sponges, for instance, are composed of all kinds of cells, cells that hold the sponge together, cells that trap food, cells that digest food.

Now, "animal" is very specific term that tries to prevent plants from joining in... but I know of an interesting organism. Very early evolution. That consists only of two unique cells. The organism exists, in the water, as separate single-celled organisms until the food supply begins to run out; then it will combine into a single organism that crawls along the ocean floor to a new location, "plants" itself into the ground, grows a stalk, and releases the gametes into the water which then function, as before, like single celled organisms.

[Technical Ben]

With what we are constantly learning about nature, I wouldn't be surprised is such things already exist... we just haven't noticed them/realized what they are.

One thing that I always think of when looking into a question like this, is something my Scoutmaster (who was a retired firefighter) told me long ago: "Fire is almost an animal. It requires oxygen to breathe; it requires fuel to "eat"; and uses these resources to reproduce."

Closet thing I know of is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellyfish_Lake

That is symbiosis. The only other close approximation is fast growing/moving plants. But not uproot so to speak AFAIK.

(Fire fails at being an animal, but for reasons that the 3 main descriptions miss)

Edited April 16, 2015 by Technical Ben

[vger]

You mean like macroscopic Protists?

Was thinking that. Always thought Protists WERE a hybrid of plant/animal.

[Kryten]

Was thinking that. Always thought Protists WERE a hybrid of plant/animal.

'Protists' are just a grab-bag of various unicellular eukaryotes, not too closely related to one another. None of them are 'a hybrid of plant/animal' and some of them are just actual plants.

[Armchair Rocket Scientist]

Now, "animal" is very specific term that tries to prevent plants from joining in... but I know of an interesting organism. Very early evolution. That consists only of two unique cells. The organism exists, in the water, as separate single-celled organisms until the food supply begins to run out; then it will combine into a single organism that crawls along the ocean floor to a new location, "plants" itself into the ground, grows a stalk, and releases the gametes into the water which then function, as before, like single celled organisms.

What organism is this? Your description sounds a lot like a slime mold, although I didn't know there were marine ones.

Will there be a hybrid of plants and animals at some point? Probably not in the near future, since for that to happen, it needs to either:

Be a result from Mutation Breeding

OR

Be alien life that is on a really sunny planet.

There is no way that Mutation Breeding can result into plant animals, and therefore, alien life that is a hybrid of a plant and an animal can't exist.

That depends on how you define "plant-animal hybrid."

If you consider a multicellular animal with endosymbiotic algae to be a plant-animal hybrid, than they already exist: corals (as well as a few other animal groups).

You could also consider carnivorous plants to be plant-animal hybrids of a sort: although entirely plants, they are capable of both photosynthesis and feeding on other organisms by digestion.

While I don't think any animals are capable of photosynthesis without endosymbiotes, and such capability is unlikely to evolve on Earth, we could probably genetically engineer an animal with chloroplasts.

As far as alien life goes, it is completely possible for an organism to evolve which is capable of both photosynthesis and digestion, as well as "animal-like" traits such as mobility and a nervous system (but don't forget, a LOT of animals are stationary), e.g. the mentioned corals.

[Bill Phil]

'Protists' are just a grab-bag of various unicellular eukaryotes, not too closely related to one another. None of them are 'a hybrid of plant/animal' and some of them are just actual plants.

Can't deny that some have weird similarities to plants and animals. Key word: some​.

[Scotius]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euglena

Another single cell organism that behaves both like a plant and animal.

[Mighty1]

This creature is on the right track. It eats some veggies and doesn't have to eat any more its whole life. It takes the chlorophyll from the plant and incorporates it in its own cells then uses it to produce energy.

http://phys.org/news182501672.html

[KerikBalm]

Will there be a hybrid of plants and animals at some point? Probably not in the near future, since for that to happen, it needs to either:

Be a result from Mutation Breeding

OR

Be alien life that is on a really sunny planet.

There is no way that Mutation Breeding can result into plant animals, and therefore, alien life that is a hybrid of a plant and an animal can't exist.

Alien life would be neither plant nor animal. There are plants that move, and animals that don't. Animals area clade of life on Earth. So are plants.

There may be analogous life to plants and animals on another planet, but they would not be animals, nor plants (assuming no panspermia conditions)

And such a hybrid does not need to be from mutations.

Eh...depending on how you define "hybrid of plants and animals", but there is one on earth, just got found in 2012: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21353-zoologger-unique-life-form-is-half-plant-half-animal.html#.VTAu-yGeDRY

An example of science prepared for layman consumption distorting things horribly.

That is a protist, it split basal to the origin of plants and animals.

As Bill Phill said, that is more like a lichen.... (particularly since a lichen is a Fungi+plant/algae symbiotic organism, and fungi are closer to animals than plants are)- but of course, its an analogy

One thing that I always think of when looking into a question like this, is something my Scoutmaster (who was a retired firefighter) told me long ago: "Fire is almost an animal. It requires oxygen to breathe; it requires fuel to "eat"; and uses these resources to reproduce."

Ughh....

#1) Not every animal requires oxygen to respire

#2) That can also apply to many forms of life, a more apt comparison would be to simply say fire is almost alive.

Now, "animal" is very specific term that tries to prevent plants from joining in... but I know of an interesting organism. Very early evolution. That consists only of two unique cells. The organism exists, in the water, as separate single-celled organisms until the food supply begins to run out; then it will combine into a single organism that crawls along the ocean floor to a new location, "plants" itself into the ground, grows a stalk, and releases the gametes into the water which then function, as before, like single celled organisms.

There are many organisms like what you describe, archea, Eubacteria, and Eukaryotes... except for the part about two distinct types of cells, and the water thing... There are many examples where the cells are all essentally the same, and they don't start to form specific types until forming the stalk/spore/etc

I'm also scratching my head as to which one you are talking about. Myxospores? Dictostelium? etc...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myxobacteria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictyostelium

Was thinking that. Always thought Protists WERE a hybrid of plant/animal.

Nope. Euglena is neither plant nor animal. Not everything that photosynthesizes is a plant, and not everything that moves is an animal (otherwise we'd call all sorts of bacteria "animals", and cyanobacteria would be "plants)

This creature is on the right track. It eats some veggies and doesn't have to eat any more its whole life. It takes the chlorophyll from the plant and incorporates it in its own cells then uses it to produce energy.

http://phys.org/news182501672.html

Now this is cool... and may truly be an example of a hybrid.

Symbiosis does occasionally result in gene transfer... and for the slug to produce chlorophyl, means that it has incorporated some plant genes into its genome, thus some hybridization has taken place. Functional even...

I've personally participated in what one could call a project to make a animal-plant hybrid.... ie expressing human proteins in plants... not really a big deal... its not like the plant was functionally changed (it was a way to make more human protein for use in other purposes since we can't farm humans).

Symbiosis means that we are all essentially a hybrid of Eubacteria and stem-Eukaryotes.

The is evidence suggesting Eukaryotes seem to be archea-Eubacteria hybrids (through a cell of archea origin engulfing an ancient alpha-proteobacteria).

So... something similar happening with an animal eating a plant... sure.

Although Green algae fall just outside the plant clade.... this examples is certainly closer than any of the others that have been listed.

[lajoswinkler]

It's not like we don't have old textbook examples of creatures exibiting both plant and animal properties. Euglena sp. is probably the most famous one.

That red thing is a primitive eye. The creature has a flagellum and chloroplasts. In absence of light, it eats like an animal.

It does not belong to Animalia or Plantae kingdoms, though. Those are two separate kingdoms. Differences are enormous.

We have symbiotic behaviour example. Snail (animal) and single celled green algae (not a plant, but photosynthetizes).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysia_chlorotica

Edited April 17, 2015 by lajoswinkler

[-Velocity-]

I'm pretty sure that the main problem with plant/animal hybrid idea (we see "green people" with photosynthetic skin all the time in science fiction) is that making such a hybrid is not very useful if the animal is mobile. Mobile animals use a tremendous amount of energy compared to what can be produced by photosynthesis. It would be like putting solar panels on a race car. The benefits are not worth the cost.

[MisterDoubleSevens]

I'm going to assume that when you say "plant-animal hybrid" you mean a something that is, somehow, a reproductively-viable genetic cross between a member of Plantae and a member of Animalia? One that is also competitive enough to survive in the often ill-defined "wild", that is to say without the constant assistance of researchers in case it gets injured or fails to get sufficient nutrition?

Because that's literally impossible. No variety of animal gametes can combine with plant gametes, or vice versa.

Now, what we could do is continuously artificially select and/or engineer an existing plant until such a point that it sufficiently resembles a plant-animal hybrid. We might start with the existing semi-mobile carnivorous plants, like Flytraps.

Or we could start with an animal and figure out how to force its cells to actually make chloroplasts (as opposed to merely retaining those it ingests). Might be easier, actually.

[magnemoe]

Closet thing I know of is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellyfish_Lake

That is symbiosis. The only other close approximation is fast growing/moving plants. But not uproot so to speak AFAIK.

(Fire fails at being an animal, but for reasons that the 3 main descriptions miss)

It uses an symbiotic alga, one snail do the same and snails is an more advanced animal, for the effect it don't matter if its an symbiotic alga or your own cells.

Yes this has upsides however solar power is not very strong so an animal who only used photosynthesis would not be very energetic. Don't think this will work at all on land, in the sea you don't have to use so much energy moving and plenty of sea animals is even stationary as food comes to them anyway. very few land animals if any is.

[Bill Phil]

Nope. Euglena is neither plant nor animal. Not everything that photosynthesizes is a plant, and not everything that moves is an animal (otherwise we'd call all sorts of bacteria "animals", and cyanobacteria would be "plants)

What about the moving plants?

[Kryten]

Moving plants are moving plants, it's of no real taxonomic significance. Animals are a clade, not just a term for multicellular organisms that move above a certain speed.