Ferengi since I can see you know your StarTrek lore but I would also like to see the Asgard from Stargate if possible. I like your videos, your not just regurgitating source material and the fact you dug into humans own evolution was informative in itself. SUBSCRIBED.
Gorn. Centauri (B5). Here's a hard one...Kelvins, from Battle Beyond the Stars. How does a race evolve to communicate via temperature variation? White Walkers.
It kind of is. It's there naturally, but they enhance it with makeup (Garak did that once.) Kinda like how humans usually have dark eyelashes but we still darken them with mascara.
The blue coloring in the spoon on female Cardassians is foreheads makeup, like lipstick. There were female Cardassians depicted that did not have this coloring.
@@burlbird9786 I think in this case it has to do with how much makeup they had on, regardless of any of that. I think you see the *same* characters with and without that even.
@@burlbird9786 or much more likely it is the Cardassian vesion of lipstick ... if you look at the cultural values of the Cardassians during the episodes of DSN then it is clear that intersex and transgender people would most likely be a persecurted underclass.
While it doesn't talk much about biology (other than the "spoon" shape in the forehead actually being the Cardassian Naval) Andrew Robinson wrote one of the best Star Novels to date, *A Stitch in Time* . The life and times of Plain Simple Garak from age five until roughly six months after the end of DS9. It's a pretty detailed look at Cardassian culture, as seen from the POV of a semi-outsider.
@@raven4k998 funny you say that i think it mentioned in one episode cardies and bajorans are related with common ancestors. I know I need get a girl friend
Alien species comes to Earth... Humans: You are similar to our reptiles. We'll call you Reptilians. Alien Species: Oh...you remind us of furry dung eaters. We'll call you Dungeaterins. Humans: Hey! No fair! Alien Species: Okay, dungeaterin...which of us has mastered interstellar travel?
I met another trekkie at a house party once and we were talking about the Cardassians. And a drunk girl was like "Omg are you talking about the Kardashians?" I said no. They're different things. One is a race of alien lizard people and the others are characters on Star Trek.
In my mind the Cardassians are mammals, and even a variation of humanoids like Vulcans, Klingons, Bajorans and many others. Why? Because I have never heard of reptiles and mammals being able to procreate and create hybrid individuals, like say Gul Dukat's daughter Ziyal whoose mother is a Bajoran.
But you have heard of life forms that literally have less in common than bacteria and humans reproducing? Because extraterrestrials would be less related to us than a strep throat culture regardless of what they look like.
@@patrickmccurry1563 look up the ST:TNG episode "The Chase" (season 6 episode 20) in that episode it is revealed that the humanoid Star Trek races, Humans, Vulcans, aromulans, Cardassians and Klingons et al are all related being the results of genetic engineering by a race of Progenitors many billions of years previously.
@@patrickmccurry1563 the star Trek universe human template DNA & other hominids is sprinkled on any planet that could evolve life to make people that are homonoids like a dying homid species in the past This is cannon star Trek lore, even a plot of a episode So the DNA of multiple homonoids species when combined made a message In their 'junk' DNA You know it's empty space might as well use it for storage anyways So they made a playable message for that level of tech species It was like a "go & be a family" & the klingons weren't down with that
@@KTo288 They seeded DNA _fragments_ across many worlds. On Earth, lizards and humans are made of the same DNA. Just in different configurations. While it's totally implausible for a cardassian and a bajoran to have a child without any external assistance, they're aliens, so who's to say. (paris and tores needed the doctor's help to have their child.) Cardassians like it hot because their planet is hot. Likewise, Vulcans. (and the Tholians for that matter, but Enterprise showed them as very insect like. TOS only ever showed their ships.)
Normally it should without gen therapy impossible for ANY alien race to have offspring with another species. We humans are not even able to have offspring with other apes and they share 98% the same genes. And even with the preservers manipulation of the alpha quadrant species much of their genoms would be too different to even have an egg successful fertilized by a sperm cell. By the way, we humans still share 80% of the same genom with any animal that evolved out of fishes. Why? Because most of the genome has nothing to do with us being human, but is simple code to make proteins, cell structures etc - that code is billion years old and the reason why bacteria and virae even can interact with our cells - because the basic language they speak (in proteins) is the same.
It is mentioned several times I believe in enterprise and voyager I mentioned that human and klingon half breeds are possible but medical intervention is required to prevent any unforseen circumstances.
I always assumed the events of ‘the chase’ was trying to explain why the different sophont species looked alike/could interbreed. It doesn’t quite make sense, but it serves as an attempt.
From memory, theres a "lizard" species that lives in a small area of New Zealand that is in its own class, neither reptile, avian or mammal but has traits of all. Its appearance is reptilian but I believe gives birth the same way as mammals and I believe it isn't cold blooded either. Been a long time since I looked into them but a very real creature on Earth, a similar species could make sense as an ancestor for modern Cardassians. Of course, alien evolution likely wouldn't follow Earthbound evolution so the traits of the different animal kingdoms could be mixed and matched as we see here. Just a note of Cardassian-Bajoran hybrids, in Voyager we also have the Cardassian-Kazon hybrid that was originally believed to be Cardassian-Human and from memory, was without medical/scientific intervention. Its quite possible Cardassian genetics is varied enough and adaptable or maliable that they could easily breed with other species with little issue, perhaps their seemingly mixed nature allows their genes to be non-dominant in the formation of hybrid offspring, lending some physical/aesthetic traits through while taking the other race's more dominant traits as the scaffold. I imagine a Klingon/Cardassian would have mostly Klingon traits (redundant organs, head ridges) with some of the scale-like features and beefier neck for example. Probably a very strong hybrid thinking about it
7:20 House cats, unquestionable mammals, prefer higher temperatures that humans. This is why they like to lay in the sun. Our houses are too cold for them.
If we are going with the established definitions Cardassians are mammals. They give live birth, have hair, have mammalian glands to feed their babies and every indication is they are warm blooded (able to self regulate their body temperature. This is demonstrated in deep space nine when the female founder has the temperature lowered in the Cardassians military headquarters in Cardassia Prime. Reptiles would become sluggish and shut down in that situation. The Cardassians are able to cope with the change and part from it being uncomfortable for them there are no ill effects.
Technically, there are a few reptile species that can, to an extent, generate some heat in their bodies; including Alligators. This doesn't stop them from being reptiles. But let's be honest, the categories of mammal and reptile are somewhat artificial from an evolutionary point of view. From the point of view of evolution.... mammals "are" reptiles...that took on some specialized features that allowed them to survive the Cretaceous extinction event and thereafter those traits became exaggerated as they diversified and took over ecosystems abandoned by the dinosaurs.
@@laertesindeed Name one species. Alligators absolutely can not regulate their own body heat. Like all reptiles they are reliant on external factors to regulate their body temperature. All reptiles are incapable of generating their own body heat. No mammals are reptiles, your comparison would mean that we are all inanimate rocks because at one point life didn’t exist.
@The Adjudicator you get that by definition a reptile is cold blooded. So yes it is that clear cut. Or if you really want to stick to that argument than my statement that we all evolved from rocks is 100% true, and it would seem some of us are still a little more rock than others. Trying to justify a stupid statement just makes you look stupid. Kids this is why you should stay in school, and not rely on UA-cam to be accurate.
@The Adjudicator I could take the time to explain elementary level science to you, but you don’t seem to have the capacity. So why waste my time. But I do agree it is funny how people who have no idea what they are talking about fall back on insults like calling someone a dumb dumb rather than presenting any real argument to support their statements. PS. Birds aren’t reptiles because reptiles are all cold blooded. Birds on the other hand are all warm blooded. So I guess I can take a second of time to explain some elementary level biology to you. The only real question is are you capable of learning the information.
@The Adjudicator no birds are not reptiles. They may have a common ancestor but by definition they are not. Even looking at the similarities still shared by these two unique species it would be more accurate to start that some reptiles are closer to birds than they are to other reptiles. All that being said no reptiles are warm blooded. No birds are cold blooded. The common ancestor of mammals and reptiles was something more like an amphibian. So the only conclusion anyone with any brains can make is you’re wrong. The only real question is are you wrong because you are ignorant, or are you wrong because your stupid?
Something I'm surprised you didn't think the center ridge may be a Parietal eye. Only started watching DS9, but the cardassians have such an interesting design.
Technically they are neither, as 'reptile' and 'mammal' are specifically defined taxa indigenous to the Earth biosphere. In fact even within that conceit, most non-amphibian tetrapods are reptiles as mammals are derived reptiles, as are birds. As such asking if something is a 'reptile or a mammal' is the same thing as asking if a American Robin is a thrush or a bird.....
Are you sure mammals are descended from reptiles? I thought there was some uncertainty as to whether mammals and reptiles branched off from amphibians.
The Masked Enema, technically you're incorrect. Didn't you watch the star trek shows from the 80s, 90s and 2000s? "Mammalian" is a term used to describe humanoids from EVERY planet, not just earth. Especially in Enterprise. The Xindi had 6 different types of them, all sentient, all originating from the same planet. The ones that looked most like humans were called the primate xindi, or mammalian xindi. And then there was the reptilian xindi. And the arboreal xindi (arboreal means they live in trees, they're primarily monkeys; humans aren't monkeys, we're apes, but both monkeys and apes are types of primates, the main difference between the two is that apes tend to be much bigger a live a lot longer and don't have tails like monkeys do). And there's the insectoid Xindi, which is self explanatory. And the aquatic Xindi who are like whales (such as dolphins, who are a type of whale). And the last one is the avian xindi, who don't appear in any star trek show because they're already long extinct by the time of enterprise. Mammalian and reptilian are words used for every race in star trek, not just humans from earth. We hear the words in english because of the universal translator, but the aliens are obviously saying the equivalent words from their own languages, just translated into english. But every star trek show has made references to these kinds of terms. For example in Voyager, the episode where the crew come across a species of highly evolved sentient dinosaurs, called the Voth, who as it turns out actually also came from Earth too but had left millions of years ago and ended up far away in the delta quadrant, but the Voth and humans both evolved natively on earth. They called themselves Saurian creatures, which is another human english word like mammalian, that means a lizard-like creature, usually meaning a dinosaur (dinoSAUR hence SAURian), although these days the word is used much less, because scientists found out that birds are all literally dinosaurs, not just DESCENDED from dinosaurs, all birds are ACTUALLY dinosaurs. So do we call birds saurian, or do we call dinosaurs avian? But either way the Voth were highly offended to be related to mammalian creatures. They constantly use the word "mammalian" throughout that episode of Voyager, go watch it now, because you don't seem to be aware of any of what I'm talking about, it's season 3 episode 23, called "Distant Origin".
Technically correct - except in the Star Trek universe, most life was likely seeded by the same ancient culture. In which case, just as humanoids a pre-programmed to evolve, maybe so too are reptiles and mammals. Such a question would be stupid if applied to real-life aliens, but in Star Trek it makes sense... Well, more sense than travelling so fast you create lizard babies with Janeway, at least.
@@duffman18 Were those taxanomic classifications, or simply descriptive names? Aliens and monsters are that resemble reptiles are called 'reptilian' without necessarily being actual reptiles.
These 'deep dives' are just so damn informative, on so many levels. Kudos Oh, and if anything, I would say the Cardassians are more likely closest to what a 'common ancestor' would have looked like (so if the proto-Bajorans were the Hebetians{sp?}, they would have looked like Cardassians, and it is the Bajorans who have 'evolved', whilst the Cardassian have the more 'primitive' form.). Or maybe something in-between, and environmental factors of Cardassia had them 'devolve' to have some of their ancestral traits, while the Bajorans continued to 'evolve forward', so to speak.
@11:11 the idea of possible links between the Bajoran and Cardasian species for me was influenced from the dualism stuff that DC Fontana was interested in. This writer for TOS incorporated her interest in the idea of some things being mirror images of one another. It was the '60s and there was a lot of interest Eastern Philosophy. Her mark was left on the show with the related but different races of Vulcans and Romulans, and the episode The Alternate Factor. In my head canon the Cardasians were evolved from some sort of snake-like species. The ultimate villain in our Judeo-Christian heritage.
They're mammals. Possibly an offshoot of the ancient Bajoran spacefarers that explored as far as Cardassian. Besides, they'd have to be mammals to be able to crossbreed with the Bajorans.
@The Adjudicator Phylogenetically, Cardassians would be neither mammals nor reptiles. At the most their nearest equivalent to that in their alien ecosystem.
This is Star Trek. Remember B’elanna Torres from Voyager? She was part human and part Klingon. Now think back to TNG episode where the crew de-evolved. Worf turned into a lumbering armored creature more like an angry crab than anything else. But humans mated successfully with Klingons. Star Trek doesn’t really care about genetic compatibility. Lol.
@@alienlife7754 That episode also showed that a pure human somehow had significant "dormant DNA" from spiders. Real world science was very much never a concern for the franchise.
A very interesting video, marred by jarring cuts in editing. I had to scroll down to hide the visuals and just listen, as the erratic jumping made watching impossible for me.
Since Cardassians and Bajorans can have children without any kind of extraordinary means (naturally) they have to be the same species, and Bajorans are definitely mammals.
I don't think you know the definition of the word species..... and having children means nothing. Humans and Klingons can have children. Romulans and Klingons can have children. Betazoids and Humans can have children. None of these are the same "species".
@@laertesindeed A Chimpanzee and a human cannot have children even though we share 99% of our DNA and primates. However, homo saipan and Neanderthals could have children. That's because we are both hominids of the genus Homo. Watch Star Trek again. Humans/Vulcans required medical intervention. Klingon/humans required medical intervention. And since humans and Vulcans can't have children naturally it stands to reason that their Romulan cousins could not either.
@@JessRenee91481 Thus proving you don't know what a species is...... nor do you even know Star Trek lore. Vulcans and Humans had children just fine...you are confusing a superstition and bigotry by early Vulcan and Human interactions where bigoted Vulcans pretended that it wouldn't be possible because they didn't culturally want it to be possible. Klingons and Romulans had children together just fine. So did Humans and Klingons. Humans have more DNA in common with chimpanzees than they do a Klingon.....fuck, humans have more DNA in common with corn than they do with Klingons. That didn't stop them from having children. Humans and Klingons are not the same species. Romulans and Vulcans are not the same species. Romulans and Klingons are not the same species. Betazoids and Humans are not the same species. You're inventing this fake magical non-sequitur logical fallacy to make statements of certainty which you have no justification for in Star Trek.
@@laertesindeed spe·cies /ˈspēsēz,ˈspēSHēz/ 1. BIOLOGY a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. The species is the principal natural taxonomic unit, ranking below a genus and denoted by a Latin binomial, e.g. Homo sapiens. Troi: "I didn't know it was possible for a human and a Klingon to produce a child." K'ehlar: Actually the DNA is compatible, with a fair amount of help." T'pol: "That's impossible. Humans and Vulcans have never been able to reproduce." Phlox: "According to Lorian I discovered or rather, I will discover a method of successfully combining Human and Vulcan genomes." From Phlox and K'ehlar they both suggested that external medical assistance is required. Even the Half-Klingon B'elanna needed the Doctor's help with her and Tom's baby. For the rest, there just isn't sufficient on screen evidence. It's not impossible that all of your examples happened naturally, but it's also entirely plausible that it required medical intervention for those offspring to occur... Except for Cardassians and Bajorans. The only two races to be known for sure to be able to reproduce naturally. Gul Dukat wouldn't have used medical means to empregnate Zial's mother, and there was surprise when that Pah Wraith follower of his had his child. Cardassians and Bajorans are less like Canis familiaris (dog) and canis lupus (wolf) and more like Great Dane and Chihuahua
@@JessRenee91481 Thus you prove you don't know the star trek lore, nor the meaning of species.... because you used both wrong. You also skipped over the entirety of the franchise with everybody interbreeding prior to DS9..... and you took a non-canon fiction book as your desired head-canon about Cardassians and Bajorans which was never established in any show or movie.... ever.
The only evidence we have of problems between known cross breeding is that Enterprise episode. But that's just one incidence of a genetic incompatibility, Such things cause infant deaths now between humans, so it's not really evidence that genetic alteration is required for everyone, IMO.
Being that they are capable of interbreeding they MUST be from a similar root species that diverged. It is likely that the people that were "wiped out" by some diaster may have been subjected to certain stresses and mutagenic forces that resulted in the Cardasian form. Much like a Dog vs a Wolf, or a Coyote and a Domestic Dog. They can have drastically different morphology and appearance but are in fact related and can interbreed. The thicker skin and bony ridges being perhaps an expression of genetic mutation of the Bajoran nose ridge gene. Or it is equally possible that the civilization was native to Cardasia and traveled to Bajor and the precursor civilization had both bony ridges and nose ridges while selective pressures on each world cause drift, be they cultural selective pressure or environmental selective pressures.
When inhabitants of two planets can not only reproduce, but their offspring looks "normal" to both, then they must be from the same type of animal. Bajorans and humans mate seamlessly. Cardasians and Bajorans also mate seamlessly. And in both cases the child looks similar to both parents and have basically the same physiology. For example, if a fish mates with a bird, then if it has feathers or scales would come as a shock to one parent. But if two different fish reproduce, it would definitely have scales and neither parent would be concerned about this feature I think external features like the skin, are evolutionary in the same manner that humans developed different eye, hair, and skin colour. We still all have the same internal organs, limbs, and digits.
The different humanoid species can't mate with each other naturally. In Enterprise we discover this, as Dr Phlox has to put in months of work to discover a medication that would let humans and vulcans interbreed. It wouldn't happen naturally, no matter how often they had sex. By the time of TOS and the TNG/DS9/VOY era, it's been normalised to the point where they don't even talk about it, they know the doctor can give them the medication so that they can have children with each other, which is how we get mixed-race people like Spock and B'ellana Torres. They don't even talk about it because everyone knows about it, it'd be like buying cough medicine when you have a cough, you don't even need to question it. Though sometimes complications still happen, like when Samantha Wildman gave birth to her mixed-race daughter, Naomi, who was half human half Ktarian. Naomi had sharp spiky horns on her forehead, and Ktarian women have evolved to have strong and resistant uteruses so that this is not a problem, but for human mothers like Samantha, the spikes were digging into the walls of her uterus and causing a tremendous amount of pain, and could have killed her via infection if the doctor EMH didn't work out what was going on and fix it
Before the Dinosaurs: Walking With Monsters, a BBC documentary from the early 2000s discusses mammal-like reptiles which got me thinking of Cardassian origins too.
Neither, to be either mammals or reptiles they would have to be descended from either mammals or reptiles of earth. Taxonomic classification is also a classification based on ancestry, it's impossible for them to be either mammals or reptiles unless they descended from Earths mammals/reptiles no matter how similar they may be. That also applies to all other alien species, no matter how similar they may appear, we can't classify them based on any Earth classifications unless they are descended from those groups on Earth. So you can classify the Voth a fair bit, but that's about it.
if you think about it, the Kardashians have a fair amount in common with the Voth of the Delta quadrant, who shared a definite superiority complex and didn't even want to acknowledge the possibility of being related to endotherm's from the other side of the galaxy. they did everything they could to stop the research and stifle the theory from spreading, and while they in some ways were more extreme than the Kardashians, this superior attitude is definitely shared.
I like the way you give your understanding of the research you have done, so that it make sense to what I hear you saying. I enjoy your review of the races.
Nice video! Actually these ideas present some intriguing scenarios. The Bajorans are a fascinating race with an even more fascinating past. By all appearances, they are virtually identical to humans and very clearly mammalian. Although their nose ridge, their only obvious alien feature, hints at a connection to the Cardassians. They have an artificial wormhole built by someone in the ancient past, presumably the Prophets, who live within it and strongly insinuate that Bajor is their original home world. My assumption is that the Prophets are some form of highly advanced, highly evolved off-shoot of the Bajoran race. Here’s what I think may have happened: The ancient Bajorans were highly advanced humanoids in the ancient past, probably close cousins to humans of Earth (as are other human-looking species throughout the galaxy). Ancient Bajorans first landed on Cardassia Prime as one of their earliest, most accessible interstellar neighbors and did exactly as you suggested in this video: they experimented with reptilian DNA to produce a Bajoran sub-species we now know as Cardassian. Over time, ancient Bajorans grew so advanced that they began experimenting with artificial wormhole technology. They may have created multiple wormholes to explore and colonize the galaxy. Voyager hints at this. In the Delta Quadrant, they encountered a species which resembles the Bajorans both physically and culturally (strangely, the Voyager crew didn’t even comment on this). Closer to Earth, the NX-01 crew also encountered a radical faction of humanoid aliens who also displayed Bajoran cultural characteristics. I think the Bajorans colonized throughout the galaxy, utilizing genetic experimentation to adapt to various worlds (maybe even Earth), and this experimentation led to a group of Bajorans gaining god-like powers and eventually taking up residence within the inter-dimensional sub-space environment of the wormhole network. The Bajoran/Gamma Quadrant wormhole is currently the last remaining wormhole known to still exist. The others could have been destroyed in a war between the Prophets and Pah-wraths or other conflicts over control of the galaxy (i.e. with the Iconians, Preservers, etc.)
In Season 6 episode 20 "The Chase" from "The Next Generation" a message from the first humanoid race revealed that they visited different planets. They went to different planets in ordered to cause sentient beings to evolve in way that resembles them.
there was one therapsid called Suminia which had oposable thumbs and was likely able to grasps in some way it is also hypothesised to be arboreal like primates
G'day Tyler, I have been a Star trek fan for, well....decades 🤣🤣. I have only recently come across your channel and how entertaining it is, so congratulations to you and here's hoping for rapid growth in the near future. I personally am intrigued by Species 8472, found in the Delta Quadrant in Voyager. It seems to be a Race that even the Borg are not too eager to engage with. I therefore would love to perhaps learn/speculate on the make up of 8472 and perhaps their future threat to the entire Galaxy. Keep up the great work, Andy from York, England 👏👏👏
Just had to comment on that thumbnail. A smiling Garak (especially that kind of smile) is something to be very afraid of. Like something very, very bad is about to happen to someone.
I love that you've mentionned the link between the Cardassians and the Bajorans. Since they can be considered as the same species despite their distinct appareance (cuz they can reproduce without medical help) and if we consider Bajorans as mammals then Cardassians are at least part mammals that have evolved to fit on the harsher environnment of Cardassia prime (natural or forced evolution). I even think that they could be warm blooded...but that the mechanisms that allow warm species to produce heat had become lazy and their body more heat resistant wich make them look like cold blooded
The answer would be neither as you demonstrated that the evolution of both happened on Earth. The cardasians may have some traits showing convergent evolution. Some reptiles and fish can give birth to live offspring just as some mammals lay eggs. Armadillos and a couple of other mammals have scales - although do the cardassians have true scales or are they more like the hard skin a crocodile has. There are many mamals which needs warmer temperatures - any from the tropics plus most forms that have little or no hair, e.g naked mole rats. Of course the real (and possibly heretical answer) is Neither - they are fictional
Ovoviviparous still have eggs; they just don't lay them. And egg laying mammals (monotremes) are extremely rare -- the platypus, and four species of echidna. (the exception to prove the rule.) But yes, neither, as they didn't evolve on Earth. ('tho they have qualities of both.)
@@jfbeam Exceptions don't prove rules like that. An exception such as "no parking on Sunday" proves the rule that you can park on Mondays through Saturdays, by way of omission. If you have a rule like, "I before E except after C", an exception such as "neighbour" actually *disproves* the rule.
And the artifacts that were older are from the Prophets while they were still corporeal? I was a big Babylon 5 fan launched in the same year as DS9 as unfortunately was left so underrated (and I must admit the first season survived mostly on the story than on the visuals. It's still a great series to watch and the whole Bajoran, Cardasian, Wormhole, Prophets storyline reminded me very much of it. We surely were spoiled with so many excellent scifi all running at the same time. DS9, Voyager, Next Gen, Babylon 5, Space above and Beyond and Farscape and Firefly a bit later on.
The biology of this is way above my head, but instead of just saying, "well, they're aliens", maybe there's a little something more to be said. In the novel Jurassic Park, MC mentions that there has been debate for years about whether dinosaurs were birds or reptiles, since they seem to have had some characteristics common to both classes. At the time of the novel, a third possibility was being discussed, that perhaps dinosaurs were a completely different class of animal - not reptiles that had bird characteristics, or birds that had reptile characteristics, but a separate and distinct class of animals. After all, mammals, birds, and reptiles all share many characteristics like bilateral symmetry, air breathing, four limbs, a movable head with brains and sensory organs, etc. Why couldn't there have been other whole classes of animal in the past that don't exist today? ** Perhaps Cardassians are a whole separate class of animals that doesn't exist on earth. Not mammal-like reptiles or reptile-like mammals, but a completely separate class that happens to share some characteristics with both. ** Not being in a scientific field, I have no idea whether the concept of dinosaurs being a distinct class of animal has been discounted, adopted as fact, or is still a subject of debate today. Jurassic Park was published a long time ago and science is never static.
Quite likely an alien evolutionary history will produce clades that are difficult to compare to ones on Earth. Some basic shapes might be similar. For example a planet with a thick enough atmosphere may produce creatures with wings. A planet with oceans might produce creature superficially similar to fish and jelly fish in their general shape and the way they move.
@@flashkraft, true, but those creatures will be neither cnidarians nor teleosts as those classifications imply shared ancestry. Hence Cardassians are neither mammals nor reptiles. They aren't part of any terrestrial clade.
Still trying to figure out what kind of person Micheal Bunham is. Because she's lacking or the characteristics you'd expect from a Starfleet officer. Or a likeable person.
first vid of yours ive seen and youve got an instant sub. I too dont think cardassians and bajorans are the same species but they had been in contact 700yrs ago maybe longer, the cardassians knew fine well when sisko made that voyage, that it was already possible, what else did they know? Maybe there was a colony or some trade, cross breading could happen, at first it mightnt have been successful but like you said eventually life finds a way, almost a thousand years of contact must make it easier for the species to cross, humans and Vulcans took 200 yrs with medical assistance but nobody thought that ship would go that far maybe their medical knowledge was advanced too, I think the spoon-heads are mammals but with thick bones to insulate their internal organs from radiation, it might help regulate body temperature and they do seem to be able to withstand physical pain better than most species
Weren't there several cross breads? Vulcan-Human, Betazoid-Human, Klingon-Human, Romulan-Human (which are distinct enough from vulcans), and of course Cardassian-Bajoran. I somehow remember in the deep dark of my brain that I heard something of Bajoran-Human Hybrids in DS9 in some episode, but I am honestly not sure...
In Earth’s past, there were mammal-like reptiles. Reptile teeth are all the same, but mammals have different teeth - molars, incisors, etc. mammal like reptiles had differentiated teeth. Most dinosaurs were probably warm blooded, due to their growth rates seen in their bones. Birds are warm blooded, although their skeletons are nearly identical to small dinosaur skeletons. Thus, even on earth many animals have both reptilian and mammal traits.
Something to consider, perhaps Cardassians and Bajorans were original colonies from the same race that diverged and developed uniquely based on the planets they colonized, lost touch and became what we know now
I beg to differ. There is nothing to show how we changed. The same old issues we have now, show up in all the ST series. Jealousy, greed, suspicion, fear of unknown. It is all a part of our genetics.
No, Cardassia is Earth in the year 250.000.000 BCE. You know in the Permian times. You seem to forget, that the earth at the moment is because we live in a warm period of an ice age! And as long as we don't get the average temperature of the earth over 20 degree and find a way to defreeze Antarctica (temperature alone is not enough, Antarctica is in ice because it's surrounded by a cold water stream, that evolved because South America and Australia broke away (before that Antarcticas climate was quite humid), so we would have to build a huge dam between South America and Antarctica ;) ) - we will stay in this ice age. We may be able to achieve that we will overjump one cold period - but this ice age will most likely go on for the next 10-15 mio. years, before continental drift will have pushed enough of Antarctica out of the south, so that warm water can reach its shores.
Hi loving your star trek lore videos! Im Curious about the Obisidian order was the Cardassian military who ruled Cardassian or was it Obsidian Order from the Shadow? plus is there non canon or canon novel about Garrak life before & after Bajoran Occupation and was Garrak unofficial spy when occcupation was lifted from Bajoran?
Well as far as I know, they give live birth, seem to function fine under a range of temperatures and have body hair. I would say warm blooded with a heart that is advanced to manage body temperature better than humans.
Devil's advocate. Mesotherms are in between "cold" and "warm" blooded. Many reptiles produce eggs that hatch internally, ovoviviparous. Pterosaurs had hair like structures, so even that's not a deal killer.
I don't think they are the same species but Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals are different species and they interbred just fine. This reminds me of the Xindi. Their ridges are also reminiscent of a partial exoskeleton like the Klingons which some people say may be distantly related to some insect-like creature.
On whether or not they would reptiles or mammals, it taxonomically wouldn't apply at all, as those classifications specifically address where on the evolutionary tree a species are on our planet. And if the clades are separate lineages, they would be either one or the other, not a mix, no matter how many traits they may share with the other. The platypus may be a "Duck-billed-mammal", but it's still a mammal and not a duck. These kinds of classification in biology are based on lineage, not traits. But since they are from their own ecosystem, they would have their own entire process with their own classifications that don't relate to ours at all.
The blue coloration in the "spoon" of female Cardassians is makeup, not sexual dimorphism. If you look at more than one female Cardassian you'll notice that the coloration is absent in most of them. The example cited in this video at 1:46 also colors one segment of her neck ridges.
The trouble with this question is that it assumes the whole mammal/reptile thing is a binary choice. But, realistically, it's on a kind of scale. Creatures can be more mammalian or more reptilian while being both or technically neither. Cardassians are interesting because they have plenty of both mammalian and reptilian traits. So they may just be right in the middle of that spectrum. :)
In the episode 'Demons' it clarifys after Elizabeth dies, that there's no reason why a Human/Vulcan hybrid wouldn't be possible. Elizabeth was purposely created to not live long.
I often speculate that the Cardassian conquest of Bajor might be a nod to the history of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Might be something to explore when you look at the parallels between the ancient, stoic, and deeply spiritual Bajorans and Tibet's Buddhists who practiced according to their traditional ways in relative isolation for centuries until they were brutally overtaken by the despotic, industrialized, irreligious Maoist Chinese.
I think the creation of the Cardassian species was inspired by the Komodo Dragon here on Earth, a species of giant reptile in the Philippines(?) that could have been responsible for the myth of dragons so prevalent in European lore. If Komodos could stand upright, they'd be taller than the average human. What if the Cardassians evolved from a similar species on their home world?
Most alien species in Star Trek have a humanoid appearance because Gene Roddenberry wanted it that way. Yes, it makes it easier for a human actor to portray, but primarily he wanted the audience to relate to them, even the antagonists.
Well, they can breed with the quasi human Bajorans, therefore they are necessarily mammals since the category refers to having a breast and breast feeding. The fact that Kira was able to give birth to a human child shows, that their biolagy must be close enogh to humans. Cardassians only superficially share some reptile features. That makes them imo reptiloids, reptile looking creatures, but still mammals.
I love your videos, very scientific. That said, I'm sure the shows writers never considered even 5% of the things you consider. They just write and occasionally get the science right be shear accident.
I would go with something like the homo sapiens mixing with the neanderthals. Bajorans and the original Cardassians tried to mate time and time again till by chance some were able to do it, and hybrids became the new cardassians. the only problem is that this is the actual way evolution works... and that would be weird in Star Trek
What species would you like me to feature in a future episode of Alien Biology? Can be Star Trek or any other sci-fi!
The Vorlon from Babylon 5
Ferengi since I can see you know your StarTrek lore but I would also like to see the Asgard from Stargate if possible. I like your videos, your not just regurgitating source material and the fact you dug into humans own evolution was informative in itself. SUBSCRIBED.
@@JaredLS10 Thank you Jared! I really try my best.
Gorn.
Centauri (B5).
Here's a hard one...Kelvins, from Battle Beyond the Stars. How does a race evolve to communicate via temperature variation?
White Walkers.
How about THOLIANS !?
Always thought the blue coloring on carcassian females forehead is their equivalent of eye shadow/lipstick
It kind of is. It's there naturally, but they enhance it with makeup (Garak did that once.) Kinda like how humans usually have dark eyelashes but we still darken them with mascara.
Pretty sure you're right. Ziyal usually didn't wear forehead makeup, so there was no blue.
The blue is makeup. They also sometimes put blue makeup on 1 or 2 of the segments of their neck ridges.
@@doctorteethomega I also thought it was makeup. Though the example of Ziyal is complicated by her 1/2 Bajoran heritage...
@@legendswarble2845 garak isnt a cardassian female
Xanathra (armadillos and sloths) are placental mammals with low body temperature and the potential for both scales and hair.
that seems to make sense seeing that they like warm temperature
I never though of that!
Now i see where they got their photographic memory from ;)
Pangolins are no longer considered a part of Xenarthra.
@@brandonmarthers Thanks, I was unaware of these.
Maybe Cardassians are highly derives Pholidota
(Actually, I think the blue sometimes seen in Cardassian womens' foreheads is *Cardassian makeup.* It's not always there. )
The blue coloring in the spoon on female Cardassians is foreheads makeup, like lipstick. There were female Cardassians depicted that did not have this coloring.
Those might be intersex or transgender
@@burlbird9786 I think in this case it has to do with how much makeup they had on, regardless of any of that. I think you see the *same* characters with and without that even.
How do you know that's make up and not some sort of variation in the species? Like Romulan forehead ridges.
@@charleschamp9826 the same women are seen with more or less blue depending on whether they are in formal or more infomal attire
@@burlbird9786 or much more likely it is the Cardassian vesion of lipstick ... if you look at the cultural values of the Cardassians during the episodes of DSN then it is clear that intersex and transgender people would most likely be a persecurted underclass.
While it doesn't talk much about biology (other than the "spoon" shape in the forehead actually being the Cardassian Naval) Andrew Robinson wrote one of the best Star Novels to date, *A Stitch in Time* . The life and times of Plain Simple Garak from age five until roughly six months after the end of DS9. It's a pretty detailed look at Cardassian culture, as seen from the POV of a semi-outsider.
"A Simple Tailor" - Garak
sounds awesome. ima check that out. thx
@@luciferangelica sure lol if you have $150 to spend on a single soft cover book.
@@jamesbizs ouch
@@jamesbizs I got my (used) copy for 2,50E on amazon...guess I got lucky?
Bajorans aren’t the only species they can interbreed with. In Voyager there was a Kazon/Cardissian hybrid.
Possibly Cardasian DNA is more adaptable (wrong word, but you get my point) to inter species union.
Scratch my last comment, I was the one who misunderstood.
Seska's child was a _human_ cardi hybrid. (and likely needed medical technology to pull off.) She only _said_ it was the Maj's baby.
@@discobolos4227 Paris and tores needed the doctor's help to have their child. (Voyager)
@@jfbeam It wasn’t as the Dr confirmed the child’s DNA much to Seska’s disappointment.
The Obsidian Order is pleased with the thoroughness of your report.
I think that the design of the look of the cardassians and Their uniform is one of the best ever alien races depicted in star trek
does that mean that Cardasians are Bajorans that had relations with Gorn is that how they came into being it makes you wonder?🤔
@@raven4k998 funny you say that i think it mentioned in one episode cardies and bajorans are related with common ancestors. I know I need get a girl friend
Alien species comes to Earth...
Humans: You are similar to our reptiles. We'll call you Reptilians.
Alien Species: Oh...you remind us of furry dung eaters. We'll call you Dungeaterins.
Humans: Hey! No fair!
Alien Species: Okay, dungeaterin...which of us has mastered interstellar travel?
I met another trekkie at a house party once and we were talking about the Cardassians. And a drunk girl was like "Omg are you talking about the Kardashians?" I said no. They're different things. One is a race of alien lizard people and the others are characters on Star Trek.
LOL!
Lol! Actually it is said the Cardassians were named after the Kardashians dad who was a lawyer. One of the writers did not like him. Peace.
Never seen this channel before, but the line "Welcome to another episode of alien biology" makes this the fastest I have ever subscribed to someone.
In my mind the Cardassians are mammals, and even a variation of humanoids like Vulcans, Klingons, Bajorans and many others. Why? Because I have never heard of reptiles and mammals being able to procreate and create hybrid individuals, like say Gul Dukat's daughter Ziyal whoose mother is a Bajoran.
But you have heard of life forms that literally have less in common than bacteria and humans reproducing? Because extraterrestrials would be less related to us than a strep throat culture regardless of what they look like.
@@patrickmccurry1563 look up the ST:TNG episode "The Chase" (season 6 episode 20) in that episode it is revealed that the humanoid Star Trek races, Humans, Vulcans, aromulans, Cardassians and Klingons et al are all related being the results of genetic engineering by a race of Progenitors many billions of years previously.
@@patrickmccurry1563 the star Trek universe human template DNA & other hominids is sprinkled on any planet that could evolve life to make people that are homonoids like a dying homid species in the past
This is cannon star Trek lore, even a plot of a episode
So the DNA of multiple homonoids species when combined made a message
In their 'junk' DNA
You know it's empty space might as well use it for storage anyways
So they made a playable message for that level of tech species
It was like a "go & be a family" & the klingons weren't down with that
@@KTo288 They seeded DNA _fragments_ across many worlds. On Earth, lizards and humans are made of the same DNA. Just in different configurations. While it's totally implausible for a cardassian and a bajoran to have a child without any external assistance, they're aliens, so who's to say. (paris and tores needed the doctor's help to have their child.) Cardassians like it hot because their planet is hot. Likewise, Vulcans. (and the Tholians for that matter, but Enterprise showed them as very insect like. TOS only ever showed their ships.)
Normally it should without gen therapy impossible for ANY alien race to have offspring with another species. We humans are not even able to have offspring with other apes and they share 98% the same genes. And even with the preservers manipulation of the alpha quadrant species much of their genoms would be too different to even have an egg successful fertilized by a sperm cell.
By the way, we humans still share 80% of the same genom with any animal that evolved out of fishes. Why? Because most of the genome has nothing to do with us being human, but is simple code to make proteins, cell structures etc - that code is billion years old and the reason why bacteria and virae even can interact with our cells - because the basic language they speak (in proteins) is the same.
Luke-Warm Blooded. Similar to the Dinosaur.
I was thinking the same thing
Luke Skywalker blooded?
Like my ex-girlfriend.
Ah dinosaur are cold blooded even the gorn is cold blooded?
"I am your father!"
I would be quite interested to know the life span of Cardassians.
Was it ever mentioned on screen about Humans & Klingons? We have several examples of Human/Klingon Hybrids.
It is mentioned several times I believe in enterprise and voyager I mentioned that human and klingon half breeds are possible but medical intervention is required to prevent any unforseen circumstances.
I always assumed the events of ‘the chase’ was trying to explain why the different sophont species looked alike/could interbreed. It doesn’t quite make sense, but it serves as an attempt.
“A stitch in time” is the best thing that happened to cardassia since elim garak
The fact that garak wrote it was the mind blower for me
From memory, theres a "lizard" species that lives in a small area of New Zealand that is in its own class, neither reptile, avian or mammal but has traits of all. Its appearance is reptilian but I believe gives birth the same way as mammals and I believe it isn't cold blooded either. Been a long time since I looked into them but a very real creature on Earth, a similar species could make sense as an ancestor for modern Cardassians. Of course, alien evolution likely wouldn't follow Earthbound evolution so the traits of the different animal kingdoms could be mixed and matched as we see here.
Just a note of Cardassian-Bajoran hybrids, in Voyager we also have the Cardassian-Kazon hybrid that was originally believed to be Cardassian-Human and from memory, was without medical/scientific intervention. Its quite possible Cardassian genetics is varied enough and adaptable or maliable that they could easily breed with other species with little issue, perhaps their seemingly mixed nature allows their genes to be non-dominant in the formation of hybrid offspring, lending some physical/aesthetic traits through while taking the other race's more dominant traits as the scaffold. I imagine a Klingon/Cardassian would have mostly Klingon traits (redundant organs, head ridges) with some of the scale-like features and beefier neck for example. Probably a very strong hybrid thinking about it
7:20 House cats, unquestionable mammals, prefer higher temperatures that humans. This is why they like to lay in the sun. Our houses are too cold for them.
If we are going with the established definitions Cardassians are mammals. They give live birth, have hair, have mammalian glands to feed their babies and every indication is they are warm blooded (able to self regulate their body temperature. This is demonstrated in deep space nine when the female founder has the temperature lowered in the Cardassians military headquarters in Cardassia Prime. Reptiles would become sluggish and shut down in that situation. The Cardassians are able to cope with the change and part from it being uncomfortable for them there are no ill effects.
Technically, there are a few reptile species that can, to an extent, generate some heat in their bodies; including Alligators. This doesn't stop them from being reptiles.
But let's be honest, the categories of mammal and reptile are somewhat artificial from an evolutionary point of view. From the point of view of evolution.... mammals "are" reptiles...that took on some specialized features that allowed them to survive the Cretaceous extinction event and thereafter those traits became exaggerated as they diversified and took over ecosystems abandoned by the dinosaurs.
@@laertesindeed Name one species. Alligators absolutely can not regulate their own body heat. Like all reptiles they are reliant on external factors to regulate their body temperature. All reptiles are incapable of generating their own body heat. No mammals are reptiles, your comparison would mean that we are all inanimate rocks because at one point life didn’t exist.
@The Adjudicator you get that by definition a reptile is cold blooded. So yes it is that clear cut.
Or if you really want to stick to that argument than my statement that we all evolved from rocks is 100% true, and it would seem some of us are still a little more rock than others. Trying to justify a stupid statement just makes you look stupid.
Kids this is why you should stay in school, and not rely on UA-cam to be accurate.
@The Adjudicator I could take the time to explain elementary level science to you, but you don’t seem to have the capacity. So why waste my time. But I do agree it is funny how people who have no idea what they are talking about fall back on insults like calling someone a dumb dumb rather than presenting any real argument to support their statements.
PS. Birds aren’t reptiles because reptiles are all cold blooded. Birds on the other hand are all warm blooded. So I guess I can take a second of time to explain some elementary level biology to you. The only real question is are you capable of learning the information.
@The Adjudicator no birds are not reptiles. They may have a common ancestor but by definition they are not. Even looking at the similarities still shared by these two unique species it would be more accurate to start that some reptiles are closer to birds than they are to other reptiles. All that being said no reptiles are warm blooded. No birds are cold blooded.
The common ancestor of mammals and reptiles was something more like an amphibian. So the only conclusion anyone with any brains can make is you’re wrong.
The only real question is are you wrong because you are ignorant, or are you wrong because your stupid?
Well the Cardassians on reality tv are definitely reptiles lol.
Something I'm surprised you didn't think the center ridge may be a Parietal eye. Only started watching DS9, but the cardassians have such an interesting design.
Technically they are neither, as 'reptile' and 'mammal' are specifically defined taxa indigenous to the Earth biosphere. In fact even within that conceit, most non-amphibian tetrapods are reptiles as mammals are derived reptiles, as are birds. As such asking if something is a 'reptile or a mammal' is the same thing as asking if a American Robin is a thrush or a bird.....
Are you sure mammals are descended from reptiles? I thought there was some uncertainty as to whether mammals and reptiles branched off from amphibians.
The Masked Enema, technically you're incorrect. Didn't you watch the star trek shows from the 80s, 90s and 2000s? "Mammalian" is a term used to describe humanoids from EVERY planet, not just earth. Especially in Enterprise. The Xindi had 6 different types of them, all sentient, all originating from the same planet. The ones that looked most like humans were called the primate xindi, or mammalian xindi. And then there was the reptilian xindi. And the arboreal xindi (arboreal means they live in trees, they're primarily monkeys; humans aren't monkeys, we're apes, but both monkeys and apes are types of primates, the main difference between the two is that apes tend to be much bigger a live a lot longer and don't have tails like monkeys do). And there's the insectoid Xindi, which is self explanatory. And the aquatic Xindi who are like whales (such as dolphins, who are a type of whale). And the last one is the avian xindi, who don't appear in any star trek show because they're already long extinct by the time of enterprise.
Mammalian and reptilian are words used for every race in star trek, not just humans from earth. We hear the words in english because of the universal translator, but the aliens are obviously saying the equivalent words from their own languages, just translated into english. But every star trek show has made references to these kinds of terms. For example in Voyager, the episode where the crew come across a species of highly evolved sentient dinosaurs, called the Voth, who as it turns out actually also came from Earth too but had left millions of years ago and ended up far away in the delta quadrant, but the Voth and humans both evolved natively on earth. They called themselves Saurian creatures, which is another human english word like mammalian, that means a lizard-like creature, usually meaning a dinosaur (dinoSAUR hence SAURian), although these days the word is used much less, because scientists found out that birds are all literally dinosaurs, not just DESCENDED from dinosaurs, all birds are ACTUALLY dinosaurs. So do we call birds saurian, or do we call dinosaurs avian? But either way the Voth were highly offended to be related to mammalian creatures. They constantly use the word "mammalian" throughout that episode of Voyager, go watch it now, because you don't seem to be aware of any of what I'm talking about, it's season 3 episode 23, called "Distant Origin".
Technically correct - except in the Star Trek universe, most life was likely seeded by the same ancient culture. In which case, just as humanoids a pre-programmed to evolve, maybe so too are reptiles and mammals.
Such a question would be stupid if applied to real-life aliens, but in Star Trek it makes sense... Well, more sense than travelling so fast you create lizard babies with Janeway, at least.
@@duffman18 Were those taxanomic classifications, or simply descriptive names? Aliens and monsters are that resemble reptiles are called 'reptilian' without necessarily being actual reptiles.
These 'deep dives' are just so damn informative, on so many levels. Kudos
Oh, and if anything, I would say the Cardassians are more likely closest to what a 'common ancestor' would have looked like (so if the proto-Bajorans were the Hebetians{sp?}, they would have looked like Cardassians, and it is the Bajorans who have 'evolved', whilst the Cardassian have the more 'primitive' form.). Or maybe something in-between, and environmental factors of Cardassia had them 'devolve' to have some of their ancestral traits, while the Bajorans continued to 'evolve forward', so to speak.
@11:11 the idea of possible links between the Bajoran and Cardasian species for me was influenced from the dualism stuff that DC Fontana was interested in. This writer for TOS incorporated her interest in the idea of some things being mirror images of one another. It was the '60s and there was a lot of interest Eastern Philosophy. Her mark was left on the show with the related but different races of Vulcans and Romulans, and the episode The Alternate Factor.
In my head canon the Cardasians were evolved from some sort of snake-like species. The ultimate villain in our Judeo-Christian heritage.
First time listener I enjoyed it. Keep up the good work
They're mammals. Possibly an offshoot of the ancient Bajoran spacefarers that explored as far as Cardassian.
Besides, they'd have to be mammals to be able to crossbreed with the Bajorans.
Or Bajorans are also mammal-like reptiles.
@The Adjudicator Phylogenetically, Cardassians would be neither mammals nor reptiles. At the most their nearest equivalent to that in their alien ecosystem.
This is Star Trek. Remember B’elanna Torres from Voyager? She was part human and part Klingon. Now think back to TNG episode where the crew de-evolved. Worf turned into a lumbering armored creature more like an angry crab than anything else. But humans mated successfully with Klingons. Star Trek doesn’t really care about genetic compatibility. Lol.
@The Adjudicator I like this, do we have sources for this awesome info?
@@alienlife7754 That episode also showed that a pure human somehow had significant "dormant DNA" from spiders. Real world science was very much never a concern for the franchise.
Subscribed for all the trek stuff that I imagine is to come. This vid is quality, dude!
Thank you so much! I majored in film, so I always want to do my best with presentation.
A great well researched video, thank-you :-)
Thank you, Emmanuel!
A very interesting video, marred by jarring cuts in editing. I had to scroll down to hide the visuals and just listen, as the erratic jumping made watching impossible for me.
Since Cardassians and Bajorans can have children without any kind of extraordinary means (naturally) they have to be the same species, and Bajorans are definitely mammals.
I don't think you know the definition of the word species..... and having children means nothing. Humans and Klingons can have children. Romulans and Klingons can have children. Betazoids and Humans can have children. None of these are the same "species".
@@laertesindeed
A Chimpanzee and a human cannot have children even though we share 99% of our DNA and primates.
However, homo saipan and Neanderthals could have children. That's because we are both hominids of the genus Homo.
Watch Star Trek again. Humans/Vulcans required medical intervention. Klingon/humans required medical intervention. And since humans and Vulcans can't have children naturally it stands to reason that their Romulan cousins could not either.
@@JessRenee91481 Thus proving you don't know what a species is...... nor do you even know Star Trek lore. Vulcans and Humans had children just fine...you are confusing a superstition and bigotry by early Vulcan and Human interactions where bigoted Vulcans pretended that it wouldn't be possible because they didn't culturally want it to be possible. Klingons and Romulans had children together just fine. So did Humans and Klingons. Humans have more DNA in common with chimpanzees than they do a Klingon.....fuck, humans have more DNA in common with corn than they do with Klingons. That didn't stop them from having children. Humans and Klingons are not the same species. Romulans and Vulcans are not the same species. Romulans and Klingons are not the same species. Betazoids and Humans are not the same species. You're inventing this fake magical non-sequitur logical fallacy to make statements of certainty which you have no justification for in Star Trek.
@@laertesindeed
spe·cies
/ˈspēsēz,ˈspēSHēz/
1. BIOLOGY
a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. The species is the principal natural taxonomic unit, ranking below a genus and denoted by a Latin binomial, e.g. Homo sapiens.
Troi: "I didn't know it was possible for a human and a Klingon to produce a child."
K'ehlar: Actually the DNA is compatible, with a fair amount of help."
T'pol: "That's impossible. Humans and Vulcans have never been able to reproduce."
Phlox: "According to Lorian I discovered or rather, I will discover a method of successfully combining Human and Vulcan genomes."
From Phlox and K'ehlar they both suggested that external medical assistance is required. Even the Half-Klingon B'elanna needed the Doctor's help with her and Tom's baby. For the rest, there just isn't sufficient on screen evidence. It's not impossible that all of your examples happened naturally, but it's also entirely plausible that it required medical intervention for those offspring to occur...
Except for Cardassians and Bajorans. The only two races to be known for sure to be able to reproduce naturally. Gul Dukat wouldn't have used medical means to empregnate Zial's mother, and there was surprise when that Pah Wraith follower of his had his child.
Cardassians and Bajorans are less like Canis familiaris (dog) and canis lupus (wolf) and more like Great Dane and Chihuahua
@@JessRenee91481 Thus you prove you don't know the star trek lore, nor the meaning of species.... because you used both wrong. You also skipped over the entirety of the franchise with everybody interbreeding prior to DS9..... and you took a non-canon fiction book as your desired head-canon about Cardassians and Bajorans which was never established in any show or movie.... ever.
I can't tell you how ridiculously fascinating found this video. please more.
Humans and Betazoids can cross-breed without help, right?
The only evidence we have of problems between known cross breeding is that Enterprise episode. But that's just one incidence of a genetic incompatibility, Such things cause infant deaths now between humans, so it's not really evidence that genetic alteration is required for everyone, IMO.
Hurray! A new video!!!!
Being that they are capable of interbreeding they MUST be from a similar root species that diverged. It is likely that the people that were "wiped out" by some diaster may have been subjected to certain stresses and mutagenic forces that resulted in the Cardasian form. Much like a Dog vs a Wolf, or a Coyote and a Domestic Dog. They can have drastically different morphology and appearance but are in fact related and can interbreed. The thicker skin and bony ridges being perhaps an expression of genetic mutation of the Bajoran nose ridge gene. Or it is equally possible that the civilization was native to Cardasia and traveled to Bajor and the precursor civilization had both bony ridges and nose ridges while selective pressures on each world cause drift, be they cultural selective pressure or environmental selective pressures.
After hearing all this analysis, I have one thing to say.
THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!
I clicked thinking you were talking about a particular witch coven. Stayed for a pretty good Stark Trek video...
Watched this video again and it’s amazing! 👍
Thank you! I really had fun with this one.
I had my own opinion going in, and you swayed me to yours! Great video.
Subscribed!
Love the music at the end.
When inhabitants of two planets can not only reproduce, but their offspring looks "normal" to both, then they must be from the same type of animal. Bajorans and humans mate seamlessly. Cardasians and Bajorans also mate seamlessly. And in both cases the child looks similar to both parents and have basically the same physiology. For example, if a fish mates with a bird, then if it has feathers or scales would come as a shock to one parent. But if two different fish reproduce, it would definitely have scales and neither parent would be concerned about this feature
I think external features like the skin, are evolutionary in the same manner that humans developed different eye, hair, and skin colour. We still all have the same internal organs, limbs, and digits.
The different humanoid species can't mate with each other naturally. In Enterprise we discover this, as Dr Phlox has to put in months of work to discover a medication that would let humans and vulcans interbreed. It wouldn't happen naturally, no matter how often they had sex. By the time of TOS and the TNG/DS9/VOY era, it's been normalised to the point where they don't even talk about it, they know the doctor can give them the medication so that they can have children with each other, which is how we get mixed-race people like Spock and B'ellana Torres. They don't even talk about it because everyone knows about it, it'd be like buying cough medicine when you have a cough, you don't even need to question it. Though sometimes complications still happen, like when Samantha Wildman gave birth to her mixed-race daughter, Naomi, who was half human half Ktarian. Naomi had sharp spiky horns on her forehead, and Ktarian women have evolved to have strong and resistant uteruses so that this is not a problem, but for human mothers like Samantha, the spikes were digging into the walls of her uterus and causing a tremendous amount of pain, and could have killed her via infection if the doctor EMH didn't work out what was going on and fix it
Before the Dinosaurs: Walking With Monsters, a BBC documentary from the early 2000s discusses mammal-like reptiles which got me thinking of Cardassian origins too.
Ironically enough, the prequel series Walking With Dinosaurs was narrated in North America by Avery Brooks.
Neither, to be either mammals or reptiles they would have to be descended from either mammals or reptiles of earth.
Taxonomic classification is also a classification based on ancestry, it's impossible for them to be either mammals or reptiles unless they descended from Earths mammals/reptiles no matter how similar they may be.
That also applies to all other alien species, no matter how similar they may appear, we can't classify them based on any Earth classifications unless they are descended from those groups on Earth. So you can classify the Voth a fair bit, but that's about it.
if you think about it, the Kardashians have a fair amount in common with the Voth of the Delta quadrant, who shared a definite superiority complex and didn't even want to acknowledge the possibility of being related to endotherm's from the other side of the galaxy. they did everything they could to stop the research and stifle the theory from spreading, and while they in some ways were more extreme than the Kardashians, this superior attitude is definitely shared.
Your last theory is the correct one, it was even mentioned in a couple of DS9 episodes.
So they are mammals
That’s was interesting. The Bajoran / Cardassian genetic link is a real interesting theory I’d love to see flushed out.
I like the way you give your understanding of the research you have done, so that it make sense to what I hear you saying. I enjoy your review of the races.
Nicely done
Nice video! Actually these ideas present some intriguing scenarios. The Bajorans are a fascinating race with an even more fascinating past. By all appearances, they are virtually identical to humans and very clearly mammalian. Although their nose ridge, their only obvious alien feature, hints at a connection to the Cardassians. They have an artificial wormhole built by someone in the ancient past, presumably the Prophets, who live within it and strongly insinuate that Bajor is their original home world. My assumption is that the Prophets are some form of highly advanced, highly evolved off-shoot of the Bajoran race. Here’s what I think may have happened:
The ancient Bajorans were highly advanced humanoids in the ancient past, probably close cousins to humans of Earth (as are other human-looking species throughout the galaxy). Ancient Bajorans first landed on Cardassia Prime as one of their earliest, most accessible interstellar neighbors and did exactly as you suggested in this video: they experimented with reptilian DNA to produce a Bajoran sub-species we now know as Cardassian.
Over time, ancient Bajorans grew so advanced that they began experimenting with artificial wormhole technology. They may have created multiple wormholes to explore and colonize the galaxy. Voyager hints at this. In the Delta Quadrant, they encountered a species which resembles the Bajorans both physically and culturally (strangely, the Voyager crew didn’t even comment on this). Closer to Earth, the NX-01 crew also encountered a radical faction of humanoid aliens who also displayed Bajoran cultural characteristics.
I think the Bajorans colonized throughout the galaxy, utilizing genetic experimentation to adapt to various worlds (maybe even Earth), and this experimentation led to a group of Bajorans gaining god-like powers and eventually taking up residence within the inter-dimensional sub-space environment of the wormhole network. The Bajoran/Gamma Quadrant wormhole is currently the last remaining wormhole known to still exist. The others could have been destroyed in a war between the Prophets and Pah-wraths or other conflicts over control of the galaxy (i.e. with the Iconians, Preservers, etc.)
In Season 6 episode 20 "The Chase" from "The Next Generation" a message from the first humanoid race revealed that they visited different planets. They went to different planets in ordered to cause sentient beings to evolve in way that resembles them.
there was one therapsid called Suminia which had oposable thumbs and was likely able to grasps in some way it is also hypothesised to be arboreal like primates
G'day Tyler, I have been a Star trek fan for, well....decades 🤣🤣. I have only recently come across your channel and how entertaining it is, so congratulations to you and here's hoping for rapid growth in the near future. I personally am intrigued by Species 8472, found in the Delta Quadrant in Voyager. It seems to be a Race that even the Borg are not too eager to engage with. I therefore would love to perhaps learn/speculate on the make up of 8472 and perhaps their future threat to the entire Galaxy. Keep up the great work, Andy from York, England 👏👏👏
I always figured they evolved from birds and their hair is basicly feathers.
Just had to comment on that thumbnail. A smiling Garak (especially that kind of smile) is something to be very afraid of. Like something very, very bad is about to happen to someone.
I love that you've mentionned the link between the Cardassians and the Bajorans. Since they can be considered as the same species despite their distinct appareance (cuz they can reproduce without medical help) and if we consider Bajorans as mammals then Cardassians are at least part mammals that have evolved to fit on the harsher environnment of Cardassia prime (natural or forced evolution).
I even think that they could be warm blooded...but that the mechanisms that allow warm species to produce heat had become lazy and their body more heat resistant wich make them look like cold blooded
Everybody can interbreed with everybody else in Star Trek..... none of that defines anybody as the same species.
at 2:09 is that Paul White? AKA the Big Show/ Giant from Wreslting?
The answer would be neither as you demonstrated that the evolution of both happened on Earth. The cardasians may have some traits showing convergent evolution. Some reptiles and fish can give birth to live offspring just as some mammals lay eggs. Armadillos and a couple of other mammals have scales - although do the cardassians have true scales or are they more like the hard skin a crocodile has.
There are many mamals which needs warmer temperatures - any from the tropics plus most forms that have little or no hair, e.g naked mole rats.
Of course the real (and possibly heretical answer) is Neither - they are fictional
Ovoviviparous still have eggs; they just don't lay them. And egg laying mammals (monotremes) are extremely rare -- the platypus, and four species of echidna. (the exception to prove the rule.) But yes, neither, as they didn't evolve on Earth. ('tho they have qualities of both.)
@@jfbeam Exceptions don't prove rules like that. An exception such as "no parking on Sunday" proves the rule that you can park on Mondays through Saturdays, by way of omission.
If you have a rule like, "I before E except after C", an exception such as "neighbour" actually *disproves* the rule.
They always gave me the impression that they could have evolved from a reptile similar to alligators.
Excellent info, top notch ✌ love the science!
Great video, will you be doing one on the Bajoran occupation
And the artifacts that were older are from the Prophets while they were still corporeal? I was a big Babylon 5 fan launched in the same year as DS9 as unfortunately was left so underrated (and I must admit the first season survived mostly on the story than on the visuals. It's still a great series to watch and the whole Bajoran, Cardasian, Wormhole, Prophets storyline reminded me very much of it. We surely were spoiled with so many excellent scifi all running at the same time. DS9, Voyager, Next Gen, Babylon 5, Space above and Beyond and Farscape and Firefly a bit later on.
The biology of this is way above my head, but instead of just saying, "well, they're aliens", maybe there's a little something more to be said.
In the novel Jurassic Park, MC mentions that there has been debate for years about whether dinosaurs were birds or reptiles, since they seem to have had some characteristics common to both classes. At the time of the novel, a third possibility was being discussed, that perhaps dinosaurs were a completely different class of animal - not reptiles that had bird characteristics, or birds that had reptile characteristics, but a separate and distinct class of animals. After all, mammals, birds, and reptiles all share many characteristics like bilateral symmetry, air breathing, four limbs, a movable head with brains and sensory organs, etc. Why couldn't there have been other whole classes of animal in the past that don't exist today? **
Perhaps Cardassians are a whole separate class of animals that doesn't exist on earth. Not mammal-like reptiles or reptile-like mammals, but a completely separate class that happens to share some characteristics with both.
** Not being in a scientific field, I have no idea whether the concept of dinosaurs being a distinct class of animal has been discounted, adopted as fact, or is still a subject of debate today. Jurassic Park was published a long time ago and science is never static.
They’re actually Bajorans, watch the ECHenry video.
They aren't either. Those are terrestrial clades and do not apply to alien species.
Quite likely an alien evolutionary history will produce clades that are difficult to compare to ones on Earth.
Some basic shapes might be similar. For example a planet with a thick enough atmosphere may produce creatures with wings.
A planet with oceans might produce creature superficially similar to fish and jelly fish in their general shape and the way they move.
@@flashkraft, true, but those creatures will be neither cnidarians nor teleosts as those classifications imply shared ancestry. Hence Cardassians are neither mammals nor reptiles. They aren't part of any terrestrial clade.
Still trying to figure out what kind of person Micheal Bunham is. Because she's lacking or the characteristics you'd expect from a Starfleet officer. Or a likeable person.
first vid of yours ive seen and youve got an instant sub. I too dont think cardassians and bajorans are the same species but they had been in contact 700yrs ago maybe longer, the cardassians knew fine well when sisko made that voyage, that it was already possible, what else did they know? Maybe there was a colony or some trade, cross breading could happen, at first it mightnt have been successful but like you said eventually life finds a way, almost a thousand years of contact must make it easier for the species to cross, humans and Vulcans took 200 yrs with medical assistance but nobody thought that ship would go that far maybe their medical knowledge was advanced too, I think the spoon-heads are mammals but with thick bones to insulate their internal organs from radiation, it might help regulate body temperature and they do seem to be able to withstand physical pain better than most species
Wow hadn’t thought of that, too kool!!
Weren't there several cross breads? Vulcan-Human, Betazoid-Human, Klingon-Human, Romulan-Human (which are distinct enough from vulcans), and of course Cardassian-Bajoran. I somehow remember in the deep dark of my brain that I heard something of Bajoran-Human Hybrids in DS9 in some episode, but I am honestly not sure...
Examples being of course: Spock, Diana Troy, B'Elanna Torres, Sela and the Officer from TNG, and lastly Dukats daughter and the other child shown
In Earth’s past, there were mammal-like reptiles. Reptile teeth are all the same, but mammals have different teeth - molars, incisors, etc. mammal like reptiles had differentiated teeth. Most dinosaurs were probably warm blooded, due to their growth rates seen in their bones. Birds are warm blooded, although their skeletons are nearly identical to small dinosaur skeletons. Thus, even on earth many animals have both reptilian and mammal traits.
Something to consider, perhaps Cardassians and Bajorans were original colonies from the same race that diverged and developed uniquely based on the planets they colonized, lost touch and became what we know now
👀
I second Ferengi, but of course I would also like to know more about The Founders
Keeping up with the Cardassians ^^
I'd watch that show.
Cardassia is what Earth would’ve been if our more “human” qualities had taken over
I beg to differ. There is nothing to show how we changed. The same old issues we have now, show up in all the ST series. Jealousy, greed, suspicion, fear of unknown. It is all a part of our genetics.
No, Cardassia is Earth in the year 250.000.000 BCE. You know in the Permian times. You seem to forget, that the earth at the moment is because we live in a warm period of an ice age! And as long as we don't get the average temperature of the earth over 20 degree and find a way to defreeze Antarctica (temperature alone is not enough, Antarctica is in ice because it's surrounded by a cold water stream, that evolved because South America and Australia broke away (before that Antarcticas climate was quite humid), so we would have to build a huge dam between South America and Antarctica ;) ) - we will stay in this ice age. We may be able to achieve that we will overjump one cold period - but this ice age will most likely go on for the next 10-15 mio. years, before continental drift will have pushed enough of Antarctica out of the south, so that warm water can reach its shores.
Hi loving your star trek lore videos!
Im Curious about the Obisidian order was the Cardassian military who ruled Cardassian or was it Obsidian Order from the Shadow?
plus is there non canon or canon novel about Garrak life before & after Bajoran Occupation and was Garrak unofficial spy when occcupation was lifted from Bajoran?
Fantastic conclusions
Well as far as I know, they give live birth, seem to function fine under a range of temperatures and have body hair. I would say warm blooded with a heart that is advanced to manage body temperature better than humans.
Devil's advocate. Mesotherms are in between "cold" and "warm" blooded. Many reptiles produce eggs that hatch internally, ovoviviparous. Pterosaurs had hair like structures, so even that's not a deal killer.
*Me when I saw the title of this video:*
"That's actually a good question, thanks youtube's algorithm"
I don't think they are the same species but Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals are different species and they interbred just fine. This reminds me of the Xindi. Their ridges are also reminiscent of a partial exoskeleton like the Klingons which some people say may be distantly related to some insect-like creature.
How about some biology on the delta quadrant species?
On whether or not they would reptiles or mammals, it taxonomically wouldn't apply at all, as those classifications specifically address where on the evolutionary tree a species are on our planet.
And if the clades are separate lineages, they would be either one or the other, not a mix, no matter how many traits they may share with the other. The platypus may be a "Duck-billed-mammal", but it's still a mammal and not a duck.
These kinds of classification in biology are based on lineage, not traits.
But since they are from their own ecosystem, they would have their own entire process with their own classifications that don't relate to ours at all.
I wounder what cardassians ancesters looke like as they never spoke about it on ds9
I'd expect them to be a bit hairier.
The blue coloration in the "spoon" of female Cardassians is makeup, not sexual dimorphism. If you look at more than one female Cardassian you'll notice that the coloration is absent in most of them. The example cited in this video at 1:46 also colors one segment of her neck ridges.
Yep, this was an oversight on my part
The trouble with this question is that it assumes the whole mammal/reptile thing is a binary choice. But, realistically, it's on a kind of scale. Creatures can be more mammalian or more reptilian while being both or technically neither. Cardassians are interesting because they have plenty of both mammalian and reptilian traits. So they may just be right in the middle of that spectrum. :)
In the episode 'Demons' it clarifys after Elizabeth dies, that there's no reason why a Human/Vulcan hybrid wouldn't be possible. Elizabeth was purposely created to not live long.
Cardassians are an ancient Bajoran colony which is why they can mate with Bajorans without any medical help.
Christopher Marshall. I first thought they were amphibians. Then never saw them really go for water.
I often speculate that the Cardassian conquest of Bajor might be a nod to the history of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Might be something to explore when you look at the parallels between the ancient, stoic, and deeply spiritual Bajorans and Tibet's Buddhists who practiced according to their traditional ways in relative isolation for centuries until they were brutally overtaken by the despotic, industrialized, irreligious Maoist Chinese.
I think the creation of the Cardassian species was inspired by the Komodo Dragon here on Earth, a species of giant reptile in the Philippines(?) that could have been responsible for the myth of dragons so prevalent in European lore. If Komodos could stand upright, they'd be taller than the average human. What if the Cardassians evolved from a similar species on their home world?
They're mammals since they can interbreed with Bajorans
Everybody can interbreed with everybody else in Star Trek. That isn't any logical sequence.
So when IS the video on Ba'uul and Kelpiens gonna come out? I know Discovery is not everyone's favorite but it's still Trek!
Haha, I'm not sure...perhaps with Discovery ending next year with season 5 that'll be the perfect opportunity to examine that series again!
Most alien species in Star Trek have a humanoid appearance because Gene Roddenberry wanted it that way. Yes, it makes it easier for a human actor to portray, but primarily he wanted the audience to relate to them, even the antagonists.
Are Klingons part crustaceans? Why do they have exoxkeleal body armor?
Armadillos and Pangolins have exoskeletal body armor, yet they are still mammals.
Reading a “stitch in time”, the cardassians were hybridized with an alien race much like when the Herc invaded Kronos
I always thought the blue in the female Cardassians' spoons was makeup.
It is, I just overanalyzed it lol
Well, they can breed with the quasi human Bajorans, therefore they are necessarily mammals since the category refers to having a breast and breast feeding. The fact that Kira was able to give birth to a human child shows, that their biolagy must be close enogh to humans. Cardassians only superficially share some reptile features. That makes them imo reptiloids, reptile looking creatures, but still mammals.
Could you do an “Ocampa” doc?
I love your videos, very scientific. That said, I'm sure the shows writers never considered even 5% of the things you consider. They just write and occasionally get the science right be shear accident.
The shows had science advisors, so someone was *trying* to be accurate, but yeah, they definitely are not "hard" sci-fi. Glad you enjoy the content!
I would go with something like the homo sapiens mixing with the neanderthals. Bajorans and the original Cardassians tried to mate time and time again till by chance some were able to do it, and hybrids became the new cardassians. the only problem is that this is the actual way evolution works... and that would be weird in Star Trek
Maybe the Cardassians are cosplaying humans...