Hello everyone! I have a college group project I am working on right now where our group designs a hypothetical animal based on fictional planet conditions, and I am running into some issues.
Fitting all the body systems together has been a bit of an issue, because I seem to find a new contradiction every time I settle on something.
Right now I am really stuck on the circulatory system especially. We decided that due to the high UV radiation of our planet and varying extreme temperatures, we will have to have an endoskeleton instead of an exoskeleton so we can have an endotherm.
Originally I was going to settle on an open circulatory system for the benefit of low pressure since our planet has lower pressure too, but I realize now that that is unlikely to support an endoskeleton if I am not mistaken. So now I am looking at closed circulatory system possibilities, but I need to figure out a way to HAVE a closed one without it being too high-pressure. I am currently looking into the concepts of accessory hearts or heart-like structures to disperse pressure and maybe larger diameter vessels.
We don't plan to make the organism very big (maybe squirrel sized or smaller if need be) or super active 99% of each day-night cycle, but yeah. Below I have attached our planet description with deeper details. Any help would be appreciated:
Gravity: Small planet, low gravity, about half that of Earth. Very slow rotation. No major elevation variations or mountains on the planet.
Atmosphere: Atmosphere contains about 30% oxygen and about 2% carbon dioxide. The rest is a mixture of nitrogen and helium. The atmosphere is thin and atmospheric pressure is 20% lower than Earth.
Climate and Temperature: Days start cold but get increasingly warmer to about 50°C before cooling again.
Nights get down to about 4°C. No major seasonal differences.
Solar Radiation: Days are very long. Day/night cycles last about 340 Earth hours (rather than our 24). So one day on Alpha lasts two Earth weeks. Lots of intense sunlight, UV radiation, and heat during the daylight hours (lasting 7 Earth days). Nights (also 7 days long) are very cold due to the thin atmosphere.
Water: Due to drastic temperature differences, weather is often windy and stormy. It rains every
"morning" for 40-60 hours. Temporary ponds and lakes fill up with
freshwater in the "morning," then slowly dry during the daylight hours. Most water evaporates by nightfall. A very few large, permanent bodies of water are very salty,
supporting only halophilic bacteria. Constant erosion from
intense rainfall and runoff keeps land elevation relatively flat.
Dominant Vegetation: Dominant trees are very tall due to low gravity. Tree trunks are thick and storm-resistant. Sugar-filled roots grow very deep. Trees open their feathery leaves after heavy rains to absorb light, but curl leaves into a hard shell at night to conserve water.
Other Important Features: Due to huge and frequent rainstorms, soil is poor and heavily eroded. Lots of lightning causes frequent wildfires that kill small plants but rarely harms dominant trees. Lots of static electricity in the air. There are lots of small, fast growing plants that sprout and grow during the long day, flower, drop
seeds, and then die during the long night. There are lots of insect-like creatures. Few large animals are readily apparent, though planetary probes may have just frightened them away.