# Star Trek physiology **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006 "2017-02-04T20:22:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/1 "2017-02-04T20:22:57Z")
The _Star Trek: Voyager_ episode [‘Ex Post Facto’](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_Post_Facto_(Star_Trek:_Voyager)) was just on. The aliens in it were bird-like. I wondered: Do they have mammalian bowels? Or do they have cloacas? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/2 "2017-02-04T20:26:58Z")
Could ask the same question about Daffy Duck or Big Bird… ETA: At least we know the answer regarding Howard the Duck. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/3 "2017-02-04T20:45:31Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > ETA: At least we know the answer regarding Howard the Duck. I saw it once, when it came out. Don’t remember it. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/4 "2017-02-05T00:26:22Z")
They’re aliens. For all we know, they could be filled with stars. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/5 "2017-02-05T01:04:43Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > They’re aliens. For all we know, they could be filled with stars. Said the exobiologist performing the autopsy, “Oh my God! It’s full of stars!” ---
**Author:** ![OHS201](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/6de8d8/32.png) [@OHS201](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OHS201)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/6 "2017-02-05T01:10:55Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Do they have mammalian bowels? > [@Trinopus](#): > > ETA: At least we know the answer regarding Howard the Duck. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I saw it once, when it came out. LMAO. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/7 "2017-02-05T01:36:39Z")
:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/8 "2017-02-05T02:11:45Z")
An alien “mammal” is much more distantly related to us, or an alien “bird” to one of our birds, than either the mammal or bird is from E. coli. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/9 "2017-02-05T02:49:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > An alien “mammal” is much more distantly related to us, or an alien “bird” to one of our birds, than either the mammal or bird is from E. coli. Not in Star Trek, where alien mammals manage to interbreed frequently. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/10 "2017-02-05T02:55:41Z")
Do they eat gravel for digestion? How big are their hanging mirrors? Do they scratch their beaks on their sandpaper perches? ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/11 "2017-02-05T11:20:34Z")
I had never seen this episode before. I got burned out on Star Trek with Voyager, as many people did, I’m afraid to say. Anyway, from Memory Alpha, it appears this species, the Baneans, have males with completely feathered heads, and female heads have with a few feathers and luxurious mammalian hair. So … yeah … whatever the costume designers want. Or the writers feel like. Fortunately, they never encountered the Oglaf universe: [spoiler][spoiler][http://oglaf.com/dimorphism/[/spoiler][/spoiler]](http://oglaf.com/dimorphism/%5B/spoiler%5D%5B/spoiler%5D) Double spoilered for your protection. I’ve always enjoyed Star Trek, and its not too difficult to suspend disbelief and enjoy a good story. But if you look to closely, you’re going to be disappointed. Given that Kes reproduces (only once in her short lifespan, which is crippling biologically) by holding hands and growing a reproductive organ on her back, I’d say most species outside of Earth humans have no GI/reproductive tract at all. The fact that Seven of nine could really fill out a bodysuit was probably a side-effect of how to fit all the Borg components in. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/12 "2017-02-05T18:53:47Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > They’re aliens. For all we know, they could be filled with stars. So, they have stars on thars. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/13 "2017-02-05T20:22:18Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > I’d say most species outside of Earth humans have no GI/reproductive tract at all. The fact that Seven of nine could really fill out a bodysuit was probably a side-effect of how to fit all the Borg components in. Seven of Nine is human, though… ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2017, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/14 "2017-02-06T11:35:11Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Not in Star Trek, where alien mammals manage to interbreed frequently. Yep, and one of the episodes even explained why. In TNG’s [“The Chase”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)), we learn that all humanoids have a common humanoid ancestor. That humanoid ancestor seeded their genetic material on planets around the galaxy in such a way that it directed evolution towards a more or less common phenotype. (Of course, that’s not how evolution really works, but that’s a matter for [another thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=818250).) ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/15 "2017-02-07T02:11:14Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > So, they have stars on thars. That’s why they’re so haughty. They’re very exclusive about their frankfurter roasts. ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/16 "2017-02-07T02:55:39Z")
Irritates me how aliens in Star Trek, and for that matter everything else, are all chondrates. Not all Earth species are chondrates, by a long shot. Why should aliens always have spines, mirrored limbs and eyes, be a long tunnel for food to poo? “Bird people”. Pshaw. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/17 "2017-02-07T05:38:16Z")
Chordates are not the only phylum that are bilaterally symmetrical (mirrored limbs and eyes, as you put it) and are a “long tube for poo”. Most phylums follow that pattern, with the number of limbs and sense organs being a greater difference between them. The various worms and worm-like creatures, for example, arthropods, things like tardigrades, etc. What makes chordates distinctive is the notochord - that is, a spine or proto-spine. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/18 "2017-02-07T09:30:11Z")
> [@TYphoonSignal8](#): > > Irritates me how aliens in Star Trek, and for that matter everything else, are all chondrates. Of all the Trek aliens, only the Horta could have been a chondrate. Well, a chondrite, more like… ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-physiology/779006/19 "2017-02-07T10:07:58Z")
> [@TYphoonSignal8](#): > > Irritates me how aliens in Star Trek, and for that matter everything else, are all chondrates. > > Not all Earth species are chondrates, by a long shot. Why should aliens always have spines, mirrored limbs and eyes, be a long tunnel for food to poo? Because [Comment #14](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19980062&postcount=14). But anyway, not all alien species in _Star Trek_ are chordates. We’ve seen plenty of worms, slugs, and arthropod-type aliens, some of which (like Trill symbionts, or the neural parasites from TNG’s “Conspiracy”) are even sentient. There’s also been no shortage of intelligent [non-carbon](http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Crystalline_Entity) or even [non-corporeal](http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Non-corporeal_lifeform) life forms.