The Natural Sun
Announcements about our sun and its natural conditions
- Chapter 60 -
The prolific animal kingdom upon Miron; the two-footed animals
During this presentation of the planet Saturn, we have already heard that similar and homogenous things are found upon planets that belong to the same sun. Wherefore you can rightly conclude that upon the planet under our investigation, animals are found similar to those on Earth, differing of course, in details of shape, size and colour; you would nevertheless not find it hard to pick out those animals that are homogeneous to those of your terrestrial body. But not only the animals of your planet but of other planets exist here with certain variations of size, form and colour.
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Indeed, not even Saturn's Mud is missing here, inhabiting only certain islands outside of the actual equatorial belt. But there is a big difference in size between the Mud on Saturn and the Mud on Miron. Upon Miron, this animal is hardly twenty times the size of your elephant. Compared to this, you shall soon become aware of the difference.
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Thus, there are also other animals occurring upon the other planets in our solar system but, as said, with diverse variations that would, for our purpose, not allow detailing. However, there are over one hundred thousand species of just four-footed animals upon this planet that are not subject to transition of form. Then just imagine the host of animals referred to as transitional, and finally the immensely prolific kingdom of two-footed animals. That shows you the time it would take to present each species in detail. Hence let this summary suffice, together with the assurance that hardly any other planet is imbued with such colourful goings-on, without restricting man in nature or action. For there is abundant room for these generations of animal species to take over for themselves. Especially suitable for this are the coastal areas of the sea as well as regions beyond the mountains where it truly teems with beings of every kind, of whom only some rarely, and others never, make it over the great mountain chains in order to set up residence in human habitation; and on such rare penetrations, they are turned back as aliens by the native animals.
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Since we shall not undertake further especial note of the four-footed animals, we shall now proceed to the two-footed animals. You will ask: what could these be - birds or apes? For only these two species are constituted so that birds move on two feet and apes can usually perambulate on their hind legs.
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But I say unto you that two-footed animals are an entirely different matter here, being neither birds nor apes. You might think there could be a quarter, a third or half-humans among these? But this is not the case either, for these animals rarely have the slightest resemblance to man; so what kind of creatures are they? Behold, just as everything upon this planet has a smattering of the miraculous, it is just so with this peculiar animal species!
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In order, as you would say, to fell a tree with one blow and unravel the knottiest knot for our Macedonian hero, while lighting up this species with one beam: this is nothing but a repetition of the four-footed species in aggregate, which perambulate on two instead of four legs.
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Regarding their bodies, the difference is only that they are more than five times smaller than the actual four-footed animals and that their two feet are of course somewhat different to those of the front or rear legs of the four-footed variety. Firstly because their feet are relatively stronger than those of animals with four feet, and secondly their steps are larger and more purposeful. But they are also distinguished from human feet in that their knees face backwards, whilst men's knees face forward.
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An unusual difference between the two varieties also, is that the legs of the ones with two feet are joined by a very light extensible skin from belly to knee, and hence are, as it were, grown together. This skin however does not impede the animal in the least. It will soon transpire why these animals are given this skin: where these animals make large, bird-like claw steps, the claws are joined to this skin, even though the legs are only covered with it to the knees.
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Those animals however, whose skin goes right down to their tread, at the juncture of neck with body have fairly large, strong, fan-like arms not unlike the fins of your fish. Animals with legs pointed only to the knees, having skin-covered claws, don't have these fan-like arms, but a fairly long, fan-like tail in their place.
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Why are these animals structured thus? Because they are all inhabitants of both land and air, quite like your bats and other flapping animals. All these animals, on account of their organism's capacity to develop exceedingly light air like your balloons, rise into this planet's thick air; and once airborne, they can by means of their leg-skin and fan arms or their claw-skin and fan-type tails, skilfully manoeuvre in the air, as animals that flapping do on Earth.
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You may indeed ask what purpose they have on this planet? A very significant one, for in metaphysical terms they form the transition stage from animal to man. Secondly, they are in a natural sense the most essential and skilful air cleaners. For it has already been mentioned how this planet's atmosphere is, to a height of fifty to one hundred German miles, filled and enlivened with all sorts of meteoric and also metamorphic animals or plant creatures. But something significant remains to be mentioned and you can take it from Me that such appearances begin to multiply especially towards evening to an extent never observed by you, except at total eclipse. At the inception of such meteoric and metamorphic phenomena, millions of these animals take to the air with extraordinary speed to climb from mountains, sometimes uninviting valleys and ditches, to quickly catch up with the meteoric or metamorphic cloud, and it hardly needs to be mentioned, for a sumptuous meal. They often, almost completely consume a cloud of over a hundred cubic miles volume in a few hours and this is obviously to man's immense benefit.
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The almost completely metamorphic and numerous bird kingdoms are held in check by these guests.
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But you will ask: do these peculiar two-footed animals not also become a burden to man? Not so! For these animals are extremely shy and inhabit only such spots, places and regions of the land on this planet, as are normally not easily accessible to man and other animals, or where accessible, appear so bare and uninviting that man and other creatures have no business there.
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Hence we have completed this animal species and shall now turn to man.