Pokémon Biology: Deserts
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Hello, and welcome to yet another edition of Pokébiology! My name is Bandkrook, and I'll be the host of this edition. From the green pastures of the Safari Zone in the Kanto region to the icy peaks of Mount Lanakila in Alola, the Pokémon world is filled with a plethora of climates, vegetation, and terrains. But there's one biome that's almost always overlooked: deserts. Seemingly filled with nothing but sand and some cacti for miles and miles away, these biomes actually hide a very rich ecosystem full of species that have evolved in simple but extremely effective ways to survive the harsh conditions they face daily. These creatures hide behind every corner of the desert, always fighting for survival. We'll search across the Pokémon world to find and study these amazing forms of life and their roles in the ecosystem!
Plant Life
Cacturne
Though Cacturne may look like your average cactus, the truth behind this member of the Cactaceae family is way more obscure. By day, Cacturne sits completely still, bathing in the harsh sunlight from the dry areas it inhabits, storing energy through photosynthesis, and preserving its internal water storage. Backpackers, Workers, and Trainers run past it, barely glancing at the strange cactus. But little do they know, Cacturne is watching their every step. Come night, Cacturne starts to move; step by step, it tracks down the movements of the travelers and Pokémon like Sandile and Krokorok that passed by the desert. Cacturne doesn't mind chasing these poor souls until dawn breaks and won't stop until its prey is exhausted. As soon as its prey becomes tired of running and can barely move, Cacturne delivers a final blow with its extremely sharp, hooked thorns and eats them.
But how come it doesn't get tired? Cacturne seems to have almost infinte energy because it doesn't just stop producing glucose after dark. Its body has evolved a way to substitute the carbon it would need to make glucose for silica found in sand, this being why its "sap" is sand. Carbon and silicon are chemically very similar in that silicon atoms can also each form bonds with up to four other atoms simultaneously. This new process of producing glucose does not require light but also does not work in its presence, meaning that Cacturne still has to photosynthesize during the day. This does not mean Cacturne is a silicon-based life form, though; it still is carbon-based. It just found a substitute for carbon when synthesizing glucose so it would not get tired at night when hunting for prey. Just like almost every other Grass-type, Cacturne has a material conducting system known as the xylem, a vase-like structure that transports minerals and water from the ground to the Pokémon's body parts. Its counterpart, the phloem, has the opposite function: it transports the carbohydrates synthesized by the process of photosynthesis to other parts of the Pokémon to give them energy.
Another reason as to why Cacturne may be nocturnal lies in another structure common to all Grass-types called the stoma. Stomata are tiny pores scattered all throughout the Pokémon's body, and their main purposes are to allow for the carbon dioxide in the air used in photosynthesis and oxygen used in respiration to enter their body, and for the oxygen produced as a byproduct of photosynthesis to diffuse out of the Pokémon's body into the atmosphere. Not only do these gases diffuse out, but the water in the Pokémon's system also does, exiting in vapor form. This process is known as evapotranspiration. Most Pokémon that live in humid climates, like Vileplume, Alolan Exeggutor, and Tropius, open their stomata during the day because they live in conditions that encourage stomatal opening: high light intensity and high humidity. Consequently, they lose a lot of water vapor throughout the day. But Cacturne's body works differently: its stomata open only at night, when water evaporates more slowly due to the lower temperatures.
Maractus
Maractus is also a cactus-like plant Pokémon, but it's the complete opposite of Cacturne. Whereas Cacturne sits completely still during the day and only moves at night—configuring it as a nocturnal Pokémon—Maractus has diurnal habits. They often scatter themselves along the whole desert, always looking for the spot with the most sunlight so they can gather as much energy as possible. You may ask why this Pokémon needs so much energy, and the reason is quite simple: Maractus's main form of defending itself from predators is by shaking its arms nonstop, producing a rattlesnake-like sound. This sound is very loud and scares away its main predators: Flying-type Pokémon.
Although Maractus needs a lot of energy just to defend itself, it still manages to store some of it to grow flowers on the tip of its head. These flowers are formed on the top of its ear-like projections, emerging from the areola, a kind of highly reduced branch. This is the same structure that forms Cacnea's flower and Cacturne's thorns. These flowers serve the same purpose as any kind of flower: attracting pollinators. But… if Maractus scares away anything that comes close to it, how can it get pollinated? The answer lies in a curious little Pokémon called Cutiefly. Though this bee fly Pokémon is mainly found in the lush flower fields of the Alola region, some species have adapted to desert areas, where they have basically no competitors, since there's so few Bug-types in those kinds of biomes. These adapted Cutiefly have thicker fur to repel the sand from the constant sandstorms, a longer proboscis to reach Maractus's flowers without having to approach its flailing arms, a membrane-like structure to shield their eyes from the sand, and stronger and bigger wings so they can fly through sandstorms without much effort and suddenly accelerate or decelerate. These kinds of Cutiefly also have underdeveloped hearing structures, being oblivious to Maractus's annoying sound. Cutiefly is so small that, most of the time, Maractus won't even notice its presence, but when Maractus does, it kindly calms down and lets Cutiefly do its job, as pollination is beneficial to both.
Lileep
About 100 million years ago, Lileep lived in the now deserted area of the Route 111 desert in the Hoenn region. I say “now deserted” because this area was once covered in grassland that received plenty of rainfall. Abrupt changes in the region's climate caused this shift and changed the landscape forever, likely caused by Kyogre and Groudon constantly fighting. Although Lileep looks plant like and has Grass typing, it is actually not a plant at all. It's a crinoid, a kind of echinoderm, more specifically a sea lily. Lileep's fossil is the Root Fossil, and yet, Lileep has no roots or any root-like structure, which can cause even more confusion when trying to fit it into a category. Despite their very big morphological differences, Staryu is its closest relative, with Mareanie being not too far behind. This could explain why Lileep can regenerate some parts of its body, usually its "tentacles", which in reality are its arms.
Let's talk a bit more about Lileep's morphology. Its body is mainly made of the calyx, which contains Lileep's mouth, digestive system, reproductive organs, and most of its nervous system. Lileep's arms stay up in the water, and each arm is covered in extremely fine hairs, which catch food particles and send them into Lileep's body through a process called pinocytosis. These small particles in the water are surrounded by the hair's cell membrane, resulting in a small vesicle filled with delicious food fragments, which is then pulled into the cell. Since Lileep was always clamped onto rocks, it didn't have to waste any resources looking for food and shelter or waste energy on complicated muscular systems, meaning it didn't need to ingest too much food, since all its efforts were focused on making sure it could reproduce.
However, predators like the ancestors of Pincurchin, Toxapex, and Relicanth soon caught up with Lileep and started seeing it as an easy target, so its population started to decline and it had to think of something new. This resulted in Lileep evolving, but this time not in a biology-related way: Lileep evolved directly into Cradily. By evolving, Cradily developed a system we call hydrovascular: under each one of its feet, there's a suction cup that allows it to latch onto rocks and wait for its food to reach its arms or move to hunt for food itself or escape from its predators.
Sand Dwellers
Trapinch
Just underneath the desert's sandy surface lies a fearsome predator. Its jaws can crush boulders in a matter of seconds, and its nature is extremely ferocious and unpredictable. Not only is it powerful, it's also very smart: by creating bowl- or cone-shaped nests under the sand, it waits for prey to stumble inside and become trapped. Who would've thought such a small Pokémon like Trapinch, clocking in at only 70cm in height, could be so vicious? Trapinch patiently waits in its trap for its prey to fall right into its gaping mouth. When they do, it's game over. Trapinch has enough force to dismantle any prey that can fit into its mouth. Even those that don't still get badly hurt, either losing a limb or getting seriously wounded. If the prey falls into the pit and somehow manages to not fall directly into Trapinch's gaping jaws, it will try to climb its way out of the pit, but to no avail. The more the prey struggles to climb the pit, the more sand comes crashing down, and by throwing loose sand from the bottom of the pit, Trapinch also undermines the sides of the pit. This causes it to collapse and brings the prey down, where it will meet its demise, much to Trapinch's happiness.
On the rare occasion that Trapinch leaves its nest to find a spot where it can find more prey, it has to be very alert and move as quickly as possible. Its jaws are so heavy that, if it gets ambushed and flips over, it won't be able to get up on its own and will become very vulnerable to Sandile and Krokorok, which won't hesitate to attack it.
Hippowdon
How could we talk about deserts and not mention one of the most iconic sand Pokémon? Hippowdon may look a lot more intimidating than Trapinch, but as long as you respect its territory, containing ten female Hippowdon for every male one, it won't attack you. If you do try to come close to a wild Hippowdon, though, prepare to run, as they can reach speeds up to 50km/h. Despite being so aggressive, Hippowdon are herbivores. That doesn't mean they won't hurt you, though! Hippowdon spend most of their days buried in sand, leaving only to eat. Species living in Sinnoh and Unova don't ever leave their sand beds. The reason as to why that happens is unknown, but researchers are working on it. It may be linked to their more aggressive nature, seeing as Hippowdon are not territorial outside of their sand beds and, if you approach them while they're buried, they'll open their gaping mouths as a way to scare you. No one has had the guts to get close enough to see if they'll leave the sand bed, though.
I'd like to shift the focus from Hippowdon's habits to its ecology. Hippowdon alone doesn't do very much, but it has a mutualistic relationship with Dwebble. Together, they look after each other. Since Hippowdon's body has many ports from which sand is expelled very quickly and in large voulmes, it's bound to have some rocks get stuck in them, stopping the flow of sand and making it go on a rampage. This is when Dwebble takes action: it quickly grabs onto Hippowdon and removes the rock stuck in its port, most of the time even changing its old rock for this new one. In return, Hippowdon can help Dwebble by liberating some space in its ports for it to stay in if the stuck rock wasn't good enough to use and it can't find any decent ones laying around. While Dwebble sits inside of Hippowdon's ports, not only is it protected from its natural enemies in Roggenrola and Rolycoly, but Hippowdon also helps Dwebble to move both faster and more safely through the desert.
Krookodile
If you walk by the desert during the day and you end up spotting a red protuberance and two little black spikes pointing out of the sand, be wary: wild Krookodile are watching you. Krookodile is one of the desert's best predators, competing with Gabite and Trapinch. Its body evolved so it can see its prey in the middle of the night, even with a raging sandstorm. Of course it can see you in the middle of the day. Krookodile's eyes are surrounded by a membrane called a nictitating membrane, also called a haw. This kind of eye structure is a transparent third eyelid and is fully present in Pokémon like Feraligatr, Liepard, Beartic, Braviary, and Sharpedo. The main purpose of the membrane is to remove sand and other debris from the Pokémon's eye while also allowing it to see through so it doesn't lose sight of its prey or predator, and fun fact: unlike normal eyelids, the haw moves horizontally across the eyeball. However, Pokémon like Passimian, Oranguru, and Infernape have vestigial haws, and we humans also only have a trace of the structure. The reason why primates don't have a fully functioning haw is unknown. Maybe we just didn't need it and it was actually getting in our way? Maybe it's because primates interact with the world via their hands, as opposed to with snouts and teeth, so the protection was unnecessary? Maybe a virus that infected nictitating membranes swept across some early precursor of the primate lineage long ago? We might never know.
But let's not get buried in all that information. Along with its amazing vision, Krookodile also has incredibly powerful jaws capable of tearing its prey in half with ease. This is especially useful against big Pokémon, like Hippowdon. Their snouts contain sensory cells that can detect vibrations in the sand. By whipping their heads from side to side, the Pokémon approaches its prey (mainly lost Hippopotas and distracted Trapinch) very slowly and grabs them in their jaws. Again, Krookodile's jaw grip is extremely strong, and it will not let its prey get away, no matter the cost. It'll shake its head violently until the prey is ripped in half. As said before, Krookodile hunt while buried in sand, and they swim through the desert as if it were water; a key factor that helps its movement in sand be so fast is the shape of its snout. By being very elongated, it cuts through sand very easily, allowing for faster movements and direction changes.
However, despite being very good at fighting and defending itself, Krookodile is still a victim of human activity. It is currently a critically endangered species, suffering from overhunting for its skin and unique snout shape, considered a trophy amongst the rich. Conservation efforts are being made in the Unova and Alola regions, where the Krookodile population is higher.
Other Habitants
Mandibuzz
Bear with me, as this entry will be quite gruesome. Because Mandibuzz knows it's not that physically strong, it can't really hunt for prey unless it is sick or wounded, as any moderately strong target could easily fight back. As such, Mandibuzz is classified as a scavenger, meaning it eats dead carcasses, such as the leftovers from a Krookodile's hunt. Not only is Mandibuzz's hunting method quite different, its method for feeding Vullaby is, well, unique. Mandibuzz will eat some of the carcasses' bodies before flying back to its nest, where Vullaby awaits. It will then regurgitate the remnants onto Vullaby's mouth. Yes, it's gross, especially considering the food is rotten. But as disgusting as this seems, Mandibuzz has a key role in the desert's ecosystem and in our health.
Dead Pokémon carcasses are known to carry a myriad of diseases, but Mandibuzz doesn't care for them because its stomach is extremely acidic at a pH of 1, meaning all that nasty and dangerous bacteria just dies in its stomach. This removes them from the environment and prevents them from being spread out to other Pokémon or to us. This explains why Vullaby's feeding method is different, as their stomachs don't have a pH low enough to kill the bacteria, and feeding them rotten food straight out of the carcass could harm them, so Mandibuzz gets rid of the bacteria first before feeding Vullaby.
Heliolisk
Heliolisk looks very much like your average reptile Pokémon. Hardened skin to prevent excessive water loss, claws to grab onto prey and rocky surfaces, a tail for balance and to whip up sand in case it needs to run from a predator, and a slender body to allow for faster movements and to fit in slimmer crevices. Heliolisk even has a frill, which may be exclusive to its species, but it's not that outlandish. What really makes Heliolisk stand out is its ability to generate enormous amounts of power with its frill. Yes, it's an Electric-type, so it does naturally produce electricity, but its Pokédex entry states that just one Heliolisk can light up a whole city, which just seems absurd for such a small Pokémon. Well, it turns out that Heliolisk is not alone. Researchers found out that Heliolisk has a symbiotic relationship with a specific species of photosynthetic bacteria capable of providing it with enough glucose to generate all that electricity.
The bacteria live in Heliolisk's frill, where they can get as much solar energy as possible to photosynthesize and produce glucose. Heliolisk's symbiotic relationship with them is mutualistic, and it happens in the following way: once there's a good amount of natural sunlight in the desert, Heliolisk opens its frill, and the bacteria start photosynthesizing to produce oxygen for the frill's cells. Heliolisk then metabolizes the oxygen, producing carbon dioxide (which then the bacteria consumes). All of this energy helps Heliolisk run faster to either hunt for prey like Cutiefly and Trapinch or escape predators like Braviary and Krookodile and lets it fire off very powerful attacks, especially if it has the Solar Power ability.
Speaking about Heliolisk's abilities, there have been a large number of reported cases in which the number of wild Heliolisk with the ability Dry Skin is declining, likely due to their sensitive skin's potential of hurting them if they stay too long under sunlight. If Heliolisk doesn't stay under the sun enough to generate more energy from the bacteria in its frills, it won't have enough energy to hunt for food or escape from predators, which will lead to it dying from starvation to then be eaten by Mandibuzz or from predation from Pokémon like Krookodile. The case we have here is a clear example of natural selection, a process through which species adapt to their environments. Individuals in a population all have variable traits, the trait in this example being the abilities a Heliolisk can have. If some Heliolisk are born with the Dry Skin ability, over time, that population will decrease due to natural selection, while Heliolisk born with the Solar Power or Sand Veil abilities have an adaptive trait—a trait that gives them an advantage—and are more likely to survive and reproduce. Over time, these favorable abilities become more common, eliminating the unfavorable ones. Because of this, the Aether Foundation, in an effort to save wild Heliolisk with the Dry Skin ability, transferred groups of them to new areas, like Lush Forest in the Alola region and Route 119 in the Hoenn region, where the climate is very humid. These Heliolisk are slowly adapting to their new homes and starting to rely less on their frills and more on their predatory skills. Having their skin always damp makes them very slippery and hard for predators to catch while also making their body conduct electricity a lot better for hunting prey. Not only that, they gain some recovery from the rain.
The Myths
Volcarona
Volcarona is quite the rare Pokémon. At the time of this article, wild Volcarona have only been found in three regions: Unova, Alola, and Galar. In Unova, it can only be found in the last room of the secluded Relic Castle, located at the center of the Desert Resort, the most dangerous desert in the Pokémon world. There's Trapinch pits everywhere, ruthless Pokémon like Krookodile and Mandibuzz are always watching you, and even Sigilyph can be very scary, as they protect the Relic Castle—their home in ancient times. In Alola, Volcarona is located in a hidden cave in the depths of the Lush Jungle, and it will only appear if you try to catch its offspring, Larvesta. And you can imagine it won't be happy about it. Volcarona's scales are burning hot, searing their marks into anyone that dares approach it. Some Trainers have reported that the pain from a Volcarona scale burn is so excruciating, they almost immediately see white and then faint! The last place this burning moth can be found is in the Galar region, roaming the Insular Sea, an open area. Even if the area is open and of easier access, Trainers still have to catch a train to the Isle of Armor, which is not connected to the Galar region via land. The train pass is also not cheap, meaning not every Trainer can just waltz their way into the isle. Even if you manage to get to the isle, Volcarona will only appear if the weather is sunny and only leaves its nest one time a day. So, you can see why Volcarona is such a hard Pokémon to find and study, and why many aspects of its biology are still a mystery. Volcarona is such a rare, powerful, and mysterious Pokémon that it has even been considered a god by ancient Unovan civilizations!
There's been a big debate among Pokémon ecologists about whether Volcarona are territorial or just shy. The evidence used for proving that Volcarona are shy is their habit of only directly fighting other Pokémon and humans as their last resort. Not only that, they only come out of their nests if necessary, like for hunting or protecting themselves and their larvae stage, Larvesta, from intruders. But evidence used to back up the claims that Volcarona are territorial also has value. Certain Pokémon ecologists believe Volcarona scare away any potential threats from their nests using their ember scales. We have no way of knowing which one of the two is true, as reaching Volcarona is a very complicated task.
Despite all of this, researchers did get a hold of a specimen for study purposes. Research made on Volcarona found out that its fur has evolved in a way to protect its body from the places it lives in, becoming really thick. This is also the case with Larvesta. Having very thick fur helps these Pokémon to not only repel sand from their bodies, in the case of Volcarona living in the Relic Castle, but also helps to prevent fungi from growing in their bodies by not allowing the excessive humidity of the Lush Jungle to infiltrate their fur. Volcarona living in the Insular Sea also have very thick fur, as it still acts as a way of cooling its body off, probably the only reason why it comes out of its den. Another adaptation Volcarona's body has is its egg laying method. Strangely enough, unlike most Pokémon eggs that have a hard calcium shell, Volcarona's eggs have fur covering them. Why Volcarona's body has decided to replace calcium shells with fur covers is still a mystery, much like the Pokémon.
Tapu Bulu
Researchers have tried to study Tapu Bulu's body but to no avail. Not only is it hard to access it in its ruins by traveling through the confusing Haina Desert, but if you do happen to reach the Ruins of Abundance, if Tapu Bulu doesn't deem you strong enough, it won't show up. Some speculate that its entire body is made of wood and it can regenerate itself after battle using its Grassy Surge ability. Tapu Bulu's biology is currently a mystery, but scientists are working very hard to know more about how this guardian deity works and lives.
Although Tapu Bulu has been commonly viewed as lazy and irresponsible for not fulfilling its duties as a guardian deity since ancient times, it is one of the most important Pokémon in the ecosystem it lives in. Thanks to its ability Grassy Surge, Tapu Bulu can create greenery out of nowhere and sprout whole trees like they are mere saplings. While this may not seem as useful given how many Pokémon that live in the desert have adapted to live in conditions that are the exact opposite as the ones Tapu Bulu can provide, many habitants do benefit from its ability to generate oases wherever it pleases. By creating oases in areas that have been irrigated via the sudden sprout of underground aquifers, Tapu Bulu can enrich the environment and make it more accessible to more life forms that would otherwise not be able to travel to such arid areas. Pokémon like Oricorio, Beautifly, and Trumbeak all help to diversify the area's flora by transporting brand new seeds and pollen from other biomes, which can grow a lot faster with Tapu Bulu's help. Now, the guardian deity doesn't plan on transforming the desert into a grassland. It only helps to diversify the ecosystem, so don't worry about it changing the landscape too much and disrupting the balance of Haina Desert. Maintaning balance by not exaggerating in the use of its powers is still Tapu Bulu's job. Even if it can be judged for being lazy at times, it knows better to maintain its reputation at least decently after the Thrifty Megamart incident.
Conclusion
I hope this article has made some of our viewers realize that deserts can be just as exciting as exuberant forests, blazing hot volcanoes, deep oceans, and icy mountains. On the surface they may appear empty and boring, but I can assure you they are filled to the brim with exciting wildlife and boast just as many amazing Pokémon! This has been yet another edition of Pokébiology and we hope to see you in the next article!
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