Xen creatures affect on Ecosystem

[Attilla]

One thing that strikes me as horrible to Earth's fate is the invasion of non-native species to our planet. Surely we're focused on our own survival as well we should be, but what about Earth's other native inhabitants?

The Ocean seems to be completely devastated by Leeches, And on land antlions would have destroyed all coastal life for food. Headcrabs certainly would have made quick meals of bunny rabbits and alley cats, essentially anything that wasn't airborne like for instance the crows we see in the game. Natural fauna would have become completely extinct by now due to having no defense to things such as bullsquid, barnacles, etc.

I don't recall seeing any natural life except for flies, and crows. The future of earth's inhabitants (including all forms of life) seems more xenian than... Earthian? People in the game make mention to how our diets have changed to supplement headcrabs for chicken, and leeches for fish. What other changes on day-to-day life might have changed due to complete dominance of the ecosystem by non-native species have you seen?

 

[Narvi]

Yeah, the ecosystems are ****ed. Also, due to the slightly more resilient nature of Xen beings, they aren't quite as easy to clear out, though a modern military would have been more than capable of it. The thing is the resistance isn't a modern military.

Trees and such are still good though, though I wonder if there is some kind of climate maintaining creature out there, who is preventing the composition of air from shifting due to the lower sea levels. Rather like how the sandworms of Dune kept the atmospheric composition comfortable for humans.

 

[Druckles]

I think there might be wildlife out there, somewhere. For all you know, elephants and lions and the like could be still around. You wouldn't know, however, because we've only seen a minutely small portion of the earth.

I'd really hope there's be polar bears in the artic, but I know they'd just stand no chance against a icthyosaurus, and neither would orcas.

We can't say for sure, entirely.

 

[Pesmerga]

Are leeches really a product of the xen invasion, though? And where exactly do people talk about the changing diets?

 

[Blackthorn]

The leeches are quite clearly alien, and a resistance member comments on eating a headcrab. Headcrabs can also be seen being roasted on fires, though for Vortigaunt consumption.

 

[Narvi]

The leeches are alien, yeesh. Do we have man-eating leeches on Earth now?

Pesmerga, fail.

 

[z0mbin3]

I bet Headcrabs taste like pork....I don't know why I think that.

 

[Druckles]

Yes. They're called leeches.

They could've sponteneously evolved, for all we know.

But I'm thinking we assume they're alien.

 

[Pesmerga]

Leeches don't seem very Xenish... considering we have our very own leeches here on Earth

 

[Narvi]

Earth leeches don't have giant gaping mouths and definitely don't act like piranha.

 

[Pesmerga]

Perhaps they've... become more aggressive.

*shrug*

 

[Druckles]

Spontaneous Evolution.

 

[nurizeko]

I dunno, the decimation of the human race might in a way offset the introduction of alien species, which is probably easier to adapt to then theall consuming advance of human civilization.

But its probably still pretty bleak, though the countryside looked okay, probably effected the larger animal species most. Rodents would still be everywhere, they're notoriously hard to wipe out. Headcrabs, unless they can use other mammals and stuff, probably aren't much of a problem in areas of sparse human habitation, seeing as thy basically come across as an engineered biological weapon more then a natural species.

Antlions are probably the most destructive alien we've seen on land.

 

[Attilla]

To respond to numerous replies, and in no specific order,

1. Trees may not be good for long, we have seen some native "plant" life in HL1 in Xen, nothing i can really describe in detail at this point its been too long since i've played HL1. An infestation of non-native animals / carnivores might be more quickly noticed than a non-native Weed or plant that chokes out other plants or absorbs available resources faster or more obnoxiously, like a weed (sucking up all the water, blocking sunlight, etc). I'm anxiously awaiting the introduction of giant mushrooms to future episodes... And a mutated cannibis strain wouldn't be so bad either.

2. Ocean life as far as we know is Gone gone Gone, The leeches we see are definitely foreign, there is no native species that is that ravenous (the closest thing that comes to mind is certain kinds of ants in africa), pirahnas actually are pretty docile until you step on one or until you enter water while bleeding, even sharks don't attack something for food until giving it a "bump" to see how it reacts to make sure its safe and not gonna fight back, unless of course its bleeding in which case it assumes its an easy meal. Anything large or small would be eaten in 100's or 1000's or more of Bite-sized chunks being bitten by the leeches, until there was nothing left (bone?). Anything that might have a skin thick enough / resilient enough or some defense mechanism (whales have about 14 inch thick skin... .but 1000's of bites per second would still kill it IMHO...) to defend against leeches would still fall prey to the larger (and scary as shit) icthyosaurus.

The only question about the ecosystem's survival there is if those two foreign species can operate at all temperature waters (arctic / tropical and in between) and if they can operate at all pressure depths... maybe Giant Squid are Ok since they live at the deepest parts of the ocean.

Unless there are STRICT limitations to where antlions can habitat (the only place we know they can't go is water, beyond that, we know they LIKE sandy areas that are easy to dig, but we can't guarantee they don't exist in more rocky areas), let us assume they can live virtually anywhere there is food to be had. If this is the case, there is almost a 100% chance all land mammals have been eradicated or on the brink of extinction, the reason for this is simple. Even our most badass creatures, a lion or a rhino, would kick the shit out the first 1, 2, 3, maybe even 10 antlions to attack it, but after that, the damage done + the virtually inexhaustable amounts of antlions combined with their colony-driven abilities to work together means pretty much everything has dropped from their natural place on the food chain to, well, 0. Everything is a 0 now, we're all on par now because we're all antlion food ;-). Antlions reproduce way too fast in way too big numbers for a native mammal population (think of the gestation time for one of your elephants... 13 months) to recoup such losses or effectively protect defenseless young.

And, Headcrabs i don't believe were genetically engineered. Having seen the gonarch running wild in Xen in HL1 leads me to believe its a natural part of the Xenians original homeworld. Thats just a guess though, it might make as much sense if the Combine captured a live gonarch and just bred it for the headcrabs... but thats a lotta headcrabs.

 

[Attilla]

Which reminds me, the vortigaunts have an electro-shooting-telekinetic defense mechanism to protect against their native co-species from Xen. Lions have... sharp claws?

 

[Planetary]

Seagulls eat the leeches, so says the Lost Coast fisherman.

I hear a ot of birds in the Episode Two forests, and no houndeyes, bullsquid, or even headcrabs out in the open.

As for barnacles, their jus in buildings, under bridges and in caves.

Earth seems to be doing pretty well, actually.

 

[Emporius]

Earth leeches don't have giant gaping mouths and definitely don't act like piranha.

Meet the lamprey...

 

[LandStander]

That is ****ing terrifying.

 

[Narvi]

Meet the lamprey...

Oh, I know what a lamprey is. I was going to note the similiarity, but leeches have cooler jaws.

Unfortunately, that's not a leech. Even if it is a bloodsucker.

 

[Druckles]

Urgh... yeah, that freaks me out...

 

[nurizeko]

Oh, I know what a lamprey is. I was going to note the similiarity, but leeches have cooler jaws.

Unfortunately, that's not a leech. Even if it is a bloodsucker.

And it has no jaws.

 

[Narvi]

And it has no jaws.

Yeah. That's what I meant.

 

[Ridge]

And, Headcrabs i don't believe were genetically engineered. Having seen the gonarch running wild in Xen in HL1 leads me to believe its a natural part of the Xenians original homeworld. Thats just a guess though, it might make as much sense if the Combine captured a live gonarch and just bred it for the headcrabs... but thats a lotta headcrabs.

There used to be a vid on YouTube, but I think it was pulled...showed unseen beta models for HL2...one of them was a Gonarch egg sac held in place by Combine machinery...

 

[Attilla]

well that would be pretty relevant to the discussion wouldn't it... link? LIIIIIIIIINKKKKKKKK!!!!!

 

[Operational]

I bet Headcrabs taste like pork....I don't know why I think that.

For some reason I've been thinking that they taste like pork too, a pity since I prefer chicken.
Oh well *takes another bite*

Perhaps they've... become more aggressive.

*shrug*

No.

Spontaneous Evolution.

No.

You people are forgetting that the leeches were in multiple locations in HL1 so it makes sense that they come from Xen.

To the OP: yeah Earth seems pretty far gone environmentally:
- Plant life seems okay so that is something but it could be in danger in other parts of the world due to the Combines Air Exchange (cut content but I still think it is valid).
- In the area's we have seen animal life both on the land and in the sea have been owned by Xen life but this might not be the case in other environments (deeper underwater places for example).

 

[Narvi]

Headcrabs sure as hell don't taste like crab.

 

[Crazy_killer]

A bear would beat the crap out of a bullsquid

 

[Attilla]

correct

You're right, a bear would beat the crap out of a bullsquid...


if it could ever get close to one. Instead the bullsquid shoots a highly acidic compound at the bear and its eyes are near-instantly disintegrated along with most of its face / claws / upper body. Don't forget that when that crap gets shot at us in HL1, we're wearing the Mark IV HEV suit... bears don't have HEV suits, do they? NO.

 

[MattyDienhoff]

Just to clear up the "are the leeches really from Xen?" question: they inexplicably appeared all over the Black Mesa facility after the resonance cascade - Flooded rooms indoors, pools of water, even isolated water tanks, places that would definitely not have been accessible to Earth wildlife - so it's fairly clear that they're from Xen and teleported in with all of the other wildlife.

True, I don't think Freeman actually encounters any on Xen itself, but then, you don't really see a lot of liquid in the parts of Xen you get to explore, do you? They're probably there somewhere.

 

[Emporius]

bears don't have HEV suits, do they? NO.

:O


*runs to laboratory*

edit:

 

[Narvi]

A panserbjorne could probably do it.

*imagines panserbjorne in HEV armour*

Wow.

 

[Cavalry]

couldn't a shark stand a chance against icthyosaurus?

so couldn't the ocean ecosystem survive?
I don't see the leeches as a major threat, as once the combine drain all of the water, the leech/lamprey would pretty much die.
and as seen in EP.1, the antlion can survive in city 17, so aren't they leaving the coastal areas to move into cities to find food?

 

[ríomhaire]

A panserbjorne could probably do it.

*imagines panserbjorne in HEV armour*

Wow.

Well, in fareness panserbjorn > just about everything.

 

[z0mbin3]

:O


*runs to laboratory*

edit:

lawlz 10/10 lawlz. Congrats Emporius you win *drumroll* Nova Prospekt. (thoght I was going to say the internet huh) oh and you get a cookie *give's cookie to Emporius*

 

[Gormanmod]

Winning Nova Prospect is a good thing?

Yea, me thinks XEN fuxer'd the Earth.

 

[z0mbin3]

Winning Nova Prospect is a good thing?

Yea, me thinks XEN fuxer'd the Earth.

I like Nova Prospekt, you can make your own overwatch soldiers and stalkers.

 

[Attilla]

BowSniper: couldn't a shark stand a chance against icthyosaurus


Bow sniper in response to that, No, i don't think they could. The reason being, native creatures to the Earth (excluding insects like ants /bees) have a "fight or flight" instinct, if its not an easy meal, most animals will leave it alone. Where as the itchy whatever, seems to have one instinct "shred shit to pieces".

 

[Druckles]

No.

You people are forgetting that the leeches were in multiple locations in HL1 so it makes sense that they come from Xen.

No it doesn't. That's a huge assumption. For all we know, one of the Black Mesa research labs were testing strange substances on leeches and the got out of control. Or there were leeches in a basement, hanging around, and the Resonance Cascade created some kind of spontenous evolution.

Saying "No." is not an argument. It's a statement of ignorance.

 

[ríomhaire]

No it doesn't. That's a huge assumption. For all we know, one of the Black Mesa research labs were testing strange substances on leeches and the got out of control. Or there were leeches in a basement, hanging around, and the Resonance Cascade created some kind of spontenous evolution.

Saying "No." is not an argument. It's a statement of ignorance.

Strange leeches that like to eat human flesh appear all over Black Mesa during the resonance cascade, in tanks of water, in slightly flooded rooms and in the sewers. They later infest the Earth's oceans. We have a few explanations:

They're leeches genetically modified by the Black Mesa research facility staff to eat human flesh and serve no apparent purpose and then the staff decided to drop some into the engine rooms in Blast Pit chapter.

They're leeches that were kept in the Black Mesa Research Facility for some reason or other and spontaneously mutated either by the resonance cascade or the staff feeding them some random chemical for some reason or other.

They're alien leeches that came through the resonance cascade.


If any of these theories other than the latter makes sense to you then you must be on drugs.

 

[Blackthorn]

Logically, the alien theory seems more likely. Black Mesa would gain little from breeding the little f***s. And no matter how many "strange substances" your testing on leeches, I doubt it'll change them from invertebrates into jawed, finned creatures that clearly have a far more complex anatomy than the common leech.

Not reeeaaally leeches, everybody.