This is very important. For world-building. For defining the animal kingdom. To accurately perceive the very nature of our world. To know how Happy Feet did all those cool moves.
Do penguins have, or not, knees hiding within their being?
(Alright, I’m done asking weird questions. I just read in the new post that strange questions were encouraged, and they are one of my favorite things ever, so…)
According to Digitaloft, that question is asked online 18,100 times per month!
It looks to me like the answer is yes! They’re just tucked up inside of those cute little bellies.
So, sorry, if your story requires a kneeless species to work, you’ll have to keep looking.
Anybody know of any kneeless legged land animals?
Looking at a penguin skeleton, it does appear that they do indeed have knees, however, the way they are situated I believe they more function as hips than knees. Hope this helps!
Can I recommend to you, a sea sponge? It would be a most relatable protagonist with its vague inability to make significant movements.
That’s a great suggestion. Over the course of the novel, it can come to terms with its lack of brain and nervous system and learn to just be. You can never make any intentional movements, or you can never make any intentional movements on purpose, and isn’t that everything?