Challenge: Design a Martian

Mr. Smith's Middle School Class
Rainard School
Design A Martian Group#2
Cimex

The Cimex are ant-like creatures that live in hives. There are three different types, workers (which can be divided further into gatherers and diggers. The gatherers find bacteria on the surface of the ice caps and the underground lakes. The diggersí job is obvious), soldiers, and queens. The soldiers are dormant until they are needed to defend the hive, when the queen releases a scent that wakes them up. The queen is only made when the current queen is about to die. Its only job is to lay eggs. To lay its eggs it needs to kill a worker or soldier and eat it. Once this happens the queen can lay three eggs, which are somewhat like larvae. When the eggs are laid, there is a Cimex, which is only a mouth and a tail. When the queen decides the time is ready, the workers will poke a hole and insert some jelly with DNA in it from the queen. The DNA will dictate if it becomes a soldier, worker, or queen. Once this is done it will sprout the parts it needs and go about its business.

Needs
The Cimex needs no atmosphere to survive. It gets its oxygen from splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen. The Cimex eats the bacteria on the top of the water, which is their source of water. The aliens need water to survive, which they split into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis. When born the Cimex are infused with a small amount of electricity. They use the oxygen to live off of and the pores in their shell release hydrogen. The aliens need iron to survive, which it can find in the nearby soil in the form of rust. The aliens can survive in cold temperatures by going underground and heating up their bodies. Their outer shell acts like a sweater, keeping in the heat for long periods of time. The aliens live in nests dug by the workers, similar to ant burrows. The nests can be up to 500-ft underground.

Communication
There is no communication between the soldiers or the workers. The queen releases scents, telling them what to do.

Emotions
The aliens have no emotions, because the queen is the only conscious alien. Aware/thinking- none are thinking, however the queen is aware and controls all the other aliens.

Senses
The aliens are blind, they find their way by touch and they identify enemies by smell. They do not feel pain, but their mind tells them, "This body part is injured."

A structure of Society
The queen rules and controls the other aliens. The ice collectors have a slight mind if the queen dies in order to continue the colony.

What does it excrete
It does not release any form of waste, however it does give out hydrogen through its pores.

What does it eat
It eats bacteria that grow on the water, and thusly it does not need to drink.

Where does it live
They live underground in large tunnel networks, somewhat like an anthill.

How are they shaped
They don't have bones, but exoskeletons.

*Cimex is bug in Latin. The plural is also Cimex. For example, The Cimex eats bacteria.

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