![]() ![]() Tarzan was able to communicate with the first white ape he stumbled upon being attacked by a swarm of ulsios in Tarzan,Jahn Carter: Warlords of Mars: "I speak the language of all mangani!" Mangani must be a universal tongue among Burrouhgs' primates, even on distant worlds. ![]() The primate family it seems, is found throughout the ERBs universe on trillions of worlds. The copper-skinned humans of Mars are also primates, and though they lack an extra set of limbs, they share the same basic reproductive system with other Barsoomian lifeforms. So.why are primates represented both on Earth and on Mars? It seems very unlikely that identical families should evolve-but apparently, it happened. John Carter even describes the face of the white ape as being strikingly similar to the African gorilla. They have the multiple limbs as the majority of other lifeforms indicating a common ancestry with all other life on the planet however unlike the thoat, banth, and others, they apparently share the same family as the true primates of earth. The monstrous white apes of Barsoom are an anomaly. Their powerful legs sport great padded toes, the hoof never having evolved upon Mars. They are often vicious and foul-tempered, but the sentient Martian races can train them as steeds, and use them in gladatorial jousting. Thoats are eight-legged Barsoomian "horses." Again, they are not true equines, or related to anything else on earth. Other six or more legged plans may exist throughout the universe. It may, in fact be mere comi coincidence that Earth's vertebrate lifeforms sport four limbs. All life-forms on the planet apparently began with ten legs those with less evidently dispenesed with those limbs durng the long course of Barsoomian evolution. ![]() Obviously, it is a separate (non-feline) family of mammalian carnivores unique to Barsoom. Their long jaws house a double row of hooked teeth, like the smaller calot, suggesting a common ancestry somewhere in the dim Barsoomian past. They are sleek in the manner of earthly felines. Banths have protrubing green eyes, hairless bodies, and stiff-bristling manes. They naturally prey upon the thout, but anyanimal or being is a potential meal for the giant banth. The banth is a ten-legged Barsoomian"lion." Of course, the banth is not a true lion, or member of the feline family. ![]()
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