Origin of Species

[Antarctic Termite]

Hey, I feel really stupid for asking, but I honestly cannot figure out how to evolve my species so that it is dormant at a young age then becomes a predator/omnivore. I know that happens later on but what do you think would be a good way to start it?

Well, like Lennon said, homeostasis (being self-regulating internally) and a chitin exoskeleton or similar are both good ways to start off, as well as possibly sporogenesis a bit later, though that might not be what you're going for. A whole bunch of bacteria can go into suspended animation for a long time, so that shouldn't be too hard to do right now... Maybe a seasonal thing, with bursts of predation and division followed by a season of dormancy and then another population increase? You could even make it a daily cycle, probably, given the speed in which bacteria divide. Daytime photo/chemosynthesis and then a metabolismic change to predation at night, although I don't think that there are any real-world examples of this, so I don't know how exactly that will work.

[ccdhammer]

Thanks for the suggestions guys! It has been really helpful in planning my species. Sorry that I haven't posted yet but I was camping on an island with no technology so writing was impossible. I'll have my post up later today or tomorrow at the latest. Thanks for being so patient.