#askanatomy

In particular how do they breathe effectively and maintain balance? Having small human nostrils and mouth and huge horse body. Not to mention a front heavy build with a human torso grafted onto a horse body.

According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly...and according to all known laws of biology, there is no way a centaur should be able to live. And yet, they do! It is one of the great mysteries of Gaia.

Centaur anatomy is indeed very complex. Most general physicians aren't qualified to treat them for this reason, so centaurs must seek specialized medical care for their kind.

Because of their convoluted anatomy, they are susceptible to a lot of convoluted health problems. Centaurs have short lifespans compared to other species, most of them succumbing to some kind of health issue in their 50s or 60s. Sometimes they can mitigate these problems with magic and live a longer life. But in general, centaurs start fighting an uphill battle against their own anatomy after age 30. There are just so many things that can go wrong with their many parts.

As far as breathing goes, centaurs have two sets of lungs. They pant through their noses and mouths, but in addition, they also "breathe" through their skin by sweating. Centaur facial features are not the same as human features; they are described as "harsher", kind of like the faces of neanderthals.

Their mouths, nostrils, and airways are quite a bit larger than humans', which allows them to pass more air through at once. If you're up close and personal with a centaur, you will notice they actually breathe quite loudly, much like horses do. Both sets of lungs are very strong, and you can hear this power in each breath.

A centaur's humanoid half is connected to their equine half with one long spine, plus a complex system of muscles. This attachment is not as delicate as it looks; these halves are really secure and it takes immense force to separate them.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

This subject was somewhat addressed in this older ask, but that was more about menstruation than pregnancy.

In short: Yes, both gorgons and cecaelia have similar pregnancy symptoms as humans, even though they lay eggs.

Female gorgons are only fertile for one week per year. If they aren't impregnated by a male during this time, they experience "period-like" symptoms but without bleeding. But if they are impregnated, their eggs will expand over the course of several months as the fetuses grow inside 2-4 eggs. I can't imagine this is a pleasant feeling. Now, gorgon anatomy is very different from human anatomy, including womb size and placement. To accommodate all these large eggs, gorgon wombs are quite wide. So instead of their bellies bloating outward like a pregnant human's, they appear to get fatter around the hip/lower abdominal area. If a gorgon is already overweight, it can be hard to tell that she's pregnant at all.

Dramatic hormone changes take place, which cause them to eat more and behave more aggressively. The egg-laying itself is very painful and can take several hours just like a live birth. Depending on the number of eggs and their size, it can cause serious injury up to the point of being fatal in some cases.

As for female cecaelia, they lay a clutch of eggs every 50 years. Their species breeds without contact, so it's up to a male to fertilize this egg clutch after it leaves her body in order to reproduce. So, all female cecaelia basically "give birth" every half-century no matter what. The only things that can interrupt this process are certain herbs or high levels of stress, which causes their bodies to abort the process.

Otherwise, in the months leading up to that 50-year mark, female cecaelia begin to bloat up similar to gorgons as the egg clutch expands in their wombs. They can get quite large depending on how many eggs are in the clutch. Usually it's anywhere from 2-5, but in rare cases they have been known to pass up to 7-8 eggs. Cecaelia eggs are quite a bit smaller than gorgon eggs, but there tends to be more of them and these eggs have a thick jelly-filled membrane around them called a "clutch" which makes them all stick together. These clutches can be physically traumatic to pass due to their size. The actual egg-laying is similar to a human giving birth--it's something the cecaelia needs to take a day off for because it's painful and time-consuming. Luckily their regenerative powers help them heal quickly afterwards, so egg-laying never fatal for this species as it can sometimes be for gorgons.

As for these species' opinions on live births and breastfeeding, I guess it would really boil down to the individual. I'm sure some think it's weird or disgusting, some find it fascinating, and maybe some are jealous of it.

Sovereign, for example, finds these concepts repulsive and uses it as one more reason to call Terrians inferior to Aquarians, since almost all Terrians are mammals. Meanwhile his brother Mr. Ocean, also a cecaelia, finds it all very interesting and wonderous. So that's proof that everyone can have their own opinion about it regardless of their species.

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Questions/Comments?

Absolutely! While World Athenaeum researchers can never prove *why* Gaia designed different peoples the way She did, they can find evidence to support their theories, and this is a very good one.

This was also addressed in this article, but female roshava can breastfeed with both sets of breasts. Since their chance of birthing twins is over 90%, I think extra milk production would be very beneficial to them.

As for male roshava having double pectorals, well, in nature males are technically a "mutation" of females. So they have an extra set of pecs and arms for the same reason male humans have nipples, I guess.

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Questions/Comments?