The mysterious biology of the Yoshi.

[Kamikaze Koopa]

The title says it all, folks. I think we can all agree that the inner workings of a Yoshi is one of the most mysterious things in the Marioverse.

I'm gonna start out by just naming a few physical traits that a Yoshi embodies, and then we can all take it from there:

Extendable tongue, much like that of a frog or a chameleon, which supports both the ideas of Yoshi being either amphibious or reptilian.

Ridable "saddle", which I've determined is a kind of vestigial shell that was once used for defensive purposes at earlier stages of their evolution (or that will be used in later stages).

Various shades of color, so far completely unrelated to the heritage/breed of the Yoshi. Possibly used for camoflauge in various environments. Whether it is possible for a single Yoshi to change his color is unknown.

Ability to create a pocket of hot air within their abdominal cavity, allowing them short periods of steady levitation when in the air.

Ability to spontaneously generate an empty egg casing, supposedly filling it with volitile secretions that ignite and detonate upon hard physical contact.

Ability to consume seemingly endless amounts of food while not visibly secreting any form of physical waste.

Ability to instantaneously develop a fully functional pair of wings given the correct circumstances.

Ability to produce flames from the mouth given the correct circumstances.

Hmmm, I thought there was more but I can't think of any at the moment. Please, fill me in on anything I've missed.

[Claws]

Kamikaze said:

Ability to create a pocket of hot air within their abdominal cavity, allowing them short periods of steady levitation when in the air.

I think this process is also aided by their ability to rapidly flutter their legs for short intervals; this form of propulsion and the method you mentioned somehow allow them to extend their air time.

Ability to spontaneously generate an empty egg casing, supposedly filling it with volitile secretions that ignite and detonate upon hard physical contact.

They also seem to generate these eggs when they consume creatures of considerable size. They must have some sort of high speed bypass that begins at the throat and ends at the hind to complement their normal digestive system--the function of which is to provide nutrients to the body and expel waste, not to instantly break down and chemically change the thing consumed, encase it in a thin, brittle exterior, and expel it from the body. I also think they have some sort of gastric acid secretion in their mouths--notice how the thing eaten always reduces in size when inside the Yoshi's mouth.

[Kamikaze Koopa]

That's true, I hadn't notice the decrease in size of the eaten objects before.

One idea I had is that the reason a Yoshi doesn't seem to excrete any bodily waste is because it's metabolism is so efficient. It doesn't just take certain things and throw the rest out, it absorbs all the nutrients from the consumed animal/plant.

I've also wondered as to whether or not the "boots" a Yoshi has on it's feet are actually biological or not. I've narrowed it down to three theories: A) They are a kind of calcified "hooves" that evolved to protect the Yoshi's sensitive feet, B) As the Yoshi grows older, it develops a symbiotic relationship with forms of fungus and bacteria which grow around their feet, thus acting as a form of protective footwear for the Yoshi, or C) They are actually boots that are made and worn by the Yoshis. I find theory C very improbable, simply considering the tribal nature of the Yoshi's and they're apparent lack of any form of technology, let alone the tools necessary to make boots.

[Claws]

I think they're probably hooves that greatly resemble boots. Now, about their method of communication. We know they're capable of intelligent speech, but at times they only repeat "Yoshi" and make grunts. Why is this?

[Kamikaze Koopa]

It sounds like a bit of a longshot, but I usually compare the Yoshi language to Chinese. In Chinese, a single sound can mean a number of different things depending on the way it's pronouced. I know for a fact that "father" and "horse" are the exact same word, except pronouced in very slightly different pitches (I can't remember whether that was Mandarin or Cantonese, though). I believe it's the same way with Yoshi speak. The term "Yoshi" can have countless different meanings depending on how it's pronounced; for example yoshi can mean one thing, where as yoshi can mean something completely different. And then you have the various grunts and whines, which I believe serve the purpose of stating the Yoshi's emotions and/or enhancing the their dialogue in some way, much like verbal exclamation points and so on.

[Claws]

Good explanation. I guess that's probably how they communicate among themselves, and then when they need to speak with other species, they speak English.

[Kamikaze Koopa]

If they even know how. I think it's been implied that Mario's Yoshi is the only one that speaks english (check out SMRPG).

[TakuTheSamurai]

Good points

Ability to consume seemingly endless amounts of food while not visibly secreting any form of physical waste.

Technicaly, not true. The egg casings may in fact contain the indigestable remnants of Yoshi's last meal, and yoshi seems to excrete the eggs imediately following ingestion. This, combined with the highly acidic compounds of the yoshi can produce a highly effective fragmentation grenade that the yoshi can throw.

Various shades of color, so far completely unrelated to the heritage/breed of the Yoshi. Possibly used for camoflauge in various environments. Whether it is possible for a single Yoshi to change his color is unknown.

Again, not true. In SMS, the yoshi was able to change his color depending on what types of fruit it ate. For example, a pineapple would change the yoshi's hue to orange.

[Claws]

Yes, but I think that may be the exception. That Yoshi was very unstable--it would die quickly if it didn't have a constant food supply. I don't know if it can be classified as a normal Yoshi. It also completely skipped young Yoshi form (as seen in SMW) when being hatched.

[Kamikaze Koopa]

Thank you for the corrections ^_^. Indeed, Yoshis tend to generate eggs right after eating an enemy, but not always. For example, no eggs were generated in either SMW or SMS. That makes me wonder whether it's a concious act or not.

The matter of the Yoshis changing color is interesting too. Although, the thing about the Yoshis in Sunshine is that I don't think they were completely stable (hence the evaporating in water). What I'm wondering is if maybe the eggs in Sunshine weren't actually eggs so much as creators/summoners. Mario would present the right fruit to the egg and it would spontaneously generate a Yoshi that was seemingly made out of the fruit itself. It sounds really silly, I know, but that's just what occurs to me at the moment. :-\

[Yoshi Master]

Yoshi's can all speak english.

They reproduce asexually. Their all guys, just think of them as Godzilla but cuter and smaller.

They can identify each other by color and smell, hense the big nose. It must contain some neural organ.

They can change color by eating certain juicy fruits. They must eat large amounts of one fruit to change that color, it's not immediate, lets forget the games for a bit. They mix their saliva with the fruit juice to be able to spit out the juice in a long line. After a few hours they return to the color they where born with once the

Yoshi's have a recoil muscle behind their tongues.

The " saddle " is a Koopa shell that Mario rides on, Yoshi's don't wear them just for the heck of it. Plus riding bare back is painful.

When performing the " ground pound " move they don't have to flip. They align there spine with a bone that protects their rear and egg making organs to ensure a safe landing.

Their blood is whatever their skin color is only much darker.

Chemicals is Koopa shells shows Yoshi's mutant like reactions when a Yoshi has one in his mouth. The abilitys differ between the shell and Yoshi color.

They are not all idiots. They make sneakers with whatever materials are available. They've made wooden bridges in Yoshi's village ( Paper Mario. ) They've made their houses including chimneys, and mailboxes. They probably made several of the castles in Yoshi's Island to fend off intruders ( but lost and had the castles taken over. )

They store extra calcium to make eggs. But it doesn't last.

I think that should be good enough.

[Kamikaze Koopa]

Hmmm, some interesting theories. I do agree with the idea that they're asexual. Certain species of frogs and lizards can be hermaphroditic as well.

[Claws]

You have a point. We have been able to see Yoshis acting like intelligent creatures. And I think the Paper Mario games prove they can speak English. Hey, they're as much an organized race as the Koopas are (at least certain groups of them are).

[Kamikaze Koopa]

My take on the whole Yoshis speaking English thing is that they certainly have the physical ability, as demonstrated by our friend Yoshi Yoshi, but they just don't know how. I believe that the reason Mario can understand them in the Paper Mario series is because he learned how from his buddy Yoshi. It seems to me like he would have learned his lesson after SMRPG, when he had to have Yoshi translate everything for him. So then he decided to learn it himself.

[Claws]

That sounds good. I guess after SMRPG the developers just didn't want disclose to us that the Yoshis were actually speaking Yoshi because Mario understood it.

[Yoshi Master]

I don't think Yoshi's have their own language. They all speak english, why do you guys always have to degrade Yoshi's IQ. That hurts you know.

[Claws]

Not knowing English doesn't degrade a person's IQ. Are Spaniards somehow lesser intellectually if they don't know English? No, they have their own language, and they can learn English if they wish. I think it's the same case with the Yoshis.

[Kamikaze Koopa]

Too be perfectly honest, I don't see why the Yoshis would know English. So far, all the locations where Yoshis are found are tropical islands where there's little to no contact with any other races. So if they evolved on their own, with no known intervention of other societies, then why would they develop the same language that everybody else has?

Actually, now that I think if it, it's even a little bit odd for all the other societies to all speak English as well.

[Yoshi Master]

Humans are in the Mushroom World. Some of them might speak english. There are cave men on Dinoaur Land. ( as based on the SMW series ) Mario may have taught them english, there are many many differnt ways to introduce english to the Mushroom World.

All the Yoshi's speak english anyway, I know.
Lets compromise, how about the Koopa's have their own language? All dark and evil sounding? You know that sounds cooler than Yoshi's talking in some giberish.

[Kamikaze Koopa]

lol Well, I certainly did make this site so people can express their own opinions.

As for the Koopas having their own language, I'm not so sure. On the other hand, it might just be that both Koopa languages and Mushroom languages are common enough to be spoken and understood by everyone while still being different. I might throw in the argument that since they've been interacting with each other for so long that they might all speak English, however, Spain and France have been interacting for centuries and they both speak different languages (as similar as they may be).

I'll leave that one up to you guys. My thoughts: Yoshi's have their own language, very probable that all other races speak the same languages (at least to an extent).