[Updated 10/24/2025]
Science fiction is rarely as inventive as our natural world. For example:
Science fiction is rarely as inventive as our natural world. For example:
 | The Eastern Emerald Elysia sea slug ingests chloroplasts from algae. After a single meal, they're able to consistently process these chloroplasts independently and use them for photosynthesis like any plant. This beautiful leaf-shaped creature lives in shallow pools off the Atlantic coast of North America. Their preferred habitat is shallow tidal marshes and pools with water less than 1.5 feet deep. They are shy, flat, and between 1 and 2 inches long. |
Another plant-animal hybrid is the leaf sheep, a sea slug that also consumes algae and sequesters chloroplasts, enabling them to perform photosynthesis—turn sunlight into energy—like a plant.
 | “Even in the absence of active photosynthesis, chloroplasts provide a nutrient storage or ‘larder’ that facilitates the survival of the slug without food for an extended period of time.” They use the leaf-like “horns” covering their bodies to digest and store food; these leaf-horns also help with respiration. In addition to giving leaf sheep an energy boost, the chloroplasts “also provide protection, giving the leaf sheep a green color and chemical defenses against predators. |
 | Like miniature sheep, they spend their time grazing a seaweed called Avrainvillea, a “paddle-shaped seaweed with a velvety texture.” They’re tiny creatures: “growing to a maximum length of seven or eight millimeters upon adulthood and living between six months and a year. [Also] leaf sheep are hermaphrodites (having both male and female reproductive organs) and must mate with another individual to produce an egg mass. The eggs hatch into shelled larvae that spend a week or two in the plankton. Then, they discard their shells and begin their life as a small slug.” |
Their heads are topped with two rhinophores [horns], which act as scent and taste receptors. ”
Leaf sheep inhabit tropical waters near Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
Leaf sheep inhabit tropical waters near Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
What if humans encountered an alien race of plant-animal hybrids, mobile humanoids dependent on photosynthesis, or plants with predatory characteristics. The possibilities are endless . . .
Read an example of sentient forests: The Word for World is Forest
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