Land of Living Lithovorous Rocks

[madd0ct0r]

depends - big pits might fill up with sand quite quickly - I like your sand ants.

Lesses - the oceans would be deadly places for the general rocks, since even in shallow water the sunlight drops off so quickly. Pumice floats, but I'm not sure what a floating pumice pebble would eat for food.

Can soft rocks eat harder rocks?

[SMJB]

Here's my question: when a rock of one type eats a rock of a different type, does the material its absorbing transmute into it's type, or does it become a mixed-type rock as it grows?

[madd0ct0r]

been thinking over this a little more.

assuming rocks need to 'charge up' before moving - this gives small rocks advantages in the early morning and evening - they can start moving on lesser quantities of sunlight.
We might see a trend towards smaller rocks near the poles and giant mountians at the equator - perhaps some species migrate south as they grow bigger? That could cause some problems where south turns out to be sea - imagine the toe of italy filled with the biggest rocks generated in germany in a brutal competition for the sunniest spots.

Depending on how shape flexible rocks are, we might see stegosaurus type plates emerge to catch the early morning sun.
Another strategy might be to become a very large flat rock - starving your prey beneath you and soaking up as much sunshine as you can get early on. I can't help but imagine the thin edge of this type of rock might be vulnerable to predators.
Maybe one subspeices would lift itself up on huge pillar legs to limit the amount of material a smaller predator can reach. The hunt becomes a dance between the small one trying to seize a leg and the tall one looking to standover it, drop down and seal its prey in darkness.

perhaps we'd see the equivilent of lizard tails? a rock that can drop crippled portions of itself to distract predators while the main escapes.

on the sea front, the best idea I can come up with is rather like a waterlily - a large sun gathering float of pumice, and a set of stalagtites hanging below that can gouge the seabed in shallow water. It very quickly becomes a stationary sort of tree though.