Oddish is a simple Pokémon, but I've decided to start with them because they actually have a scientific name, and it's the only one ever shown in the Pokémon franchise. So to start out we'll look at the scientific name. First off, the scientific Pokémon community appears to use binomial nomenclature just as we in the real(?) world do. Since we are given no other scientific names, the rest is just speculation, but whatever. The first part, Oddium, refers to the basic form of the Pokémon. In this case, Oddish is the basic form of Oddish. The second part, Wanderus, is a characteristic that sets it apart from others of its evolutionary family. This is the first and last time I plan to talk about scientific names.
Oddish is a nocturnal Pokémon. While the Pokédex entries say that it grows from moonlight, that's just not how things work. Moonlight is no different than sunlight other than it's at a much lower intensity. However, it does say that they awake by moonlight to begin walking. This is known as a Circadian rhythm. Oddish is using sensory input to determine what actions to perform based on light intensity. At night, Oddish will wander around. This gives Oddish two advantages:
Poor soil is no longer a problem
Having light blocked by other plants is not a problem
Another interesting thing is that Oddish will "sow its seeds" while walking around, which, by the way, it walks a thousand feet. Assuming a night of 10 hours, that's 100 feet an hour. Using this video of Oddish walking, that’s about 2 steps per minute. Lazy. But to give the lil guy credit, his walk is the equivalent to you taking a step equal in length to your height. Anyway, back to the sowing seeds thing. Assuming these seeds grow into Oddish, this gives Oddish an advantage as well as explain why Oddish only takes two steps a minute. Since Oddish moves between rich soil patches, the soil in between is also likely to be fertile, offering nutrients for O. Wanderus offspring. Also, since it does not describe the seed sowing process, it may be that Oddish will actually plant the seeds, rather than just dropping them on the ground, which explains the slow pace.
Now we'll take a brief look at their daytime behavior. By planting themselves in the ground during the day, they can absorb water and nutrients when they are photosynthesising, producing ample energy for their nightly treks. If they are uprooted during this time, they screech, which harshly lowers the defense of whatever just pulled them out of the ground, scaring away the predator or allowing the Oddish time to escape.
Taking a look at anatomy, Oddish has 5 leaves on its head. This serves as camouflage, as well as providing energy through photosynthesis. These leaves are also prehensile, and could be used for simple object manipulation. Their eyes are small and beady, which would most likely be due to eye protection while underground. They also have foot-like roots, which are used to absorb nutrients from the ground as well as walking. It is said that they become more root-like underground, most likely deploying little root shoots that then retract later.
Finally, just some neat stuff: In Pokémon Adventures, (Johto, I believe), they feature a "moving forest" that turns out to not be a forest at all but rather a bunch of Exeggutor and a massive amount of Oddish. Given that this took place in an area with little plant life, this seems initially to not be a smart move. Any herbivore wandering the area would see it as an oasis, and swarm towards it. However, considering the screaming bit that Oddish does, I realized that this was in fact a great idea. If a predator were to bite into an Oddish, the Oddish would scream. Then ALL THE ODDISH SCREAM. This would most definitely scare away a hungry plant-eating Pokémon. So the Oddish benefit from this grouping. Since there is no plant life around, this benefits the Exeggutor by making the "forest" look more forest-y, giving them a better disguise from carnivorous Pokémon. So the Exeggutor benefit from this grouping. Thus making this one of (hopefully) many mutualistic symbiotic relationships.
So sorry for taking so long in getting this up, hope you enjoy it though. Check out the tl dr; version on my pkmn bio tl dr; blog (link at the side) if its too wordy for you. I am going to be finishing up with the Oddium family, so be on the lookout for that before summer ends. Also, expect the next two (Gloom and Vileplume) to have an extra bit similar to the one about scientific names in this one, as I'm gonna attempt to explain evolution and then later, stone evolution. I might do a post about leveling next, or I might just go ahead and finish up with Oddish.
