Debunking My Piranha Plants Are Reptiles Hypothesis
So for awhile I had a hypothesis that Piranha Plants are not actually plants but reptiles, and I have seen other people hypothesize this as well. But this hypothesis of mine is wrong, and I'm going to well debunk it.
So my hypothesis goes that Piranha Plants aren't plants but reptiles because they have skeletons like animals as evidenced by the existence of Bone Piranha Plants and they have teeth. Alongside they have tongues, and some like Peewee Piranha and Dino Piranha have scales. Finally there is the fact that several Piranha Plants hatch from eggs such as Peewee Piranha, Dino Piranha, Mom Piranha, and the Piranha Eggs/Pods.
Now, why are they not reptiles. Well similar to how we can't say the Chaos Emeralds are quartz because our emeralds don't look like that, we can't really call Piranha Plants reptiles. In other words we can't force our world's logic onto Mario's world which abides by different logic.
So Piranha Plants are plants, and this is a fact made very clear quite often. For example, the Piranha Plant description from the Super Mario Bros. section of the Encyclopedia which refers to them as "man eating plants." Which is also found in the Super Mario Bros. manual. Now aside from the name Piranha Plant, you have plants that are their relatives such as the Lava Lotus. Meanwhile Nipper Plants are young Piranha Plants.
Am interesting thing to note is Piranha Plants have also been called flowers in Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach. This piece of media while not canon seems to parallel the games and give us insight on how Spinys work, or the fact the Mario Bros. are Twins. Among other things.
Now the flower thing is interesting because it seems to be the intentions of the games. Piranha Plants are depicted with plant and flower-like traits. Petey Piranha has flower petals. Then many Piranha Plants have thorns, vines, and leaves that the Piranha Plants are made of. Some actually have multiple leaves with the movie continuity emphasizing these traits.
Finally using the Goombario's tattle on the Lava Piranha Goombario uses terms such as buds, flowers, and plant to refer to the Lava Piranha. "Lava buds are little flowers branching out from the main stem of the Lava Piranha. They love it in the lava. Hey, if you were a fiery plant, you'd love it in there, too."......
So yeah Piranha Plants are indeed meant to be plants in the Mario world, and not reptiles. Written by Eris the LoreKeeper
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