What are Randall's fronds for?

[tmazanec1]

What do they do? Are they decorations, like a pearichard's tail? Weapons, like a deer's antlers? Sensory organs, like a moth's antennae? Why would a lizard have such growths?

[pitbulllady]

Nov 13, 2012 12:26:51 GMT -5 tmazanec1 said:

What do they do? Are they decorations, like a pearichard's tail? Weapons, like a deer's antlers? Sensory organs, like a moth's antennae? Why would a lizard have such growths?

We have actually had many discussions on this topic.
No, they would not be sensory organs. Moths literally smell with their antennae, especially males, who use them to pinpoint the females' pheromones. No vertebrate(and Randall is most definitely a vertebrate)would have such a feature. They aren't weapons, either, since they are obviously soft and fleshy; besides, why would he need weapons like that when he's got a mouthful of ivory steak knives and can knock an opponent the size of James P. Sullivan around with his tail like a piece of paper? Randall's fronds probably serve more than one purpose, including a means of cooling off(think of the large ears on desert mammals) via evaporative cooling, something we see in the movie when he wets them down with water in the bathroom. They also seem to be a barometer of his moods, as he can raise and lower them, whether knowingly or a reflex. More than likely, though, their main reason for existence is as a secondary male sex characteristic, analogous to a rooster's comb or a lion's mane, something to advertize the fact that he is a mature male. This might or might not make him more attractive to females of his species/race. Some male lizards actually DO have tall, modified scales on their heads and necks, which indicate their gender and age; iguanas come readily to mind, as the males can develop quite impressive "crests" over time, and studies have shown that males with bigger crests tend to mate with more females. Male iguanas will often try to rip off those scales when they fight, rendering an opponent less sexually attractive in the process. While Randall's fronds are fleshy and not made up of or even having scales, I'd wager that their design initially was based on the scales that line top the heads and go down the backs of many lizard species, like the iguana, even though Randall is no more a "lizard" than Sulley is a bear(OR a cat)!
Deer antlers, incidentally, also serve to attract does as much as they serve to intimidate and fight with other bucks. The bigger the antlers, the more does a buck can mate with, because their size and condition indicate HIS overall health and maturity, and nature favors those types of males to sire the next generation.

pitbulllady

[seafoamonster]

Yeah, I would assume they would be for decoration and/or a cooling system.

[randallsnape7]

To me, Randall's fronds obviously make him a cuter monster than he would have been otherwise! They look sweet on top of his head! Don't you think?