Writing: Input Wanted Exploring Morphing Powers in Kepler Bb: Wilderness Survival Grade

[caters]

In my Kepler Bb story, some of the humanoids that go to school, in fact a lot of them, have some kind of morphing power.

Here is an example of what a typical grade in Wilderness Survival class(which is weighted especially on females since when they are looking for a husband they either stay with their relatives until they find one, or they survive in the wilderness) would be like:

Day 1:

Mentor: Okay, before we go out into the wilderness let's see if any of you have morphing powers.

(Students morphing)

Student 1: I have shark power.

Student 2: I have venomous snake power.

Student 3: I have gecko power.

Student 4: I have otter power.

Student 5: I have bird power.

Student 6: I have turtle power.

Student 7: I have crocodile power.

etc.

Mentor: Okay, those will all have their place. As for the ones without morphing powers you have a slight disadvantage. However if you have other powers like IR vision, heat resistance, and cold resistance you are still likely to survive.

1 year later

Mentor: You have done such a great job that I am leaving you here until next year. Next year I will pick you up and grade you. Anybody who gets a grade lower than B- has to either leave the class or learn more until they get at least a B-

1 year later

The students have kept track of what they did at what times.

Mentor: Time to pick you up and grade you.

(Mentor grading)

Mentor: Crocodile man, you have done a great job, A+. Gecko girl B-, etc.

Now I know these names may sound like comic book names, but really they are just nicknames for the students.

Now I know that morphing requires a lot of energy. The ones that would require the most energy I think would be shark and crocodile.

So what would a humanoid do before morphing? Fill its stomach to maximum capacity and wait for the big meal to be digested?

 

[newjerseyrunner]

Do you want these creatures to literally change species, or just mimic them? How deep of a level or morphing are you talking about? DNA mutation like the Xenomorphs form alien? Reconfiguration like a butterfly? Or just a superficial thing like the Mimic octopus?

DNA mutation I'm not sure would ever work even on a theoretical level on macro animals.
Reconfiguration would probably take several weeks of gestation, it'd have to eat like a bear before hybernation, it probably would have evolved as a response to a cyclical variable like the seasons.
Mimicry would be as natural to them as it is the the octopus, and they probably wouldn't need to do anything special, they would have evolved it for defense, hunting, or mating, all of which require the ability to turn it on and off quickly. Mating would probably be best for your species, since it wouldn't be as natural to them, having only developing the ability during puberty.