The land animals appeared to have six, maybe more, legs. Yet the Na'vis kind do not follow that simple trait. In fact they seemed rather mammalian (ie breasts), if not a genetic human facsimile, with some blue melanin and a long monkeyish tail.
Is this similarity supposed to provide us viewers human brotherhood with the Na'vis? Otherwise who feels sympathy for a cockroach?
It is unusual. However, it is not unheard of. On earth think of snakes. No legs. Dolphins and whales have lost their rear limbs.
Sometimes limbs are lost if they are not actually needed. Perhaps the Na'vi have vestigal limbs within their torsos?
Another possibility, though less likely in my mind, is they are a separate line of evolution than most of the rest of the planet. The compatibility of the mind sharing organs argues against that, but it is vaguely possible.
Of course the practical reason is they didn't want to put two additional limbs on the Na'vi. It could have been doable, especially since they were adding the tails. They likely thought it wouldn't be worth the effort.
Overall, I thought the world building was excellent. The story was weak, but I could live with that given the world.
Yeah, if you blunder around an Earth jungle, you'll see creatures with two, four, six, eight, or zero legs. Or wings in place of a set of legs.
Hey, didnt the big pterodactyl flying things have four extremities - two legs and two wings?
IRRC, they had two sets of wings and two legs. But it has been some time since I've seen the movie so I might not be remembering correctly.
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