It's assumed the Riplings were originally from beyond the skies of Crius, until they crash landed into the Tormek Mountains. How would a creature survive such a catastrophic event? The answer seems to be tied to their incredible shell along their backs. This multi segmented shell is composed of an unknown mineral that is virtually indestructible. Not only is the material incredibly strong it also has the ability to morph its physiology to survive different environmental conditions and harmful elements. When needed the Riplings can even curl up into a ball, with the armor plating completely surrounding their squishy body. When curled in this manner an air tight seal is created which researchers believe is what helped them survive in the vacuum of space before crash landing onto Crius. While the Riplings lack true mouths their main body is semi permeable. This allows them to simply slide across a food source and have it absorb past their skin into their main body. The food source in question seems to be special minerals found within the crater. These minerals keep their armor intact and nurture their photosynthetic abilities. So the Riplings feed their armor which in turn creates photosynthesis to nourish the Ripling itself. The shell's ability to photosynthesis is one theory on how the Riplings survived staying curled in their shells dormant while in space. Many aspects of the Riplings are still a mystery to researchers who struggle to study them in their radioactive environment. Even so samples that were taken of their strange armor plating helped give rise to the shape-shifting Morphi-Menaces, according to the rumors.