Tau: frogs, fish, or camels?

[Wildeybeast]

I also think this is overthinking. The tau are just the tau. Also, ditto that they haven't actually advanced particularly fast. The Mont'au was fought with "primitive firearms," and killed more people from disease than combat, according to the codex - putting it somewhere in the 16th to early 20th century range of human development, at the outside. That war ended in 791.M36. They didn't establish their first extraterrestrial colony until 502.M37, just over 700 years later. That doesn't seem especially impressive. Even if the Mont'au was fought using 16th century technology ... how many people think it's going to take us until the 2200s to establish our first extraterrestrial colony? And remember, the tau were using "conventionally fueled" spacecraft for a full 1,400 years after their first colony was established. I'll be very disappointed in us if we're using the same propulsion technologies in our spacecraft 1,400 years after our first colony, whenever that is.

Exactly. If our entire species had a clear unity of purpose, competent leaders and a densely packed star cluster with plenty of habitable worlds, we'd be miles ahead of the Tau.

[Drunkencorgimaster]

do they come out of their face sphincters?

That's one way to get egg on your face.