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Terra Avis; and yet another project
Topic Started: Jan 8 2009, 05:03 PM (2,052 Views)
Carlos
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In addition to Terra Alternativa (not finished yet) and to WIW (also not finished), I present you another of my twisted alternate worlds. This one is almost finished; I just need to present individual species/clades.

The following is an "introduction", if you wish:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terra Avis (Terra=Earth, Avis=Bird) is my speculation of how a world dominated by birds would look like. It diverged from our world in the K-T boundary, after the disappearence of dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and non-neornithe birds. Mammals survived, but there are no true marsupials nor placentals, just basal therians, monotremates and the flying volaticotheres; none of these groups achieved dominance over the terrestrial megafauna niches, though monotremates (and some otter like therians) gave rise to quite large aquatic forms and volaticotheres occur in most landmasses; shrew and mustelid like therians occur in the northern landmasses. Reptiles like crocodiles, tortoises and some big lizards and tuataras did produced large forms, but, just like on our Earth, they are also limitated. Instead, it were neornithes, the pioners of archosaur success, that, in terms of diversity, species count and biomass, became the ultimate rulers of the world.

On land, the vast forests and grasslands are inhabited by huge flocks of fast, flightless grazers and browsers. Ratites, during the Paleogene, took most of these niches; ostriches were dominant in Eurasia, but afterwards they lost ground for invaders from Africa and North America: large, flightless galliformes and gruiformes respectively. Today, however, ostriches still are common, with 9 species in Eurasia and Africa and 3 in the Americas. Rheas were dominant in South America for most of the Cenezoic, but the Great Faunal Interchange caused their demise, with now as much as 3/4 species, barely more than in our world. In Oz, cassuwaries, isolated from the other landmasses, still remain the dominant omnivores, though emus were largely replaced by anseranatids; kiwis also occur outside of New Zealand, having produced "avian echidnas" (whereas monotremates produced mole like forms, which birds never did). Flying paleognaths still exist as well, besides the obvious tinamous, there's also rail, shorebird and mesite like lithornids (none of these are present on present Terra Avis).

Galloanseres, composed of Anseriformes and Galliformes, which proved to be very adaptable on our world, achieved major roles in megafaunal niches. Pheasants took the niches in our world occupied by pigs and large rodents in Eurasia (in the Americas they were taken by turkeys, curassows and tinamous, and in Oz by megapodes), while peafowl relatives became antilope analogues in Africa and southern Eurasia; guinea fowl produced both mountain dweelers and a bird's answer to a black rhino (convergently similar to the Australian cassuwaries). Anseriformes, besides familiar waterfowl, large browsers and grazers; South America has giant screamers as the main browsers, nearly all continents have large flightless geese browsing and grazing, and Oz has dromornids; there's also some waterfowl that became fligthless divers, the avian analogues of manatees and dugongs. Oz also has fast running, grazing relatives of the magpie goose. On islands like Madagascar and New Zealand, ratites are the main browsers, but waterfowl are the main grazers.

In the seas, the absence of sea mammals (aside from beaked whale like monotremates and leopard seal like therians in the poles) allowed birds to diversify, though they never produced fully marine forms, since they still need to lay eggs. Penguins and plotopterids are the dolphins and seals of Terra Avis, with cormorants, loons and auks as smaller fish hunters. In the absence of baleen whales pelicans and swanmingoes (derived flamingoes that resemble swans) taking the main filter feeding niches; while they haven't produced flightless forms, they are still huge, the biggest reaching 8 meters of wingspan. Gannets and boobies are also more diverse than on our Earth, and so are tropicbirds (there's no frigate birds on Terra Avis).

The predatory niches are occupied by Acciptriformes and Strigiformes; owls produced flightless, cat like forms, while large eagles similar to the Haast's eagle occur all over the world, and flightless relatives of the secretary bird dominate the plains of Eurasia and Africa; a similar niche is occupied by phorusrhacids in the Americas. Bear and hyena analogues are either flightless vultures or New World vultures, with caracaras, herons/storks and ravens being small oportunists.

Mousebirds are common arboreal birds, the squirrels of TA, while hoatzins have produced "sloth birds". Parrots take similar niches to those of primates; ironically, though, they haven't produced a grassland dweeling form akin to hominids. That niche was taken by ground hornbills, which might produce a future sophont
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

Terra Alternativa:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/

My Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/Carliro

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Carlos
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It would be as realistic as making them from the neornithes - on other words, not
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

Terra Alternativa:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/

My Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/Carliro

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ATEK Azul
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i think that evolving quadropedal birds from birds with hands is a lot more probable.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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Carlos
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If by hands you mean the typical hand present in non-avian maniraptors then maybe
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

Terra Alternativa:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/

My Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/Carliro

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ATEK Azul
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i mean the archeopterix and enantionithe hands which where only slightly different from raptor hands.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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Carlos
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Archeopteryx hands were; enantiornithe ones were like those of modern birds
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

Terra Alternativa:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/

My Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/Carliro

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ashwinder
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Wow some great ideas, I like the sloth-bird particularly, would be great to see some images... You mention parrots being analogous to primates in your world but what of corvids such as blackbirds and magpies? I've always been fascinated by the evolutionary possibilities of the so-called feathered-apes, their intellect and tool-use might make them even more able than parrots to fill a primate like niche.

Also any ideas about egg-laying for your aquatic avians?
Edited by ashwinder, Mar 5 2009, 06:36 PM.
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Carlos
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I was thinking of corvids as racoon/civet analogues though. I was, however, considering having hornbills as ape analogues

Regarding egg laying, all sea birds still return to land to lay their eggs, though penguins and plotopterids likely have either pouches or very precocial young
Edited by Carlos, Mar 6 2009, 02:54 AM.
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

Terra Alternativa:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/

My Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/Carliro

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ashwinder
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Hornbills as apes, interesting. Any reason for chosing them in particular?
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Carlos
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Other than the fact that Darren Naish suggested that ground hornbills could be regarded as the archosaurian answer to hominids, no
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

Terra Alternativa:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/

My Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/Carliro

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Venatosaurus
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Although many say this world would be monotonous and boring, thinking about again, this world could be quite interesting. Imagine the crests, quills, wattles these animals could develop. Look at peafowl, or pheasents, or the california condor. They are beautiful animals. It's possible that after I am done with Squamozoic, I may dive into this along with you Faa.



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Carlos
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Thanks. I indeed have some plans for this, but, as you know, I have many things to write. Among them are a promised text to criticise you-know-what, a movie script (yes, I'm that insane) and some new entries for Project Biosyn
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

Terra Alternativa:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/

My Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/Carliro

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Venatosaurus
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Oh don't worry I have a while until Squamo is done, I have to write a new essay, come up with new ideas (like one of an old world arboreal skink family, called Lamindermids, that have pangolin-like scales on their back), and try to come to an agreement with Metalraptor. Biosyn is awesome, I love your entries and how the animals are so unique ! If you want pm your plans for Terra Avis, and I can do a bit of side work with it (I'm a multi-tasker,read write eat, watch tv at the same time, text,talk with friends, eat...you get the drift :D ) ;)



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Exogenesis
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JohnFaa
Jan 8 2009, 05:03 PM
In addition to Terra Alternativa (not finished yet) and to WIW (also not finished), I present you another of my twisted alternate worlds. This one is almost finished; I just need to present individual species/clades.

The following is an "introduction", if you wish:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terra Avis (Terra=Earth, Avis=Bird) is my speculation of how a world dominated by birds would look like. It diverged from our world in the K-T boundary, after the disappearence of dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and non-neornithe birds. Mammals survived, but there are no true marsupials nor placentals, just basal therians, monotremates and the flying volaticotheres; none of these groups achieved dominance over the terrestrial megafauna niches, though monotremates (and some otter like therians) gave rise to quite large aquatic forms and volaticotheres occur in most landmasses; shrew and mustelid like therians occur in the northern landmasses. Reptiles like crocodiles, tortoises and some big lizards and tuataras did produced large forms, but, just like on our Earth, they are also limitated. Instead, it were neornithes, the pioners of archosaur success, that, in terms of diversity, species count and biomass, became the ultimate rulers of the world.

On land, the vast forests and grasslands are inhabited by huge flocks of fast, flightless grazers and browsers. Ratites, during the Paleogene, took most of these niches; ostriches were dominant in Eurasia, but afterwards they lost ground for invaders from Africa and North America: large, flightless galliformes and gruiformes respectively. Today, however, ostriches still are common, with 9 species in Eurasia and Africa and 3 in the Americas. Rheas were dominant in South America for most of the Cenezoic, but the Great Faunal Interchange caused their demise, with now as much as 3/4 species, barely more than in our world. In Oz, cassuwaries, isolated from the other landmasses, still remain the dominant omnivores, though emus were largely replaced by anseranatids; kiwis also occur outside of New Zealand, having produced "avian echidnas" (whereas monotremates produced mole like forms, which birds never did). Flying paleognaths still exist as well, besides the obvious tinamous, there's also rail, shorebird and mesite like lithornids (none of these are present on present Terra Avis).

Galloanseres, composed of Anseriformes and Galliformes, which proved to be very adaptable on our world, achieved major roles in megafaunal niches. Pheasants took the niches in our world occupied by pigs and large rodents in Eurasia (in the Americas they were taken by turkeys, curassows and tinamous, and in Oz by megapodes), while peafowl relatives became antilope analogues in Africa and southern Eurasia; guinea fowl produced both mountain dweelers and a bird's answer to a black rhino (convergently similar to the Australian cassuwaries). Anseriformes, besides familiar waterfowl, large browsers and grazers; South America has giant screamers as the main browsers, nearly all continents have large flightless geese browsing and grazing, and Oz has dromornids; there's also some waterfowl that became fligthless divers, the avian analogues of manatees and dugongs. Oz also has fast running, grazing relatives of the magpie goose. On islands like Madagascar and New Zealand, ratites are the main browsers, but waterfowl are the main grazers.

In the seas, the absence of sea mammals (aside from beaked whale like monotremates and leopard seal like therians in the poles) allowed birds to diversify, though they never produced fully marine forms, since they still need to lay eggs. Penguins and plotopterids are the dolphins and seals of Terra Avis, with cormorants, loons and auks as smaller fish hunters. In the absence of baleen whales pelicans and swanmingoes (derived flamingoes that resemble swans) taking the main filter feeding niches; while they haven't produced flightless forms, they are still huge, the biggest reaching 8 meters of wingspan. Gannets and boobies are also more diverse than on our Earth, and so are tropicbirds (there's no frigate birds on Terra Avis).

The predatory niches are occupied by Acciptriformes and Strigiformes; owls produced flightless, cat like forms, while large eagles similar to the Haast's eagle occur all over the world, and flightless relatives of the secretary bird dominate the plains of Eurasia and Africa; a similar niche is occupied by phorusrhacids in the Americas. Bear and hyena analogues are either flightless vultures or New World vultures, with caracaras, herons/storks and ravens being small oportunists.

Mousebirds are common arboreal birds, the squirrels of TA, while hoatzins have produced "sloth birds". Parrots take similar niches to those of primates; ironically, though, they haven't produced a grassland dweeling form akin to hominids. That niche was taken by ground hornbills, which might produce a future sophont
Cool concept you have! What about shrikes? I could see them becoming more diverse, prehaps they could become mustelid/herpestid equivalents in this project? In my 'New eden Project', I have shrikes evolving into hawk/accipiter analogues, called habroks and parrothawks. I'll have to post those when I get a chance.
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Carlos
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Shirkes, as passerines, seem quite recent a group for significant presence
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

Terra Alternativa:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/

My Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/Carliro

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Margaret Pye
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This does sound fun - are you ever planning to go back to it?

Because I'm annoying: Surely once you have a bird that walks on all fours - even an incredibly slow, clumsy one - you have the potential for birds that walk well on all fours? Now, if you don't want to explore that potential because you find Bipedal Bird World more aesthetically pleasing, fair enough. But it seems to be there.

This suggests another possible way to evolve quadrupedal birds - from birds that used her wings to push shrubbery out of their way. The actual animal in the link may be cooler than it is plausible, but the concept makes sense to me.
My speculative dinosaur project. With lots of fluff, parental care and mammalian-level intelligence, and the odd sophont.
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