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| Avalonian Fauna | |
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| Topic Started: Oct 6 2009, 11:32 AM (5,269 Views) | |
| VulcanTrekkie45 | Oct 6 2009, 11:32 AM Post #1 |
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Hey everyone. I was hoping you guys could give me a hand. I'm in the middle of a project on another forum called Avalonia Alone, in which Avalonia didn't break up into New England and Western Europe as it did in our world. I've got a general idea for climate, which you'll find in the thread. But I was hoping that you could give me a hand with some of the animals native to the island. My guess is it'd be dominated by multituberculates, with some creatures that are descendants of the last common ancestor of placentals and marsupials. But I'd live some more specifics. If you'd like to help me out, that'd be awesome. Also, if any of you are good artists, I'd love drawings as well. |
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| The Dodo | Jan 14 2010, 06:35 PM Post #121 |
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I have an idea for a species of mutlituberculates that takes up the wood-pecker niche, or at least some of it since there would probably be wood-peckers there. It looks for insects under the bark of trees in a similar way to the Aye-aye and striped possum. It has a long middle finger which it uses to tap on the bark to find grubs, then it chews a hole in the bark to extract the grub. Other than grubs it would also eat things like nuts and fungi. |
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| VulcanTrekkie45 | Jan 14 2010, 10:08 PM Post #122 |
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Hmm, I like that. Maybe they can call that the acabefada. |
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| The Dodo | Jan 15 2010, 12:30 AM Post #123 |
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They would probably also have specialized teeth for stripping away bark. Do you think woodpeckers would cause problems or if the animal evolves first it could stay? |
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| Holben | Jan 15 2010, 01:43 PM Post #124 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Maybe woodpeckers didn't reach this island? I don't think an animal like that could arise with woodpecker competition. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| VulcanTrekkie45 | Jan 15 2010, 02:59 PM Post #125 |
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I think mayer it would arise early in Avalonia's history, or at least a forerunner of it. As soon at the K-T event takes place, they might start evolving to fill that niche. That right there would give them several million at least to specialise to fill the niche. Then, when the woodpeckers arrive, if they arrive, the acabefada species might outcompete the woodpeckers. Speaking of birds, where do you guys stand on terror birds? Did they ever exist in Avalonia, and would any of them survive to the present day? |
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| Carlos | Jan 15 2010, 03:06 PM Post #126 |
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Adveho in me Lucifero
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Depends, actually. I suppose that, if there were native flightless predatory birds, they would be unrelated to the south american phorosrhacids, though a clade that evolved from the seriema relatives of Eocene Europe could occur |
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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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| Holben | Jan 16 2010, 09:06 AM Post #127 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Seeing as Avalonia is a large mountainous island, i think giant flightless birds could be there. Not phosphuracids, as they arose in isolated south america. I don't think Avalonian terrors would grow too big, and i think they may just be outcompeted in the dominant predator niche. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| VulcanTrekkie45 | Jan 16 2010, 01:56 PM Post #128 |
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Ah, I see. So a smaller version of a terrorbird, possibly now isolated on one or more of the outlying islands perhaps? Though many of the species might not survive on Avalonia, I think if the terrorbirds are somehow isolated on outlying islands, they might just make it to the present day. |
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| Holben | Jan 16 2010, 02:06 PM Post #129 |
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Yes, much more likely. They could feed off your multituberculates, if you like. A spine-crunching blow from the beak- a lot of muscle can be anchored in there. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| VulcanTrekkie45 | Jan 19 2010, 03:34 PM Post #130 |
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I like that idea. However, it could be a two-way thing. Perhaps multituberculates flourish on one end of Avalonia, seperated by a narrow sea. Terror birds flourish on the other side. That would mean that they would come together eventually in an epic clash, reminiscent of the one that happened on the mainland roundabout the same time. |
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| The Dodo | Jan 19 2010, 06:59 PM Post #131 |
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Kind of like the Great American Interchange. How narrow is the sea because some of the carnivores form either end could make their way over the sea maybe by island hoping. |
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| VulcanTrekkie45 | Jan 19 2010, 08:41 PM Post #132 |
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That's the question. It could be in either one or two places. Either it'd cover the Tirategig lowlands, making a rather large sea, or it'd cut off Alinikilot. Not sure which yet. |
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| VulcanTrekkie45 | Jan 24 2010, 03:32 AM Post #133 |
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Bump. If it helps at all, I've created a biome map for Avalonia as it appeared during the last Ice Age. |
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| Holben | Jan 24 2010, 12:36 PM Post #134 |
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Were there many extinctions, or did most of the life survive? |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| VulcanTrekkie45 | Jan 24 2010, 01:47 PM Post #135 |
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Hmm, that's a good question. I'd say it'd be on par with what happened in Europe, roundabout. So a fair few extinctions, but megafauna won't be completely wiped out. Say that there's a small founding population, and they discover agriculture before all these creatures go extinct. |
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