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Without Man: The Project
Topic Started: Oct 12 2009, 02:33 PM (4,179 Views)
SIngemeister
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Hive Tyrant of the Essee Swarm

This is the actual project of the speculation topic that Reedstilt originally posted.

This is a world where man never evolved, and so far no other sapient species has achieved dominance. This takes place 7 myh from this current time, 15 my from when homonids are supposed to have evolved at the longest estimate. For the sake of the project, any species that became extinct during this period of time (8mya - Now) that could have been due to man, we shall attribute to man at the highest extent scientifically possible for that creature, so we have more creatures to manipulate. This does of course mean mammoths. For mammoths, DO NOT GO OVERBOARD. They're basically only just clinging on by a piece of course insulating hair. Same applies to Sabertoothed cats, though they are a bit more successful.

Current members of the project
SIngemeister (Australasia/Oceania)
JohnFaa (South America+Malagsy)
El Squibbonator (North America)
The Dodo (Mauritius + Mascarene Islands)
Dialforthedevil (British Isles + Siberia)
Bexi (Continental Europe)

Please feel free to join, though do ask.
Edited by SIngemeister, Sep 2 2010, 01:25 PM.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

Todays megafauna is veeeery small though.
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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Carlos
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Thats because we ate the big ones
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
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Rumbo a la Victoria

Indricotheres? Brontotheres? Even chalicotheres?
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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Carlos
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Chalicotheres maybe, because they got extinct right when Homo sapiens evolved. COINCEDENCE!!!!!!!????????? (Nah, they were declining prior to that...when hominids evolved!)

As for those other big guys, I don't know why the hell the mammalian gigantism of the Oligocene faded in the Miocene, with deinotheres and chalicotheres as the last true giants besides giant sloths, elephants and some rhions and bears. I suppose that, as grasslands replaced forests, the need for hypermegagiganoherbivores declined as everyone opted for grass and for speed instead of massive bulks. Without giant herbivores around, giant carnivores like entelodonts and hyeanodonts couldn't survive anymore, giving way for carnivorans.

But the Cenozoic offers more questions than answers. Why, for example, were only carnivorans the ones to occupy main carnivorous niches among mammals (should we forget about sparassodonts and marsupials), when animals like ungulates could had stepped forward? Why did thylacines faded away as the Pleistocene settled? What was living in Madagascar and New Zealand and New Caledonia before the Pleistocene? THESE ARE QUESTIONS THAT WILL NEVER BE ANSWERED AND I WILL MAKE SURE OF THAT!!!!!!!!!!!1
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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SIngemeister
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Hive Tyrant of the Essee Swarm

Well, there will be thylacines in Oceania, don't worry. As well as Thylacoleos and the giant lizards.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

Giant lizards...

Monitors and komodo dragons are pretty big, but not quite as big as those freaks.
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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SIngemeister
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Hive Tyrant of the Essee Swarm

I don't think they like being called freaks.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

Asked them?

They don't understand what it means, reptilian being far in advance of english.
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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SIngemeister
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Hive Tyrant of the Essee Swarm

No, I'm just guessing
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

Good guess.
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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SIngemeister
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Hive Tyrant of the Essee Swarm

Name: Numakulla, Dragon-lizard
Scientific name: Dracanima Formidolosus (Formidable Dragon Spirit)
Length: Average-7.2 metres, Maximum - 9.1 metres
Height: (shoulders, legs raised): 1.8 metres
Mass: Average - 1,460g, Maximum - 2,280 kg
Lifespan: 20 - 45 years
Prey: Large Marsupials, the occasional large bird or reptile, small animals

Numakulla are the largest terrestrial predator in the world, just outcompeting the giant bears of the Americas. They are the apex predators of Australia, though they do not kill as many animals as Thylacines or Marsupial Lions, due to the fact that they are cold blooded. This also means they are normally slow moving, though they can move in very bursts in order to down prey quickly. Like all varanids, they are venomous, though the toxins of this species are weaker than most due to their other formidable weapons.
They are typical of the giant varanids, large ambush predators. They sneak up to prey, normally a large diprotodont, and lunge once in distance. Normally they aim for the leg. The ferocity and the biteforce of this attack leads some scientists wondering whether they attack because it is in reach or to try and severe a tendon or burst one of the femoral arteries. Their large, hooked teeth are more than capable of piercing the thick hide, but they normally withdraw after this original attack, as being stamped on or kicked by a diprotodont is no laughing matter.
Once the prey dies or is dying, either by poisoning or bloodloss, the Numakulla will attack ferociously, shearing huge chunks of meat off it. Often Thylacines, Marsupial Lions, smaller varanids, terrestrial crocodiles, Devils, Quolls and some species of carnivorous birds often try to scavenge some meat off the carcass. Normally the Numakulla doesn't care.
Despite their ferocity on the hunt, they are surprisingly good mothers, caring for their chicks until they are large enough to hunt by themselves.

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I'll put info up for the girrafe genyornis later.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

Are they like monitors then, or the new zealand giant lizards?
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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SIngemeister
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Hive Tyrant of the Essee Swarm

Monitor lizards.
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SIngemeister
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Name: Wadlow's Giraffe-Bird, Showaddywaddy
Scientific name: Giraffastruthius Wadlowii (Wadlow's Giraffe-Ostrich)
Length: N/A
Height: Average - 5 metres, Maximum - 6.5 metres
Mass: Average - 900 kg, Maximum - 1049 kg
Lifespan: 10 - 36 years
Diet: Fruits, nuts and leaves of most trees, for example the Sydney Bluegum and several Australian Acacia Trees. Also capable of eating and digesting Eucaplyptus leaves to no ill effect, though this does mean some have head scars from angry koalas.

Wadlow's Giraffe-Bird, or Showaddywaddy, as a nod to the tallest man ever and the fact that they occasionally sound disturbing like Sir Jimmy Saville. The tallest, largest and heaviest birds in the world, these beasts are sadly rather rare sights on the Australian plains, as they tend only to prosper in areas with very tall plants, and are at slight disadvantage to the other, not quite as extreme, species of giraffe-bird. All Giraffastruthids show intense monogamy on a level with HE swans, and care for their young for a long time, though out of these, the Wadlow's Giraffe-Bird does so for the longest - a year. They fiercely defend themselvves and their chicks from predators - normally Thylacines and Mekosuchines, as Marsupial Lions and Megalaniids prefer the adults - with powerfful kicks and stamps, not to mention hefty blows from their strong beaks, whicch can shatter bone. If necessary, they can also run very fast for short periods of time.
Edited by SIngemeister, Oct 27 2009, 03:38 PM.
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Carlos
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Chevaliers
(Parvomadagascaroratis spp.)

15 million years from now, Madagascar's huge elephant birds are still present in the island continent of Madagascar, in the form of three or so species of tall browsers. On the mean time, another linage of flightless birds has diversified, producing a large number of species that now occur in the several malagasy ecosystems.

Mesites are an endemic linage of small, terrestrial birds that took fowl niches. Their exact relationships with other birds are unclear, with pigeons and sandgrouse and being their most likely closest relatives. Over the course of the ever changing climate of the last 15 million years these birds have radiated into a number of forms occupying various niches, otherwise taken by Galliformes elsewhere (or by tinamous and trumpeters in South America and terrestrial rails on several islands) as well as forms akin to seriemas/scretary birds and turacos. Perhaps the most charismatic members of their radiation are the large flightless ratite like forms though, the chevaliers.

The earliest chevalier has its fossils dating from about 3 million years after the age in which Homo sapiens would had lived if it had existed at all; said bird appearently was still capable of flight, but its body was already in the shape of its modern counterparts. These birds, in terms of body shape, resemble quite the adzebills of New Zealand, albeit being more cursorial. In proportion to the body size, the wings are still fairly big for flightless bird standards, albeit obviously too small to carry them in the air; they are used as display devices, as well as to help the animal to steer when running. There are about 5 chevalier species, distributed across Madagascar.

The Pygmy Chevalier (P. minor) is about as big as a wild turkey, and thus the smallest of this clade. It occurs in the dense rainforests forests of northern Madagascar; coloured black with a bright red head, little is known about it. The Western Swamp Chevalier (P. ranavalonasi) is a bird 1.4 tall bird that occurs in the swamps of the west. It has a dark green upperside, with a yellow underside with black dots; while the beak is black, the legs are bright blue. Its toes are quite long, allowing it to wade efficiently on the shallows. An omnivore, it feeds on both vegetation and any small animals that fit on its beak; eggs of other birds are taken easily. It is seasonally monogamous, forming couples that last for a breeding season. The nest is a floating pile of rooting vegetation, which is quite large; indeed, the largest floating platform ever made by birds. The Common Swamp Chevalier (P. cuvieri), having a more widespread distribution, is quite similar, though it occurs in drier habitats too. Its slightly larger, and has a different colour pattern, similar to that of the brown mesite.

The highlands have the biggest of the Chevalier species, the Cloudbird (P. orodromeus), about as big as an ostrich. It has a dark blue (bordering on black) colouration, with a greenish blue throat, an ornage beak and pink legs. It forms family groups, composed of the couple plus the older offspring, which only leave the family at the age of sexual maturity at 4. This way, the chicks are protected very efficiently against predators, which at high altitudes are mostly large birds of prey and giant fossas. It occurs in a wide variety of environments, from alpine grasslands to cloud forests; it often shares its habitat with the Mountain Elephant Bird (Mullerornis bicolor). The most common species of Chevalier (aside from the Common Swamp Chevalier) is the Silverhead (P. argentumcephalus), a black coloured bird, with a silver coloured upperhead, a brown throat and amber beak and legs. Slightly smaller than the Cloudbird, it occurs in most of the lowland ecosystems of Madagascar except for wetlands; they are generally solitary, but males form harems during the mating season. The females of the flock all lay their eggs on a single nest, leaving the male to raise the chicks
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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