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K-T to the present.; Do Mammals need cosmic intervention?
Topic Started: Dec 28 2009, 04:49 PM (2,512 Views)
ATEK Azul
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Transhuman
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This topic while not a project is for the discussion of a scenario where the Meteor missed and the Dinosaurs survived farther than 65 million years ago.

I know you've heard this scenario a bunch, but heres the twist the point of this topic is to have a world where Mammals realisticly out compete the Dinosaurs by the present day without celestial impacts or sapient species.

Other than the normal restrictions of Mammal evolution like the Amount of vertebrae they can have, there are no restrictions.

Also I'm not posting the things I have thought up until the Topic gets some posts so if you want my ideas, please post comments, questions and contributions.

Also have a nice descussion!
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

With bird and pterosaur competition? Maybe nocturnal forms.
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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ATEK Azul
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Possible because Bats make very good night flyers I'm just worried that one of the old Bird groups or Pterosaurs might also be well suited to to their niches.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

Maybe, but echo-location would give bats or their analogues a perhaps decisive advantage. We know bats had a primitive from of echo-location during the Eocene.
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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ATEK Azul
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That's true I hadn't thought about echolocation which if evolved could give a major advantage.

Also could Bats out compete Pterosaurs?
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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Carlos
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No, because pterosaurs were much more well adapted to flight.

Also, I think bats wouldn't evolve, simply because, according to some fossil remains, volaticitheres appearently were still around in the late Cretaceous, implying that they might had developed flight. Even if they had already they would anyway
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http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

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Scrublord
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so it's mammal-croc-and-pterosaur world, then?
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ATEK Azul
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Apparrently it is. Though I would prefer if the Dinosaurs are mostly wiped out by Mammals and Enviromental change.

Also how would Volaticotheres fly?

Also since there are so many more Birds in this world should we have Volaticotheres and Pterosaurs out compete some(or all) of them?
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Carlos
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Yes, both volaticotheres and pterosaurs could replace several bird clades
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

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

My Patreon:

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Ddraig Goch
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Quote:
 
Also why wouldn't Cetaceans(or analoges) evolve? They would have quite an advantage in the colder waters of the Ice Ages.



The ancestors of cetaceans were animals such as Ambulocetus, which filled a crocodile niche. Also, the first whales, such as Basilosaurus, lived in warm waters, and were carnivorous, which would place them in direct competition with the Mesozoic marine reptiles.
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Holben
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But the first whales thrived at a time of fluctuating ocean nutrients, so the largestanimals wouldn'[t survive from the marine reptiles. Cetaceans didn't stay Basilosaurus (or Zeuglodon) sized for long.
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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Ddraig Goch
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But still, I think this all means that without KT, cetaceans wouldn't have evolved.
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Holben
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Maybe.

I also think sea cows and seals merely took marine reptile niches- perhaps they would only arise in the north?
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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Ddraig Goch
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But, surely, marine reptiles are better placed to take those niches? So, it boils down to which takes the least amount of time; for mammals to take to the oceans, or for marine reptiles to become warm-blooded?
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Holben
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Sorry- i meant, marine reptiles KEEP the niches in the tropics, and seal analogues take them at the poles.
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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Ddraig Goch
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I know, that's why I mentioned marine reptiles evolving "warm blood", because they are probably in a better position to fill the niche at the poles than the land-based mammals are.
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