| Speculative biology is simultaneously a science and form of art in which one speculates on the possibilities of life and evolution. What could the world look like if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? What could alien lifeforms look like? What kinds of plants and animals might exist in the far future? These questions and more are tackled by speculative biologists, and the Speculative Evolution welcomes all relevant ideas, inquiries, and world-building projects alike. With a member base comprising users from across the world, our community is the largest and longest-running place of gathering for speculative biologists on the web. While unregistered users are able to browse the forum on a basic level, registering an account provides additional forum access not visible to guests as well as the ability to join in discussions and contribute yourself! Registration is free and instantaneous. Join our community today! |
| Strange dinosaur adaptations; Who thinks these are plausible? | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Feb 12 2010, 08:59 AM (8,956 Views) | |
| Margaret Pye | Feb 12 2010, 08:59 AM Post #1 |
|
Adult
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
So, as I said on the introduction thread, I haz a maniraptoran sophont. I've been fleshing out a world for them to live in. And I've been violating the phylogenetic bracket appallingly - in ways that strike me as plausible, but I've been doing it a lot and I wanted some second opinions on the plausibility of some of my critters. I've put fur on a lot of ornithopods, but that doesn't violate the phylogenetic bracket since Tianyulong. (I was writing furry ornithopods before Tianyulong, mind you - how else would Leaellynasaura have avoided freezing into a little hypsilophodont icypole? Especially since it didn't have growth rings in its bones, and therefore probably didn't hibernate.) Things I want criticism and suggestions on, mostly dinosaur-related: Opposable digits. I've been handing out opposable digits like candy, and with blithe disregard for phylogeny (I figured they could evolve repeatedly and independently.) Bipedal browsers get opposable digits with which to hold browse. Most of my small-game hunting coelurosaurs have hands like three-fingered hawk claws. Most of my grazers evolved from browsers, and most of my big-game hunters evolved from small-game hunters. Direct brooding by a lot of ornithopods (I don't know what the ceratopsians and ankylosaurs do, I'll have to figure that out: I think sauropods are extinct, perhaps very recently as a result of sophont activity, and coelurosaurs are the only surviving theropods). No, there's no fossil evidence for it. But it seems enough of an improvement on the megapode model that I'd assume, given enough time, it could evolve. Is this stupid? (The obvious way to get round "It's too heavy to sit on eggs!" is to have them lie next to the eggs rather than on top.) Pouches. I've given a lot of random dinosaurs (again, it seemed a simple enough and useful enough adaptation to evolve repeatedly and independently) some kind of skin pouch in which to incubate their eggs. A lot of the bipeds, including the sophonts, have "saddlebags" either side of the ribcage. Venom. I have a clade of venomous coelurosaurs. In most of them, the venom is quite weak: it's the slashing sharklike teeth that do the real damage, and the vasodilator, anticoagulant venom just makes the wound bleed more so that the prey collapses faster. (Yep, idea stolen direct from Komodo dragon.) I'm thinking about creating some with more powerful venom, and possibly with a fancier venom delivery system than "it's in the spit so it gets all over the teeth." In particular, I was thinking about cheetahs, and I came up with a concept for a Coelophysis-shaped creature adapted for camouflage, stalking and incredible sprinting abilities. Except when it caught up with its prey, instead of wrestling it, it'd bite it once and let go - and the prey would run for another minute or so, then drop dead. External ears. Yes, on dinosaurs. Specifically, on troodonts. Troodonts seem to have had very sensitive hearing, and asymmetrical ears like owls, so it seems reasonable to give them an external sound-focussing device. And yes, I could just give them an owly facial disc of vaned feathers, but external ears didn't seem that improbable. They aren't complex. They're strategically placed flaps of skin, plus a bit of cartilage stiffening and, if you're feeling fancy, some muscle. Asymmetrical external ears, obviously. One pointing up, one sideways. And a non-dinosaurian issue: I want to replace rabbits and hares with bipedal saltorial versions. Do you think I'm better off with wallabies, or with very large jerboas? (I also want some saltorial-biped mammalian predators and omnivores, most of them under 5 kg: they don't have to be related to the kangabunnies, and I don't know whether they're marsupials or rodents either.) |
| My speculative dinosaur project. With lots of fluff, parental care and mammalian-level intelligence, and the odd sophont. | |
![]() |
|
| Replies: | |
|---|---|
| Ook | Jun 23 2010, 10:54 AM Post #166 |
|
not a Transhuman
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
thats true,and sadly,almost all slovakia wolfes are not pure wolfes |
![]() ![]() ![]()
| |
![]() |
|
| Holben | Jun 23 2010, 03:01 PM Post #167 |
![]()
Rumbo a la Victoria
![]()
|
Do they breed with feral dogs there? |
|
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." | |
![]() |
|
| Ook | Jun 23 2010, 03:05 PM Post #168 |
|
not a Transhuman
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
i am not sure,but almost all wolfes have dog in ancestry.Slovakia is paradise for european big carnivores,there is lot of bears,lynxs,wild cats and wolfes,and they migrate to other countries,recently,few wolf packs and some bears migrate to CZ |
![]() ![]() ![]()
| |
![]() |
|
| Ammonite | Jun 24 2010, 12:31 AM Post #169 |
|
Adolescent
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Yes, I assumed a true wolf would not be as vicious toward its superior as that. .....though, maybe it had something to do with the breed of dog that its non-wolf parent was. Some breeds do have more aggressive personalities than others.
That is sad. For all we know, there could no longer be any non-hybridized or "true" wolves in those countries anymore. Not for long, anyway. |
![]() |
|
| Ook | Jun 24 2010, 12:43 AM Post #170 |
|
not a Transhuman
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
they looks like wolf,but they have some dog blood..pure wolfes have big fear from human,you could take pup from his den and parrent more likeli run away than attack you |
![]() ![]() ![]()
| |
![]() |
|
| Holben | Jun 24 2010, 11:09 AM Post #171 |
![]()
Rumbo a la Victoria
![]()
|
The dog genes also introduce colours into the wolf population, like black, brown and streaks. |
|
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." | |
![]() |
|
| Carlos | Jun 29 2010, 04:38 AM Post #172 |
|
Adveho in me Lucifero
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Gray Wolves are not worth preservation effords. Only Indian Wolves and Mexican populations are endangered; the other populations are doing just fine. So what as if they interbreed with dogs, it won't affect their survival potential! Really, people should just get over Canis lupus and help things like the Ethiopian Wolf or anything else that needs help. But no, most people are obsessed with gray wolves. While animals that need help are ignored because "dey r nut so speshul". So, if the extinction of the grey wolf would help in the preservation of other species by making people stop focusing their attention on them, I would totally support it. |
|
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 ![]() | |
![]() |
|
| Ook | Jun 29 2010, 05:38 AM Post #173 |
|
not a Transhuman
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
what will replace their niche? |
![]() ![]() ![]()
| |
![]() |
|
| Carlos | Jun 29 2010, 05:50 AM Post #174 |
|
Adveho in me Lucifero
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Red Wolves. If we can clone thylacines even better. |
|
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 ![]() | |
![]() |
|
| Ook | Jun 29 2010, 05:55 AM Post #175 |
|
not a Transhuman
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
i cant imagine arctic thylacine,or thylacine ranging in carpathia mountains..red wolf is propably subspecies of wolf or coyote - wolf hybrid,so they will be extinct too...wolfes have very important role in ecosystems.. |
![]() ![]() ![]()
| |
![]() |
|
| Holben | Jun 30 2010, 12:52 PM Post #176 |
![]()
Rumbo a la Victoria
![]()
|
Although wolves are useful, there are MANY MANY PEOPLE out there who go on and on and it really changes your view on wolves. Negatively. So keep them but don't bother preserving populations doing well. Oh, and reintroduce them to the cairngorms. |
|
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." | |
![]() |
|
| Ook | Jun 30 2010, 01:11 PM Post #177 |
|
not a Transhuman
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Beskyd Rangers wants to extermiante wolfes,but some people formed ,,wolf watch,, and care that poachers and rangers do not shot wolfes |
![]() ![]() ![]()
| |
![]() |
|
| Holben | Jul 1 2010, 11:38 AM Post #178 |
![]()
Rumbo a la Victoria
![]()
|
I don't want them shot either. Just they can't take all the attention in the world. |
|
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." | |
![]() |
|
| Margaret Pye | Jul 17 2010, 11:36 PM Post #179 |
|
Adult
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
I'm with Holbenilord, thanks (although is there perhaps a role for controlled culling in some areas? They can be terrible agricultural pests.). Really, John, I'd assume everybody on this site knows grey wolves aren't magic sparkly unicorns. Anyway, I've been trying to figure out what species my icarosapients would keep as pets - companions, not livestock. I wanted them to have domesticated companion species. And cat or dog analogues just don't work. Dogs were initially domesticated by humans to help with hunting, using their faster running and better sense of smell. Icarosapients are too lupine themselves to want lupine help - there's nothing another species of wolf-analogue could do that they can't. They can run as fast or faster, long-distance, than any other large predator. And while their sense of smell is a bit pathetic, none of the other large predators can smell any better (except the miniature tyrannosaurs... hmm, maybe I should contemplate domestic tyrannosaurs in canine-type roles.) And cats are mainly useful for keeping rodents out of grain stores - icarosapients are too carnivorous to have grain stores. However, icarosapients would definitely have a use for weasel-like creatures (probably oviparous non-therians, just for a change) to flush small prey out of burrows. And I've been seriously considering having them domesticate some kind of social hawk (probably a made-up species). Not just falconry, but actually domesticating the birds and keeping them as pets as well as hunting companions, and probably coming up with a few other purposes for them. Who thinks that's a good idea, and who thinks it sounds too sparkly and Speshul? They'd probably think of the hunting birds as near-human and call them "little sisters" or something. A big, powerful broad-winged hawk - Aquila-style - would be the most useful, being able to single-clawedly disable large prey. If I do that, I need to fit the wild ones into an ecosystem. They'd be quite substantial predators! |
| My speculative dinosaur project. With lots of fluff, parental care and mammalian-level intelligence, and the odd sophont. | |
![]() |
|
| The Dodo | Jul 18 2010, 12:50 AM Post #180 |
|
Prime Specimen
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
A cat analogue could work to keep the settlements clear of pests which feed on the meat. Are the hawks Neornithes like in HE? |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Alternative Evolution · Next Topic » |













1:53 PM Jul 11