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| Idea for a Sci-fi story; Squirrels evolve on colony planet | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 17 2010, 01:29 AM (1,299 Views) | |
| cre8ivmind | Mar 17 2010, 01:29 AM Post #1 |
Zygote
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I have this awesome idea for a sci-fi story. Here goes: The earth is heavily polluted, so several colony ships go out to colonize the galaxy. Each ship has several hundred people, and a plethora of animal and plant species, sorta like Noah's Ark. One of these ships reaches it's destination but is accidentally flung 40 million years into the planet's past. Even though Earth isn't exactly the best planet to live on at the moment, there are still people there monitoring the colony ships. When they noticed that one of the ships had mysteriously disappeared, they sent out a reconnaisance (sp.?) ship to investigate. When they arrived, they found the planet to be lush and teaming with animals and plants -- evolved earth animals and plants. One species was intelligent, and called themselves the Eesk-Nret. They had evolved from one of the animal species on the colony ship: the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris). I'd also like to know if there is already any science fiction novels out there with a similar theme, to make sure I'm not copying anyone else's ideas. |
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| cre8ivmind | Apr 16 2010, 01:25 PM Post #16 |
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Zygote
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Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still around, but haven't posted in a while. I haven't gotten too much into detail on the gender politics of the Eesk-Nret, but that will develop as my plot idea develops. I have changed the storyline a little, but not majorly. There is a mineral called mnemosite, which was discovered by humans in the 2080's on Saturn's moon Enceladus. It has proved very useful in computer systems. The Persephone, the ship that went back in time 40 million years, had some on board. During the course of Eesk-Nret evolution, mnemosite had an important impact on the evolution of their memory. The Eesk-Nret have memories that are so advanced, that when they encountered humans (from the ship that stayed in the present time), they were surprised that the humans are often forgetful despite having such advanced technology. |
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| Pando | Apr 16 2010, 01:29 PM Post #17 |
Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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So their brain is like an elephants, except more advanced? |
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| Temporary | Apr 16 2010, 03:30 PM Post #18 |
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Transhuman
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Well, not really. Lemurs are female dominant, so are some monkey species. In fact, I have no idea when males became dominant in our chain, except the evolutionary advantages of the male there to protect the female during the pregnancy. If these Srekt-Nerat (I doubt I spelled that right, but I don't want to look it up) never had a long pregnancy during evolution, the females being dominant does seem pretty likely. No more likely than male dominance, but no less. If the females had to protect their offspring from predators before high social functions evolved, it makes even more sense. Were the Red Squirrels the colonists' pets? I just have that feeling they were domesticated before arriving there (and I think Red Squirrels would make better pets, so it makes sense). |
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| cre8ivmind | Apr 16 2010, 09:54 PM Post #19 |
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Zygote
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Yes. However, I think that not all intelligent species in the universe will evolve brains with the same balance of intellectual capabilities. Some may have more advanced memories than others but are simpler when it comes to technological abilities. |
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| cre8ivmind | Apr 16 2010, 09:59 PM Post #20 |
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Zygote
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Red squirrels were among dozens of animal species on the Persephone. Some red squirrels may have been pets, as I've heard of them as pets. Most of them have been released into the newly terraformed environment on the planet. I have a general, but unofficial, list of animal species that were on the planet, and evolved along side the squirrels/Eesk-Nret, but never made it to their level of intelligence. |
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| Pando | Apr 16 2010, 10:05 PM Post #21 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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Of course they wouldn't get the intelligence of them. Intelligence is rare, so I doubt that multiple species would evolve it, at least at the same time. And for the list, do you mean the land tetrapods? |
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| Margaret Pye | Apr 21 2010, 04:18 AM Post #22 |
Adult
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All Old World monkeys and apes are male-dominated, though, so I'd assume it's a primitive feature for that branch of the tree. And on that branch, humans and gibbons are the only ones to form long-term mating bonds. Almost always, when a species has bigger and tougher males than females, it's an adaptation for male-male competition over females. |
| My speculative dinosaur project. With lots of fluff, parental care and mammalian-level intelligence, and the odd sophont. | |
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| Space Gorilla | Apr 28 2010, 01:56 AM Post #23 |
Primate Thinker
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What about whales, dolphins, elephants or big cats like the lions? I have read some interesting predictions concerning these animals and future evolution. (I would have added the ravens, but you already mentioned them so ... :P) |
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| Holben | Apr 28 2010, 02:29 PM Post #24 |
Rumbo a la Victoria
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Whales aren't going to change too much. Lions, if they recover, will probably become better adapted for running and work better as a group- possibly brain enlargement. |
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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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| Margaret Pye | Apr 29 2010, 04:37 AM Post #25 |
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Adult
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Lions? What would they use for manipulation? Why would they become adapted for better running when they're already such good ambush predators, and when Crocuta has the running niche covered? Maybe if hyaenas went extinct (seems unlikely that lions would outlast hyaenas, hyaenas are way more generalised and durable, and even then it'd probably be simpler to enlarge Lycaon - which is unlikely to outlast Crocuta either - or even a jackal... jackals could outlast hyaenas easily, exterminating jackals requires nuclear weapons...) I can certainly see better teamwork, and some rise in intellect for that purpose. But I'd assume that for "civilisation", tool use is necessary. Give it a few thousand years for the elephant, hippopotamus and rhinoceros populations to recover, and then maybe lions can start evolving sabre teeth? |
| My speculative dinosaur project. With lots of fluff, parental care and mammalian-level intelligence, and the odd sophont. | |
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