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| Project Nostalgia; and loe, TFIB is back in business | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 30 2010, 06:42 PM (3,341 Views) | |
| Canis Lupis | Mar 30 2010, 06:42 PM Post #1 |
Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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First off, I would like to say that I will continue to do the "The Future of the Kinds" multi-project. So that's not dead. Anyway, I was surfing through the official competitions forum yesterday when I came across the "Project of the Month: #1" topic. It was held in the first year I was on this forum and from the first year the forum was active. Anyway, when the contest ended, my "The Future is Bizarre" project (the first project I had ever actually done and that started by speculative "career") had only one vote and Saxophlutist's "Europa" project won with three votes. However, when I checked back yesterday, I discovered that my project had garnered five votes beating everyone else's project by at least two. Then along came Pandorasaurus. His "25 MYF" project was, according to him, inspired by my TFIB project. Needless to say, I am feeling slightly nostalgic. TFIB is a part of my "The Future of the Kinds" multi-project. But since it was the first project I ever had and I have a soft spot for it, I would like to take a deeper look at it. Expand on it, if you will. And make it better now that I know more about zoology, future evolution, ancient evolution, evolution in general, and speculative biology in general. So I shall take up the mantle once again and journey back a couple of years to when this idea was first conceived. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Over the years, I have become more of a fan of near-future evolution projects. Projects that take place anywhere from 1000 years from now to 50 million years from now. That said, I shall really only focus on what happens 10 million years into the TFIB universe. Unlike the first time I delved into the TFIB universe, I will take into account zoo animals and introduced animals. So when you see wallabies in Europe, don't be surprised. I've done some research, and apparently 15 million year ago, atmospheric CO2 concentrations were as high as they are today. So obviously, in a future in which the polar ice caps completely melt and humans are wiped out (or left the planet, but I honestly don't care so long as they are gone), I will be turning to 15 million years ago to see a real life example of how life adapted to a warmer Earth. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now for probably the most essential part to any future evo project: the extinction list, letting the reader know who's still around and who's gone. I will not post a survivor list. If a creature does not appear on the extinction list, it is in there. That said, the global warming extinction event affected mostly the chordates. About half of the world's coral species died out and one fourth of the world's sponge species died out, but that’s about it for the invertebrates. And of the chordates, only tetrapods are really affected. Anurans, those frogs and toads we see hopping around today, are hit hard by the human era and global warming. As we may all know, the widespread pollution in the modern ecosystem has caused sever genetic abnormalities in many species of anuran. With humanity persisting for another century, I‘ve got a feeling that these anurans will become extinct (with the exception of one or two relict species). As far as reptiles go, sea turtles appear to be the most vulnerable and they are the most likely reptilian group to die out. Now sure: some reptile species will die out, such as the Chinese alligator and the gavials. However, sea turtles are the only group in which ALL species will go extinct. As far as Reptilia goes that is. Birds are next on the list. Now the extinctions get more lucrative. For this class, Antarctic penguins are wiped out (though penguins around the world remain for the most part), as are cassowaries, kiwis, and some tinamous. The kakapo is one of the few parrot species that goes extinct. Other less noteworthy, but nonetheless important, avian extinctions include the trogons, lyrebirds, wattlebirds, birds of paradise, and bowerbirds, among a number of individual species extinctions. Last, but certainly the most devastated animal groups, are the mammals. As the ruling class in the Holocene, it seems fitting that they’d experience the most extinctions. As far as monotremes go, only the long-beaked echidna goes extinct, leaving the platypuses and the short-beaked echidna. When it comes to the marsupials, it would be easier to sum up who survives. These survivors include the macropods, quolls, wombats, opossums, numbats, and bandicoots. Placental mammals experience the loss of solenodons, the scandents (tree shrews), dermopterans (colugos), the great apes (including humans and gibbons), lemurs, various New World monkeys, big cats (save jaguars and leopards), toy dogs, various species of bear (excluding the black bear), cheetahs, walruses, all cetaceans (except for the delphinids), sirenians, proboscideans, rhinos, Asian tapirs, giraffids, hippos, the pikas. As well as some individual species extinctions, these are all the creatures that go extinct in the Holocene extinction event. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So what will arise out of the extinction, the death, and the decay? What groups are poised to take over this brave new world? That will come later. Shortly. Within a day or two. Just be patient: I’ll get to my first family here soon. As soon as I can figure out what family to do first. Anyway, enjoy it. I know I will as I ride the never-ending wave of nostalgia. |
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| Ook | Apr 22 2010, 01:58 AM Post #46 |
not a Transhuman
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impossible  and please check australian rodents,there are more species ,than you know or think
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| Pando | Apr 22 2010, 02:05 AM Post #47 |
Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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Marsupials can still overtake them. After all, allotheres once held the niche. Now rodents do. Marsupials can take the rodent niche over from rodents. Australian marsupial rodent-like List: Possums Hare Walalbies (might go extinct) Quokkas (might go extinct) Pademelons Nail-Tail Wallabies Potoroos Wombats And with a change from insectivorous to herbivorous diet: Bandicoots Bilbies (might go extinct) Antechinus American Marsupials with rodent niches: Opossums Monito del Monte American marsupials that with a change from insectivorous to herbivorous diet: Shrew opossums As you see, no shortage of marsupials
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| Ook | Apr 22 2010, 03:24 AM Post #48 |
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not a Transhuman
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rodents are to succesfull and you think that they stole niches of rodents in america too? 
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| Holben | Apr 22 2010, 02:44 PM Post #49 |
Rumbo a la Victoria
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Rats get everywhere. On the extermination ships sent over, rats would be dropped off. And once they're there, they can reproduce almost invisibly before having too many individuals for a single poison to work on them. |
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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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| Canis Lupis | Apr 25 2010, 08:27 PM Post #50 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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Oh, rats will undoubtedly be a part of future Australian fauna. However, like Pando, I am of the mind that marsupials will take most rodent niches from the rodents. Yes, rodents are successful. But, just because they're successful, it doesn't mean they'll take all the major niches. Dinos were highly successful but they didn't take all the major niches after K-T (BTW, I'm including birds as dinos, since that is technically what they are). Even just a few million years ago, at the time of the Great Continental Interchange, the native (and successful) marsupials and large birds were outcompeted by placentals from North America. BTW, Bexi, rabbits aren't rodents. That's probably what you're thinking of. Rabbits are lagomorphs, not rodents. It's a common mistake to make. And beavers, like Pando said, are herbivores. You're thinking of raccoons. And Pando is also right. There are numerous examples of marsupials taking over rodent niches even in places where rodents exist. I'll try to get a full creature description for each creature I've planned so far (for 15MYF Australian rainforest, that is) AND more. Stay tuned.
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| OmegaBeaver | Jul 7 2010, 08:10 PM Post #51 |
Adolescent
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I'm really liking this, and would love to see those descriptions. This isnt dead yet...right Canis? 
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| irbaboon | Jul 7 2010, 09:05 PM Post #52 |
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Adolescent
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So how do you see dingos evolving in this future Australia? |
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| Canis Lupis | Jul 7 2010, 09:09 PM Post #53 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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Frankly, I don't really see dingos changing much. A few different species, sure. But the same basic bodyplan will probably still be there. Maybe one that is hyena-like, but I'm debating between having it be a marsupial (I'll probably make it a dingo descendent though. I just come up with cool ideas, then eliminate them later).
Not in the least. I won't let it happen. Though the Australia part is dead for now. I've been preoccupied by some other location. In fact, I'm going to pull an all nighter tonight to get the descriptions for this location up. So, if you see a double post, don't deride me. |
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| OmegaBeaver | Jul 7 2010, 09:44 PM Post #54 |
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Adolescent
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Yay! |
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| Canis Lupis | Jul 8 2010, 12:51 AM Post #55 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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So: description time. For a non-Australian biome.
Like I said, you will hear more about these guys soon. Tomorrow, definitely. I'm just too tiered to continue speculating. Anyway, if there is a particular group you want to know more about than the rest, just let me know. I will tell about them all, in one post. But I need an order. If you want to know more about, let's say, the lutrafelids, it will go at the top of the list. |
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| The Dodo | Jul 8 2010, 02:29 AM Post #56 |
Prime Specimen
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Wasn't there something like this in one of your older projects? I remember skip-birds and a aboreal tortoise. |
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| Canis Lupis | Jul 8 2010, 10:47 AM Post #57 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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Yeah, it was in an old incarnation. But I recently thought back to it and wanted to do it better. So, this time, no arboreal turtles. First off, no reason for them to evolve. Second off, any turtle that would make it to the islands would have to be semi-aquatic. Third off, any turtle that would be arboreal would have to be flexible (meaning soft-shelled). There are no turtles in Europe that are soft-shelled. And the most common turtle in Europe is the red-eared slider. So that's the ancestor of the tracholanids. Edited by Canis Lupis, Jul 8 2010, 08:14 PM.
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| Ook | Jul 8 2010, 10:56 AM Post #58 |
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not a Transhuman
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there is more common turtles than non native red eared slider and in many places red eared sliders easily survive winters,but they cant reproduce here
Edited by Ook, Jul 8 2010, 10:57 AM.
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| Canis Lupis | Jul 8 2010, 11:07 AM Post #59 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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I was more looking at the common turtles in the western half of Europe. More specifically, if it exists in Portugal, Spain, or the UK, I considered it to evolve into something on the island. Since the red-eared sliders were outcompeting turtles native to that region, and since the reasons they were were conditions that would lead to high diversity in an island ecosystem, I selected them over others. |
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| Ook | Jul 8 2010, 12:28 PM Post #60 |
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not a Transhuman
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they re not outcompeting native turtles |
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