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The red-eared slider, introduced to the United Kingdom during the Holocene ... common throughout the UK (and the rest of western Europe after man's demise), this aquatic turtle was poised to evolve into large herbivores when it reached Platonia.

Skip birds

 

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Alauprincepidae

Common name: skip birds

While earning many names, such as alauprincepids and Plato’s larks, this group goes by the more common name of skip birds, so named for their chief method of locomotion.

Larks, the ancestor of the skip birds, came to Platonia in about 6MYH, just when most of the islands were starting to cool. They were the first to arrive (besides hermit crabs), but Canada geese (introduced to the UK), red-eared sliders, water voles, and otters soon followed (otters arriving in about 9MYH).

In the three million years before the arrival of the otters, larks became partially flightless, due to the absence of predators. To get around, the larks evolved longer feet and toes, allowing them to skip across the ground, reminding researchers of a very cheap imitation of kangaroos.

Soon, the male larks evolved colorful plumage, varying between species, and both genders evolved a brightly colored “crown”. This was little more than tufts of feathers sticking up on their heads, used to identify different species and to keep tabs on each other in the tall grass. True, most often skip birds call to each other in elaborate songs (unique to individual groups), but during the day, when predators are most active, singing is avoided, so the crowns evolved as a noiseless alternative.

Before the evolution of the lutrafelids (the predatory group descended from Eurasian otters that made it to Platonia), skip birds would nest on the ground. Now, about six million years after the otter’s initial arrival, skip birds either roost in the trees or dig small burrows with their feet.

Skip birds usually lay a clutch of about four eggs. Numerous animals love to steal (and eat) a couple of eggs, so the nest is always fiercely guarded, usually by a male but, especially in the larger crab-eating species, females won’t shy away from the task.

Diet varies among the skip birds. A majority are insect eaters (about 65%). Seed eaters come next at 35%. Another 5% is taken by the crab-eating species. The remaining 5% is a strange scavenging variety, tearing little chunks off of carcasses lutrafelids haven’t bothered to finish. In fact, one species of this variety goes so far as to impersonate another species of skip bird (an insect eating variety that cleans parasites off of tracholanids) and feed on the blood of its victim.