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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 (3,337 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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| Kamidio | Nov 7 2010, 07:29 PM Post #91 |
The Game Master of the SSU:NC
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Yes. |
SSU:NC - Finding a new home. Quotes WAA
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| Canis Lupis | Nov 7 2010, 07:41 PM Post #92 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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No. I'm planning a massive update for it. I've just been focusing on 225MYF in my head so much that I've neglected Platonia. I'll finish it out with a mass update, then move on to 225MYF. |
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| Kamidio | Nov 7 2010, 07:42 PM Post #93 |
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The Game Master of the SSU:NC
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O RLY? |
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SSU:NC - Finding a new home. Quotes WAA
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