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The Future of the Kinds (revamp); expanding TFIB
Topic Started: May 12 2010, 07:21 PM (1,388 Views)
Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Finally settled on a way to present my future evo ideas, of which there are many.

I had a series of stories going on here a while ago called "The Future of the Kinds". They concerned themselves with RECON (a top-secret government organization) exploratory efforts into various futures of Earth.

I liked the series. It's nowhere near done, but I personally didn't like the way the stories described the creatures. Sure they were life-like descriptions and I liked the creatures I came up with. But an actual project system will help get my ideas across better and faster.




So I've chosen a few possible futures I'd like to expand upon. Note: in all scenarios, humans are extinct.

  • The Rapture - for some mysterious reason, humans just disappear. No extinctions. Humans just vanish from the face of the Earth in a split second. What will life look like in 10MYF?
  • Land of Ice - the Earth whips back into a new ice age, just slightly fiercer than the Pleistocene ice age. What will life look like in 10MYF?
  • Land of Fire - the current climate change becomes irrevesible. Ice cap melting happens so slowly that the ocean currents don't flip, which would cause a new ice age. Instead, the Earth warms. What will life look like in 10MYF (note: this is TFIB basically)?
  • Shooting Gallery - another asteroid, the same size as the K-T asteroid, strikes the Earth. Ironically, the same thing that brought mammals into dominance brings us out. Now, competing for dominance of the world, are surviving rodents, birds, squamates, crocs, and testudines (yes, you heard right). What would life look like in 30MYF?
  • Repeat the Past - the same conditions that caused the P-Tr extinction happen again. All areas of life are devastated. What will survive and what will life look like in 50MYF?
  • Life Support - Earth's oxygen levels rise to Carboniferous levels once again. This allows arthropods to grow larger and forests to expand. What will life look like in 30MYF?






I plan to ask for a subforum for this just to keep everything organized. Anyway, I will first begin in Northern Australia. I've got creatures for "Land of Fire" pretty much planned out, so the other ones are my main focus.

I will try to keep an average of five species per location per future. Though there is a strong possibility I will return to the area to explain some biodiversity and there is also a strong possibility that more than five organisms will be presented. It varies.





And yes, I will update this. I'm not going to do pictures for this thing. I think trying to do those is what caused my other projects to crash and burn. I will accept fan art, but, for my part, I will only focus on straight write ups.
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Pando
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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Is this replacing TFIB or are you doing both?

My ideas:
The Rapture: I expect it to be very similar to how it was before, only difference is the megafauna. If we disappear today. Not if it's 10, or 20, or 30 years from today.
Land of Ice: Woolly boars replace mammoths.
Land of Fire: A lot more reptiles and birds. Lots of swamps will allow more crocodile diversity.

That's all.
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Yeah, I'm incorporating TFIB into this. So in essence, it's adding components to TFIB.



The Rapture: I'd have to agree with you. Not much will change because of human's disappearence at this very moment.

Land of Ice: Great minds think alike I guess. Suids do seem to be the best candidates for replacing proboscideans, rhinos, or hippos that we currently have.

Land of Fire: More bird diversity, yes. And some croc and lizard diversity. But mammals will still dominate IMO. It's just slightly warmer than our time. 6 degre
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Pando
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If the world were to get 6 degrees hotter and be moist (only if it's moist) then mammals cannot survive as big creatures. 6 hour exposure to it brings your body to critical.
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Actually, it gets drier in non-coastal areas. Like in the center of Oz, China, Africa, Brazil, and central North America.
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Pando
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So what project are you doing first?

And do you have an image for Dynamic Projects BETA? And also for TFIB?
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Well, this is in essence TFIB expanded. So basically, they're synonyms.

Actually, I was thinking of putting them all in one big megapost. Good luck sifting through it all!

I'll come up with an image tonight. I'll be sure to post it tomorrow.
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Pando
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Why not just doing 1 scenario every day or so and let us comment on it, instead of just shifting through it?
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Might be a good idea. In that case, I'll just go in order. Rapture first, then Land of Ice, then Land of Fire, and so on.
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The Dodo
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Prime Specimen
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Good to see this back up. I see you got rid of a lot of the scenerios such as the Run to Race one.
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

"To Run the Race". I liked that scenario, but there was too much of a lack of biodiversity to do any serious speculating IMO.
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Pando
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The Life Support scenario would be cool for coconut crabs as they already have a half-lung half-gill structure. But only cool if the Earth somehow lost a lot of mass so they can grow big.
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Ook
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i like repeat the past...strange world with new big reptiles coexisted with mammals
Posted ImagePosted ImagePosted ImagePosted Image
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Pando: nope. Same mass. Largest any land arthropod will get is the size of a medium-sized golden retriever, which is achieved by a Chinese variety of cockroach.

Though, undoubtedly, coconut crabs would fare rather well.





Bexi: actually, mammals aren't major players in the "To Repeat the Past" scenario. As seen in the real P-Tr, anything with a mammalian respiratory system suffered majorly, leaving very very very very few species left. True, the synapsids (among this group) did achieve some diversity after P-Tr before being outcompeted by the dinosaurs, but their diversity had dwindled significantly.

If P-Tr happened again, I'd expect only rats to survive from the current level of mammalian diversity. With the existence of birds (which, due to their respiratory system, would fare rather well) and because crocs usually always take over after an extinction (if only for a little while), I expect mammals to not be major contenders after the new P-Tr. Crocs and birds seem the major contenders to me.
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Pando
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Rodents won't be the only mammals remaining. There are shrews, tenrecs, hedgehogs, antechinus, etc... which can all survive.

Just because crocs survived 2 extinctions doesn't mean that they will survive a 3rd. That's why crocs go extinct in the 90 MYF extinction in the Postozoic.

If the coconut crab were to survive (I'm not sure it will) it might give rodents a run for their money. Though their speed might not help.
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