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| If the Rock Missed: Reboot; My First Project... The Final Remake Version | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 16 2010, 09:02 AM (1,239 Views) | |
| Cephylus | Dec 16 2010, 09:02 AM Post #1 |
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Torando of Terror
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Okay, hopefully you all remeber Alterniverse, a classic no K-T alternative evo project I was doing but froze. The first topic and the second topic is still there, but those are all outdated versions and has no connection to this version. I'm returning to the project, although many ideas were trashed, added or put on hold. I've changed some basic settings for the project, and the general way this project was written will be changed. This project now called <If the Rock Missed> (previously called Alterniverse) has been suffering many changes, and I'm re-booting the entire project. When I first started the project I had almost no knowledge about speculative zoology, so I altered a lot of previous concepts, although some ideas from the previous versions will still be used, and it still has the same theme: no K-T on a large scale. No asteroid. It missed. But there was still a massive extinction; even in the K-T boundary there were the massive volcanic activities from the Deccan Traps, the sudden climatical cooldown which caused a global disaster. While almost all of the great ecosystems of our world 65 millions of years ago were shaken to the core, there were more survivors, including some non-avian dinosaurs. However, even among these survivors, harsh competition insues and through the course of 65 millions of years of evolution and extinction, many lineages saw a dead end while other lineages saw chance for diversification and expansion. Some stuff about this project: - Unlike the previous versions without any sophonts, I have dinosauroids now; or rather, dinosauroids and pterosauroids. In the north, a species of sapient oviraptorosaur hails from the vast rolling steppes of Asia (given that oviraptorosaurs are generally more 'hardy' compared to other dinosaurian carnivores, having adaptability, being able to switch their source of food more easily because of their omnivory). In Africa, a species of sapient flightless azhdarchids hails from the savannahs evolved from stork-like flightless pterosaurs gained hold, colonizing the continent and a few offshore islands like Madagascar; South America saw the rise of unenlagiine sophonts descended from small, omnivorous unenlagiines. I am going to describe their culture and stuff, but mostly at neolithic or early civilization. I may do the modern society too, but just glimpses as I have to re-model everything if I stretch the description of their culture to the 21st century. - Dinosaurs have not fared too well after the wild, ass-kicking course of evolution through the Cenezoic, unlike Specworld. Non-avian dinosaurs, while still one of the dominant clades, have given up a lot of niches to the newly arisen mammals, crocodilians and avian birds, since a lot of those niches were open to exploitation. Many dinosaurs have adapted to the new environments while others, the less fortunate ones, were killed off. * Dromaeosaurs are among the more fortunate lineage, but they've also seen better days, like in the Eocene when the spread of rainforests and tropical climates across the entire globe resulted in the huge success of giant dromaeosaurian ambush predators descended from smallish dromaes like Pyroraptor. Toothed dromaeosaurs fill lynx/caracal/big cat niches. Beaked dromaeosaurs on the other hand, are successful animals and managed to replace most troodonts in Asia and Europe. * Troodonts are still cosmopolitan in Africa and North America, although outcompeted by beaked dromaeosaurs in other places. They had success as carnivores, omnivores and herbivores and now occupy various niches ranging from hyena-like intelligent predators to large savannah grazers. * Oviraptorids are also successful, having displaced many other competitors in various niches. In the carnivore niches, the hardy and adaptable oviraptorids replaced most of the other carnivore clades with the more diverse mammalian carnivores in the North. While most are similar to hyenas, there are also giant pseudo-tyrannosaur oviraptorids similar to bears. A lineage of herbivorous oviraptorids have also enjoyed success as large herbviores after the further dryouts, recede of forests and expansion of forests during the Miocene, along with a few glaciation events which occured in that periods. * Ornithomimids have enjoyed success during the Eocene period in the heavily forested 'Green Earth', successfuly replacing their close relatives the therizinosaurs gone for good. However, during the Eocene-Oligocene maximum thermal event and the Miocene dryouts ornithomimids saw a rapid decline along with forested habitats. However, few still remain today as giant megaherbivores of the Northern steppes and tundras, with a giant waddling omnivore convergent to giant ground sloths in SA. * Amazingly, tyrannosaurs are still here, descended from some basal tyrannosaurs in Late Cretaceous. They enjoyed a brief expansion during the dry climates of the Oligocene, when they took advantage of the climate with some (now extinct) cursorial hardrosaurs, although that brief flourish didn't last long. Today, only a single genus remains and the modern tyrannosaurs are all puny compared to their well-known Meosozoic relatives. They are pack robbers, stealing kills from dromaeosaurian carnivores in groups, with long legs bearing a similarity to the morphology of ostrich legs, and are all heterodont. * Ceratopsians are very successful, common everywhere, ranging from pig or porquipine like critters to massive, mean-spirited omnivores (being omnivorous, they were better able to withstand any extinction events). * The rest of the ornithopods had it rough. They are largely restricted to the Southern Hemisphere. Hardrosaurs are extinct (they were wiped out during the Miocene dryouts and the Pleistocene glaciations), but there are several ornithopods descended from hypsilophodonts, basal marginocephalians and other basal ornithopods looking like pachycephalosaurs or developed scutes to look like stegosaurs or fast-running plains herbivores and various other forms. However, they were also reduced during the Miocene and the Pleistocene and are now restricted to the Southern Hemisphere. * Noasaurids are pretty common, the last of the abelisauroids. They are mostly smallish, filling dangerous jungle animal (ocelots, various leopardus cats, caimans...) roles, but there are large piscivorous forms and some are macropredators and a weird lineage evolved into prosauropod-like forms... But still restricted to the Southern Hemisphere. - Mammals are very successful animals, many having displaced their dinosaurian counterparts which were either killed off or outcompeted in the harsh environments. The most successful lineage, as in our own world, are laurasiatherians, ranging from massive, bear sized scavengers to bulky rhino-sized beasts and smallish cat-like predators. There are also primates and plesiadapids. Primates are mostly located in the New World while plesiadapids have successfuly outcompeted primates in the Old World, and they are all mostly fruigivores and insectivores much like in our own world, except with a more lemurian appearance. There are also some ancient mammal lineages, such as metatherians and multiuberculates. Metatherians have surprisingly adopted a seal-like appearance and are now aquatic predators (in SA metatherians also fill all mammalian carnivore niches and some lemur-like arboreal animal niches) while multiuberculates fill porquipine/ beaver niches in the New World, some attaining huge sizes in SA. Bats are all cimolestan bats, no volaticotheres or anything. - Crocodilians; gosh, do I love those terrestrial crocs. I'm keeping notosuchids and all sebecids, baurusuchids, peirosaurids.... Notosuchids are the most common type of terrestrial crocs, most being dog-sized omnivores but some evolve into gigantic duck-snouted herbivores which replace the extinct hardrosaurs. Notosuchids are also macropredators in Asia, Africa and Europe while surviving peirosaurids and relatives are found in SA and Africa. Eusuchians are also here, with alligatorids being very common in Asia and NA. I'm wondering wether to keep mekosuchines alive or not, but probably I'll keep a few since even some terrestrial ones were alive in our own timeline before humans came to Australia. - Pterosaurs are rather cosmopolitan, with azhdarchids being the most successful clade. They fill stork/crane/heron/vulture/ibis/teratorn/terror bird/hornbill niches, with flightless forms common in SA, Africa and Indochina. Tapejarid-azhdarchid in-between form descendents also exist, with dsungapterids and ornithocheirid-like forms (restricted to Europe) also existing. Nyctosaurs fill albatross/frigate bird niches at sea. - Aquatic reptiles, sadly are mostly extinct... Choristoderes are here, mostly as gharial or metriorhynchid-like forms with a few monitor lizard-like forms here and there, and a terrestrial lineage in Europe. Mosasaurs are on the verge of extinction but still cling on in tropical waters as apex predators, while sharks replaced the mosasaurs mostly in other places. Pliosaurs are all extinct. - Fish; there are giant lungfish in Africa, massive freshwater sarcopytergian filling freshwater predator niches; (giant pikes and nile perches), paddlefish and filter-feeding sharks (along with some gigantic manta ray-type rays) are the largest animals on the oceans, which replaces the baleen whales of our world. Sharks are also very successful, fast, deadly oceanic predators ranging from enormous, great white shark-like predators to group-hunting, intelligent and fast swimming dolphin analogues. There are also fast-swimming, powerful marlin relatives hunting large prey, only fearing giant sharks. I'm working on this project, working on a habitat and the creatures which inhabit it instead of going by clades like Spec. Spoiler: click to toggle
Edited by Cephylus, Dec 16 2010, 09:10 AM.
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| dialforthedevil | Dec 16 2010, 10:07 AM Post #2 |
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Very nice I love the ornithomimid ground sloths it makes a change from the usual therizinosaurs. Also what animals inhabit the poles mammals or some species of dinosaur as well? |
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| Cephylus | Dec 17 2010, 03:10 AM Post #3 |
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Torando of Terror
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In the North Pole, a gigantic beaked dromaeosaur with a beak similar to (see Steller's Sea Eagle) and a massive slashing claw attatched to its forepaws fill polar bear niches; powerful hunters eating everything from berries to giant arctic sharks bigger than themselves, but their favorite prey are the seal-metatherians; the predator waits next to the 'breathing holes' and then slashes its prey when it comes up to breath. The seal-like metatherians are fairly common in both of the poles, mostly looking like sea lions, leopard seals and furred seals, but some look like the earless 'true' seals and some are gigantic sea omnivores analogous to elephant seals. Some have adapted a more 'aquatic' appearance similar to primitive dolphins. Monotremes also went aquatic, and are molluscivores much like walruses. There are also some polar oviraptorids and beaked dromaeosaurs in the North, smallish predators hunting in packs and robbing the larger land predators (such as the 'polar bear dromaeosaur' I mentioned above and tyrannosaur-like oviraptorosaurs). The north pole is also home to wolverine-like mammal predators. Penguins are also present in the South Pole, but they reach larger sizes and some are fearsome sea hunters. But yeah, thanks for the attention!! |
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| dialforthedevil | Dec 17 2010, 04:38 AM Post #4 |
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Thats pretty cool so im guessing no dinosaurs miraculously surviving in the south pole... no cryolophosaurus Ah well giant penguins make up for it
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| Cephylus | Dec 17 2010, 05:04 AM Post #5 |
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Torando of Terror
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Yeah, it would kinda be hard for other dinos to survive in the South Pole. In fact, I doubt fully terrestrial fauna even has a chance in South Pole. I'll get around to writing about the habitats and the animals soon. |
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| Cephylus | Dec 17 2010, 09:57 AM Post #6 |
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Torando of Terror
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Anyone got any questions? |
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| The Dodo | Dec 17 2010, 05:30 PM Post #7 |
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Prime Specimen
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Have you got any plans for Alvarezsaurids or have they gone extinct as well? |
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| dialforthedevil | Dec 17 2010, 06:28 PM Post #8 |
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What about pachycephlasaurs? |
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| Cephylus | Dec 18 2010, 12:29 AM Post #9 |
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Torando of Terror
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Alvarezsaurids are here, as mostly ant/termite eating critters with long, tube-like beaks mostly found in SA. Pachycephalosaurs are extinct; sadly, while they still survived into the Cenezoic, the Pleistocene glaciations killed them off. |
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| dialforthedevil | Dec 18 2010, 06:35 AM Post #10 |
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Aww such a shame... They always seem to be ignored on this site
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| Cephylus | Dec 18 2010, 07:46 AM Post #11 |
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Torando of Terror
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I'm not ignoring them completely I'm replacing pachycephalosaurs with bipedal marginocephalians evolved from basal ceratopsian relatives in the Southern Hemisphere.I just realized I'm including ankylosaurs descended from dwarf ankylosaurs from Cretaceous. Some are going to be wooly, covered in dinofluff while others only have a covering of peach-like fuzz. They are large browsers. |
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| dialforthedevil | Dec 18 2010, 07:59 AM Post #12 |
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Actually you could have maybe a musk ox ankylosaur ? Maybe some very large herding species with maybe dinofluff on the underside? |
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| Cephylus | Dec 18 2010, 08:34 AM Post #13 |
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Torando of Terror
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The musk osk ankylosaur is interesting... Although the North is pretty cold and many dinosaurs would go extinct in the Northern Hemisphere, I think they could survive evolving dinofluff... I have got a few ideas for this project: - Ankylosaurs with broad, duck-like snouts which adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle, feeds mainly on aquatic plants and fill hippo niches in the Southern Hemisphere. - A large bear-like robust scavenging mammalian carnivore (scavenger mainly, but also eats small animals and berries) evolved from wolverine-like ancestors. - Large bear-sized omnivorous Xenarthrans with armor on their backs formed of plates of dermal bone covered in relatively small, overlapping epidermal scales, scutes, composed of bone with a covering of horn. They are omnivores in SA. - A massive robust Plesiadapid found in China, large knuckle-walking omnivores. - Massive omnivorous and rather slow porquipine-like multiuberculate which reach glyptodont sizes and are covered in fearsome quills to defend itself, with a spiny club of a tail for wacking enemies. - Giant predatory lungfish found in Africa, massive animals weighing several hundred killograms. - Large fast-running avimimid descendents found in China, with erectile feathers attatched to their heads used in display. EDIT: Do you think that something like a calicothere could evolve in this world? Edited by Cephylus, Dec 18 2010, 08:46 AM.
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| dialforthedevil | Dec 18 2010, 10:36 AM Post #14 |
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I like the sound of the duck snouted ankylosaurs and the neo-glyptodons. Lung fish sound good as well so what are the main sea creatures then? If most marine reptiles are extinct? What about coelocanths? I guess chalicotheres could evolve especially there are already giant porcupines
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| Cephylus | Dec 18 2010, 08:41 PM Post #15 |
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Torando of Terror
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Well they have a more of a giant sloth-armadillo combined appearnce, but they occupy a similar niche, relying on passive defense with their armor. The armor is far more flexible than a glyptodont's, as they are small overlapping scales rather than a shell. And the porquipines are not rodents, but multituberculates. And yes, sarcopytergians are in abundance here, large freshwater and saltwater carnivores. Sharks replaced pliosaurs and mosasaurs largely, some very intelligent fast pack hunters similar to dolphins, called 'dolpharks'. There are giant filter-feeding paddlefish, rays and sharks as well. Mosasaurs are still here, large apex marine predators, but are restricted to some places in the tropical waters. Any suggestions? Edited by Cephylus, Dec 18 2010, 08:42 PM.
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so im guessing no dinosaurs miraculously surviving in the south pole... no cryolophosaurus
Ah well giant penguins make up for it
I'm replacing pachycephalosaurs with bipedal marginocephalians evolved from basal ceratopsian relatives in the Southern Hemisphere.

1:49 PM Jul 11