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X World; A world of very unusual proportions
Topic Started: Apr 24 2011, 02:09 PM (1,111 Views)
Forbiddenparadise64
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Hi guys, I guess now is the time, since my earlier Alternative evolution products failed, to start anew. Since there have been some really cool projects recently such as Infinite Chances and Strange World, with multiple divergence points, I have decided to follow suite. The history of this world will be explained as followed:

Hadean to early carboniferous (4500-323 million BC): Same as the real world.

Carboniferous-Early Permian ((330-280 million BC): Here the first change occurs. In the real world, this is the time when synapsids and sauropsids split, and the evolution of more advanced groups of arthropods occurs. In this world however, the sauropsids never exist, and neither do more advanced arachnids such as spiders and terrestrial scorpions. A third difference is that the carboniferous conditions continue for another 10 million years, and oxygen levels even reach a little higher, before the decline at the end of the era, being more prominent. In the absence of reptiles and large amphibians, the synapsids begin a great phase of diversification, particularly pelycosaurs, filling in the niches of the various groups of reptile that never existed.

Permian (280-251 million BC: Just as in our world, the therapsids evolve and start to drive pelycosaurs out of dominance. However, due to the absence of reptiles, and more recently, the extinction of all but 2 groups of amphibian, the pelycosaurs remain a strong and secure group. They manage to develop various clades including monitor and iguana analogues, and also evolving many gliding and even swimming forms. The therapsids in this world are more diverse, and achieve larger sizes as well, including elephantine relatives of moschops. Later in the Permian, a group of synapsids seemingly on the border between pelycosaurs and therapsids even develop proper flight, known as the avitherians, and with it evolve air sacs in their lungs, in this world a first, and unique wings which have 2 wing fingers, 3 free fingers and are covered in hair. They only evolve in the last 10 million years of the Permian, and so only a few dozen mostly generalised species are around by the time the Permian extinction hits, which is good in many ways. The niches by the end of the Permian have Dycinodonts as the dominant herbivores, ranging from rat to rhino sizes, the last dinocephalians, driven into extreme niches like gigantomoschops, the biggest synapsid so far, being 10m long and weighing 8 tonnes, as well as iguana like pelycosaurs, being preyed upon by gorgonopsids, therocephalians, early cynodonts and a unique group of avitherians similar to hawks and small eagles. In the seas, the sharks are quite successful, evolving into various strange creatures, including forms bigger than the biggest whale sharks, and pinniposaurs, an aquatic pelycosaur lineage similar to mesosaurs and nothosaurs which dominate coasts and rivers around Pangea. The Permian mass extinction hits and wipes out a massive number of species, including dinocephalians, gorgonopsians, most pelycosaur diversity and a lot of therocephalians too. In the sea it is even more severe than in real life, wiping out all non shark cartilanegeous fish, trilobites, eurypterids, conodonts, gastropods, echinoderms and non vertebrate chordates. But hope still exists in this strange world.

Triassic (251-208 million BC): Now this world starts to come onto its own. A few generalised avitherians did survive the extinction, and begin a rapid phase of diversification into various empty niches, and secure a threshold over the insects as dominant fliers. With completion now gone, therocephalians and cynodonts take the position of apex predators without competition, and the dycinodonts and pelycosaurs take over herbivore positions, and without competition from archosaurs or lepidosaurs, come to dominate the land. Even amphibians make a comeback, despite being reduced to just one group, and are taking some former pelycosaur niches, including crocodile like ambush predators. In the oceans, a single pinniposaur species survived, similar in size and lifestyle to a sea otter, but only ever coming on land to lay eggs, and with so little competition available, immediately begins a conquest of the oceans that will go on for milions of years. Over time, they evolve along the lines of ichthyosaurs and sauropterians into a new group, piscitheria, and come to be supreme predators. On land, the largest creatures ever to walk the Earth soon appear, and gigantic venomous therocephalians, and wolf and crocodile like cynodonts appear, accompanied in the air by eagle like avitheres, become top dogs. Meanwhile cynodonts evolve into mammaliforms, which are much more diverse than in our world and start outcompeting insectivorous pelycosaurs, with the exception of avitheria. The Triassic extinction is less severe than in our world too, allowing some more groups to make it through to the modern world, including labrinthodonts and some invertebrate groups.

Jurrassic (207-140 million BC): In our world, this is the time when the age of dinosaurs and other reptiles such as pterosaurs, crocodilians and the various marine reptiles ushered. But none of these groups ever existed here, and instead others take their place instead. In the absence of archosaur or lepidosaur competition, the synapsids are easily able to make through. While the large bulky dycinodonts of old perished, the smaller, more agile species, resembling quadrapedal hypsolophodonts survived, even including prosauropod like creatures, and spread across the planet. Over millions of years, true titans formed, and due to high oxygen levels, became gigantic beasts reaching heigths unparalleled by previous fauna. The largest jurrassic forms were synapods (sauropod like beasts) which grew similar in size to creatures such as brachiosaurus and seismosaurus, and in isolated habitats grew bigger still . Some groups of plants like glysoptersis from the Permian survived in this world alongside newer plants and make the flora of this world even richer and more spectacular. The Therocephalians evolved into a new group, the Therogorgons and took over the roles of top predator, including huge predators on a similar scale to allosaurus and tyrannosaurus. They also had sabre teeth, up to 40cm long in the biggest species, and lived on every continent. The cynodonts also took a grab at theropod niches, taking the forms of maniraptors and notosuchians, mainly fast and agile pack hunters, with opposable thumb claws, but also including pig like omnivores and even a few herbivorous groups. Mammaliformes gave way to true mammals, and these were much more diverse than in reality, dividing niches that in RL would be lepidosaurian between themselves and the avitherians, and in isolated habitats, even produced giant insectivores (related to eutherians) and hyaena like scavengers (related to triconodonts). In the skies, the avitheres remain the sole rulers of the air, but are slowly undergoing a revolution in which the old long tailed forms are slowly being replaced by short tailed, more adaptable forms. The end Jurassic extinction comes 10 million years later than in R-L, but is much more severe, wiping out the last mammaliforms, and old avitheres as well as crippling the diversity of therogorgans and synapods, allowing both carnivorous and herbivorous cynodonts to make a grab, but not before the old groups regained diversity. However, the synapods disappeared from the northern hemisphere to be replaced with more ornithopod like creatures, which had multichambered stomachs like artiodactyls and hooves instead of pads.

Cretaceous(140-88 million BC): Things go from strange to stranger, as the world recovers from the extinction, and re-establishes itself. In the northern hemisphere, the therogorgons are gradually replaced by two groups, the tyrannotherocephalians, more adaptable tyrannosaur analogues and the cynodonts, evolving very efficient pack hunters and even starting to develop a new flying lineage. In the southern hemisphere, the old groups go from strength to strength, and in South America, which in this reality remains joined to Africa, though drifting in a similar pattern, continue to grow bigger and bigger. The end result, by 90 million BC, are the largest land animals ever to walk the earth living there, including a synopod of similar proportions to amphicoelias fragimillis, and in turn being preyed upon by packs of the deadliest terrestrial carnivores ever. In the skies, similarly, spectacular avitheres continue to exist, including monsters with wingspans of more than 9m (30 feet) dominating scavenging and oceanic niches. Unlike pterosaurs, they are also easily capable of developing flightlessness, and are developing a semiaquatic linage similar to comorants and auks. In the oceans themselves, the sharks are almost as diverse as in R-L now, considering that the evolution of teleost fish is forcing an evolutionary revolution among the piscitheres, with some groups adapting and many others declining. However, there is no sign of a catastrophe at sight.

K-T (88 Million BC): In a complete twist, the asteroid hits Earth considerably earlier along with the Deccan traps, combining with R-Ls end Turonian extinction to produce a catastrophe. While the real asteroid was 6 miles wide, this one is 8 miles wide. The Earth is decimated, and the order of life is turned on its head. Not only has animal life changed, but plant life too. The ancient conifers and fern plants are devasated, like in our world, but alongside flowering plants, the distant descendants of glysopteris have also gone through successfully, and together they colonise the various different continents.

Paleogene (88-25 million BC): In this world, the paleogene continues for more than 60 million years, and is dominated by very different fauna. Africa and South America finally split now. The therogorgons and therocephalians of old are long gone now, as are the various dycinodonts, and only a handful of avitherians and a couple of piscitherians have survived, leaving mammals and cynodonts to take command. The early part of this era is climatically just like our Eocene, but with oxygen levels of 30%, meaning bigger arthropods and more prominent amphibians. The tyrannotherocephalians continue as relics for a while in southern Europe but die out in a more severe version of the Paleocene Eocene extinction. The mammals instead of cynodonts have established a flying lineage, related to multituberculates, with beaks, and these push the avitherians to secondary flying positions for the first time in more than 180 million years. However, one of the surviving avithere groups is the auk like lineage that survived in the southern hemisphere, and now without sufficient competition from the piscitheres, spread into the oceans and establish a new marine lineage. The piscitheres were so decimated by the event, that they were reduced to small species, similar nichewise to turtles, sea snakes and miniature choridotheres, and even now are on a slow decline, with the turtle like group being the only surviving one by 30 million BC. Grasses spread near the end of this epoch, and begin a revolution among fauna like in our world. New giant herbivores, mainly placentals, multituberculates and cynodonts dominate most niches in the northern hemisphere, but in south America and Australia, marsupials, triconodonts, monotremes and even docodonts survive onwards.

Neogene (25 million BC-present): Like in our world, this is a time of cooling. However, it is nowhere near as severe, and in the last 6-7 million years actually reverses, so that no northern ice cap exists, with sea levels being about 30m higher than in R-L. The faunal interchange in South America changes everything in that region, wiping out monotremes and triconodonts and almost wiping out marsupials there. In Australia these groups continue, but in a twist, marsupials become outcompeted by triconodonts and monotremes, with docodonts evolving into mole and shrew analogues. Zealandia resurfaces in this world as well and is colonised by monotremes and becomes a refuge for most of the few remaining avitherians left. In the oceans, the synacetaceans have evolved from the aquatic avitherians and formed one of the most bizzare aquatic linaeges ever. Oxygen levels by the present day are 25% instead of 21% as well, meaning somewhat bigger arthropods and amphibians exist in places as well.

Ok, so that’s a basic summary of X world. This world as you can tell will be a very different one to ours, and I will explore it in detail in the future. See you next post!
Edit: I've also got a map for it now. Sorry that it uses the same one as my political maps, but its the best I've got:
Attached to this post:
Attachments: X_world_map.png (53.65 KB)
Edited by Forbiddenparadise64, Apr 24 2011, 02:23 PM.
Prepare for the Future Walking with the future: Allozoic (pts 4-6)http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3252142/14/#new

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interesting,so the pelycosaurs basicaly fill niches which are/were holded by lizards,geckos etc.?
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Forbiddenparadise64
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Basically yes, although amphibians also have a go at taking niches. I'm thinking up of ideas for the first habitat to be covered as well. I'm going to start with Eastern Europe's forests. What should I do after that?
Prepare for the Future Walking with the future: Allozoic (pts 4-6)http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3252142/14/#new

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Ok, here is an update:

In the distant forests of what was once Bohemia, or the Czech Republic, an unusual ecosystem has established itself. It has been more than 85 million years since the Earth was hit by a great catastrophe, but now the Earth has more than recovered. Global biodiversity is at least as high as, if not even higher than in RL's Pleistocene. This world is 3-4 degrees C warmer than ours due to differences in the climatic change over the years. The forests are far reaching and are filled with a great diversity of flora, but this place is particularly strong for it. There are lots of flowering plants resembling beeches, oaks, apples, oranges, grapes, holly and lots of others exist here. However, unlike our world, there are very few coniferous plants in this region. That niche, as well as those of semiaquatic trees, has been taken by seed ferns, descendants of glossopteris. These, as well as regular ferns have a bigger role in the forests than in R-L. A pack of insects march through the forests.

These are deadly carnivorous relatives of termites. In this world, ants never evolved from wasps, and thus termites are a much bigger factor, especially in the warmer climate. They will strip the flesh of many small animals, but they do not usually take on animals much bigger than a rabbit unless provoked. A nest of sengis rush away from the terrifying horde. In this world, elephant shrews instead of laurasiatheran insectivores took a hold of niches, at least in Eurasia and Africa. They still hold out in North America. But for one animal, these insects are food. It moves towards them slowly, and quietly. It has an extremely specialised appearance, adapted specifically for eating termites and other insects. It has huge, bulky hands and claws to rip through the termites nests, and a protruding finger like an aye-aye to scoop them out. This creature is descended from cynodonts. During the cretaceous, as the diversity of termites rose, some cynodonts began to feed more specifically on them, beginning to lengthen their snouts and tongues to try and access this new food source. They began shaping their bodies to do this, losing their pain sensors in various parts of the body and developing immunity to termite venom. After the cretaceous they specialised further, fusing their jaws into one, having a long, sticky, prehensile tongue at the end, and redeveloping covers over the ears to stop ants crawling into it. It approaches the horde and rips through it, tearing and sucking the termites off the ground. When it has taken its fill, a few hours later it goes off to its nest, where its future offspring lie in wait. Some of the eggs have already hatched, while the mother is caring for them with her primitive breast milk. The one collecting the insects is the male and he has come to feed the mother with ants to help sustain her milk. Unlike mammals, they will only take care of the young for a month or so before they are forced to find independence themselves. In the trees, eating off the nuts and seeds is a specialised species of pseudornid, a flying descendant of the multituberculates. It carries young in its pouch who need to feed on her essential supply of milk, and she sustains it by feeding on the tough foods, using her highly layered beak, formed from her incisors to do so. Resembling a cross between a squirrel and a parrot, she is another unusual animal in these forests. On the ground, her relatives, who have remained terrestrial, fill in the niches of what would be rodents in R-L. Lots of small creatures move in the forests, and on the grasslands they are also common. The bush moves, and the termitodont is alerted. He is not much bigger than a fox, and so he would not want to tackle the multituberculate even with his claws. He has no intention to do so anyway, as he feeds on nothing but insects. The giant is called a clipper. It gets its name from the oversized lower incisors it uses to scoop up fallen fruit, leaves and grubs through the litter. The first thing noticeable about its body is that it is very pig like, with a head more like that of a bucktoothed capybara. It has 2 hooves on its front feet and 3 on its back, and stands about a metre at the shoulder, weighing as much as a dairy cow. This bohemian subspecies is the second largest subspecies of the 10 that exist, although a slightly larger (by about 10%) subspecies exists north in Moravia. The creature’s 12cm incisors are also a formidable defense weapon against predators, as is its 1.5m long tail. Behind it lie various pseudornids feeding on its droppings filled with nutrients. And further in the forest, lie the things that feed upon it.

A pack of them rush towards the clipper and jump on its back. It screeches as loud as it can to alert other animals in the area. There are none. The beasts sink their retractable claws into its hide, shortly before another 4 creatures also attack it. They bite at its legs and start to tear at its stomach. Soon the animal topples over. Its fate is sealed. Its attackers are undoubtedly carnivoran, but are somewhat different to the creatures that our world knows. They are called parafelids due to their resemblance to the felines. However, they have some key differences. The head is longer, more civet like and is used to give powerful biting power, its back is more like a mustelids, and it has only a short tail. Each of these animals is only the size of a medium sized dog, but they also have an enlarged claw on the right paw to slash, helping them better against their prey. The chaos has alerted most of the pseudornids and has frightened them away. However, some remain to scavenge on the carcass after the carnivores, or to feed on the insects scavenging, such as the earlier termitodont. The clipper is more of a rarity on these forests, as most multituberculates replace rodents and lagomorphs in R-L, but this creature is more like a giant boar in lifestyle. The calls it made bring a small herd of larger clippers, adults the size of a bull to the area, and these are enough to deter the screechers (the name of the specific species of parafelid) to another kill. At night, the landscape changes.

There are still a number of nocturnal pseudornids, but there are also other creatures here which dominate nocturnal environments. There are about a dozen species of avitherian, which while undiverse, have huge populations relatively, and are mainly insectivores or nectarivores. Since their appearance in the mid Permian, the group had been extremely successful until the K-T extinction, where their numbers declined and the group began to fade, with the exception of the penguin like species living in the Coniacian Australia just after the extinction, which in the absence of competition successfully made the transition into synacetaceans, which still dominate oceans today. Still, the group have over 300 species in terms of diversity, with hotspots being South America, Zealandia, and some Pacific and Indian islands too. The insect eaters swoop down to catch the various insects that come out at night, although one species has a different lifestyle. It waits by a pond for its quarry to come up. It than proceeds to dive in, and capture a fish. Another individual attempting the same thing is not so lucky. He is captured by a jawsnatch. This creature, a labrynthodont is the temperate analogue to crocodilians, and in their absence are found in freshwater sources all over the world. This species is only 1.2m long, while species in South America grow up to 5m long, and are apex predators. As well the avitherids, pseudornids are also present in the form of owl like predators. Some are flightless with long legs, more than a metre high, somewhat similar to marabou storks, but quadrapedal. Various cynodonts come out and catch the multituberculates as well, being analogous to foxes and wildcats in this region. Of course true carnivorans occupy these niches elsewhere. Pelycosaurs are rare in this region, but at night, they are not none existant. A 2m long iguana like animal comes out of its burrow to feed, now in the absence of competition from mammals, and gently eats the leaves on new shoots while its competitors sleep.

The Bohemian forests are very unusual by all definitions, but this is not by any means the strangest habitat on Earth.

How was that for you? I think next, I am thinking of planning the African Savanna. See you next post!
Prepare for the Future Walking with the future: Allozoic (pts 4-6)http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3252142/14/#new

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Alright, here is a more interesting update for you. I’m sorry I haven’t put much interesting in the Alternative Evolution perspective, but now comes something that will be more entertaining overall, dealing with a very different land to Bohemia.

The African Savannah

X-World is one that has diverged massively from ours in terms of fauna and to a lesser extent in flora, but the climate has not changed quite so much. This world is about 4° C warmer than R-L, and oxygen levels are 25% due to differences in the climate since the earlier K-T event. If anything, rainforests around the world are much bigger and more common. For example, in South America, the Amazon stretches uninterrupted from Puerto Rico to Uruguay, and is home to a massive range of animals and plants that are found nowhere else in the world. Africa on the other hand, has not much more rainforest than in R-L, though still a bit more. Instead, while the Sahara desert is less than a third of the size it is in R-L (much smaller than at any point within R-Ls 20 million years in fact) and the Namibia desert non-existent, there is a hugely expanded Savannah. This spectacular ocean of grass is home to many of the planet’s most unusual inhabitants, and has a range of fauna more varied, abundant, diverse, large and bizzare than any environment in RL. Welcome to Africa, the X world version.

The herds march. It is the time of year that they have known for many years. They will migrate across vast distances in search of the life giving grasses and waters that they need. The herds are millions strong each year, and usually are still in thousands. Each of the animals is elegant in build, belonging to the order heterodactyla, a parallel group to our world’s ungulates. Like them, they are laurasiatheres, but their earlier origin and greater amount of experience has allowed them to fill the niches of many herbivores across the Northern hemisphere. They have 3 toes at the front and 2 at the back, considerably different from either artiodactyla or perrisodactyla. Each of these beasts, Sahels, is about 1.5m tall and 2m long, being one of the most common herbivores here. Following them, like zebra and wildebeest are smaller groups of Stryper. These are also like zebras in the stripes on them, but serve camouflage as well as identification. They are a member of a group of herbivorous cynodonts, adapted to feeding on a different part of the grass to the Sahels, ensuring they do not compete. Another reason for the strypers to migrate is to go to the more fertile lands where they will lay the new generation of eggs, allowing them to be raised in a secure environment before the next migration back to the traditional heartlands once the dry season is over. They have peg like front teeth and grinding back teeth, but also have long canines that in the males are used for fighting rituals. They are fully erect unlike their Triassic ancestors, and have a ruthless kick with the claws on their back feet.

A lone Scooper, the largest of the multituberculates, wanders not far away. A total exception to the glire niches its relatives occupy, it is about 5m long and over 2m tall, weighing about 2.5 tonnes. Sahels aren’t the only heterodactyls on the plains of course. Strange, llama like animals move around, more used to the mountainous regions of Africa, but come down to feed on the grass. Not far away is yet another species, a robust pig like omnivore that feeds on roots, insects and small pelycosaurs. Many other species also exist here, ranging from the tiny digfoot, weighing no more than 2kg, to the giant Pittas, which they are about to meet. Pittas also live in large herds, but are much bigger as individuals. They stand about 2.4 m tall at the shoulder, measure well over 4m long from tip to tip, have a horn span of almost 3m, and weigh about 1600kg each. They are the analogues of Cape Buffalo, though twice the size. On their backs are small pseudornids that eat the parasites off their backs and alert these creatures to predators. Yes, even these mighty animals have predators.

In the undergrowth, a predator moves after its favourite prey. It creeps up onto the quarry, using sharp claws and pads to make sure its approach is as quite as possible. The Leaper catches its meal; a digfoot. Leapers are small parafelids that occupy a niche similar to servals and smaller cats. About the size of a bull terrier, it is a relatively small predator, but it does have relatives on the plains that are bigger. But even those are not apex predators here. A Pitta bull wonders off from the herd to try and see if there are any females willing to mate, and moves towards the shade of the tree, making a big mistake. A huge cynodont, the gryphon launches out of the grass, an impressive beast by any means. He launches his body on the top of the giant before him, grabbing it round the back of the neck, trying to choke it to death, and sinking his 10cm canines into it. The creature measures 4.5m from its nose to the end of its reptilian tail, stands 1.3m at the shoulder and weighs about 500kg. The terrifying creature is easily enough to frighten off the Sahels and strypers, and even the Scooper becomes alarmed by its presence. While in in Eurasia and the Americas, carnivorans dominate, in Africa, the Cynodonts have remained top of the food chain in most cases.

As well as the solitary giant here, there are also leopard sized pack hunters known as bandersnatchs, ranging across Africa and the Middle East, the jaguar sized, otter like semiaquatic Nile- diver, catching Sahels as they swim across the rivers, and the ferocious bonecrunchers, the powerful maned scavengers of the plains. However, one of the few large niches that the parafelids do occupy here is that of the Stiltstalker. A highly specialised runner, its whole body is perfectly adapted for maximum speed and endurance; it has unusually wide nostrils to get as much air as possible to breath with, specially laid out muscles in its legs and chest, a long, flexible tail with hair matted into a shape creating maximum aerodynamics, a mustelids like flexible spine, non-retractable claws, including an enlarged one and stripes like a tiger. These creatures can weigh up to 100kg, but despite this, are capable of running at speeds of over 130km/h, even faster than a cheetah. They catch generally smaller prey than the giant cynodonts, and are thus capable of surviving on less food. A lone stiltstalker follows its elegant prey slowly through the grasses, acting as an ambusher, something which is unusual. This individual is very hungry. She rushes towards the heterodactyl at over 80 mph and runs straight for more than 2 minutes before finally catching her kill. She feels satisfied to feed herself as she is pregnant. However, her meal is about to be spoiled. A pair of vicious bonecrunchers come up to her, with snarling, cone like teeth. Each of them is the size of a Siberian tiger, far larger than her, and has 10cm claws to rip open carcasses, with bald, crimson heads and great manes to make them look even bigger and more grotesque than they would otherwise be. The variety of heterodactyls does not stop with giants like the pitta. An even bigger species is the Crusher. These creatures are specialised to feeding on the tall leaves of the seed fern trees that grow on these plains. The animal weighs a huge 6 tonnes and grows about 6.5m tall, resembling more an indricothere than a giraffe. The females have a dull orange colour, but the males are coloured a dark blue with spectacular patches of pink, purple and yellow around the neck. In the mating season, these swell up and the males use their necks to show off to each other. When this fails, they will use their necks to butt each other into submission, which can sometimes be very dangerous if one of them falls over. These are the largest specific browsers in Eurasia, but in this region also lives a unique member of the cynodont lineage that goes to an even greater extreme. A small herd of Titans is on the move.

These are the largest land animals since the Mesozoic, with bodies that are almost dinosaurian in proportions. They measure about 16m in length, just over 4.5m at the shoulder and weigh a staggering 18 tonnes. It also has smaller relatives living throughout Eurasia as well, but none come close in size to this behemoth. Due to being much less intelligent and maternal than mammals, they reproduce in a manner similar to sauropods, laying their eggs in deep forest and abandoning them. The youngsters will than live their lives in the forests for a substantial amount of time until they reach a certain age and then join the great herds on the plains. This and its relatives are generally grazers, feeding on the vast amounts of grass that are available. As can be predicted they have no predators as adults, but sometimes gryphons or even larger false dragons can attack their young. Nearby, one of the latter sits in the shade, having recently fed. These are large predatory pelycosaurs in the region, from a distance being just like monitor lizards, except for their differentiated teeth with incisors, canines and molars. False dragons are very large, measuring 4.5m long and weighing about 230kg. They have a crest on their neck used for sexual display, although this can also give them away to their prey in the male’s case. In the skies, some of the strange carnivorous pseudornids come to scavenge a fallen titan bull. Though many traditional multituberculates were herbivores, some, including these creatures have become carnivores. These Blackhoods are enormous beasts capable of tearing apart carcasses in mere minutes, with a wingspan of up to 4.5m and weighing about 25kg. They tear flesh with their hook shaped incisors and shear it with their molars at the back. Their ugly, distorted and bald heads and bat like wings make them appear very intimidating towards other animals on the plains, and to any human visitor that would come to see them feed. They are bought into competition with the much bigger bone crunchers in the process, just as hyenas and vultures are in R-L.

As the Sahels cross the river, they have to watch out greatly. In the freshwaters of the Nile lie terrifying predators, such as the Slicemouth. This giant labrynthodont, similar in size to our Nile crocodile, has highly developed jaws compared to its Permian ancestors, in fact having some of the most powerful jaws for its size of any animal living or extinct, as powerful as that of Tyrannosaurus rex in R-L. Not only this, but it also uses a potent venom to finish off its prey if it has survived the kill. The Sahels know that it is now or never. Tens of thousands of them jump into the river, over 200 metres wide, filled to the brim with hungry slicemouths, niledivers, and even freshwater sharks that have been waiting for them. The Sahels sick and old are the most vulnerable to the aquatic predators. They are the first to go. Soon, the slicemouths start to reach through the guarding ranks and towards the children. Then, the Strypers start to cross as well, partially causing a distraction for the mighty aquatic predators. The Sahels finally start to cross the edge of the river and climb onto the land, fighting off the niledivers that are starting to come out, although only the weakest remaining Sahels fall to them. Soon, the strypers also start to reach the other side as well as various other smaller animals that have also been migrating.

Not too far away, ignoring all the chaos is a peaceful algae eating Watergulp. This animal is a relative of the heterodactyls that has adapted to fully aquatic life on algae and sea grass. This Nile Watergulp is about 5m long and weighs 2 tonnes. It has a body very similar to a manatee’s, but its head is like an elongated tapirs, almost elephant like in appearance, using its proboscis to gather up algae as well. Around it, small crustaceans, pelycosaurs and molluscs feed on the invertebrates that feed off the watergulps. Also here is a much more bizarre creature. It is related to the giants that rule the oceans, but is no giant itself, being no more than 30cm long. It has a long, streamlined body, with 2 differentiated dorsal fins on its top, and a small, shark like tail moving from side to side. But this is not its main form of transport. Instead, it has a far stranger form of movement. Over millions of years, its former wing membranes grew in thickness and size, and spread across the latter parts of the body. Eventually, about 15 million years after the K-T extinction, this membrane joined to the paddle-like back legs, around the same time the group became fully aquatic, and over even more years this developed further. The former limbs and even the bases of the tail and neck are engulphed into a single pair of ‘flippers’ on each side; like the wings of a butterfly. This is a typical looking, if somewhat tiny, representative of the synacetaceans. This species has a thin, garial like head that it uses to catch fish and shrimps that are found in the rivers, particularly around watergulps. A related species also living here is completely dependent on the parasites growing on the watergulp. This smaller creature, just 30cm long overall, is the smallest of all synacetaceans, and is symbiotic with the watergulp, by feeding on the parasites, it has a food supply for itself and is ridding the gentle giant above it of deadly infections. Meanwhile, over the other side of the river, the herds of various migratory animals have finally reassembled and are beginning to feed on the grassy utopias around them. However, some of the cynodonts are already crossing over, preying on smaller species, and it doesn’t seem long until the larger creatures like the gryphons and bandersnatchs follow, where they will be able to lay their eggs and raise the next generation too. This is truly a strange world to live in.

Ok, I hope you like this habitat better than the last one. See you next post!

Prepare for the Future Walking with the future: Allozoic (pts 4-6)http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3252142/14/#new

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The Dodo
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Very unique project. I'm liking the species so far.
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Forbiddenparadise64
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Thanks. Just you wait till you meet the REAL synacetaceans ;). BTW what habitat should I do next; Amazon, Mohave, Zealandia, West Antarctica (tundra), coral reef or open ocean?
Prepare for the Future Walking with the future: Allozoic (pts 4-6)http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3252142/14/#new

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The Dodo
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I think you should do Zealandia, it should have some interesting species.
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Forbiddenparadise64
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I'll start typing it up on my word documents ( I do posts on Word in case I lose them now) and I've also designed a simplified evolutionary progression for the synacetaceans. A) in teh picture is Australitherium, living shortly before the K-T extinction 90 million years ago, with a lifestyle somewhere between that of an otter and that of a penguin. B) is the (vaguely) seal like plesiosuchus, living in the Santonian/Campanian border, 82 million years ago. As can be seen, the wing membranes have become wider creating more of a stroke when swimming C) is the orca sized Zeuglosaurus, one of the first fully marine synacetaceans, living in the late Campanian, 71 million years ago. As you can see the former wing membranes have now extended even further, joining up with the back flippers. The final species, D), is the modern day Northern Jutter, about 7m long. In modern species, the membranes and muscles have now merged into both pairs of limbs to form a single swimming structure similar to a butterflies wing. And like butterflies, many species have colourful 'wings' for display in the mating season. I hope you like it. :)
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Prepare for the Future Walking with the future: Allozoic (pts 4-6)http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3252142/14/#new

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Cephylus
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Wow! Spectacular project! The project concept itself seems interesting, I like projects such as this. Will be looking forward to the next update. Very intriguing.

And the Pseudornids are interesting. Are there any other forms other than the vulture-like creatures and fruigivorous forms?

I love the Synacetaceans! The earlier ones look like a cross between a penguin, a pterosaur and a pliosaur and the later ones look like butterfly whales :) ... Much better than the regular pliosaurine or cetacean bauplan.
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