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| Indian Insanity | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 15 2012, 07:12 PM (691 Views) | |
| JohnFaa | Jun 15 2012, 07:12 PM Post #1 |
Adveho in mihi Lucifer
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Just taking a little break from TA with this little side project. Basically, a speculation on India's fauna if it never collided with Asia. It doesn't take into account the global effects, just India in it's journey since the Cretaceous. Paleocene: Soma's Blessing More so than the rest of the planet, India rose from the KT event scarred. The Deccan Traps formed as it moved away from Madagascar caused climatic chaos before the asteroid collided. At the time located in the southern hemisphere, India had an typical gondwannan dinosaur fauna dominated primarily by titanosaurs and abelisauroids to the point of night exclusivity; the only other non-avian dinosaur present was Dravidosaurus, an genasaurian of uncertain affinities. Due to the events conspiring in the south of the continent, India lost it's non-neornithe dinosaurs at least thousands of years before any other place on earth. However, it's relative isolation kept the worse effects of the KT event at bay, allowing the remaining tetrapods to escape relatively unaffected. With a headstart above other landmasses, the survivors rose in dominance quickly. A lineage of theropods survived the Maastrichtian extinctions. India had a stable diversity of palaeognath birds, the earliest to diverge from the main line; they quickly spread into many different niches. Some remained volant, as the polyphyletic "lithornithids", occupying niches from those of shorebirds to hoopoes, but others took advantage of the extinction of their theropod relatives, and lost flight. India already had the world's first true grasslands, and in the temperate climate of the Paleocene, they spread across most of the continent. The ancestral ostriches inhabitted these open fields, becoming cursorial grazers not unlike the rheas of South America, and replacing the titanosaurs as the main grass eaters. Whereas the sauropods were slow both in speed and in breeding cycle, the birds were fast runners and breed much more quickly, opening the road for new predators on the field. Crocodyllians were quite common in India during the Cretaceous. The KT event caused the extinction of several clades, most notably the therapsid like notosuchians, but one lineage of terrestrial predators remained. Sebecians, already the dominant predators in the northern areas of the continent, survived the KT event as in other parts of the world, and resumed their niche as apex predators, now adapted to hunt in the open plains. However, India had more to offer. Several mammals also survived the KT event. The new grasslands offered gondwanatheres an opportunity to expand, ranging from mouse sized critters to beasts as large as a wombat, and as the Paleocene closed the largest were as heavy as half a ton. Dryolestids occupied small predator niches, from shrew like forms to tasmanian devil analogues. Meridiungulate mammals, however, were the ones with the most potential. The only native placentals, they were more cursorial than any other native mammal group, and quickly took to the open plains. With competition on all sides, they did not become very diverse at first, spreading as small sized omnivores, but they gradually expanded. Forms similar to early horses and to mesonychians had already become common by the end of the Paleocene, the latter offering competition to the previously undisputed sebecians. India kept moving towards the north, along Africa's coast. By the time of the period's end, paenungulate afotheres, caecillians and crocodiles colinised the continent. With the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum, the world of grasslands saw itself suffering a radical change. |
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| Walker | Jun 15 2012, 08:52 PM Post #2 |
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VARANIDS RULE
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This looks very interesting. I'm eager to see more. |
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| Troy Troodon | Jun 15 2012, 10:23 PM Post #3 |
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Adolescent
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I want to draw some of your critters, but I am not that good a reader so I haven't the faintest clue how to draw them. Which is a shame cause I really want to see what they look like. |
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| JohnFaa | Jun 15 2012, 11:35 PM Post #4 |
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Adveho in mihi Lucifer
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Example Stories: Paleocene Savanna 55 million years The Sun rises on southern India. Vast plains rule the landscape; the largest plants are podocarps, and like all present trees they are scattered among vast areas of grass. To the west lies a mountain range of dormant volcanoes, have cooled down since the KT event several million years ago. They are covered by humid forests, a stark contrast to the dry lowlands. The climate here is warm temperate, with mild and humid winters and hot and very dry summers. Precipitation often sometimes doesn't occur at all, though the rivers and underground simplies rarely starve, as the mountains are under constant moisture. To the extreme east, hints of a desert occur. At morning, numerous gondwanatheres emerge from their borrows, feeding on the abundant grass. They are the most efficient herbivores in the area, having teeth similar to those of horses, and having developed rumination long before placentals did. That said, while they're efficient at eating grass, their sprawling, plantigrade limbs are poorly designed for running, a vital requirement for life around these parts. Being forced to be borrowers, the majority of the large members of this group is beaver sized. A family of Herbacastor comes out of it's borrow to feast on tall grasses near a spring. The animals quickly scatter around to graze, each taking turns rising bipedally like stoned chipmunks to see if predators are nearby. A female Herbacastor decides to feast on a particular tuft of succulent reeds. Suddenly, a hissing noise comes from the tuft, and she backs off, though she remains, curious. From the tuft, a much larger creature emerges: a bird that stomps the grass angrily and spreads it's wings meanancingly, prompting the gondwanathere to run away. This bird is an Albastruthio, an early ostrich. It is a male, protecting a clutch of eggs laid by a harem of females, something it has been doing for several weeks now. So far, he has managed to protect most of the eggs from predators, a task not very hard to do thanks to the absence of animals capable of dealing with the thick eggshells of ratite birds. Intensely devoted to the brood nonetheless, the male is reluctant to leave, but hunger eventually tempts him. He starts by feeding on scattered seeds around the nest, then moves to graze further away. Suddenly, an intense noise is heard from the air, and the bird goes back to the nest, hissing defensively and spreadint it's wings to where the noise is coming from. From the north, a flock of Upupadroma darkens the air, and lands all around the spring. The Albastruthio loses interest, and returns to grazing. These birds are smaller relatives of the ostrich, still capable of flight and nowhere near as specialised to herbivory. They drink from the spring in a relatively relaxed maner, safe in their numbers. Some begin foraging around, accompanying their larger relative and the Herbacastor, feeding on the insects and seeds scattered by their careless grazing, and probing for worms on the occasional deep footprints left on muddy terrain. Some males beat their wings furiously, in a simple yet bizarre mating dance. A pair of Vulpungulatum arrive to drink. The Upupadroma and Herbacastor become more nervous, as these meridiungulates are not above feeding on small mammals and birds, but for the moment the visitors appear more interested on grazing. One of them approaches the Albastruthio nest, but a hiss and ground stomping sends the mammal troting away. At the nest, the eggs begin producing small chirping sounds, the chicks starting to hatch them. The male sits on the nest again, standing vigil as his offspring are being born. The female Herbacastor strays from the group, grazing on a well vegetated area forming around a small stream running from the spring. Suddenly, an Aerinaga strikes, enveloping the mammal in it's coils, and quickly suffocating it to death. The snake carries the prey down to it's borrow, where it begins to swallow it. This squamate is part of the Madstoiidae clade, a lineage of snakes common across gondwannan landmasses. Three other Vulpungulatum arrive, inciting a negative response from the already present ones. The meridiungulates fight, biting and kicking each other in furious frenzy, agitating the Upupadroma, that take flight to a nearby tree. The fight occurs too close to the Albastruthio nest, leading the male to rise and attack the mammals, kicking them furiously. The Vulpungulatum run away, settling down to rest in the shade of the tree where the Upupadroma are perched. One of them gets up again, and attacks a Herbacastor, killing it with a bone crsuhing bite on the neck, prompting the rest of the herd to hide in the borrows. The male meridiungulate begins feeding on the carcasse, drawing the attention of the other Vulpungulatum. The male snarls, and carries the carcasse closer to the Albastruthio nest. This alone is enough to get the other members of his species to return to the shade. The first Albastruthio chick manages to get out of her egg shell, and walks for the first time, seeking her father's warmth as her down dries up. A few others follow, but most still are locked in the battle to break the eggshell. The Upupadroma descend from the tree again, foraging and drinking. More birds arrive, by air and land. A lone Xenociconia , a stork like palaeognath, soars overhead, landing on a nearby tree, while a small flock of Campestornis arrive, grazing until they reach the spring, lowering themselves down to drink. They are larger, stockier cousins of the Albastruthio, among the larger ostrich species. The grazing flock, in turn, has attracted the largest predator in the region. An adult Sumbolasuchus stalks calmy, aiming at a juvenile Campestornis suffering from a foot tumor. This is if foiled by the male Albastruthio, that notices the crocodyllian and hisses in defense while opening the wings to look larger. Soon, the whole Campestornis flock do the same, stomping the ground furiously. The sebecian, still hungry, charges at the Vulpungulatum, still eating the Herbacastor, delivering a crushing bite on the back and then carrying the still living meridiungulate away, to avoid the attack of the flock. As the Sumbolasuchus dismembers the meridiungulate alive, the other Vulpungulatum attempt to recover the Herbacastor carcasse, but the still enraged birds attack them, driing the mammals away. The carcasse is taken by the Xenociconia, who glides effordlessly towards the corpse, picks it up, and takes off hastly while being chased by the Campestornis. It perches on the same tree again, eating in peace. The true gem is the arrival of one of the largest local animals. The massive gondwanathere Sciurobruton weights as much as half a ton, dwarfing it's closest relatives and nearly all other local mammals. While still a borrower, it's sheer size protects against most predators, and as such it spends most of it's time grazing safely on the surface, unfettered by the strick family groups of it's Herbacastor cousins.. It's presence makes even the sebecian nervous, and as it drinks from the spring, the Campestornis back off, hissing agressively. After being sated, it picks up the scent of the Albastruthio's eggs. While usually an herbivore, it is not above consuming animal matter, and it's jaws are strong enough to break the thick eggshells. The male bird rises and defaults to his normal defensive position. This does not impress the mammal the slightiest, which keeps advancing towards the ostrich. The male delivers a kick, and strikes with the wing claws*, but this does little to persuade the thick skinned gondwanathere. The chicks that already hatched run quickly towards their father, that keeps trying to make the gondwanathere leave. The Sciurobruton simply begins to eating the unhatched chicks, breaking the sheels and masticating the birds alive. In the commotion, the Xenociconia glides downwards again, sneaks behind the Albastruthio, and steals a chick, swallowing it alive, before moving to another one. Suddenly, the Campestornis strike at the Sciurobruton, motivated to drive it off by the fury of the Albastruthio. After enough kicks, the mammal is finally persuaded to move away, ceasing to eating the eggs and returning to grazing. The noise drives the Sumbolasuchus away, trying to find a place with less violent prey. On total, 7 Albastruthio chicks survived. The birds leave with the Campestornis, mixed ratite flocks being far from uncommon, and benefitting from empathetic violence that allows predators to be driven off more easily. The Herbacastor will continue to leave around the spring, it's nourishing waters valuable in these plains, no matter how many predators brought. At sunset, they return to grazing, even as a Maledasyurus, a quoll like dryolestid, arrives. All these animals will soon face a greater change to their environment. As the world climate becomes hotter, and as India moves northwards, the climate will become more tropical, ending these open savannas. * Modern ostriches, as most birds, have wing claws, so do NOT think that this species is unusual. Edited by JohnFaa, Jun 15 2012, 11:41 PM.
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| Walker | Jun 17 2012, 02:32 AM Post #5 |
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VARANIDS RULE
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Very nice man. Surprised this topic hasn't gotten more attention. Cheers |
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| truteal | Jun 17 2012, 09:05 PM Post #6 |
forum bigfoot
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Just to be clear, are non-bird theropods still alive? |
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| JohnFaa | Jun 18 2012, 05:30 AM Post #7 |
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Adveho in mihi Lucifer
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No. |
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| El Squibbonator | Jun 18 2012, 07:02 AM Post #8 |
The Third Child
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I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. The K/T extinction DID still happen in this timeline, after all. |
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| JohnFaa | Jun 18 2012, 01:42 PM Post #9 |
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Adveho in mihi Lucifer
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It appears nobody has good tastes in regard to speculative evolution. Funny, everyone claims I'm unoriginal, yet I'm the only one on this particular topic not recycling the same projects. Dumbasses gotta be dumbasses Eocene: Saraswati gone mad The Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum resulted in a world radically changed. Extreme aridity hit at first, replaced with vast rainforests. Theses changes causes several extinctions across the world, and India was no exception. Among the victims of this disaster were the gondwanatheres, which saw themselves incapable of dealing with the disappearence of open plains. A few taxa survived well into the Eocene, but they were replaced eventually by new mammals from Africa and Asia. This new rainforest world did bring a wave of new immigrants. India was now in the middle of the Tethys, nearing Asia; this allowed for some invasions to occur. Tortoises, choristoderes, agamids, pythons, pristichampsids, lagomorphs, lorises, metatheres and early whales all rafted their way from Asia, competing with the native animals. Anthracobunids probably also came from Asia, but certainly evolved in Africa, and embrithopods probably came from either continent. These faunal interchanges both created new opportunities and erased old natives. Sebecians became extinct as more advanced terrestrial crocodiles invaded, the relic gondwanatheres saw themselves perishing as lagomorphs took their niches, and early whales put a stop to the evolution of carnivorous meridiungulates. The herbivorous forms themselves weren't in great shape to compete, with other herbivorous mammals on all sides; however, they remained common as small forms resembling early horses and camels, occuping small herbivorous niches in the dense forest. Ostriches were at first impaired, but managed to survive as small omnivores. Instead of continuing as herbivores, some actually specialised in predatory niches, like bizarre terror birds, though these forms were considerably few and far between. Other paleognaths had to compete with invading neognath birds, but managed to remain very common and widespread. If Asia had implanted many species in India, the reverse also occured. Paleognaths, both volant and ostriches, peafowl (one of the few native non-paleognath bird) and caecillians invaded the asian continent by rafting. India started to slow it's march towards the north, until it ceased altogether by the middle Eocene, stopping just a few miles south of Asia. The two continents were since then seperated by warm seas, halting faunal interchange, but not stopping it. This is the time period with the most fossil reccord. Pakistan's beds reveal many species from this time period, once having been shallow coastoal seas. By the end of the Eocene, India suffered another climatic extreme. The tropical world began falling apart as it cooled down, and the rainforests began to open again. A new age of grasslands would reappear, and the local animals would have to adapt once more. Edited by JohnFaa, Jun 18 2012, 02:03 PM.
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| Even | Jun 18 2012, 08:55 PM Post #10 |
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Roman Catholic theistic evolutionist
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Creative! Great job JohnFaa! Wait, how could sebecids be outcompeted by pristichampsids? Were pristichampsids more cursorial than sebecids? |
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| Walker | Jun 19 2012, 02:23 AM Post #11 |
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VARANIDS RULE
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Nice Man. Are you going be bringing in the varanids at any time. |
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| JohnFaa | Jun 19 2012, 11:37 AM Post #12 |
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Adveho in mihi Lucifer
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I'm basing myself on what happened in Europe, since Iberosuchus was replaced by pristichampsids. I think whereas one was more cursorial than the latter is irrelevant on a tropical planet |
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| El Squibbonator | Jun 19 2012, 05:16 PM Post #13 |
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The Third Child
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I have a question bout those sebecids. Earlier you said notosuchians died out in the KT extinction in this timeline, just like in ours. But here you have surviving sebecids--a clade of notosuchians-- in the Eocene. Please explain. |
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| JohnFaa | Jun 19 2012, 06:00 PM Post #14 |
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Adveho in mihi Lucifer
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Because sebecians really did survive in our world. See Iberosuchus, Sebecus itself, et cetera. |
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| Even | Jun 19 2012, 10:54 PM Post #15 |
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Roman Catholic theistic evolutionist
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OK then And forgot that the Eocene world is mostly covered by tropical rainforest |
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5:54 PM May 22
