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The Species Factory; Empty your mind
Topic Started: Nov 6 2014, 06:54 PM (33,407 Views)
truteal
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Another Cryptid idea

The Flatwoods Monster



A giant mustelid with a flat diamond shaped tail, it fills the ecological niche of its distant relative the Wolverine in the southern united states

Much like its relative the Spotted Skunk, it stands on its hands and sprays a strong and unpleasant scent.

When it stands on its hands in the darkness, it looks like a menacing humanoid with a diamond shaped head and claws (its back legs) to the untrained eye
Edited by truteal, May 26 2016, 06:37 PM.
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Do you get it? I hardly ever come here so I'm like something a cryptozoologist would study
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Sayornis
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Inspired by watching the goldfinches in my backyard nibble on sunflower leaves: a largely or entirely folivorous goldfinch descendant with a fermenting crop like that of the hoatzin.
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Dr Nitwhite
Aug 19 2016, 07:42 PM
As I said before, the Library is like spec crack.
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GlarnBoudin
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LittleIslander
Apr 2 2016, 05:23 PM
Saessy
Apr 2 2016, 05:21 PM
AGmantheAG
Apr 2 2016, 05:19 PM
hunts down other herbivores and predators to lower the competition.
That's carnivorous.

Herbivorous: Eats plants.
He never said it eats them, it just kills them.

Either way, sounds incredibly anatomically and energetically inefficient.
Just thought that I'd bring this up: Cape buffalo are known to attack lions on sight. This idea actually isn't so implausible.
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LittleLazyLass
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Yeah, because the lions are a threat to living. The lion kills them, of course they're going to be targeted. The idea of them attacking herbivores is a completely different can of fish, nevermind on a regular basis and across an entire species.

I never said "Herbivores are to peaceful for that" or "They're incapable of killing like that"; I just said that it's inefficient and would take more energy than it would produce. Not to the point of being unsustainable, perhaps, but to the point of redundancy.
Edited by LittleLazyLass, Jun 7 2016, 03:59 PM.
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Sayornis
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Another idea I've had in my head for a while: woodpecker descendants which use large and highly modified tongues for feeding, manipulation, and/or locomotion, much like the snouts of the snouters. (This is a bit similar to Nitwhite's Twobills, but I came up with the initial idea before he joined.) These giant tongues, when not in use, would be stowed away in special cheek pouches-- hence, I call these creatures the Tongue-in-Cheek Birds. As that name implies, this wouldn't be the most serious and plausibility-oriented project.

From most basal to most derived, species include:
1. A bird that eats ants or termites like an anteater with an extra-long tongue (woodpeckers already do this, to some degree).
2. One which can dart out its tongue like a frog to catch insects.
3. One that uses its tongue to climb trees-- the tongue has something like a gecko's foot hairs on its lower surface, and can be used like a grappling hook.
4. A "secondarily flighted" bird with two broad, flat tongues that are extended laterally and used for flying or gliding (along with vestigial wings and/or a broad tail).
5. Various forms with many-branched tongues-- including intelligent species that use their tongues for tool usage and communication (through complex gestures used in conjunction with vocalization), and an aquatic species that fishes for prey with its tentacle-like tongues.
6. Finally (in the much farther future) a super-derived, mollusk-like descendant of 3 whose whole body is a tongue covered with a beak-derived shell.
Edited by Sayornis, Jun 10 2016, 11:19 AM.
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Dr Nitwhite
Aug 19 2016, 07:42 PM
As I said before, the Library is like spec crack.
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Dr Nitwhite
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Sayornis
Jun 10 2016, 11:17 AM
Another idea I've had in my head for a while: woodpecker descendants which use large and highly modified tongues for feeding, manipulation, and/or locomotion, much like the snouts of the snouters. (This is a bit similar to Nitwhite's Twobills, but I came up with the initial idea before he joined.) These giant tongues, when not in use, would be stowed away in special cheek pouches-- hence, I call these creatures the Tongue-in-Cheek Birds. As that name implies, this wouldn't be the most serious and plausibility-oriented project.

From most basal to most derived, species include:
1. A bird that eats ants or termites like an anteater with an extra-long tongue (woodpeckers already do this, to some degree).
2. One which can dart out its tongue like a frog to catch insects.
3. One that uses its tongue to climb trees-- the tongue has something like a gecko's foot hairs on its lower surface, and can be used like a grappling hook.
4. A "secondarily flighted" bird with two broad, flat tongues that are extended laterally and used for flying or gliding (along with vestigial wings and/or a broad tail).
5. Various forms with many-branched tongues-- including intelligent species that use their tongues for tool usage and communication (through complex gestures used in conjunction with vocalization), and an aquatic species that fishes for prey with its tentacle-like tongues.
6. Finally (in the much farther future) a super-derived, mollusk-like descendant of 3 whose whole body is a tongue covered with a beak-derived shell.
I don't think all of those ideas are too far-fetched, and are quite plausible (especially the first two). The more derived forms are a bit out there, but who would ever think descendants of haikouichthys would walk upright, develop hair and then lose it, and think about the inner workings of the universe?
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peashyjah
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I just thought of pterosaur descendants that have niches and roles very similar to those of the wooly mammoths.
They are mostly flightless but only one species is still capable of flight.
They also have very long necks and very long beaks and snouts.
They are actually descendants of the Azhdarchids and they only lived at the northern colder regions of North America and Eurasia.
More information about them will be coming soon.
Discontinued projects:
The New Ostracoderms (i might continue with this project again someday)
The Americas (where in 58 million years from now in the future North and South America has both become isolated island continents)



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Rodlox
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peashyjah
Jun 11 2016, 10:41 AM
I just thought of pterosaur descendants that have niches and roles very similar to those of the wooly mammoths.
They are mostly flightless but only one species is still capable of flight.
They also have very long necks and very long beaks and snouts.
They are actually descendants of the Azhdarchids and they only lived at the northern colder regions of North America and Eurasia.
More information about them will be coming soon.
you just thought of them?

or are you remembering discussing them?
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peashyjah
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Rodlox
Jun 11 2016, 11:03 AM
peashyjah
Jun 11 2016, 10:41 AM
I just thought of pterosaur descendants that have niches and roles very similar to those of the wooly mammoths.
They are mostly flightless but only one species is still capable of flight.
They also have very long necks and very long beaks and snouts.
They are actually descendants of the Azhdarchids and they only lived at the northern colder regions of North America and Eurasia.
More information about them will be coming soon.
you just thought of them?

or are you remembering discussing them?
Yes.
Discontinued projects:
The New Ostracoderms (i might continue with this project again someday)
The Americas (where in 58 million years from now in the future North and South America has both become isolated island continents)



All Expansions (my attempt at expanding the universe of All Tomorrows by Nemo Ramjet aka C.M. Kosemen, started June 6, 2018)
Anthropozoic (my attempt at expanding the universe of Man After Man and also a re-imagining of it, coming 2019 or 2020)
New Cenozoica (my attempt at expanding the universe of The New Dinosaurs and also a re-imagining of it, also coming 2019 or 2020)
All Alternatives or All Changes (a re-telling of All Tomorrows but with some minor and major "changes", coming June 10, 2018)
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truteal
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Two more Cryptids

The Jersey Devil: A North American relative of the Spectral Bat, it is larger (because of the colder climate)

The Mothman: A large Owl that lives near lakes, hunting fish (hence why it is seen near bridges)
Edited by truteal, Jun 12 2016, 07:34 PM.
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GlarnBoudin
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I've got a few ideas:

-An enormous herbivorous entelodont slightly larger than a Columbian mammoth.
-A small (For an entelodont, at least-it's still as large as a pony) pack-hunting entelodont that basically fills the niche of wolves.
-A smaller, more streamlined relative of Dolichorhynchops that leaps out of the water and glides on enormous wing-like front flippers.
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GlarnBoudin
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Sorry to double-post, but I just had another idea, based on a line from this Popular Mechanics article on the sea angel:

Quote:
 
We wouldn't be surprised to find that sea angels are in the same family as, say, the mythological Sirens.


So, partially amphibious sea angels that can vocalize to lure in humans.

Also, here are some ideas I've had for explaining Charybdis, another mythical monster:
-A gigantic turtle related to the matamata of South America that hunts in much the same way
-A huge-bodied placoderm that uses suction feeding
-A colossal relative of the stonefish
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Dr Nitwhite
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GlarnBoudin
Jun 19 2016, 10:21 AM
Also, here are some ideas I've had for explaining Charybdis, another mythical monster:
-A gigantic turtle related to the matamata of South America that hunts in much the same way
-A huge-bodied placoderm that uses suction feeding
-A colossal relative of the stonefish
Matamata sounds great! This reminds me of a design for a realistic Scylla I came up with when we were reading the odyssey in English last year (what else am I supposed to do?). I might work it into the Cay, reworked a bit. I also came up with another deep sea monster for the lord of the flies (also in English, but this year) which also might get put in the Cay. I also came up with a Grendel in English, which now how I think about how it was adapted to eating shellfish, might end up on the Cay as well. It seems that every English text with a monster gets turned into a spec creature... Apologies if this post is really scatterbrained, but I'm tired, Ok?
Edited by Dr Nitwhite, Jun 19 2016, 08:34 PM.
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Final SE Lifelist standings

BREAKING NEWS
We interrupt your regular programming to bring you this cutting edge report.
ATTENDANCE DROPS DRASTICALLY ON SE SERVER
This past Monday on Discord, famous server Speculative Evolution took a hit in the attendance office when it's offline member list suddenly reappeared. Mods scrambled to rectify the situation, but unfortunately there was little anyone could do. Server member Ivan was asked what he thought of the situation. "So long as Flisch, lord of machines and scion of Urborg lives, all will be well". SE, (in)famous for it's eccentric userbase, has recently been spiraling downward, and now we have hard conformation of the decline. Moderator "High Lord" Icthyander states "There is nothing to be concerned about, Discord is merely changing its UI again", but members are beginning to suspect the honesty of their staff.
Stay tuned, we'll be back with more at 11.
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Sayornis
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Spec Grendel sounds cool-- in The Flight of Dragons, Peter Dickinson proposes that Beowulf, like all medieval dragon myths, was based on fact, and Grendel was a young male dragon that hadn't yet developed flight. Beowulf was able to tear off Grendel's arm fairly easily because dragons had frail, ultra-light bones.

I'd be interested to hear about your spec Lord of the Flies creature too!

Xenologist's recent post in The Library, The Necropolis, gave me another idea to file under "kinda cool but don't know if plausible": a bird that lays its eggs in large animal carcasses or heaps thereof, letting the warmth of decay incubate them like the mounds of compost built by megapodes. As a bonus, when the babies hatch out they can eat any flesh that isn't too badly decayed, or feed on maggots and other small fauna that have gathered therein.
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Dr Nitwhite
Aug 19 2016, 07:42 PM
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flashman63
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Personally, I've always been partial to the notion that Grendel was a cave bear.

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