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Speculative biology is simultaneously a science and form of art in which one speculates on the possibilities of life and evolution. What could the world look like if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? What could alien lifeforms look like? What kinds of plants and animals might exist in the far future? These questions and more are tackled by speculative biologists, and the Speculative Evolution welcomes all relevant ideas, inquiries, and world-building projects alike. With a member base comprising users from across the world, our community is the largest and longest-running place of gathering for speculative biologists on the web.

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The Species Factory; Empty your mind
Topic Started: Nov 6 2014, 06:54 PM (33,428 Views)
Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

flashman63
Jan 23 2015, 10:33 PM
Parasky
Jan 9 2015, 10:20 PM
Love this idea, what a great thread. Here's some of mine that I do intend to work on at some point but do not belong in any particular project. Feel free to do your own interpretation of any of them if any particular one inspires you, just make sure to credit me somehow if you post it on deviantart or whatever.


  • Eusocial crabs
  • Eusocial dandelions: Seed spreading queen (all reproductive organs) surrounded by leafy "workers" storing nutrients in tubers and "soldiers" acting as poisonous decoys and spreading nettle-like ground growths to deter herbivores, all castes interconnected via roots
  • Auroch-Deer: Large, powerful, aggressive deer living in vast herds on the future North American Great Plains
  • Felinoid raccoon descendents
  • Modern day descendants of meganeura on an alternate Earth that retained higher oxygen levels
  • Modern domesticated glyptodon
Crabs: Awesome idea! I would guess coconut crabs? They strike me as smart, relatively speaking.

Dandelions: Very original! I like it!

Auroch Deer: Cool, though I would put my bet on Texas Longhorns or escaped zoo elephants for the the nextt American Megafauna
Fiddler crabs, actually. Coconut crabs aren't social so there's no reason they would evolve a eusocial lifestyle. Fiddler crabs already live in large groups and have a lot of social interaction, plus they're very hardy and widespread. I've since scrapped the auroch deer for a giraffe-like deer descendant.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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LittleLazyLass
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Bottom feeding anomalocaridid


Here's one of mine from a few months ago. I'll just quote the deviantart entry.

Quote:
 
I guess this could take place in some alt evo scenario where the Cambrian fauna survives, or something.

Firstly, the body would be flattened by a significant margin, resulting in the flat, oval-esk, almost louse like creature above. Beyond this, the "wings" would become move inward, rooted near the center of the animal and facing out, and going underneath the body for the most part, again shown above. This would allow for quick movement across the sea floor and bottom substrate. The head would also flatten, and given a diet of picking stuff up off the seafloor, the head and mouth would widen, allowing a large area to grap prey. The eyes move to the front and side of the animal, allowing it to look forward and around, which is better for looking for prey at the bottom then the more centered eyes designed for open waters. Once again, the diet is of picking prey up off the bottom, so an expanded mouthpart could fill the roll, freeing up the.... feelers in the front of the animal, which could be instead used for a variety of things. Here, they are made to work like antennae, feeling in front of the animal to understand it's environment, in addition to find prey and obstacles.

This is just a basic/early concept. Thought seeing how many forms the bodyplan was adapted into in the Cambrian, something like this in an alternate (or even HE) Silurian wouldn't be that surprising.
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I don't even really like this song that much but the title is pretty relatable sometimes, I guess.
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Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

Here's a couple sketches of possible designs for the eusocial crabs and an improved version of the giraffe deer, which I am still quite unhappy with. It just looks like a long necked deer. More references will be needed.
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We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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bloom_boi
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Are you aiming for a more gracile or bulky form?
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

For?
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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bloom_boi
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Parasky
Jan 25 2015, 05:02 PM
the giraffe deer
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

I honestly don't know, I'm just trying to go about it in a plausible manner. It's definitely not going to be as big as a giraffe, so it will probably be pretty graceful.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

The latest Serina post by Sheather mentioned Muller's Ratchet got me thinking about life on a world that has opted to retain asexual reproduction and avoid genetic damage by utilizing horizontal gene transfer as the primary method of recombination rather than vertical transfer a la sexual reproduction. I'm just not sure what kind of mechanism would be used for this though or under what conditions it would prove to be more efficient than sexual reproduction.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

Ooh! A domesticated gorgonopsid descendant from a world in which synapsids never evolved into mammals and remained more or less "mammal-like reptiles."
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Caimännir
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Lobe-finned fish
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Domesticated by what?
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LittleLazyLass
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Sapient temnospondyls. Make it happen.
totally not British, b-baka!
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I don't even really like this song that much but the title is pretty relatable sometimes, I guess.
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Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

Caiman
Feb 2 2015, 04:43 AM
Domesticated by what?
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We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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LittleLazyLass
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[pterosaur grammar]I've had pthis idea for a "flightless azdarchid revolution" in a lesser K-Pg world. Azdarchids survive pthe extinction, but it's still a major extinction, and ptyrannosaurs either go extinct or are greatly reduced. Azdarchids ptherefore start becoming flightless. In pthis short ptime period pthey become relatively diverse as omnivores and carnivores across North America, and maybe Eurasia. Pthis doesn't last however, as pthey are userped by mammalian and maniraptoran predators, and pterosaurs go extinct in pthe Eocene-Oligocene extinction event.[/pterosaur grammar]

Basically like the early major groups from the Paleocene/Early Eocene. Just a preliminary idea.

If you couldn't tell, I've been researching for a certain something to do with the Eocene lately.
totally not British, b-baka!
Posted Image You like me (Unlike)
I don't even really like this song that much but the title is pretty relatable sometimes, I guess.
Me
What, you want me to tell you what these mean?
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Picrodus
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:Ominous Wind:
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I had an idea floating around my head for a while of what if there were organisms that could move across clouds like water skippers move across water?
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My Deviantart A work in progress. Other Liked Quote: "The "habitable zone" will expand along with the Sun. This will warm once-frozen planets and their moons, bringing a brief springtime after a 10-billion-year winter."

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Ànraich
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Not possible. A cloud is a collection of water vapor, it's just really tiny droplets. Can you swim around in fog or skate on ground mist? They're the same thing. Organisms can't skip across them because skipping across them isn't physically possible.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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