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1 Million years AD; The strange unfamiliar world of the not so distant future
Topic Started: Dec 23 2015, 04:28 AM (6,494 Views)
El Dorito
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Most future evolution projects take place in the more distant future, over 5 million years away. But life can evolve and change over much shorter timescales. This especially applies after extinction events. Only a few hundred thousand years after the K-Pg extinction, Palaeocene mammals had already become larger than any known Mesozoic mammal.

Today, a similar, though as yet less severe extinction event is taking place. Already most of the megafauna that existed for the past several million years have gone extinct, leaving niches open. The only things keeping them open are human activities and time. But history and common sense tell us that at some point in the next thousand years our planetary civilisation will probably collapse, largely eliminating the main factor stopping life carrying on.

Fast forward 1 million years, and the 'wild' is again the normal state of the earth. The oceans have risen some 80 metres due to human induced climate change, for the same reason most of the worlds ice is gone too. Several super volcanoes have erupted, and the last remnants of the modern 'concrete jungle' have crumbled. Humans are rare, and are considerably different to 21st century people. They are no longer a significant force effecting the earth.

Some groups of animals are identical to those we are familiar with, some are similar but obviously different, and a few are unlike anything found in the modern era. This is the world in 1 million years AD.
Edited by El Dorito, Jan 5 2016, 08:55 PM.
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LittleLazyLass
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CaledonianWarrior96
Feb 5 2016, 08:46 AM
Hyraxes could evolve into a range of different forms, and given enough time could evolve into something the size of a rhino (may take a few tens of millions of years but it could happen)
That would not take tens of millions of years, assuming the niche was open. Maybe around 6-7 million, at worst, again assuming ideal conditions.
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CaledonianWarrior96
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LittleIslander
Feb 5 2016, 08:55 AM
CaledonianWarrior96
Feb 5 2016, 08:46 AM
Hyraxes could evolve into a range of different forms, and given enough time could evolve into something the size of a rhino (may take a few tens of millions of years but it could happen)
That would not take tens of millions of years, assuming the niche was open. Maybe around 6-7 million, at worst, again assuming ideal conditions.
Ok, size won't take that long but if they could evolve into something like a rhino (not saying they can, but I don't see how they couldn't) then it might take that long
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Beetleboy
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Quote:
 
Hyraxes could evolve into a range of different forms, and given enough time could evolve into something the size of a rhino (may take a few tens of millions of years but it could happen)

That concept is a bit cliche really, plus it isn't really that likely. I mean, there's so many other things that would be more likely to become major herbivores. I don't see why we couldn't have a few big hyraxes, but this is his project after all.
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Adman
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Also, it's only a million years. Not a lot of change is going to happen in that span of time.
Projects and concepts that I have stewing around
Extended Pleistocene- An alternate future where man died out, and the megafauna would continue to thrive (may or may not include a bit about certain future sapients)
Inverted World- An alternate timeline where an asteroid hit during the Barremian, causing an extinction event before the Maastrichtian. Dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and notosuchians make it to the present, along with a host of other animals.
Badania- Alien planet that has life at a devonian stage of development, except it exists in the present day.
Ido- Alien world where hoppers (derived flightless ballonts) and mouthpart-legged beasts are prevalent.
Leto- Life on a moon orbiting a gas giant with an erratic orbit; experiences extremes of hot and cold.
The Park- ???
Deeper Impact- a world where the K-Pg extinction wipes out crocodilians, mammals, and birds; squamates, choristoderes, and turtles inherit the earth.
World of Equal Opportunity- alternate history where denisovans come across Beringia and interact with native fauna. Much of the Pleistocene fauna survives, and the modern humans that end up crossing into North America do not overhunt the existing animals. 10,000 years later, civilizations exist that are on par with European and Asian societies.
The Ditch- Nothing is what if seems..
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El Dorito
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Snowman
Feb 5 2016, 02:51 PM
Also, it's only a million years. Not a lot of change is going to happen in that span of time.
I know it says '1 Million years AD' but after a while I just moved on because there isn't really that much opportunity. It's king of more like 10+ Million years AD now.

I know a lot of projects use hyraxes as a starting point for a lot of mammalian megafauna in the future, but at least doing that means you don't just get one group of large herbivores. Artiodactyls would probably fare better in the long run as they are much more diverse currently, but perrisodactyls would probably go extinct over large areas. Hyraxes are more similar to perrisodactyls in many regards, and also to the things elephants evolved from (which makes sense really). I also remember reading somewhere that in the Oligocene or something there were actual giant hyraxes, as in things that are basically what I was going to add here.
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El Dorito
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Formidimurarchidae

Picture: coming soon or something

Today, the dominant predatory mammals are carnivorans, and for the last 20 million years or so this condition has prevailed. But before carnivorans became dominant there were creodonts, and before them there was a variety of predatory hoofed mammals - one of which eventually became the whales. Because of this history, it therefore seems likely that at some point in the future carnivorans would be outcompeted by something eventually.

First evolving around 10 MyF, the Formidimurarchidae or 'scary mouse kings', are a large family of rodents comprising some 50 species, ranging from the size of a cat to the size of a large bear. Despite their name, which implies that they evolved from mice, their ancestors were actually black sewer rats, which thrived in post-civilisation times. As the global period of cooling associated with the current ice ages eventually ended around 8 MyF, the great ice sheets melted, and sea levels rose. The new warm climate saw the extinction of a lot of megafaunal animals that were adapted for cold, and let new animals fill their niches. Among the casualties were much of the large prey animals, and with them the large carnivorans that hunted them.

Quick to fill their niches were smaller carnivorans like foxes, cats and weasels. But somewhere in North America the niches were predominantly filled by descendants of black sewer rats. These killer rodents managed to hold their ground against competitors.

Formidimurarchids outwardly resemble the extinct marsupial lions, the Thylacoleonids, in general shape, and in dentition - as rodents they lack canine teeth, and have large sharp incisors to compensate. Their hunting habits are different in many ways, however. Most species are nocturnal endurance runners, with long stocky legs and large eyes and ears. Accordingly most coexisting carnivorans are predominantly diurnal predators.

Unlike cats, Formidimurarchids don't have retractable claws, and hence are primarily reliant on brute strength and size advantage to kill prey. Some species live in packs or prides similar to modern lions. One often noticeable trait is that the long hairless tail of their distant ancestors is present in most species.
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Dapper Man
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Nice.
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El Dorito
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I thought this would have gotten a ton of opinion comments by now. Usually anything regarding carnivorous rodents is the start of a big discussion.
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CaledonianWarrior96
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Not every update you post is going to spark some discussion that will last a while
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Beetleboy
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I agree with Caledonian Warrior. You seem to be overestimating the popularity of this project. Sorry, that's sounded kinda mean . . .
Edited by Beetleboy, Feb 9 2016, 06:16 AM.
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El Dorito
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Not that so much, it's more about what the subject. Most things I've seen where someone crests a new group of carnivorous mammals sparks a long and retailed discussion, apparently people think carnivorans are the apex of predatory mammal evolution. The other half is of people making comparisons to predator rats, which I deliberately tried to avoid here.
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DroidSyber
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Carnivorous rats really aren't as unlikely as everybody says. Just because they're oppertunists does not mean th y can't specialize in carnivorisim.
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CaledonianWarrior96
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Some island populations or really, really badly hit places could have carnivorous rats
Come check out and subscribe to my projects on the following subforums;

Future Planet (V.2): the Future Evolution of Life on Earth (Evolutionary Continuum)
The Meuse Legacy: An Alternative Outcome of the Mosasaur (Alternative Evolution)
Terra Cascus: The Last Refuge of the Dinosaurs (Alternative Evolution)
- Official Project
- Foundation
The Beryoni Galaxy: The Biologically Rich and Politically Complex State of our Galaxy (Habitational Zone)

- Beryoni Critique Thread (formerly: Aliens of Beryoni)
The Ecology of Skull Island: An Open Project for the Home of King Kong (Alternative Universe)
The Ecology of Wakanda: An Open Project for the Home of Marvel's Black Panther (Alternative Universe)

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El Dorito
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This is more than 10 million years in the future, and most species of carnivorans go extinct between 7 and 10 million years in the future as a result of climate change associated with the final ending of the Pleistocene ice age series. At this point the world looks more like the world of 20 million years ago than the world of today. It's also when the inhabitants start to look noticeably different to things from now, as opposed to morphological lot similar descendants of modern animals. That being said initially everything would at least be recognisable, and these carnivorous rodents aren't really going to take over the world so much, more just be the main mammalian predators of North America.

The next thing that I was going to post is either:
1) a description of the already mentioned skarks.
2) a several part description of a group of endothermic sometimes bipedal monitor lizard descendants that I have yet to think up an original name for.
3) a description of some of the major herbivores of the time, mostly mammals, though I'm not sure what kind yet.

If people want, I will go back and write descriptions about individual species.
Edited by El Dorito, Feb 10 2016, 12:22 AM.
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What if denizens of the United States call themselves 'Americans' so as to avoid being called USAliens?

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LittleLazyLass
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El Dorito
Feb 8 2016, 11:29 PM
I thought this would have gotten a ton of opinion comments by now. Usually anything regarding carnivorous rodents is the start of a big discussion.
A lot of this seems inspired by old Future of the World stuff, and I've discussed that plenty in the past.
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