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| A New Era: Mammals | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 14 2016, 04:02 AM (1,341 Views) | |
| Diabolical Bear | Feb 14 2016, 04:02 AM Post #1 |
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Scenario In the midst of an epoch called the Anthropocene, human activity has had a global impact of Earth's geology and ecology whether it be deforestation, introducing species, or poaching. Human activities have endangered many species like the Rhino and the Tiger. Within 100 years, these iconic and most familiar animals vanished from the earth at the hands of humans. Lions, tigers, rhinos, orangutans all extinct. Even the human race has reached its peak. Many factors such as loss of biodiversity, wars, and viruses lead to extreme population decline and ultimately, the extinction of mankind. But the worst was yet to come. A meteor 5 miles wide is hurtling towards earth. It strikes the famous Grand Canyon in North America, sending more than thousands of tons of debris and dust into the atmosphere and obscuring the sun. Fires were ignited. Loss of sunlight and photosynthesis caused the whole ecosystem and land and at sea to collapse. Billions of animals, many were mammals, died out. Despite this, it only took a few million years for life to recover. The survivors were burrowing animals who will later diversify and fill the unoccupied ecological niches. This is the start of a new era. Survivors and Diversification Rodents: Rodents, particularly rats and mice, are the most adaptable family of animals on the planet. Being able to burrow kept them safe from the thermal heat and being flexible feeders meant that they could eat almost anything. In a few million years after the extinction, there are predator rodents, mega-sized rodents, ungulate rodents, arboreal primate-like rodents (descending from squirrels), and aquatic rodents. Rabbits, Hares, and Pikas: As burrowing animals, rabbits, hares, and pikas are most likely to survive and adapt to the change. They have proven their adaptability in areas of the world as they are hard to eradicate on different continents. They are versatile feeders and breed quickly, allowing evolution to keep up. In the future, deer-like rabbits and and horse-like hares will thrive while mega-sized pikas roam the land. Domestic/Feral/Wild cats: They may seem like unlikely survivors, but domestic cats are very adaptable animals with feral cats being a menace in places like Australia. They've survived by burrowing and staying in their extinct owner's homes. Domestic cats, despite being great pets, still retain their wild instincts and can go feral real easily. Domestic, feral, and wild cats are able to eat a variety of animals such as rodents, rabbits, birds, snakes, and insects. In a few million years, there will be new species of wild cat and even big cats. History might even repeat itself and produce new saber-toothed cats. Canids: The only canids left on the planet are foxes, raccoon dogs and bush dogs. Foxes are adaptable and proven to be a menace in Australia, while bush dogs are widespread in South America. Both animals will set the stage for new canids with bush dogs being the South American equivalent to African wild dogs and foxes being the new wolves and coyotes. There will also be smaller canids the size of a a large rat. Raccoon dogs will also become wolf-like, bear-like, and hyena-like. Mustelids: Mustelids, next to cats, civets, and mongooses, will be the main predators in many ecosystems in the future. They escape the thermal heat by using burrows and prey on rodents and rabbits. Despite their size, they make very skillful predators, capable of taking down prey many times their size. There would be bear-like badgers, leopard-like martens, and fast cheetah-like weasels. Viverrids: Civets and genets are nocturnal animals who survived the mass extinction by resting in tree and rock crevices and burrowing. They were able to prey on small mammals and insects and eventually became major predators. Shrews: Shrews are mouse-like animals that live a life similar to moles. Living underground protects them from the heat and debris in the atmosphere. When that clears up, shrews will discover a barren world and eventually diversify into ungulate shrews and mega shrews. Mongoose: Notorious for slaying cobras, the mongoose is a capable survivor of this mass extinction and this tiny predator will fill the niche once held by big cats and other carnivores. They can eat a wide variety of food and live in burrows, keeping them safe. Mongooses main trump cards are its speed and durability which will become an essential part of its anatomy in the future. Hyrax: A living relative of the iconic elephant, the hyrax is a sole survivor. It lives burrows and close knit family groups with a dominant male who watches for danger. Hyraxs are very adaptable. Their habitats range from dry savannas to dense rain forests to cold Afro-alpine moorlands. Within a few million years, Hyraxs will have evolved mega forms, like their cousin the elephant, but will still have smaller forms. Wombats: Wombats are adaptable marsupials and are excellent diggers; their burrows can be from 3 to 30 meters (10 to 100 feet) long and up to 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) deep. With their rodent-like teeth and strong claws, wombats can eat grasses, sedges, herbs, bark, and roots. They can remain in they're current form, evolve into diprotodon-like mega forms, carnivorous animals like thylacoleo, and even small arboreal froms. Edited by Diabolical Bear, Feb 17 2016, 09:12 PM.
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| Dragonthunders | Feb 14 2016, 10:52 AM Post #2 |
The ethereal archosaur in blue
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Looks fine, but, you'll be working on this or you will continue to create projects randomly? |
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Projects "Active" projects The Future is Far Welcome to the next chapters of the evolution of life on earth, travel the across the earth on a journey that goes beyond the limits, a billion years of future history in the making. The SE giants project Wonder what is the big of the big on speculative evolution? no problem, here is the answer Coming one day Age of Mankind Humanity fate and its possible finals. The Long Cosmic Journey The history outside our world. The alternative paths The multiverse, the final frontier... Holocene park: Welcome to the biggest adventure of the last 215 million years, where the age of mammals comes to life again! Cambrian mars: An interesting experiment on an unprecedented scale, the life of a particular and important period in the history of our planet, the cambric life, has been transported to a terraformed and habitable mars in an alternative past. Two different paths, two different worlds, but same life and same weirdness. My deviantart | |
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| CaledonianWarrior96 | Feb 14 2016, 01:45 PM Post #3 |
An Awesome Reptile
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I'm surprise bats aren't mentioned here, considering they're the largest group of mammals after rodents and have varied forms and adaptations |
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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) (Click bold titles to go to page. To subscribe click on a project, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "track topic" on the bottom right corner) And now, for something completely different
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| Diabolical Bear | Feb 14 2016, 03:29 PM Post #4 |
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I'm actually working on this one. One for reptiles is coming soon. |
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| Diabolical Bear | Feb 14 2016, 03:30 PM Post #5 |
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I could've used bats because they do live in caves which would protect them from the debris and heat, but that slipped my mind while writing this. |
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| Dragonthunders | Feb 14 2016, 07:04 PM Post #6 |
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The ethereal archosaur in blue
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It would be preferable if you work on one topic, it would be more appropriate to create a single topic, instead for make one for each type of animal if at the end of it everything is for a same project. |
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Projects "Active" projects The Future is Far Welcome to the next chapters of the evolution of life on earth, travel the across the earth on a journey that goes beyond the limits, a billion years of future history in the making. The SE giants project Wonder what is the big of the big on speculative evolution? no problem, here is the answer Coming one day Age of Mankind Humanity fate and its possible finals. The Long Cosmic Journey The history outside our world. The alternative paths The multiverse, the final frontier... Holocene park: Welcome to the biggest adventure of the last 215 million years, where the age of mammals comes to life again! Cambrian mars: An interesting experiment on an unprecedented scale, the life of a particular and important period in the history of our planet, the cambric life, has been transported to a terraformed and habitable mars in an alternative past. Two different paths, two different worlds, but same life and same weirdness. My deviantart | |
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| Diabolical Bear | Feb 14 2016, 08:28 PM Post #7 |
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Okay. Thanks for the advice. |
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| Diabolical Bear | Feb 15 2016, 02:13 AM Post #8 |
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Rodents Rats and Mice, being spread worldwide, are very likely to have global descendants. As many mammalian fauna died out, rats (being one of the most common animals) were able to fill their niche. The reason they survived was because they proliferate very quickly which allows evolution to keep up, are generalists who will eat anything, burrowers which gives them protection from harmful thermal heat. They will give rise to 6 groups. Odontotheridae, Makdontimyidae, Ligomyidae, Neromyidae, Choimyidae, and Chreosotheridae. Mice branched out and formed 3 groups. Microtheridae, Megatroktidae, and Trogonitheridae. Squirrels, are often found worldwide and are very common in North America. This family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, flying squirrels, and prairie dogs Able to live in holes and crevices in trees and burrow, squirrels were shielded from harm. When millions of mammals died out, squirrels diversified further and branched out into 6 groups. Primate-like squirrels called Sciuriprimatidae, Sloth-like squirrels called Dentropodidae, Predator squirrels with leopard-like behavior called Kreafaoidae, Bovid-mimicking prairie dogs and marmots called Cynomitheridae and Marmotheridae, and mega-squirrels called Megasciuridae. The agouti is a rodent native to Central and South American rainforests and is a very important member of the rainforest community. There are currently 11 species of agouti. Being adaptable, the agouti is widespread, a fast breeder, and a generalist when it comes to food. In the future, the groups descending from the agouti are the horse-like Kalpimyidae, the small Micromyidae,the rhino-like Ceratheridae, the armored Aspitheridae, and the tall giraffe like Paramyidae.  Porcupines are herbivorous rodents who are widespread globally. Their natural defense from predators are quills which can do serious damage to an attacker. Like most rodents, they are not picky eaters. Porcupines will eat just about any vegetation and will even eat bark. There are two types; Old World porcupines and New World porcupines. Old world porcupines are terrestrial porcupines who live on the ground and in burrows. They will give rise to giant 7 ft porcupines, similar to the giant ground sloths, smaller porcupines, and even the mammal version of Ankylosaurus, in which their quills receed to their tails and form a spiky club. New world porcupines are arboreal and live in crevices in the trees, feeding bark and other foods. New world porcupines will branch out and form shrew-sized porcupines and sloth-like porcupines and some will stay the way they are. Jerboas are leaping mice who get around like a kangaroo. They live in the desert and take shelter in burrows and under rocks. During the extinction of millions of mammals, jerboas evolved and branched out into the Dipodidae (modern jerboas staying the same), Pidimapodidae, and the Dyotrexidae. Capybaras are the largest rodents on earth, weighing up to 100 lbs and measuring 4 feet long and 2 feet high at the shoulder. They are semi aquatic animals found near most, if not all of Central and South America's rivers, lakes, ponds, marshes and swamps. They will either stay the same or become the Corticotheridae (toxodon-like rodents) and Hippotheridae (hippo-like rodents) |
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| Diabolical Bear | Feb 15 2016, 09:33 PM Post #9 |
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Rabbits, Hares, and Pikas When most of the mammalian fauna goes extinct, rabbits will fill ungulate niches. Rabbits are extremely adaptable, breed quickly, and are generalist when it comes to vegetation. Rabbits were spared from the mass extinction due to their ability to burrow, which protected them from the thermal heat and debris filled atmosphere. Rabbits will branch out, forming 3 groups called Kathidae, Kampisodae, and Malakipoda. Some rabbits will even remain the same.  Hares, being adaptable and graceful animals, will fill the niches of antelope and horse, though some hares will remain the same over time. The 2 groups descending from hares are Stolopoda, Tripotheriidae.  Despite being the least known, Pikas diversify the most. They'll become small, large, mega-sized, round, skinny, lumbering, graceful,etc. There are 7 groups that descend from Pikas. Microyiriidae, Exairetheriidae, Adexipoda, Ischirotheriidae, Charitopoda, Leiotheriidae, and Oreiechitheridae. |
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| Beetleboy | Feb 16 2016, 11:50 AM Post #10 |
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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I can't see some of the pictures. |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
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| Diabolical Bear | Feb 16 2016, 07:05 PM Post #11 |
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I don't know what happened with that. |
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| Diabolical Bear | Feb 16 2016, 11:11 PM Post #12 |
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Domestic/Feral/Wild cats   Cats, whether domestic, feral, or wild, are part of the felis family. Cats are very adaptable animals. Feral cats are a menace in Australia and are hard to eradicate. During and after the meteor impact, cats took shelter in burrows, protecting them from the harmful heat and debris. As the earth recovers from the 6th mass extinction, cats filled the gaps of predators in the ecosystems. Some cats will remain small, but others will branch out into Scotheridae and Erpotheridae. |
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| Rodlox | Feb 16 2016, 11:53 PM Post #13 |
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the rabbit was too big |
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.---------------------------------------------. Parts of the Cluster Worlds: "Marsupialless Australia" (what-if) & "Out on a Branch" (future evolution) & "The Earth under a still sun" (WIP) | |
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| Dragonthunders | Feb 17 2016, 10:48 AM Post #14 |
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The ethereal archosaur in blue
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The problem is that you have copied wrong the links, you sometimes copy the websites instead of the image itself. This link for example:
isn't the picture, this is still part of the Wikipedia website it's the Media viewer, has just enlarged the image. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Cat_eating_a_rabbit.jpeg This is the correct link, You need to give double-click so you get the whole picture and the address.
This others are still the website, to copy the images, you should do right-click the image itself and look for the option "Copy image address" not just copy the web site. |
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Projects "Active" projects The Future is Far Welcome to the next chapters of the evolution of life on earth, travel the across the earth on a journey that goes beyond the limits, a billion years of future history in the making. The SE giants project Wonder what is the big of the big on speculative evolution? no problem, here is the answer Coming one day Age of Mankind Humanity fate and its possible finals. The Long Cosmic Journey The history outside our world. The alternative paths The multiverse, the final frontier... Holocene park: Welcome to the biggest adventure of the last 215 million years, where the age of mammals comes to life again! Cambrian mars: An interesting experiment on an unprecedented scale, the life of a particular and important period in the history of our planet, the cambric life, has been transported to a terraformed and habitable mars in an alternative past. Two different paths, two different worlds, but same life and same weirdness. My deviantart | |
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| Diabolical Bear | Feb 17 2016, 08:59 PM Post #15 |
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Oh, I see. Thank you. |
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