| 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. While unregistered users are able to browse the forum on a basic level, registering an account provides additional forum access not visible to guests as well as the ability to join in discussions and contribute yourself! Registration is free and instantaneous. Join our community today! |
| Mutant Earth; What if the animals of the future were born in a lab? | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Feb 18 2016, 11:40 AM (3,097 Views) | |
| Beetleboy | Feb 18 2016, 11:40 AM Post #1 |
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
|
 The Introduction The unexpected story of the future begins not how you might think. It does not begin with a hand-waving explanation of how humans go extinct - quite the opposite, in fact. It starts with humans, and perhaps it wouldn't be a stretch to say the story is about humans right from the beginning to its finish. For if we are to think about this story, we must also take into account the effects humans will have on the whole future of the world - some of them rather unexpected. Humans do not like going extinct - nor, for that matter, do many species. Humans, it turns out, are almost a sort of sapient cockroach - not because of their natural skills, but because of their intelligence and inventions. As of the year 2016, the species Homo sapiens makes its way through a world war which killed thousands, and a massive epidemic, fighting them off with peace treaties (as well as nuclear bombs) and medicine. Somehow, humans bounce back every time. They may not have much in the way of natural defence mechanisms, but their technology and sapience win, in the end. 700 years from 2016, in the year 2716, the world has changed, and not neccasarily for the better. 90% of all Earthly terrestrial habitats are covered not by natural habitats, but by cities. The spread of humans came on in an impressive spurt, spreading their cities across the land, coating the Earth like scabs infested with tiny creatures - tiny, yet so influential to not only the world of 2716, but many million years afterwards. The amount of damage to Earth that humans have wreaked is incredible. Rainforests are all but gone - tiny pockets are left, most barely a few miles wide, existing in feable strips on the edges of cities and farmland. Beautiful seas of grass where zebras and antelope once roamed, stalked by lions and cheetahs in the grass, are now replaced by African cities and cattle farms. The oceans are thick with rubbish, matted with plastics that choke sea turtles and dolphins. Microplastics infest the foodchain like parasites, and mats of soiled nappies and broken toys clump together - the only things that thrive here are gulls, which bob along besides the mats of litter, feeding on tiny crustaceans hiding there. The baleen of whales is matted with plastic bags and other litter which has become clogged there, and fish lie dead at the bottom of the ocean, the by-catch of wasteful fishing. Reefs and deep sea areas have been dredged up by trawler fishing, and corals have become bleached and dead. The once glorious Great Barrier Reef is now a pale ghost, inhabited by a few fish and crabs which have clung on to survival. Sharks and turtles lie in folded mats of abandoned netting, the fibers cutting through flesh and skin. Prone bodies of dolphins and porpoises lay still choking on fishing hooks and netting, even in death. The icecaps have disappeared, melted away into the ocean, due to global warming which has only continued with renewed vigour since 2016, causing the sea level to rise. Polar bears are now something that can only be gawped at through the glass side of an indoor enclosure, with large areas to swim in and fake chunks of ice. It may look happy, even natural. But ignorance is not perhaps a good thing, but a fake thing. For this once-mighty creature's wild cousins are gone, and it will never again see real ice. It is born to die in a glass cage. In the vastness of the cosmos, it would be folly to think that Earth is the only planet with life. It seems likely, then, that perhaps there are other sapient beings out there, too. Some scientists always said that eventually, they would find us. Some agreed. Though we never actually prepared ourselves for what is really not a possibility, but an eventuality. In the year 2716, they found us. Were they had come from, or for how long they had been travelling to reach their destination, we do not know. In fact, we know practically nothing about these other sapients. Not their appearance, for they were never seen - they remained in their great crafts, like something from H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds. They were nicknamed The Visitors, with a capital T and V. Humans attempted communication. The ships circled Earth. Watching, constantly watching, but never replying or giving any sign that they recieved, or understood, the messages sent. Finally, one goverment was foolish enough to fire a bomb at one of these ships. Thus was the beginning of the end for humans. The Visitors may have been at first simply curious to find another sapient species, intent on observing and learning more, perhaps even communication in the end, but they took the bomb as a sign of war - though, who wouldn't? Quite what went through their brains at this point we will never know, but it is most likely that they began to consider humanity as a threat. It soon became all too clear that The Visitors were vastly more technologically advanced than humanity, even in the year 2716. Weapons that humanity could not even begin to understand were fired, directed to the biggest, most important cities which would have the biggest effect on the global population. However, the final straw was the Virus. The Visitors were masters of genetic mutation, and they modified this virus to their will. It could mutate faster than any other, mutate into different strains, but it had a sort of evolutionary floodgate: it could not evolve to another host. Once humans were gone, the Virus would wipe itself out - essentially, in spreading, it would kill itself. And so, just like that, humans went extinct. It was not glorious. It was horrific. We did not end fighting, with gunfire rattling away at our enemies. We were unprepared. Humanity ended with a few cowering specimens of a once glorious, intelligent species, huddled in a corner of a ruined, smoking city, half mad from the Virus, before letting out a final, rattling breath, then death consumed them. Blood trickled from dead, unmoving mouths. A species went extinct, just like that, and the Visitors moved on - perhaps returning to their home planet, perhaps to investigate another species, who knows? Humanity might be dead, but a mark of their previous-succesfulness will remain on Earth for millenia to come. But to tell that story, we must go back to before the Visitors arrived, to the mega-cities that covered the Earth, and to humanity's twisted attempts at playing God . . . ~ Well, my plan is to spend a little time looking at the cities, then move on to after humans die out. I'll be looking at different ecosystems, my aim being to focus heavily on plants as well as other organisms. And the name comes from the amount of genetically modified animals that are going to leave ancestors. I: Cities Zoos and Pets - plants, mammoths, beetles, pygmy sharks and elephants, and wing-rats More domestic animals and pets - tarantulas, fancy stick insects, glowing rodents, and dinohens Urban Wildlife - North and South America, the green city of Tierra Espléndida, Africa, India, and Europe The End of Humanity - after the war, the Virus, the wing-rat The New World - feral dogs, bioluminescence, DinoHens 50 Million Years Later Earth's Next Chapter - geography, continental layout II: The British Isles: The Salty Forests
Edited by Beetleboy, Feb 22 2016, 01:36 PM.
|
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
 |
 
|
| Dragonthunders | Feb 18 2016, 11:44 AM Post #2 |
The ethereal archosaur in blue
|
Do you remember the conversation we had about doing several projects just few days ago? I enjoy their concepts and ideas but seriously you should need to concentrate on just 3 or 4 projects at least. |
|
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 | |
|
|
| Beetleboy | Feb 18 2016, 11:48 AM Post #3 |
|
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
|
A few days ago? No.
That is exactly the amount of projects I am maintaning. I have been working on Sylvaria for a long time now, the same with the Journals - this proves that I can keep my projects going, and I will continue to. |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
|
|
|
| Dragonthunders | Feb 18 2016, 11:50 AM Post #4 |
|
The ethereal archosaur in blue
|
Sorry, I mean, weeks ago. |
|
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 | |
|
|
|
| Beetleboy | Feb 18 2016, 11:51 AM Post #5 |
|
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
|
Ok. Sorry if I sounded kind of hostile there, by the way. But it is true that when you say 3-4 projects at the most, I do have 4 projects (and the Journals is more fiction than spec evo anyway . . .). |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
|
|
|
| Beetleboy | Feb 18 2016, 01:06 PM Post #6 |
|
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
|
Zoos and Pets With so much natural land disappeared, one would think that many animals would be extinct. Indeed, many have been driven to extinction, but many more still exist in captivity: behind the glass walls of zoos. Giant pandas chew on bamboo grown in underground and rooftop farms, great whales swim in immense aquariums, while crowds of screaming school children press themselves against the glass. Cloned mammoth/elephant hybrids graze on fake stretches of tundra, while zoo keepers try to work out how to stop the flock of dodos bullying the albino runt of the collection. In the barren world that humanity will leave behind, some of these zoo animals will survive and emerge into a fresh new world, brimming with niches just waiting to be filled. Your average household of 2716 would not be complete with out potted cacti, modified to have fluffy, harmless 'fur', lacking the irritating attribute of many of its natural relatives, and beautiful orchids of all different shapes and sizes, which thrive in the hot weather of humanity's hothouse world. Palms and natural pest-control plants such as Venus fly traps line window-ledges, filled to the brim with flies, which thrive in the warm conditions of humanity's world. The popularity of pets has reached an all-time high. No family home is complete without a dog, cat, or something more unusual . . . of course, the average cats and dogs of 2016 are still popular, but many crave more and more unusual pets. Something unique that makes a family stand out. China and Japan in particular are well-known for their innovations in pets, but they are even more well-known for their insects: crickets bred to have more and more beautiful songs, and fat, glossy rhinoceros and stag beetles which in the dank city suburbs drug-addicts bet on beetle fights. Fancy pigeons, passerines, and parrots are also popular across the world, but these are by far not the most unusual. Some fish such as pygmy sharks, which are genetically modified bamboo sharks covered in beautiful patterning, grow to barely 15 centimetres in length, and have been increasing in popularity steadily since 2713. The variety of domestic mammals available has increased, and with the average family having more and more money, it becomes easier and more common for a home-owner to have more outlandish and expensive pets. However, this does not stop the pet industry from modifying their animals with the GM technology to make them easier to keep. Perhaps one of the most innovative were the so-called 'eles' - pronounced el-EES. These pygmy elephants became increasingly popular with new genetic modification being added, allowing them to process a wider variety of food, lessening their aggression, and making them smaller and smaller in size. Ele food is now common-place in supermarkets, consisting of some plant material, pork, and additives, though it varies between flavour. Some eles grow no more than 20 centimetres tall at the shoulder, and various different breeds are available, some hairy, others hairless, some with short trunks, others with riduculously short legs. Domestic marmosets are another common pet, coming in various fancy breeds, with unusual features on the fur, tails, and ears in particular. Shows and auctions take place across the globe as people admire and bid for the most beautiful (or ugly, if that was the desired effect) fancy marmosets. In the race to create more and more innovative and unusual pets, the immensely popular wing-rats were created. These genetically-modified hamsters have a stretch of patagium between the digits of their front limbs, creating wings, though they are useless for anything other than slowing their descent. It can be folded up neatly on either side of their bodies, allowing them to move as efficiently as a normal rodent. After humans, the wing-rats will do very well indeed, but for now they are rattling along in their hamster-balls and putting up with excited children throwing it in the air in an attempt to make it fly. Edited by Beetleboy, Feb 19 2016, 10:23 AM.
|
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
|
|
|
| HangingThief | Feb 18 2016, 01:34 PM Post #7 |
ghoulish
|
Just wondering, how is the scenario in the first post different from today at all? Lol |
|
Hey. | |
|
|
|
| ThinkingRat7 | Feb 18 2016, 02:35 PM Post #8 |
|
Newborn
|
This is truly original. I am excited how will these artifical animals evolve. |
|
Rats Rats Rats Rats Current Projects:Tale of Worlds | |
|
|
|
| GlarnBoudin | Feb 18 2016, 03:50 PM Post #9 |
Disgusting Skin Fetishist
|
As am I. Here's hoping for chickenosaurs! |
|
Quotes Spoiler: click to toggle Co-creator/corporate minion for the Pop Culture Monster Apocalypse! My Projects Spoiler: click to toggle Coming Soon Spoiler: click to toggle My dA page. My Fanfiction.net page. | |
|
|
|
| Beetleboy | Feb 19 2016, 10:17 AM Post #10 |
|
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
|
Thank you!
Oh, don't worry, we're gonna see chickenosaurs, Jurassic Park style. |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
|
|
|
| Beetleboy | Feb 19 2016, 11:41 AM Post #11 |
|
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
|
More domestic animals and pets Insects have become a commonly-eaten food in the cities now, with cricket fried rice a common sight in supermarkets, and chocolate-dipped ants a popular snack. But insects are also increasing in popularity as pets, too. Genetically modified tarantulas are amongst some of the most well-known. Their irritating hairs have been modified to be harmless, and their fangs to be blunter, smaller, and lacking venom. These so-called 'SafeSpiders' have become very popular, even amongst children, and are often used to help beat arachnophobia. Stick insects are also popular, and some have been bred to have bright colours. Bands of orange, red, black, yellow, blue, neon green, pink, and more pattern their bodies. Some breeders hold fairs displaying their specially bred stick insects, and they can win prizes for breeding the most colourful, gaudy stick insect. Bioluminescent animals are also increasing in popularity due to the 'wow-factor' that they hold. Amongst the most popular are jellyfish, chameleons, and mice. The genetically modified mice have glowing green-yellow backs and tips of the tails - the tail tips are particularly bright. Their bioluminescence is caused by luciferase reacting with luciferin with oxygen, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and magnesium ions. Surprisingly, these so-called 'GlowDents' (a spin on the word rodents) will do rather well in the future. In the Americas, pets such as skunks, coatis, kinkajous, and sloths are very popular, and they are spreading through Europe and into other countries. Fennec foxes and other foxes are also popular. With the latest GM science, the classic 'DinoHen' - the 'chickenosaurus' - now has various relatives created by the same company: DinoEmus, DinoCassowary, and DinoFalcons. The latter is one of the most recent creations, with a long, bony tail which helps it to steer, and a beak full of vicious teeth. The very first creation was the DinoHen - a chicken, but a dinosaur to all intents and purposes. Its wings pointed downwards, ending in a better defined hand, with clawed fingers poking through the feathers, and a long, bony tail. Inside its bill are 40 small but razor sharp teeth: 20 on the upper beak, 20 on the lower. These DinoHens become popular pets, and a new variety was made, dubbed the DinoHen Raptors. They were designed to be more like the outdated, unfeathered 'raptors' of Jurassic Park and similar movies. Though it is now a widely-accepted fact and well-known amongst general public that dinosaurs were feathered, and they appear as such in movies, the DinoHen Raptors were immensely popular. They completely lacked feathers except for spiny bristles on the back of their head, the tip of their tail, and the backs of their 'arms'. Were as DinoHens and DinoHen Raptors have become popular pets, the larger breeds such as DinoEmus and DinoCassowaries (which are GM'd emus and cassowaries, respectively) are kept in zoos for safety's sake, though some families do keep them in their private collections. |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
|
|
|
| Sayornis | Feb 19 2016, 12:22 PM Post #12 |
Neotenous
|
Very good so far. Lots of cool and plausible little details, like kids throwing their hamsters and the popularity of retro raptors. Are you going to incorporate your responses to your own challenge here? |
The Library is open. (Now under new management!)
| |
|
|
|
| Beetleboy | Feb 19 2016, 12:26 PM Post #13 |
|
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
|
Thank you very much!
Hhm, maybe . . . not sure yet. |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
|
|
|
| Beetleboy | Feb 19 2016, 12:52 PM Post #14 |
|
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
|
Urban Wildlife The remarkable thing about life is how quickly it adapts: when a new habitat or niche presents itself, life will jump to take it. The cities are no different. A variety of wildlife have adapted to make this new, dynamic habitat their home, and for the most part, people tolerate them - and in some cases, actively encourage them (bird feeders, for example). However, pests such as rats and cockroaches are not only disliked, but active attempts at ridding the cities of them are common. North America Typical urban invertebrates such as cockroaches and house centipedes are not the only animals lurking in the houses. Mice and rats live in the walls, beneath the floor, and in the attic, gnawing at power cables and stealing food, leaving their droppings in areas of their choice. Some animals, such as raccoons, have done extremely well in the urban envioroment. They have become excellent climbers, and may even shimmy up drainpipes to reach windows, sneaking into houses and stealing food. Foxes, bobcats, oposssums, squirrels, cottontail rabbits, skunks, and even deer can all be found in the cities, but perhaps the most surprising are visitors such as black bears and coyotes. Bears have been forced into cities due to the lack of wild land left, and now the only wild individuals left are found in cities. They sleep in alley ways and secluded back gardens during the day, emerging at night to raid dustbins and scavenge on leftover food. These bears are rarely a danger to humans unless taken by surprise during the day, when sleeping, but this is rare, as they chose areas where people do not often go to rest. Coyotes, on the other hand, pose more of a threat, and the packs roaming the streets are becoming a threat to children and adults alike. The year 2714 was renowned for its spate of coyote attacks, with several children, old people, and adults being killed or injured, with rabies being transmitted several times. These attacks often occured when the victims were going out at night. A mass cull has now reduced coyote numbers to practically zero. South America Urban parrots are a common sight in South America, roosting on buildings and electricity cables. They have become a sort of South American feral pigeon, with escaped African grey parrots being the most common, mingling with native species, forming multi-species flocks which desend down upon scraps of food. An innovative plan to merge forests and plants with the buildings of the city was launched in the city of Tierra Espléndida, which stretches along much of what was once the Amazonian rainforest. This plan for a greener city was highly succesful, and it became, surprisingly, a breeding ground for rare species. Animals which once lived in the rainforests here but now only existed in captivity were re-released in a trial run - and many of these species thrived in the intermingled forests and green buildings. Sloths hung from electricity cables, surrounded by the leaves of their favourite tree, and agoutis ran down alleyways, mingling with capybara. Manatees were introduced to canals that wove their way through the streets, specially made for wildlife, filled with tetras and turtles, while bridges go across it. Primates are also extremely common in Tierra Espléndida. Night monkeys hide in man-made nestboxes during the day, emerging at night and creeping through the streets in search of insects. A variety of marmosets and tamarins, capuchins, squirrel monkeys, and even spider monkeys and uakaris roam the city, swinging along skyscrapers, trees, and electricity cables. Hummingbirds are common in cities, were the microclimates keep them warm, and many families actively encourage them by putting out nectar feeders. Africa A variety of geckos and lizards, such as Hemidactylus sps are common in and around houses. Vervet monkeys have adapted to an urban habitat, as have baboons. The latter frequently raid houses for food, and may even attack humans when provoked, inflicting nasty injuries with their large canines. Therefore, a cull has been ordered, and baboon numbers has decreased massively. India Macaques and langurs have done better than any other urban mammal in India, spreading across the country, though flurries culling and trapping does occur sometimes when a macaque becomes too fiesty and injures (or even kills, in some extremely rare cases) a person. Although most urban leopards have also been killed, a few small populations do remain in the suburbs. Europe Deep in the sewers, tubifex worms can be found in the foul-smelling, brownish water, sometimes clumping together in large colonies which have been dubbed 'sewer blobs'. Both brown and black rats can also be found, eating whatever they can find. Red foxes and sometimes even wild dogs are the main predators of the urban areas, eating rodents, birds, insects, and scraps, scavenging from dustbins and leftovers. The populations of feral DinoHens and pigeons are kept under control by peregrine falcons, some of which are tamed and taught especially for killing pigeons, which are considered pests. Gulls are also common, and more and more species are adapting to the urban habitat, feeding on scraps. Edited by Beetleboy, Feb 20 2016, 12:50 PM.
|
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
|
|
|
| Beetleboy | Feb 19 2016, 12:53 PM Post #15 |
|
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
|
Sorry that it was so much like Terra Metropolis, by the way. Particularly the South America bit, but I've had that idea for the green city in my head for years, and I figured it would fit nicely into this project. |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
|
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
24814017740_c15abd8b31_z.jpg (39.39 KB)
 Our users say it best: "Zetaboards is the best forum service I have ever used." |
|
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Evolutionary Continuum · Next Topic » |
12:04 PM Jul 13