Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
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!

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Triassic Switch
Topic Started: Sep 25 2016, 05:46 PM (1,134 Views)
lamna
Member Avatar


His whole body ached, ravaged by time and years of hard living. His head was mass of scars, his prey seldom went down without a fight, but they always went down.

Still, for an animal supposed to be dead for dead for two hundred million years, the bull Postosuchus was doing well. He has little understanding what happened to him, one day he was living in the late Triassic, the next, in the 21st century.

His world was turned upside down. Tiny flying dinosaurs swarmed in the sky, while strange long-limbed, fleet-footed synapsids ran across the earth. But strangest of all were the myriad buildings, roads and cars, totally alien to him and full of the scent of a strange synapsid. The smell was everywhere, and lingered for years, but he never found one.

Still, strange as this world was he still needed to eat. For a month he subsisted on meat found in shops and homes, trapped pets and their carcasses and bodies not yet tainted with preservatives in morgues and funeral homes.

He traveled south, though this was the same land he had walked millions of years ago, it was much changed, cool, dry and high.

As he traveled he found he was not alone, other Postosuchus had found themselves cast away in time, as had other animals from the Triassic. Many of the herbivores were weak from hunger, unable to feet on the strange plants of the 21st century.

Eventually he arrived at King Ranch and found a place to call home. Cattle and Triassic refugees provided him with easy pickings as he adjusted to this new world.

Two decades later the world has changed greatly. Humanity will cast a long shadow, but already the earth is reclaiming their works. Roads crumble, cars rust into hulks while cities fall into ruins.

The bull has fed well, having brought down a young Collared Peccary only two days ago. He walks down to the old reservoir, dropping to all fours to drink, pushing aside the blooming water hyacinth that almost totally cover the water's surface. After a drink he slides into the water to escape the midday heat, resting his head on the bank.

Alligators live here, but they are mostly younger animals and they all give him a wide-berth. Drowsing, he watches his kingdom. A herd of bovids soon arrive, some clearly bison, others clearly cattle, most some blend of the two. They drink quickly, wary of an ambush and then leave to graze.

Whistleing ducks punt along the waters, calling to one another. In the shallows the snow white egrets are joined by a speckled juvenile Coelophysis. She hasn't seen them, but a flock of turkeys dither at the waters edge, thirsty but fearful. The Coelophysis gives up without catching anything and stalks off into the woods.

The turkeys rush get a drink before being scattered by a battle. The bull perks up at the scent of blood. Two Nilgai males are fighting, the stronger one pushing the other closer to the stream. The males kneels and jostle, smacking each other with their heads.

The bull pulls forward, disturbing the crown of butterflies that had been sipping his tears. If he were to strike now he could catch one of the Nilgai before...

SMACK

A black shape crashes into him, he turns to bite the attacker and sharp claws grapple him. Whatever it he's going to...

CRUNCH

He never sees what attacks him. Death is instant. Postosuchus are huge, with vicious crushing jaws and thick armour. But they are no match for a Jaguar. As the black panther drags the carcass away from the water the Nilgai fight on, unaware a new king has arrived.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
DINOCARID
Member Avatar
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
Whoahhh... More, this is awesome!
Check out my deviantart here
Projects
The Fieldguide to Somnial Organisms
The Tetrarch (coming soon)


Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Ivan_The_Inedible
Member Avatar
There are some who call me... Spencer.
 *  *  *  *  *  *
This Demoman quote sums this story of yours up nicely.
Quotes are a thing
Who will know?

My Projects
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


Thanks, don't know whether I'll cover more of the planet now it's been abandoned with a bunch of Triassic fauna, have a look into the future, or see what happened to all the people.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
GlarnBoudin
Member Avatar
Disgusting Skin Fetishist
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
I highly doubt that a Postosuchus would get owned by a jaguar that easily. They could match the cat pretty easily in terms of muscle mass, and the armor would be quite the hassle.
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.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


I don't want to turn this into Carnivora, but Jaguar are hardcore and could absolutely kill a Postosuchus in an ambush. Jaguars regularity hunt caiman, crunch though turtle shells. They killed glyptodonts by biting their skills and piercing their brains.

Tortoise eaten by a Jaguar
Spoiler: click to toggle


Glyptodon skull with two Jaguar sized holes punched through it.
Spoiler: click to toggle




In a fight, maybe the outcome would be different. But in hunt? Jaguar are powerful animals that hunt pretty much anything worth eating in their environment.
Edited by lamna, Sep 27 2016, 04:19 PM.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
LittleLazyLass
Member Avatar
Proud quilt in a bag

This sounds like it could be cool.
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?
Read First
Words Maybe
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
CaledonianWarrior96
Member Avatar
An Awesome Reptile
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
So the moral of this story; don't fuck with jaguars
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
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
GlarnBoudin
Member Avatar
Disgusting Skin Fetishist
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Hang on; I looked up how big Postosuchus was, and as it turns out, I was imagining it as being quite a bit bigger than it really was-around the same size as Saurosuchus. My mistake.
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.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
peashyjah
Member Avatar
Bydo
 *  *  *  *  *  *
Sounds like he's turned in an dream world or maybe an coma.
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)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


The boar grunts contently to himself as he tears apart the bramble patch using his tusks and beak.

The grunts were once a contact call to make sure his mothers and aunts knew where he was and that he was safe, but it has been a year since he was chased away from his herd.

Since then he has been alone, as most young Plore do. Plore are are Kannemeyeriiform Dicynodonts, related to the famous Placerias, unknown to science. His is a large species, one of the last of the great mammal-like-reptiles. His kind are dwindling, but his species story is not a tragedy. In another time they would thrive, in low densities across much of Gondwana. His line would continue right up to the End Triassic Extinction, indeed a small population would cling on until the Sinemurian.

But this is not that time, and his kind have another fate.

He tears into the blackberries, snipping off tender young leaves and plucking fruit with a delicacy you might not expect from a 800 kg animal. Once he has exhausted the easy to reach shoots and berries he wanders off, leaving the ever growing mass of tangled thorns behind.

He stops at a gnarled old ginko tree to scratch, squeezing between the aerial roots. The itching is somewhat lessened, but a scratch won't dislodge the half dozen botfly embedded in his skin. Not every part of the new world forming is as pleasant as blackberries.

On the wind he catches and intriguing scent, a sow Plore. He follows the trail cautiously, his mother and aunts would not take kindly to his return. Once he realizes it it a unrelated Plore, and alone, he picks up the pace.

Pushing through the seed ferns and tomatoes he find her in a clearing. She is a very small Plore, with tusks that are barely visible, but to a young boar who has been alone for months, she is beautiful. He approaches carefully, everting his penis and urinating on his belly and on the ground. She seems cautious at first, but approaches and starts nuzzling his face. She is not in season, but he is too excited and mounts her anyway.

The sound of the female's chain clanking, following by the loud grunting of Plore mating alerts the sentry. He stands up and freezes. His spear is is more of a glorified walking stick. For a moment he is distracted by the special of a tonne and a half of grunting, snorting synapsid sex.

The he remembers his job, and brings the gilded ammonite shell to his lips, calling out to the hunters. The boar Plore dismounts and starts looking for the source of the noise. The man panics, and launches his spear at the Plore. His aim is good, his power is not. The small scratch just infuriates the boar, the man turns to run as the boar tears through the brush like a bulldozer, slamming into the mans legs. He screams as the Plore rips through his tunic, goring and biting into his back.

The Plore flips over the terrified servant and is about to disembowel him when the Hill Barbarian arrives. She screams, her steel spear glittering like ice. The Plore pauses, and sees the bushes shake as more of the hunters descend upon him. The boar's kind have only known humans for a a blink of an eye in evolutionary terms, but he knows that flight is better when outnumbered, abandoning his prize and his mate as he runs through the undergrowth.

Humans are slow and ungainly in forests, he can bull through the tangled weeds and knock aside fallen trees, but humans are relentless. Pterosaurs swoop down to take advantage of chaos he leaves in his wake, snatching up lizards and invertebrates.

He bursts into the bright sunshine only to see animal he is entirely unfamiliar with, a living mountain. The Sea Princess has brought with her a Zira, a titanic Prosauropod, bigger than the largest theropods.

He freezes, giving Patrician in the howdah plenty of time to shoot him with her crossbow. The boar stumbles, the bolt passing clean through his body. The Sea Princess follows up with an arrow from her bow. The arrow lodges in his skull as he slumps to the ground. The last thing he sees is the Hill Barbarian burst from the woods, whooping and hollering as she readies her spear for the coup de grâce.

The present might now belong to the beasts of the Triassic, but the Triassic now belongs to humanity.
---
You can't stop me using mammal-like-reptile and prosauropod! You'll never take me alive!
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
GlarnBoudin
Member Avatar
Disgusting Skin Fetishist
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Is this entire project going to be the last moments of various animals? Granted, these are written extremely well, but I'd like to see more than just one or two species of animals at a time.

Also, I'm stoked to see what protorosaurs will evolve into here.
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.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


Predation offers a simple narrative with a nice clean ending, which is why I use it a lot.

I'm not sure where to go next, since there are kind of three or four places I could go.

First there are the short term implication of Triassic animals showing up in the present and humans showing up in the Triassic, how things shake out.

Then you have the long term of what happens in the present an past, post humans in the Jurassic, Dinosaurs in the future.

Also there world of high adventure of humans in the Triassic, which is what's really exciting me right now.

I'm also not sure if protorosaurs were even around in the Rhaetian.
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lamna
Member Avatar


When should I set the time period for the project proper? 100 million years after the human arrive? Or perhaps later, in the present?

If I want to do intelligent life, maybe 100 million years is too short, but if I set in the present, I have a whole other mass extinction to shake things up.

Life on land is complex, dinosaurs "dominate", but in a different way to in reality, and with more competition. In this world "Dinosaur" would probably be used in reference to saurischians, which do everything from multi-tonne herbivores to tiny flyers snatching insects. Ornithischians, by contrast, mostly stay small, agile bipeds.

After them are the posthumans, which have evolved into a variety of complex forms including some quite large ones, though none weigh more than a tonne.

After them are the pterosaurs, crocodylomorphs and squamates. Pterosaurs are going to be just as important as in reality, but the others will be filling a much bigger role.

Finally the other synapsids. Humans domesticating Plore helps dicynodont survive the end Triassic and thrive again, playing a bit part, but still around. Other mammaliaformes will still be around, but whether posthumans push them to the fringes or if the can continue much as normal.

I also have to figure out what plants are going to do. Humans bring along lots of seeds in the guts, and if nothing else brambles are going to survive.

I'm also wondering, if I leave it too long posthumans are going to just end up being mammals, with nothing to suggest they were ever human at all?
Living Fossils

Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural


34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur.
T.Neo
 
Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
[flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Nyarlathotep
Member Avatar
The Creeping Chaos
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Well, technically any non-sapient post humans will still be human in the cladistics sense, but it's quite likely they would retain some humanoid characteristics as they evolve in competition. For example aye-aye like arboreal humans could remain quite conservative, as could panda/gorilla like forest dwellers. It depends how they partition ecological positions with other organisms there.

Perhaps doing it by OTL timelines may be easier? Eh in the late Jurassic?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Fully Featured & Customizable Free Forums
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Evolutionary Continuum · Next Topic »
Add Reply