| 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! |
| Obscure Taxa; For interesting or obscure organisms you'd like to share. | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 14 2016, 09:46 PM (48,899 Views) | |
| Scrublord | Jul 2 2018, 02:26 PM Post #946 |
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Father Pellegrini
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Terrestrial cephalopods. They’re one of the oldest cliches in the book when it comes to speculative biology—and, as it turns out, they exist. Well kind of. They’re not terrestrial in the true definition of the word, but they do move and hunt on land and that’s close enough. The Algae octopus (Abdopus aculeatus) is known mainly for its boldly patterned body that allows it to mimic seaweed and its extensive diet of crabs. In fact crabs are the very reason this octopus came onto land in the first place. It makes long excursions onto land at low tide, when crabs are exposed on the beach, ambushing them either on the beach or in tide pools. This octopus, of course, cannot breathe air, and must rely on moisture it retains in its body—effectively “holding its breath.” By doing this, it can venture onto land for hours at a time, traveling from tide pool to tide pool in search of prey. Of course, with so many other animals having already conquered the land, a low-tide beach-crawler is probably the closest to terrestrial life that octopuses can get for the time being. Edited by Scrublord, Jul 2 2018, 02:28 PM.
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| beingsneaky | Yesterday, 8:15 AM Post #947 |
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Adolescent
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The ringtail is a mammal of the raccoon family, native to arid regions of North America. It is also known as the ringtail cat, ring-tailed cat, miner's cat or bassarisk, and is also sometimes called a "civet cat".![]() there is also an article about the ringtail here Edited by beingsneaky, Yesterday, 8:18 AM.
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user quotes: "pee is stored in the balls" - Ebervalius "Young ciliaurrg grow on the rear of the parent and look like small slurrg." - ZoologicalBotanist active projects: R.T.K.L(Rotifer Tardigrade Kinorhyncha Loriciferans) | |
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| Sayornis | Yesterday, 9:00 AM Post #948 |
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Neotenous
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Dinoflagellates are unicellular eukaryotes found primarily in marine environments, best known for causing red tide and sometimes displaying bioluminescence. Here are a few interesting ones: ![]() Warnowiaceae is a family of marine athecate (shell-less) dinoflagellates. Not much is known about their biology since they are difficult to raise in a lab, but they appear to be predators that feed on other dinoflagellates. They also have many complex organelles, including a light-sensitive ocelloid which is an assemblage of other organelles that are endosymbiotic in origin. This structure has sub-cellular analogues to the components of animal eyes: a "cornea" formed of mitochondria and a retina made of plastids. Another interesting dinoflagellate is Pfiesteria piscicida, which supposedly causes harmful algae blooms and kills fish. It apparently has an extremely complex life cycle, though there is some uncertainty about whether some of the toxic protists observed are really stages of the same species. The photosynthetic dinoflagellate Ceratium has a cool adaptation: at sunrise the cells grow "fingers" that allow them to float up to the surface to catch light, and at night the fingers retract. Dinoflagellates illustrated by Ernst Haeckel. A species of Ceratium is shown at top center. Edited by Sayornis, Yesterday, 9:03 AM.
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The Library is open. (Now under new management!)
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| Octoaster | Yesterday, 11:11 PM Post #949 |
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Meanwhile at Customer Support
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Regarding weird brittle looking things, I just came across weird little cambrian cystoid echinoderms called pleurocystites. They seem to be bilaterally symmetrical and it's seemingly unknown if they were mobile or sessile. Either way they're pretty fantastic. ![]() I have a feeling this reconstruction is by that one weird spec-antichrist guy but it's half decent. ![]() Cambrian echinoderms are such fantastic animals, it's a shame they never took off. Someone oughtta go back in time and acidify the ocean a little. |
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"The only thing that would scar me for life would be pics and videos of hetero sex." - Flisch "Die" - Arachnus "though critising misseppls is hypcocresi on my part" - Archeoraptor "You deserve to be abandoned!" - Arachnus Open at own risk.
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| Archeoraptor | Today, 4:32 PM Post #950 |
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"A living paradox"
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I mean echinoderms are secondary radial and some modenr echinodeerms are bilateral |
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Astarte an alt eocene world,now on long hiatus but you never know Fanauraa; The rebirth of Aotearoa future evo set in new zealand after a mass extinction coming soon......a world that was seeded with earth´s weridest and who knows what is coming next........... " I have to know what the world will be looking throw a future beyond us I have to know what could have been if fate acted in another way I have to know what lies on the unknown universe I have to know that the laws of thee universe can be broken throw The Spec I gain strength to the inner peace the is not good of evil only nature and change,the evolution of all livings beings" " Spoiler: click to toggle | |
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| lamna | 11 minutes ago Post #951 |
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Today I'm going to talk about a type of animal that's very well known, but often misunderstood. Giant tortoises are pretty famous, not only are they huge and impressive animals, but their connection to Charles Darwin and the origins of the theory of natural selection mean everyone interested in natural history is aware of them. I'll start by presenting the story you'll be familiar with. Long ago, small tortoises from the mainland got washed out to see an managed to establish themselves on islands. Without competition from other herbivores or predators to worry about, tortoises grew into giants. This, isn't really the case. You see, giant tortoises are cosmopolitan animals, or rather they were living in tropical environments around the world. Tortoises are not shy, skulking creatures that hide in their shadows unless they are on isolated islands. Around the world, many tortoises indpednetly became large animals. In Australia you had Meiolania, a strange tortoise with a horned head and a clubbed tail. It lived alongside crocodiles, thylacines, giant monitor lizards and marsupial lions. They were not just found in Australia however, clearly they were as good at rafting as other tortoises and established populations in Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Those populations were not safe from predation either, as those islands were also home to terrestrial crocodiles. In India you have the largest terrestrial tortoise ever, Megalochelys atlas. Superlative extinct animals often get exaggerated in size, but this animal could weigh at least a metric tonne, if not more. These tortoises were originally discovered in northern India, but they seem to have had a much create distribution in South East Asia, being found as far south as Timor. In North America you also had giant Gopher tortoises, about which there is very little free information online. But they didn't seem to be bothered by bears, dogs, terror birds, cats, etc. And in Africa, we still have living giant tortoises. The African spurred tortoise can grow it an enormous size, over a hundred kilograms, living alongside Lions, leopards, hyenas and wild dogs. So why the association with islands? Tortoises, especially giant ones, are excellent ocean travellers. They are buoyant, able to float indefinitely, and they can survive for extended periods without food or water. Now to colonise and island it takes more than one lucky castaway. Fortunately for any lonely tortoise that makes it to an island, their longevity means if it takes a century for another tortoise to arrive, they'll still be waiting. But that's only part of the story. Because the other reason they are associated with islands, is humanity. While able to live alongside most predators, humans are easily able to defeat the tortoises defences with our tools. Smaller tortoises can hide, but giant tortoises have always been a large, slow moving mountain of meat for humans. On all the large landmasses we arrived at, we found and ate into extinction giant tortoises. But early man was a poor seafarer, and so the island tortoises survived, for a time. But eventually, people developed better ships and found that giant tortoises made a welcome addition of fresh meat for scurvy-ridden sailors sick of salt beef. Giant tortoises could even be captured alive and kept on ships without need of food or water to provide a steady supply of food. By the time we realised the damage we were doing, as stopped, it was almost too late. Today, only the Galápagos tortoise and Aldabra giant tortoise survive. The Aldabra giant tortoise is itself the last survivor of a much larger group. Aldabrachelys once lived on the granitic Seyshelles (Aldabra is a coral atoll that is owned by the Seyshelles, but a long way from the granitic islands where most people live.) as well as on Madagascar. Further out in the India ocean, the Cylindraspis genus was found across the Mauritius, Rodrigues and Réunion. Remember that we live in a world that has been fundamentally changed by us, and our ancestors, for tens of thousands of years. Our studies of the natural world are always limited because it wasn't natural by the time we started to study it. |
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Living Fossils Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural 34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur. [flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash] | |
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7:20 PM Jul 10