| 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! |
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| Rebirth: From the end; In need of new project. | |
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| Topic Started: Jan 24 2017, 02:23 AM (1,622 Views) | |
| Dapper Man | Jan 24 2017, 02:23 AM Post #1 |
* I am fed up with dis wuurld *
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Rebirth: From the end The Earth. Truly a wonder across the cosmos, the only known planet to host life. Indeed, this tiny, blue, marble was something special, nothing was quite the same as Mother Earth to its inhabitants, from the tiniest organism to the biggest. Most spectacular indeed. However, chances are, similar things were happening on other worlds far off in the cosmos, from single celled bacteria to giant, browsing herbivores, it would be a common sight amongst the cosmos, each and every organism filling out a similar niche to the other. It was all just a show, a play. The earth itself was the puppet-master, and its inhabitants the puppets. However, that would all change around 4 million years ago. Why? Because of one organism named Australopithecus. This animal had a height of 5 feet. It wasn’t anything particular, just another ape on the savannah. However, what made this animal unique was its ability to walk on its hind legs. This feature, known as bipedalism, had been invented before, but what Australopithecus and its descendants would do with this new-found bipedalism, however, would shatter the circus the earth had been running for billions of years. These animals would be able to use the earth as their toys. These animals where the first stepping stones on the road that lead to Homo Sapiens. In other words, Humans. Us. Around 75,000 years ago, these early Humans almost went extinct, due to a volcanic eruption in Africa, where early Man first evolved. This caused a Genetic Bottleneck, in which a species is reduced to a certain few members, almost vanishing, but they bounced back. Humans spread across the globe, from the sun-baked homeland called Africa, to the freezing Arctic. Somehow, humans managed to make a living for themselves. Then they wreaked havoc, killing animals for sport and for food, they did not stop for almost a million years. Humans laid waste to thousands upon thousands of living organisms, abusing nature from the very start, claiming the earth as their own. What started as a simple practise for an ape lead to natural genocide. This leads us to 2020, when mankind was at a standstill. For centuries, they hadn’t needed to change their ways, comfortable in their homes, drinking, eating, socializing. This was their downfall, their ignorance. Their unneeded desire to change, which their natural ancestors longed for, brought them to their knees. Humans did not need to change, they were unaware, on the most part, that they earth would bounce back, in a sense, delivering karma for the abasement it endured, it’d unleash on its tiny monsters. This came in the same form as the one that almost killed of Humanity from the start: A volcanic eruption. The same thing that almost killed them of nearly 75,000 years ago. It was 2020 when it happened, a combination of the Yellowstone and Lake Toba (Yellowstone in North America and Lake Toba in Indonesia) spelt doom for humanity, casting a 2,000-year Global Winter, spelling doom for mankind. This was the price that a sapient had to face if they went on the warpath. However, in an ironic twist of fate, Nature’s revenge also spelt doom for any animals larger than a large domestic cat (Say, Savannah Cat size, 8-20kgs.) In an attempt at ending the war of humanity’s desire to expand, nature had also claimed the lives of billions of innocent animals who just wanted to live. In the end, 65% of all life on earth died out. But, amongst the chaos, something had to survive, right? Yes, something did. In fact, animals 20kgs and lower were exceptionally adaptable. This included Musk-Deer, Domestic Cats, Chickens, and Shrews were amongst the mammalian survivors. For example, the largest land mammal of Australia after the extinction for the first few 3 million years was the Wombat (Only the smallest individuals survived.) So, despite the chaos, a lot of animals survived. Even the paradox inducing Crocodilians managed to survive the extinction, due to them being ectothermic. This proves that, no matter what, life finds a way to bounce back, even if it seems all is lost. Table of Contents --- New project, yay. Edited by Dapper Man, Jan 24 2017, 06:05 PM.
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Speculative Evolution: Manitou; The Needle in the Haystack. | |
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| Dapper Man | Jan 25 2017, 07:10 PM Post #16 |
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* I am fed up with dis wuurld *
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Whoops. Will change it. EDIT: Changed from Africans to Afrikaans. Edited by Dapper Man, Jan 25 2017, 07:11 PM.
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Speculative Evolution: Manitou; The Needle in the Haystack. | |
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| Uncanny Gemstar | Jan 25 2017, 07:12 PM Post #17 |
Godfather of SE
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Seems cool, looking forward to seeing what comes next. Off handed question, were your bird of prey sparrows based on my Dethprey from the COM or did we just have eerily similar ideas? |
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Recent Projects Old Projects | |
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| Dapper Man | Jan 25 2017, 07:15 PM Post #18 |
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* I am fed up with dis wuurld *
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Coincidence  We just had a similar idea, is all.
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Speculative Evolution: Manitou; The Needle in the Haystack. | |
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| CaledonianWarrior96 | Jan 26 2017, 09:57 AM Post #19 |
An Awesome Reptile
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Are you going to explain how some snakes became omnivores? As far as I'm aware all living snakes are obligate carnivores and while that is an interesting concept I do hope it can be explained. Other than that this is looking good |
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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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| Dapper Man | Jan 26 2017, 04:21 PM Post #20 |
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* I am fed up with dis wuurld *
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Will be done once the creature is written up. And thanks! |
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Speculative Evolution: Manitou; The Needle in the Haystack. | |
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| Dapper Man | Feb 1 2017, 02:02 AM Post #21 |
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* I am fed up with dis wuurld *
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Bushmen The environment transitioning from the Holocene to the Paromacene is an odd one. Within the 30 million years life has had to evolve, most of the world was tropical, with rain forests stretching from North America to Australia for the first 10 or so million years of the Paromacene. Around 15 million years ago, grasslands re-appeared, which were restricted to isolated pockets at the time. Indeed, along with the grasslands, woodlands helped replace most of the rainforest, leaving Eurasiafrica, Central/Southern America, and bits of Australia as the only places to find it, where it was tropical. In Africa, this caused a continent wide dry-out, with 60% of the rainforests in which creatures had adapted to vanished. This gave new opportunities, and one group of creatures, descended from Macaques, took advantage of this. They are about the size of a wild boar, and, as Macaques faced competition from recovering Deer, Cats, and other mammals, they walked out onto the grasslands. It seems as if these new Macaques were the lucky ones. Anatomy Part of a group known as the Pithecipodidae, or, as they are better known as, Bushmen. Bushmen specimens tend to reach 70-140cm tall, around the size of a wild boar. They are upright, and resemble the ancient Australopitheciines of the Pliocene. Their fur is found everywhere on their face, with the exception of the face. The males, on the other hand, have a shaggy mane, like that of a lion, to assert his dominance in the harem. Females stand within 70-80cm, whilst males are 80-140cm tall, showing sexual dimorphism. They are omnivorous, with plants and fruits consisting of up to 95% of their diet, whilst meat is the remainder. Unlike their ancestors, Macaques, Umuntu-Wamanga’s have short tails, which is covered in fur. Bushmen, as their name suggests, are like tiny men, that live in the bush. Their woodland environment, along with the grasslands that occupy them, have forced them to be bipedal, in order to get a higher vantage point. They have medium sized eyes, which suggests they have a binocular vision, and can see in the night, but not as well as their arboreal ancestors. As stated before, the males have lion like manes, which “colour up” during mating seasons, turning into a mixture of bright blue/green. Behaviour Bushmen live in harems, with a large, 20kg male dominates a group of 5-7 females, carrying along the occasional “companion”, which is usually a sub-adult, inexperienced male, who ends up as competition, wanting the same harem, most of the time. Sometimes, however, this “companion” will usually be driven out by the time he is 15 years old, as Bushmen live for up to 40 years old, giving the companion another 25 years to gain knowledge. A female Bushmen from another harem might join another one if she is driven out of her clan by the leader, awaiting the leader of her potential new harem’s approval. During the wet season, Bushmen tend to feed on fruits and tubers, and the occasional insect. However, in times of severe drought, they will eat meat, and, sometimes, each other, if they get the opportunity. Females are more aggressive than males, due to them having to protect their offspring, whilst the males usually only has to mate with the females. Reproduction Mating occurs within the end of the dry season, when the rains start to fall. This process usually lasts for around half to three-quarters of an hour. Females give birth to a baby around the size of your palm. The mother than breast-feeds her offspring for around 1 year, before weaning it of milk, forcing it to defend for itself. Males will mate with whomever they please, even if the female is with another male, fighting him for the rights to the female. Mothers give birth to around 1-2 offspring per mating season. Species: Bushmen are amongst Eurasiafrica’s most diverse Primates, with 4 species being found. Species of Bushmen include the Robust Bushmen, which is found in Central/Sub-Saharan Africa, and reaches a height of 110cm at most. As evidenced, these are the most robust of the subfamily. The Forest Bushmen, on the other hand, is much smaller, reaching a pitiful height of 50cm, and lives in the forests of the Congo. Eurasian Bushmen are the most widespread, being found in Europe and Asia, and reach a height of 120cm, and heaving a diet of fruits, leaves and the occasional carcass. Fanged Bushmen are the most carnivorous Bushmen, meat consisting of up to 40% of his diet. They are built like a mix between an Australopithecus and a Baboon. The smallest Bushmen known, the Manchild, is the smallest, reaching a height of 40cm, that of a juvenile Bushmen, hence its name. Its diet consists of up to 90% fruit, making it frugivorous, and is arboreal. --- First update. |
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Speculative Evolution: Manitou; The Needle in the Haystack. | |
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| Fazaner | Feb 1 2017, 05:53 AM Post #22 |
Шашава птичурина
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Are there any plans for intelligent bushman, or you going to keep them as monkey like? Very good project, bay the way, patiently waiting for more. |
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Projects (they are not dead, just updated realy slowly, feel free to comment): -World after plague After a horrible plague unleashed by man nature slowly recovers. Now 36 million years later we take a look at this weird and wonderful world. -Galaxy on fire. They have left their home to get out of war. They had no idea what awaits them. My Deviant art profile, if you're curious. Before you get offended or butthurt read this | |
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| Dapper Man | Feb 1 2017, 10:19 PM Post #23 |
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* I am fed up with dis wuurld *
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Thanks. And I don't plan on any intelligent Bushmen at the moment. |
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Speculative Evolution: Manitou; The Needle in the Haystack. | |
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| Beetleboy | Feb 2 2017, 10:14 AM Post #24 |
neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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This looks like a good project. Some constructive criticism, if you don't mind. 
I really doubt that a volcanic eruption would wipe humans out. We're clever and resourceful, I really can't see us being wiped out by this. Something like warfare and/or pandemic, I could see working, particularly in combination with each other and perhaps other things.
First of all, I think that Yellostone (even combined with another eruption) would be so catastrophic. A localized severe extinction event perhaps yes, but not a worldwide one that would be so severe as this. This is not so very far off from the K-Pg event. Also, as more of a personal preference than anything else, I don't really like the way you wrote that little bit - it almost makes it seem like the volcanoes erupted on purpose, and it makes it seem unnecasarily tragic that so many species went extinct. Extinction events happen, but writing 'claimed the lives of billions of innocent animals who just wanted to live' just seems a little bit overkill. Anyway, that's not so much criticism, just pickiness. 
I would have thought some macropods would survive, wallabies at least are very adaptable and have done well even in non-native enviroments like NZ and Britain.
This could be interesting. I was doing some research on this myself the other day, and I realised that people haven't really being taking into account the fact that the Nile River ends up in the Mediterranean Sea, or the salt pan is it will probably become soon in the future. However, wouldn't this swamp be really salty? It could be like an immense salty swamp, filled with mangrove-like plants. Also, I like your bushmen. They are very similar to a concept I had for one of my earliest projects, the grass apes, which were bipedal macaques. |
| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
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| Dapper Man | Feb 2 2017, 10:26 PM Post #25 |
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* I am fed up with dis wuurld *
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Wow, that's a lot. And thanks. First of, it wasn't intentional. Just adding some tension in the intro. Second, the KT served as an inspiration for what could cause a nuclear winter. Third. Indeed, some Macropods did survive, but the Wombat was an example of the size limits for the survivors. Fourth, yeah, if I recall correctly, the Strait of Gibraltar was closing up at some point in the future. And the swamp is rather salty, so not many animals visit it. Most of it is consisted of birds, insects, and other tidal/pelagic creatures. And the Bushmen were a idea I had for a while, as well. Whilst watching Human Planet I noticed how adaptable to cities Macaques could be, even in the destruction of their environment, they could persist. Great minds think alike, I believe. Edited by Dapper Man, Feb 3 2017, 01:47 AM.
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Speculative Evolution: Manitou; The Needle in the Haystack. | |
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| Beetleboy | Feb 3 2017, 07:48 AM Post #26 |
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neither lizard nor boy nor beetle . . . but a little of all three
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Be grateful Hybrid the H-Bomb hasn't found this project . . . yet.
Okay, that's cool. Since it wasn't an accuracy thing, it doesn't matter.
Most macropods are quite a bit larger than a wombat though. Even the smallest ones that aren't already endangered are bigger than a wombat I believe.
Indeed.
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| ~ The Age of Forests ~ | |
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