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
A Jurassic World; Dinosaurs shall inherit our world
Topic Started: Feb 9 2017, 02:13 PM (4,043 Views)
RoyalPsycho
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
A Jurassic World Is Made:
It all began with Ingen and a wild dream of a park that featured prehistoric animals. In 1993 that dream was realised thanks to fantastic new discoveries in the fields of genetic engineering and clever innovations made specifically for the project the genius scientific teams were undertaking. Within a matter of years not only had the company successfully reconstructed a close approximation of the genome of numerous dinosaur species – filling in the gene sequence gaps with compatible material from other, modern species – but had also managed to create and hatch living specimens.

The attempt to display the park on Isla Nublar before experts in order to alleviate safety concerns ended disastrously. In 1993 the park was closed after numerus deaths. In 1994 an attempt to extract reconstructed dinosaurs from the production facility on the nearby island if Isla Sorna ended in a similar disaster thanks to sabotage and short-sightedness. The rampage of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in San Diego practically ended Ingen.

In 1998, following the death of company founder John Hammond, Ingen and all its assets and patents were bought by Indian businessman Simon Masrani, the CEO of the Masrani Global Corporation who had been interested in acquiring the company since 1997. An idealist and believer in Hammond’s original dream, Masrani invested massively in the development of a new park on Isla Nublar. Dubbed Jurassic World, the park was an unprecedented success.

Opening in 2005, Jurassic World saw continuous success with new attractions opening up on a regular basis, new species successfully recreated and new technological developments being made, all of which enriched the park, the Masrani Corporation and Ingen. It was in 2015 that a brave new step was taken by all three institutions to push the boundaries of the technology they had pioneered. Worried about a stagnation in park attendance and a mild decline in profits, Ingen and Masrani commissioned the creation of an original, hybrid species that would be unlike anything seen in natural evolution. The undertaking was massive but nowhere near impossible and soon the new Indominus Rex, a terrifying, artificial hyperpredator with no precedent in the fossil record, was announced.

Despite being set to debut in the Christmas Season, the announcement of a never before seen hybrid drew unseasonably large crowds to Isla Nublar. Though people were scared by the viciousness of the creature and some concerns were raised, thrill-seekers more than compensated for the worried visitors and the Indominus exhibit was a rousing success for the company. Reinforcement of the enclosure was necessary after a near breakout but the situation was, thankfully, handled by security and the park was spared a catastrophic disaster.

Now free from the restrictions of having to provide accurate – in so far as public expectations allowed them to be – depictions of dinosaurs, Ingen began producing new and spectacular species.

The first great expansion of Ingen’s hybrid program was when a successful military contract was made for engineered attack beasts. Though there were objections from Masrani himself as well as other influential figures in the company the contract’s opportunities eventually won the majority around. The first derivatives of the Indominus Rex were developed. Training techniques pioneered by Owen Grady on the park facility at Isla Nublar were developed further to help keep the animals under control. The attack dinosaurs were a success in the field though there were still concerns about how much control the handlers had over the animals. The next generation of animals were developed with more domestic temperaments that still preserved their capacity for violence and intelligence when released into the field.

With this success the proverbial floodgates had been opened. Proposals were made for all kinds of new hybrids. Plans were made for new model species that could be displayed in parks in colder climates. Soon Dinosaurs of the Ice Age themed parks were opened both offshore and on the mainland of other countries and furry dinosaurs were exhibited to the public to great acclaim. After seeing massive success in these new facilities the original park was pressed to introduce new tropical animals. As new parks appeared, many of them being given new themes, competition emerged between the different facilities. As the 2010s moved into the 2020s and further on, an ‘arms race’ emerged within Masrani’s genetics institutions.

In 2027 the next great phase in genetic leisure products began. Despite protests from various groups Ingen began to release engineered dinosaur pets. Miniaturized versions of the company’s authentic species as well as their artificial ones and even brand new designs were released to the public in the US. They were even more successful abroad in Europe, Australasia and Japan. This was followed by a period where the rich would also buy specially designed specimens for private zoos and menageries.

For years these fantastic new creatures were sold to the public and governments to great success. Few companies were able to match Ingen and Masrani but some new pets and products were made to match their expertise. It was this that would doom humanity.

In 2034 an epidemic bloomed in South Asia. It spread quickly, crossing borders into the developed world and drawing international attention. Proposals were just being drafted when it became clear just how far and fast the disease was spreading. Entire populations were infected with no-one being spared, people began to die in droves and as the disease spread, it infected people faster. Speculations emerged that the disease was artificial and one laboratory studying infected victims did manage to reach a reasonable conclusion that it was though no-one could tell where it came from or how to counter it.

By 2035 the majority of humanity was dead, by 2037 they were all gone and so was the disease. It was surprising how quickly the entire species was rendered extinct. Untended, the artefacts of civilization rotted away and collapsed and the wild environments humanity had cut back returned, swamping cities and monuments. Animals kept in captivity escaped into the wild and bred and amongst the natural creatures that had been held in cages were the engineered creatures, now forced to find their place in the new ecosystem.

In the post-human world there was chaos as the ecosystem tried to reach a balanced equilibrium. Indigenous wildlife battled with transplanted wildlife and artificially created wildlife for niches. After 1000 years the new ecosphere has been somewhat stable for centuries and man’s creations have risen to dominance.

This is a new age of dinosaurs. A real Jurassic World.




Here's something that came to me after marathoning the franchise and rereading the TV Tropes page for Jurassic World. It got me thinking. What would happen if the Indominus Rex situation hadn't happened as it did in the movie? What if they did shrink it down and sell it to the military? If they can make bizarre hybrid dinosaurs, then what are the limits of what they can and will design?

This is an exploration of that and what they might do if humanity was then taken out of the picture.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Replies:
GlarnBoudin
Member Avatar
Disgusting Skin Fetishist
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Nice work, dude! Looking forwards to more stuff from Death World!
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
 
kopout
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
Do the dinosaurs still occasionally become male in a low male or all female group? InGen clearly made them able to reproduce because they have been self sustaining for a millennium, probably because allowing natural reproduction is cheaper than having to clone new exhibits each time one dies, and this way you wouldn't need two batches for each species.

Unrelatedly, did InGen have any competitors in the bioengineered creature park business? Will we be seeing BioSyn made knock offs?
Flisch approves!
Spoiler: click to toggle

Posted Image
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
RoyalPsycho
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
Quote:
 
Do the dinosaurs still occasionally become male in a low male or all female group? InGen clearly made them able to reproduce because they have been self sustaining for a millennium, probably because allowing natural reproduction is cheaper than having to clone new exhibits each time one dies, and this way you wouldn't need two batches for each species.


Yes that still happens. Its one of the reasons why the engineered species survived in the first place as it allowed gender populations to change to more sustainable levels. Island rafting is made easier because of this as well. It doesn't happen as often in most places because there's less isolation though.

Quote:
 
Unrelatedly, did InGen have any competitors in the bioengineered creature park business? Will we be seeing BioSyn made knock offs?


There were some competitors and I have a couple of plans for some of the things they have produced. Biosyn technically should exist in the movie canon because Lewis Dodgson appears in the first movie. They will have created some genetic products of their own though there won't have been anywhere near as many as Ingen's.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
RoyalPsycho
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
Microapatosaurus (small deceptive lizard):
Out of the many microsaur pets that Ingen made for the world, the small copy of Apatosaurus was one of the most popular. The small sauropods, specially designed to remain at a certain size and stage of their development regardless of their age, were instant successes as people fell in love with their surprisingly adorable appearances. Soon, it became almost as common to see them as household pets as rabbits or dogs.

Despite their small size, the Microapatosaurus proved to be one of the more adaptable microsaurs after humanity died out. No longer cared for by human owners but also largely uncaring that they were gone, the diminutive and stupid creatures moved out into the open and adapted to their new conditions.

Microapatosaurus are now a common sight across portions of North America and Europe with some populations even surviving in Britain, Japan and the Korean Peninsula. With a very quick breeding and growth rate and surprisingly generalist diet, the Microapatosaurus is ubiquitous to forested, temperate environments. They generally survive the cold winters in these regions by hibernating, huddling in groups in sheltered alcoves in order to survive the weather. Their ability to retain energy reserves is something that was not precedented by their designers in Ingen and is the result of genetic material that was added to them from small mammals like dogs and squirrels to make their attitudes and behaviour more appealing as pets.

A fully grown Microapatosaurus averages at around fifty centimetres long and twenty centimetres tall. They generally retain other neotonous characteristics like large heads, stubby tails and necks and the ability to quickly amble unlike other fully grown sauropods.

They are generally browsers and prefer forested regions where there is plenty of softer foliage for their pegged teeth to grip and tear at. This vegetation is then passed into their gut where, like their larger relatives, it is processed with the aid of gastroliths which the Microapatosaurus must gather, swallow and then regurgitate once they have become smooth and useless. Some have been known to feed on grass and pine needles but such diets are often unhealthy for the animals and lead to illnesses, mild malnutrition and frequent damage of their teeth which are replaceable.

Microapatosaurus are commonly found in herds of around twenty unrelated individuals. They are a common prey item for medium sized predators and have a high death rate that is offset by high birth rates. Females can lay eggs in clutches of a dozen that are buried in the ground to incubate in time for spring where they will hatch. Young Microapatosaurus will grow incredibly quickly until they are a third of the adult’s size in about a year. Shortly after birth they will form their own crèches until they can join an established herd or form their own from other groups and will reach sexual maturity in around three years.

Microapatosaurus have no way of defending themselves and maintain their species’ existence through prodigious breeding. Small predators and threats can be warded off by banding together but anything bigger than themselves will cause the herd to waddle away in fear, often scattering to single out a member of the herd to be sacrificed. Whilst the herdmates they have lost are fed upon, the others will disappear back into the underbrush of the forest. In the event that they haven’t already been caught though, the herd can hide in the lower foliage until the threat has passed.

Out of all the microsaur strains that were made the Microapatosaurus is the most surprising success story that has emerged. Their survival without the aid and support of humans is completely unprecedented and almost seems to have happened despite the way they were engineered. Even though the entire species have several distinct problems, they remain widespread and numerous.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
GlarnBoudin
Member Avatar
Disgusting Skin Fetishist
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Nice work as always, dude! What other microsaurs were produced by Ingen?
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
 
RoyalPsycho
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
GlarnBoudin
Mar 5 2017, 01:16 PM
Nice work as always, dude! What other microsaurs were produced by Ingen?
They normally produced herbivores bt a few carnivores were also made. Miniature versions of their regular dinosaurs species were all produced, including tyrannosaurus. They later made minature versions of their hybrids so you could buy a mini-Indominus Rex or Mammopod.

They also made some smaller versions of giant arthropods for insect enthusiasts but I'm not going to say which because I haven't written the entries for the full-sized versions yet.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
GlarnBoudin
Member Avatar
Disgusting Skin Fetishist
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Nice!
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
 
Uncanny Gemstar
Member Avatar
Godfather of SE
 *  *  *  *  *  *
I want six of them in my life. Like immediately. They're probably all way too adorable.
Recent Projects

Old Projects

Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
RoyalPsycho
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
Here is an old favourite of mine, the first proper dinosaur to get an entry in this project and an attempt to explain why what the movie gave us is so different from it what really would have been.

Spinosaurus Aegypticus Perversis (warped Egyptian spine lizard):
When Ingen was first recreating dinosaurs they often didn’t know what they would get from the gene sequences they were manipulating. It was, in many ways, a miracle that they managed to secure material from the iconic species they wanted to feature in their park. There were, however, many strands that produced species that they had no initial intention of creating and in many cases, they remade them into creatures that were nothing like the animals they were meant to be. Spinosaurus Aegypticus Perversis is the biggest example of these mistakes.

What was supposed to be a massive but relatively fragile piscovore emerged from its egg as a much bulkier animal and grew into an a powerful predator that, when it was confined to Isla Sorna, ran roughshod over the ecosystem and established itself as the supreme predator. Having never planned to put such a creature in their park, Ingen left it unlisted, ignored it and were unprepared when it easily broke out of its containment when Hurricane Clarissa struck the island.

After the creation of Jurassic World and the movement of Ingen’s assets to the new facility, Spinosaurus was left more or less alone on Isla Sorna. The immense hyper-predators were ignored completely throughout the ensuing genetic engineering craze of the 21st Century until the plans were approved for Jurassic World United States of America.

Hoping to capture a classical aesthetic, the park wanted to bring as many traditional dinosaurs as possible over to the facility being built in Florida. Spinosaurus were finally shipped off of the island and brought over to the mainland in preparation for the opening of the new facility. Then the Red Rot pandemic came, the project was abandoned, humanity went extinct, the dinosaurs broke out of the containment facility and Spinosaurus was released on the mainland.

By the 31st Century, Spinosaurus has carved out a dominant predatory niche in the southern portion of the former United States and the Gulf of Mexico region. They have also been seen roaming up and down the Mississippi and as far as the Great Lakes in the summer.

The Spinosaurus is an enormous predator, reaching heights of five to six metres and lengths of fourteen metres when fully grown, making them larger than most other predators in the Americas. Their sail adds even further height and is often used to intimidate rival Spinosaurus and other large predators if they wander into an individual’s territory. They have powerful legs that help them swim and, with their great size and strength, have even been seen to easily swim against the stronger currents of the Mississippi.

The monster that Ingen created, unlike their actual prehistoric counterparts, were powerful creatures. They had much stronger heads and arms than their species was supposed to which gave them the strength they needed to hunt large animals. Though their swimming lifestyle does allow them to hunt fish and swimming dinosaurs, they seem to be better adapted for hunting prey on land. They primarily use their size and long arms to subdue their prey, giving them the opportunity to grab onto their prey with their thick snouts and then rake deep wounds into the prey’s flesh with their claws. Whether with their jaws or hands, the Spinosaurus will hold onto the prey until it is dead.

Adult Spinosaurus maintain long territories, often near large bodies of water where they can drink, cool themselves or swim. Males often maintain larger territories than females that often overlap with the smaller female domains. This allows them access to a wide range of potential mates. They protect their territory by regularly patrolling it and leaving musk as a signifier both to rival males and potentially receptive females. Mating couplings are short with the female often driving off the male once she is successfully impregnated.

Young Spinosaurus are raised by the mother until their fifth year where they are driven off to fend for themselves. At first they will normally stay in forested regions or around rivers, using dense foliage to practise ambush tactics until they are large enough to hunt openly. Adults cannot normally hide and so will either hunt slow prey or try to run them down. Once they reach sexual maturity they will either try to find new territory of overthrow an established one. Battles for supremacy are often non-violent competitions of intimidation but if they do become violent, the confrontations can be terrifying.

To the Deinonecos that inhabit the portions of North America that Spinosaurus ranges within, the beast is considered a demon or a terrifying embodiment of disaster and fear. In the environments they range within, they are almost completely unchallenged, even by other massive carnivores. These animals are both a simple mistake and a terrifying monster.
Edited by RoyalPsycho, Mar 6 2017, 02:03 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
GlarnBoudin
Member Avatar
Disgusting Skin Fetishist
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Nice usage of the Spinosaurus!

I wonder, though; given Ingen's nature to make bigger, better attractions, did they upgrade the old king of them all? I mean, given the logic they used with the Indominus (Raptors are popular, T-rex is popular, so let's mash 'em together and give it more bells and whistles!), making a bigger, badder T-rex doesn't seem too far-fetched.
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
 
RoyalPsycho
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
GlarnBoudin
Mar 6 2017, 03:29 PM
Nice usage of the Spinosaurus!

I wonder, though; given Ingen's nature to make bigger, better attractions, did they upgrade the old king of them all? I mean, given the logic they used with the Indominus (Raptors are popular, T-rex is popular, so let's mash 'em together and give it more bells and whistles!), making a bigger, badder T-rex doesn't seem too far-fetched.
Technically that's what Koccinotromos is supposed to be. A bigger badder T-Rex is basically the kind of thing that would be set aside for Death World's theme.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
peashyjah
Member Avatar
Bydo
 *  *  *  *  *  *
I'm so glad this is mostly inspired by the Jurassic Park series.
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
 
GlarnBoudin
Member Avatar
Disgusting Skin Fetishist
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
...What did you think it was based on?
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
 
RoyalPsycho
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
The Great Plains: Where Two Worlds Meet:
The sun hangs high over the Great Plains of North America. It is the middle of summer and the vast rolling expanses are at their most populous. With grass still in abundance, grazers of all sizes have come to feed and with them have come the predators. Across the vast grasslands are equally massive herds, leisurely grazing and mowing the vegetation in their search for food.

As the sun hangs overhead, a great herd of Edmontosaurus grazes. These animals are some of the most successful conventional hadrosaurs to be produced and featured by Jurassic World. Though the traditional Mesozoic animals often tend to do poorly with grass, these great ornithopods have managed to carve out a niche as grazing animals. Though the grass they eat does require a lot of processing and digesting, the more recent generations of animals have are much more adept with the foliage. They now join the great herds of engineered hybrids as the premier large herbivores of the Great Plains.

Around them are all manner of Ungulasaurs. The modified hybrids are much more used to grass and thrive in the environment, outcompeting the attempts by other hadrosaurs to move in. moving alongside the Edmontosaurus herd, and subsequently dwarfed by the, are scattered groups of Striped Headcrests, three metre long Ungulasaurs with hollowed bone crests sticking from the top of their skull that flare out like antlers and extend behind their head. A series of brightly coloured stripes runs across these ornaments in thin bands. Similar patterns also cover the tops of the creatures’ back and tail. As the Edmontosaurs whose shadows they walk within crop at the taller grass they move amongst them, biting at the exposed stalks with ease.

A loud roar echoes over the plains, startling some of the smaller grazers but most ignore them. Most local predators are large hunters that use their size and stamina to run down herbivores. The call is distant, too far for it to be a call to hunt. Most of the animals know that this is a signal of dominance, a local hunter’s way of stating to rivals that this is its territory.

As the herd moves on smaller animals follow in their wake. Speckled Antesaurs, metre tall Ungulasaurs covered in downy fur that has speckled appearance and Brevipascoria, a metre tall bipedal ornithopod with a small, round head and a fine coat of insulating feathers both pick at the remains of the cut grass the larger animals leave behind. Some of them range a bit further ahead, sticking close to the Edmontosaurs and Ungulasaurs and dodging their footfalls as they search for more good grazing.

In the distance a thick herd of large, brown bison also graze, ignoring the massive dinosaurian herbivores near to them. By this point most of the herds have grown accustomed to one another and a diverse grazing ecosystem has developed. Other smaller mammals and dinosaurs also follow this herd, looking for opportunities to find easier food or sanctuary from predation. Gracile, feather-less Gallimimus also wander between the bulky mammals in search of softer grass stems and insects that the bison reveal.

Only at this time of the year will all of these animals be found amongst one another. When winter comes, the Edmontosaurus and Striped Headcrests will move south into the warmer climates closer to the coast whilst the Antesaurs and Brevipascoria will stay in the area. For now, with the weather now being warm and the food plentiful, these southern giants come north to enjoy the bounty.

Several flocks of birds fly overhead. Most are migratory species enjoying the summer bounty for themselves whilst others, usually flying lower, are followers of the larger grazers. Most alight on the ground, snapping up insects from the disturbed undergrowth of the grasslands or picking at those that land on the large dinosaurs. Alongside them are various kinds of small pterosaur as well that share these perches.

The herd continued on their own paths, idly grazing the plains as they wandered. At the same time, a new stranger wandered over one of the hills. It was a strange beast that stood at nearly four metres in height, had an aggressively red, scaled hide and, most strangely of all, had six limbs. Its torso bent in the middle, giving the upper half of its frame a humanoid appearance, its two arms held in front of it like a theropod’s and bearing, long clawed fingers. The rest of its body was quadrupedal and closer to a horse’s though with a scaled exterior and thick, reptilian tail. Its most disturbing feature is its head which is serpentine in shape and dips and bobs as it tastes the air. It is a Hexartior Occisar, a rare creature produced by Biosyn just before the Red Rot Pandemic.

The reptilian centaur wanders over the hill, eyeing the herds in front of it. The Hexartior is not a common sight in this part of the continent, their small population largely concentrated along the southern portion of the East Coast. This particular female is very far from home. Patiently the creature waits to see whether or not it can catch one of the local herbivores out as prey.

Minutes pass as the Hexartior carefully stalks the herd from the hill before deciding that none of the herbivores are going to be isolated. The reptilian hexapod finally turns around and walks off, leaving the herds to continue feeding.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
kopout
Adolescent
 *  *  *  *  *
How smart are the Hexartior? Are they on par with Deinonecos or am I just thinking that because they are centaur like and centaurs are usually depicted as being sapient ?
Flisch approves!
Spoiler: click to toggle

Posted Image
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Enjoy forums? Start your own community for free.
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Evolutionary Continuum · Next Topic »
Add Reply