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| The Perittocene; Yep, new project... | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 16 2017, 07:36 PM (1,663 Views) | |
| Dapper Man | Apr 16 2017, 07:36 PM Post #1 |
* I am fed up with dis wuurld *
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The Perittocene:origin()/pre15/7c1a/th/pre/i/2017/104/7/f/strange_encounters_by_dinosaurlover83-db5urr1.jpg) The morning is crisp and warm. The flowers are just blooming, the grass rustling with growth and life. Birds can be heard singing their hearts out. Some new, some old. A male British Formicoduck has just gone into mating colours, searching for a mate. Little to his knowledge, the insectivore has disturbed a giant predator. This is the European Crocomole. He is huge for his kind, and is ancient to. Startled, the Formicoduck flashes his head-crests, warning the Crocomole to back off. Annoyed, the Crocomole lets loose a loud bark, that sends the Formicoduck packing. Otherwise, this has been a normal day for the Formicoduck, who has been searching for a mate throughout the morning light. Other critters begin to stir. Unlike the Crocomole, these animals have not been disturbed from their slumber. A juvenile Pygmy Slothbird opens his eyes from his tree-top slumber. Shifting his body ever so slightly, he begins his cycle once again. The bird seems to have heard the argument between the Formicoduck and the Crocomole. There is something that one should note, though. What about the usual fauna of Europe? Where’s the giant Mammals that once roamed here, such as the Deer, Bison, or Bear? They’re all gone. They vanished a long time ago. Now, new, weirder creatures held up their domain. Imagine a world beyond imagination. One would think that such a world only belongs in an alien planet or alternate timeline. But, to ones’ surprise, this is, in fact, the future. All of earths climates have been marginally unchanged, one would find. As in the above narration, the most notable differences are the most visible forms of life, such as various “Reptiles”, birds, and mammals. In fact, it seems as though birds have out competed mammals in some instances. The events leading up to the evolution of such bizarre fauna have been described as adaptive evolution. It seems as though the vague demise of Man has allowed fauna to bounce back in an odd variety of forms. Whilst the fall of man has removed a lot of species, those that survived now have a chance to thrive. This is the Perittocene, the "odd era." Table of Contents Author's Note
Edited by Dapper Man, Apr 16 2017, 07:44 PM.
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Speculative Evolution: Manitou; The Needle in the Haystack. | |
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| Hybrid | Apr 23 2017, 01:12 PM Post #31 |
May Specula Grant you Bountiful Spec!
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Why are hippo descendants named after an event in Norse mythology? You didn't even say they appear in northern Europe.
Pygmy hippos survive, but literally every other established carnivore in Africa dies out, even the more common, well, common hippopotamus? Conservation doesn't make sense as an explanation here.
Wait, if pigs survived, why aren't they in the pig-niches? Why aren't they prominent predators, which we know they engage in that behaviour relatively often? This situation doesn't make any sense.
No, most likely omnivorous. Even entelodonts were omnivores, as were early relatives of whales.
Cetancodontamorpha
I don't think you understand what he means. Predators have specialized dentition, made for hunting. Hippos don't have those characteristics, their teeth are more adapted for fighting rivals and grazing on vegatation. That doesn't mean they can't use them for other things, but they're not adapted for it and if becoming hypothetically predatory would most likely change their teeth.
There's clips of other herbivores eating animals, like a cow grabbing and eating a chicken, or a deer eating a bird. The reason they're not considered predators or omnivores is because that's considered weird behaviour, and mainly occurs because they lack some sort of nutrient like calcium in their diet. Additionally, there is no recorded case of pygmy hippos engaging in the behaviour. They may do it, but there's no evidence that I can find that suggests they do. |
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If I sound rude while critiquing, I apologize in hindsight! "To those like the misguided; look at the story of Man, and come to your senses! It is not the destination, but the trip that matters. What you do today influences tomorrow, not the other way around. Love Today, and seize All Tomorrows!" - Nemo Ramjet ﾉ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ヽ 
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| IIGSY | Apr 23 2017, 01:49 PM Post #32 |
A huntsman spider that wastes time on the internet because it has nothing better to do
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Not saying this means hippos are carnivores. I'm saying this is a plausible pathway towards carnivory. There's even a video of a hippo stealing a kill from a crocodile (which I remember seeing but can't seem to find at the moment). |
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Projects Punga: A terraformed world with no vertebrates Last one crawling: The last arthropod ARTH-6810: A world without vertebrates (It's ded, but you can still read I guess) Potential ideas- Swamp world: A world covered in lakes, with the largest being caspian sized. Nematozoic: After a mass extinction of ultimate proportions, a single species of nematode is the only surviving animal. Tri-devonian: A devonian like ecosystem with holocene species on three different continents. Quotes Phylogeny of the arthropods and some related groups In honor of the greatest clade of all time More pictures Other cool things All African countries can fit into Brazil
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| Dragonthunders | Apr 23 2017, 02:08 PM Post #33 |
The ethereal archosaur in blue
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Is only plausible when there are the right conditions to allow such behavior to emerge, hippos are too specialized to be able to radically change their eating behavior even if they survived for another 50 million years. |
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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 | |
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| Dapper Man | Apr 23 2017, 05:17 PM Post #34 |
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* I am fed up with dis wuurld *
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Well, I'm not entirely sure what caused Man's demise in the Perittocene. I'm currently thinking along the lines of a specific disease, hence why I don't have a survivors list thought up yet. Also:
Ragnaroks are meant to be Omnivores. Only the Absolute Ragnarok is meant to be mostly carnivorous. Should edit that in the final sentence. |
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Speculative Evolution: Manitou; The Needle in the Haystack. | |
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| Dapper Man | Apr 23 2017, 05:38 PM Post #35 |
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* I am fed up with dis wuurld *
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1. It felt right to name them like that at the time. 2. Again, not sure on Humanities demise at the moment. 3. Other predators have survived in Africa, but currently working on it. 4. Yep, they're omnivorous. I based Ragnaroks mostly of Entelodonts and Andrewsarchus 5. Ragnaroks mostly scavenge. They're essentially both the Entelodonts and Bears of the Perittocene. Hope that helped 
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Speculative Evolution: Manitou; The Needle in the Haystack. | |
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| Hybrid | Apr 23 2017, 06:33 PM Post #36 |
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May Specula Grant you Bountiful Spec!
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A bit of a strange choice. That's like having some species in the heart of Africa named after Odin, or a northern European species named after some African deity worshiped in the Congo. It doesn't really make a lot of sense.
That's a pretty important point of the project, wouldn't it make sense to deal with that so you can be certain what creatures would exist by the time when the project begins?
Again, that's pretty important to deal with. How much work have you done on the project before posting it?
None of this answers why pygmy hippos exist but common hippos don't, or why pigs don't fill these niches that you would expect to fill. |
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If I sound rude while critiquing, I apologize in hindsight! "To those like the misguided; look at the story of Man, and come to your senses! It is not the destination, but the trip that matters. What you do today influences tomorrow, not the other way around. Love Today, and seize All Tomorrows!" - Nemo Ramjet ﾉ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ヽ
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| Dapper Man | Apr 23 2017, 06:56 PM Post #37 |
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* I am fed up with dis wuurld *
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Replies: 1. True, but it just felt fitting for some reason. 2. I have a few ideas, but I have to write them down. 3. It's going to be specifically vague for the sake of the project. 4. Now that I think about it, others might be Civets, some cats, and the like. Also, I've been working on it a lot in my spare time. Perhaps for the past couple of months. 5. True. Currently working on another reason. The project is meant to be a thought exercise. I've wanted to use unexpected critters for this project, hence the name of the project. |
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Speculative Evolution: Manitou; The Needle in the Haystack. | |
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