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| Sniper Stalkers | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 12 2017, 10:47 AM (684 Views) | |
| Carlos | Dec 12 2017, 10:47 AM Post #1 |
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Adveho in me Lucifero
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The Sniper Stalker (Pseudoharundopes xenophilus) is a bizarre member of Australia's diverse australosphenidan fauna. Distantly related to monotremes, this bizarre animal shares their sprawling stance, but that's where the similarities end. Slender limbed and bearing a long, giraffe-like neck and a long, non-beaked snout, this weird, gracile creature stalks the wetlands, walking like bizarre overgrown vampire bat. The Sniper Stalker is the last remnant of the virgatotheriids, a lineage of cursorial australosphenidans. Occupying canine-like niches, this group occurs in the Paleocene and Eocene and disappears around the Riversleigh era, in the light of new predatory mammal groups like the australohyaenid dryolestoids. However, one clade specialised to a wading niche, and has since survived. Pseudoharundopes, and the closely related Azhdarchocanis, are fairly successful across the Miocene, where at least six species are known. However, the Pliocene drying sees a sharp drop in the group's diversity, and only P. cursor survived, leading to the modern species in the Pleistocene. The Sniper Stalker is native to northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It frequents tropical wetlands and monsoon forests, favouring sheltered habitats where it can easily hide. Its body stands above ground around 1.3 meters, though given its sprawling nature its hard to calculate its shoulder height. Its neck is about as long as its body, not particularly flexible but capable of a high rotation rate at both ends. Combined with its long, vaguely crocodilian jaws, it is capable of striking fish, amphibians and small vertebrates at the blink of an eye, much like a mammalian stork. Its teeth are simple, with just barely a hint of the molars' complexity as with most piscivorous mammals, and it bears a hardened, keratinous rhinarium, the nostrils facing backwards. Like its distant monotreme cousins it has electroreceptors, and combined with its whiskers they allow it to find prey even in the murkiest waters. Both sexes have a yellow fur adorned with tiger-like stripes. It stands still, camouflaging itself against both prey and predators. Should the disguise be broken, it dives in the water, its nose acting as a snorkel. These animals are largely nocturnal, and during the day they are hard to spot, spending most of their time hidden in the shade. They are usually territorial, breaking its camouflage only to fight off invading members of its species. The breeding season is the rainy season. They are seasonally monogamous, forming pairs that last only during the breeding season. Both sexes bear pouches and milk pads, and regularly exchange the eggs and puggles for a period of three months. After that, the single young stays with its father for another four months, learning how to hunt, before going off to find its own territory. Like most australosphenidans, the males have eight penis heads. Edited by Carlos, Dec 12 2017, 10:51 AM.
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Lemuria: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/ Terra Alternativa: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/ My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Carliro ![]() | |
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| Scrublord | Dec 12 2017, 11:08 AM Post #2 |
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Father Pellegrini
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I see what you did there. |
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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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| Yiqi15 | Dec 12 2017, 11:30 AM Post #3 |
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Prime Specimen
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....Yeah, I don't understand the joke. Its a homage to the now-discredited Victorian theory of pterosaurs being marsupials, isn't it? EDIT: I finally got it! Its a fusion of pterosaurs and marsupials: Carlos' favourite subjects! Edited by Yiqi15, Dec 12 2017, 11:47 AM.
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Current/Completed Projects - After the Holocene: Your run-of-the-mill future evolution project. - A History of the Odessa Rhinoceros: What happens when you ship 28 southern white rhinoceri to Texas and try and farm them? Quite a lot, actually. Future Projects - XenoSphere: The greatest zoo in the galaxy. - The Curious Case of the Woolly Giraffe: A case study of an eocene relic. - Untittled Asylum Studios-Based Project: The truth behind all the CGI schlock - Riggslandia V.II: A World 150 million years in the making Potential Projects - Klowns: The biology and culture of a creepy-yet-fascinating being My Zoochat and Fadom Accounts - Zoochat - Fandom | |
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| Carlos | Dec 12 2017, 11:48 AM Post #4 |
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Adveho in me Lucifero
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Try again. |
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Lemuria: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/ Terra Alternativa: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/ My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Carliro ![]() | |
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| Yiqi15 | Dec 12 2017, 11:51 AM Post #5 |
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Prime Specimen
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Yeah i've got nothing. |
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Current/Completed Projects - After the Holocene: Your run-of-the-mill future evolution project. - A History of the Odessa Rhinoceros: What happens when you ship 28 southern white rhinoceri to Texas and try and farm them? Quite a lot, actually. Future Projects - XenoSphere: The greatest zoo in the galaxy. - The Curious Case of the Woolly Giraffe: A case study of an eocene relic. - Untittled Asylum Studios-Based Project: The truth behind all the CGI schlock - Riggslandia V.II: A World 150 million years in the making Potential Projects - Klowns: The biology and culture of a creepy-yet-fascinating being My Zoochat and Fadom Accounts - Zoochat - Fandom | |
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| Carlos | Dec 12 2017, 11:55 AM Post #6 |
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Adveho in me Lucifero
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Giving you a clue: try researching "harundopes" without the pseudo. |
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Lemuria: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/ Terra Alternativa: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/ My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Carliro ![]() | |
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| Yiqi15 | Dec 12 2017, 12:01 PM Post #7 |
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Prime Specimen
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You made an australosphenidan reedstilt, didn't you? |
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Current/Completed Projects - After the Holocene: Your run-of-the-mill future evolution project. - A History of the Odessa Rhinoceros: What happens when you ship 28 southern white rhinoceri to Texas and try and farm them? Quite a lot, actually. Future Projects - XenoSphere: The greatest zoo in the galaxy. - The Curious Case of the Woolly Giraffe: A case study of an eocene relic. - Untittled Asylum Studios-Based Project: The truth behind all the CGI schlock - Riggslandia V.II: A World 150 million years in the making Potential Projects - Klowns: The biology and culture of a creepy-yet-fascinating being My Zoochat and Fadom Accounts - Zoochat - Fandom | |
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| Nembrotha | Dec 19 2017, 07:50 AM Post #8 |
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Adolescent
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What an incredibly bizarre beast. At first, I thought it might be some sort of mammalian Tanystropheus, judging by the sprawling limbs, long neck and piscivory, but hey, wasn't the Reedstilt basically that? |
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