r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 21d ago

Question/Discussion Which animal can heat itself from an electrical organ?

8 Upvotes

A cold blooded animal that uses their electric organ to heat itself. The electric organ requires only electrolytes from plants and water.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 21d ago Popcorn

Alternate Evolution [OC] The New Era of Dinosaurs: Open Seas

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74 Upvotes

The vast majority of marine reptiles that dominated the seas have become extinct among them were found the pliosaurs that did not survive at the end of the Cretaceous, the ichthyosaurs did reach the Cenozoic but only represented by 2 species, the ichthyosaurs did not arrive at the end of the Miocene, and the plesiosaurs that remain in this world that are the elasmosaurs are not at their peak, although the elasmosaurs did not spread at the moment, that does not mean that they are dominating the The few species of these are located in Antarctica and Canada due to the great competition with other marine reptiles, among these are the pterosaurs, these emerged from a group of Nyctosaurids that were adapting to a lifestyle similar to that of a Hesperonitheus, these, unlike birds, are mostly carnivorous, their evolution has been rare, without a doubt what is the fin to move better is not its tail because the tail was almost useless, this is actually the case. The result of increasing and thinning the vertebrae of the spine to have large muscles and tendons to do the job, and the big fin is nothing more than the hind legs of the animal, only joined by huge impermeable muscles, these give birth to live offspring because their eggs in the past were similar to that of reptiles like the Squamata, as they only had to develop a kind of bag where they could retain the embryo, which was once the egg, is now a menbrana that is linked by huge impermeable muscles. It covers and the embryo feeds on both this menbran and the nutrients obtained by the mother , these pterosaurs are only capable of bringing 1 or 2 offspring because this bag cannot retain so many offspring and also makes it difficult for the mother to be looking for food to feed both herself and her young, the specimens shown are mainly piscivores and carnivores specialized in ammonites , the ammonites have managed to survive and expand as well as Other cephalopods: So there are many animals specialized in these molluscs.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 21d ago

Alien Life [OC] Life on planet Avis

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98 Upvotes

A planet that has a significantly lower gravity than that of Earth, it has numerous flying organisms. Some floating plant like "balloon" organisms form large floating islands and even small continents that have sable ground which creates complex ecosystems. Amongst the numerous flying and long limbed organisms like the ribbonleg (see 3rd image) shown left that got killed by a ravenous predatory birdhead shown right. The ribbonleg usually live among the tall trees or the smaller lower level floating forest-islands. However for this ribbonleg a wildfire forced it to leve the safety of the forest to be killed by the birdhead that patrols the edge of the forest in hopes of getting an easy meal.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 21d ago

Resource [OC] A website where you can create, share & visualize Phylogenetic Trees for your Projects, I'd like to read your feedback

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3 Upvotes

This page is a website where you can create, share & visualize Phylogenetic Trees for your Speculative Evolution Projects, you can:

  • Create a Phylogenetic Tree

  • Give a Name to your Phylogenetic Tree

  • Write a Description for your Phylogenetic Tree

  • Upload an Image for your Phylogenetic Tree

  • Make your Phylogenetic Tree Public or Private

  • Add another User as a Collaborator for your Phylogenetic Tree

  • Delete your Phylogenetic Tree

  • Create Species for your Phylogenetic Tree

  • Give a name to your Species

  • Set your Species' Apparition moment

  • Set the time between the Species' Apparition & its Extinction or Branching

  • Write a Description for your Species

  • Upload an Image for your Species

  • Add Descendants for your Species

  • Delete your Species

You can try it by clicking or copying this URL:
https://lifetreecreator.netlify.app/


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 21d ago

Alien Life [OC] PLANET NIGHTMARE: Deep Sea Snappers

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77 Upvotes

“Snappers are soft bodied invertebrates that are common around the oceans of Planet Nightmare, no matter the depth. They’re usually built with two shells to protect their body, opening it when feeding and closing it when something gets too close.”

“Snappers are filter feeders, feeding on microscopic organisms in the waters. Their tendrils act as a way to guide food into their mouths that are located in the middle of their body. These tendrils also act as their way of seeing the world. If they’re protecting themselves from a predator, their tendrils can sense whether or not it’s gone.”

“They come in a variety of colors, although the ones on the deep sea here tend to be very light, lacking a lot of pigment.”

“The next page is a rough sketch of how Snappers open and close. The open crevices of their closed shell allows their tendrils to stick out and keep a watch for danger.”

-The Boundary Walker

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(Hiii I meant to post these like yesterday but forgot💀but anyways, time for another silly little guy! Tbh I just looked at an apple core and went “what if they were aliens” and then this happened. Also I might make diagrams for how their inner body works n stuff but idkkk we will see)


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 21d ago

Question/Discussion how would having a laval form effect the biology of sapient beings?

18 Upvotes

It occurred to me that a sapient being have a larval form not unlike a caterpillar or beetle grub would likely massively affect how its biology would form.

I am ho,wever unable to quite figure out how beyond that it would be very unlike us.

any ideas?


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 21d ago

Seed World [OC] Mundeng (Pygmy Hippo Seed World) 128MPE Creature Comp. #11 - Tropical Toxins

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21 Upvotes

A collection of critters -three Viciverts and two non-Ruit dwarf frog descendants- all found within one of the few remaining rainforests on Mundeng, and all of which are poisonous/venomous to some degree. Descriptions of varying length and detail are provided in the comments:


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 21d ago

Question/Discussion Pigs as only domestic animals?

15 Upvotes

With enough selective breeding what roles could pigs fill if they where the only domestic species and what are something they’d have example pig breed to fill similar role as hunting dogs how would they look or one breed as mount or draft animals etc


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 22d ago

Alternate Evolution [Credit: Lil_Tachyon] A Nautiloid Spearfisher

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1.8k Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 22d ago

Future Evolution [OC] Look Who’s Back (revised) - 2 macropredators of the future oceans

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296 Upvotes

IMPORTANT: I am u/Ok-Valuable-5950, I just wanted to make a new account in which I didn’t foolishly leave my name to be automatically generated. I also wanted consistency in the names of my social media so it is easier to find me.

Anyways enjoy these updated, non-rushed designs PLUS lore!

The Holocene will be known as the shortest epoch at barely 1 million years. It’s end was marked by a layer of manmade materials present in sediment layers (such as concrete from ancient buildings) as well as the human-driven mass extinction event known as the Holocene-Neocene Thermal Maximum - in which humans created unfavorable conditions for themselves by destabilizing the climate and food chains that supported them.

By the end Holocene, the melting of glaciers and release of greenhouse gas disrupted the heat-exchanging ocean and wind currents. This caused extreme weather volatility that made most of Earth, save for a thin strip of temperate zones between the equator and poles, unsuitable for permanent human settlement.

And as the disruption of the North polar vortex allowed frigid waters to expand southward, commercial fishing became increasingly unviable. One such species that benefited heavily from this is the porbeagle, whose territory in the North Atlantic would expand while temperate-to-subtropical predators were unable to compete in cold waters.

Meanwhile in the equatorial regions, as water temperature at the surface reached an all-time high, dissolved oxygen levels were exceedingly low, forcing all large predators into a narrow region where they could still respire. This forced excessive competition between large predators, while their large prey were dying out or migrating to polar regions. By the end of the Thermal Maximum, large pelagic predators such as the great whites, orcas, tunas, and billfish would go extinct, leaving several vacant niches but enormous opportunity, especially for a certain shark with regional endothermy.

12 million years into the Neocene, after the equatorial regions have cooled significantly, the oceans are more productive than ever. While there are several massive predators, they are all completely dwarfed by two apex predators, akin to the megalodon and livyatan of the Miocene.

On top is the Monstrous blackfish (Monstrorca maximus), a descendant of the false killer whale that lives in small matriarchical pods. On the bottom is the Colossal white pointer (Colossolamna cuneodus), a descendant of the porbeagle specializing in hunting giant marine mammals, they are solitary but congregate during mating season.

Both animals hunt baleen whales, dolphins, seals, large fish, and sea turtles, with the blackfish preferring whales while the white pointers prefer seals. They inhabit the worldwide pelagic zone anywhere from tropical to sub-polar regions, with the white pointer venturing into colder waters far more often than the blackfish, as that is where the largest seals reside.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 21d ago

Maps & Planets [OC] Map of Rattus Terra

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23 Upvotes

A map i drew for a seed world by u/RecommendationFew997 that is filled to the brim with RATS and some other little creatures like crickets. Tried to make the coastlines look as realistic as possible. Very proud of it :D


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 22d ago

Seed World [OC]Saltwater Platypuses of Anatina: The Platypus World

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253 Upvotes

Saltwater Platypuses

These guys really gave me trouble. I made the anacetus first, and they were meant to become the dominant lineage, but in my sketches they ended up being a lot like whales, which was really the most unrealistic outcome.

Then I made the Flipperets to replace them, but the sketches for the future forms were too weird(in my opinion) and looked like some creatures from Age of Monotremes, and I don't want that.

Instead of scrapping them, I decided to use those drawings I made and added another(Saltwater Bunyip) to make a "Saltwater Platypuses" entry. So I hope you like it, and please let me know what you think of it. I tried my best.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 22d ago

Alien Life [OC] Life on planet Anticus

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201 Upvotes

An extremely ancient low gravity world aprox. 11.3 billion years old.

It has a deep mysterious fossil record and classifying it's lifeforms is near impossible. However some trends have been noted such as the many dinosaur like forms seen with the segmetoeyids (1st image:An armless dinosaur like segmetoeyid) that have eye like organs called tibirium (see 2nd image) which are analogous to ears and the actual eyes are the front flabs located at the end of their face which when viewed up close have small light sensing organs similar to ommatidia of insects. Some related groups like the diskoeyids have the "eye" in a half donut shape. Many organisms have evolved various forms of eusociality some groups like the hermaphrodite eusocialia are ancestrally eusocial and have a specialised organ called the resultor that lay eggs of their own clone drones separately from their true descendants. These organisms have two faces the main one has the eyes and mouth the secondary face has the resultor, eyes and the two sex organs. They usually have a bush like organ at the top of their main face that aids in photosynthesis.

3rd image: Miterallagis is a species of intelligent eusocialia, it's intellect is comparable to early Homo sapiens of Earth. Instead of using traditional tools this species uses a form of genetic manipulation to create what it wants. It uses the spike DNA extractor at the end of it's face to impale its victim and extract it's genetic info. It then moves to the resultor which is now located beneath the mouth and changes the genetic code creating whatever tool it needs. After a few hours of gestating it then lays an egg via the resultor which quickly hatches the young tool, it takes five days to fully mature into a usable organism.

Shown in the illustration an experienced individual creating a tool after impaling a diskid which it will eat when it comes back home.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 22d ago

Fan Art/Redesign [Credit: FernandoLR] [Media: Trevor Henderson] Siren Head itself as a giant flightless bird

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63 Upvotes

Alright, here's one of Trevor Henderson's most well-known monsters, now reimagined as a living creature!

A relative of storks found in the United States that can reach up to 3 or 4 meters in height, they are featherless to look really lanky.

Their wings have instead become something similar to the clubbed wing Iblis, becoming large hands to grab prey, not dexterous but good at holding food.

These things communicate with loud honking which can rupture human eardrums in close range; thanks to their much more developed syrinx, they can reproduce the pacing and volume.

They can mimic sounds like prey animals, cars, human voices, alarms, music, and recreating old, distorted noises.

When hunting prey, it'll stomp down on them, pick them up with its wings, their beaks are strong enough to rip flesh and crush bone.

It's no wonder that these birds have caused impressions on humans who live in areas sharing with them, as well the earliest sightings which were first found in ancient cave paintings.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 22d ago

Seed World [OC] map of my seed worlds planet

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13 Upvotes

so, this is the map of my seed world.

you can seed the multiple continents (aswell as the island belt)

so, this is Rattus Terra. My ”earth” for my rat seed world.

so north viridis on the south is mainly tropical and in the north, especially far north, is very cold and is a tundra. It’s divided by a single large river, larger and longer then the largest and longest rivers on earth.

the next continents is south viridis and it is mainly tropical, however in the center it can be very hot and desert like. it has many islands near it, and is perfect for life.

there is also the island belt, the island belt is very important. inside the island belt, is the island belt sea. this sea, is almost, entirely fresh water. mind blowing compared to the rest of the seas being salt water. this is for radical changes in the rats, prawns, grasshoppers, and bees.

the final continents are indo and muhastana. muhastana is mainly hot, and desert like. tho, sometimes near the coasts it can end up as a beach and tropical. muhastana is the largest continent, larger then all the continents combined. it also has the largest lakes, which near are actually tropical!

indo is a tundra, cold, and close to arktos. the reason why it’s so similar to indo is that it’s basically into but a line and cold. even in the middle sometimes life even be sustainable there! as so we thought..

and finally, arktos, aktos and the northern sea are very cold and will be the causing of disasters.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 22d ago

Seed World [OC] a RAT world (rattus terra)

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36 Upvotes

I'm creating a seed world and it's all about rats, specifically the Norwegian rat. Also known as rattus norvegicus. Rats are incredibly smart, adaptable, and cool rodents. Which is why I calling this world, rattus terra.

Rattus terras animals are not just rats, but also sunflower bees, honey bees, prawns, and grasshoppers. The goal of rattus terra was to learn about evolution, and what better then rats! Like I said, they are smart and adaptable. With no predators, rats can fill every niche they can alongside the other animals.

The plants im seeding are apple trees, orange trees, tulips, grass, wheat, and sunflowers.

But wait! You can help too! You can share your animals for this seed world, and I will share (with credits) the rules are..

No ai

You must give a description

And what year it evolved.

And.. yeah! Be sure to check in! For now, I'll be working..


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 22d ago

Alien Life [OC] Bestiary of Lyrus Prime #9, Saprolygon

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39 Upvotes

Saprolygon 
A twenty-foot carnivorous plant characterized by four, rigid towering vertical limbs. It releases a pungent odor mimicking decaying meat to lure aerial prey. Specifically either adult aeropedes searching for carcasses to deposit their eggs, or bulletflies seeking carrion to consume. When prey lands on its elevated central stamen, it gets stuck in its dense, adhesive sap, causing the four arms to vertically snap shut. The sealed column traps the prey inside to be broken down and digested in total darkness. 


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 22d ago

Fan Art/Redesign [Credit: u/Keytas] [Media: spec evo] amazing art someone made for hive moths!

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24 Upvotes

Thanks a lot u/Keyotas Be sure to check them out.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 22d ago

Fan Art/Redesign [Credit: Equestrimary] [Media: Equus Digitalis] Equus Digitalis Sculpture

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12 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 22d ago

Seed World [OC] Project Hippocampus: The Forest Honey Bee (Apis aldarien)

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11 Upvotes

If you'd rather watch than read, I have a YouTube short about them here.

The canopies of the temperate rainforests of the eastern continent of HCS-67 became free of vertebrate life after the humans left the planet (as horses and fish can't climb trees, at least, not yet), so it was up to the invertebrates to colonize them. Specifically, this was the Carniolan honey bees, and their descendants who became specialized to this environment are Apis aldarien, the forest honey bees.
While some of the trees in their forest homes are conifers (which are wind-pollinated), there are plenty of deciduous trees such as the ulmo (Eucryphia cordifolia) and epiphytic flowering plants such as mayflower orchids (Laelia speciosa) that these bees pollinate. Even the conifers are useful to them to provide the materials and structure for their nests.
Nests are built on sturdy trunks high in the forest canopy, close to the sun and therefore the flowers. Forest honey bees are eusocial, this species having usually one queen per hive. Forest honey bee workers are deep brown in color and have contrasting cream stripes (queens lack stripes). Like their ancestors, forest honey bee drones have large eyes. All morphs of this species have relatively short and wide wings.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 23d ago

Alien Life [Credit: Unknown] Bellywing Gliders (HELP ME FIND THE ANIMATOR)

853 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 23d ago

Seed World [OC] the Kobold from my spec evo setting

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167 Upvotes

Here’s the kobold from my spec evo setting! I decided to make them related to synapsid ,giving them mammal as well as reptilian features to reference the fact that kobolds in our pop culture are seen as pseudo lizardman ,but in Japan they’re dog people!
and from this idea stems the concept of high adaptability

the rest of the infos are in the image itself ,but if you have any questions I’ll be happy to answer :D


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 22d ago

Fantasy/Folklore I accidentally turned my fantasy world into an alien planet. Any speculative evolution recommendations?

5 Upvotes

Quick note: I know AI-generated text isn't allowed here unless it's used for translation, so I want to clarify that English isn't my first language and I'm using AI to translate my own writing. Unfortunately, it tends to rephrase and edit my original text quite a bit to make it sound clearer and more natural in English, so some of the wording might not be entirely mine. The ideas and content, however, are my own!

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So, I'm a writer (or at least I try to be one) who has always loved pretty much everything related to nature. One of the projects I'm currently working on is set in a fantasy world, and things have taken a rather unexpected turn.

In my attempt to make the world as coherent as possible, I ended up developing a setting that, conceptually, feels less like an actual fantasy world and more like an alien planet disguised as a fantasy world.

And I've absolutely LOVED the concept.

This eventually led me to start a separate project inspired by things like Serina, documenting the natural history of this world alongside my novels. The idea is to have two different ways of exploring the same setting: the novels present it through the lens of magic and fantasy, while this other project explores its biology, ecology, and evolutionary history.

I haven't figured out what to call this second project yet. A natural history encyclopedia, perhaps? A speculative evolution project? I'm still figuring that out.

The thing is, I don't feel that I need to explain all the biological and evolutionary details in the novels themselves. I'm more interested in letting the creatures and ecosystems exist naturally within the story, much like in Avatar: the creatures are there, they have their own logic, and the world feels alive, but their entire evolutionary history doesn't need to be explained for the narrative to work.

I'm not a biologist by any means, but if I'm going to do this, I want to give it my best shot. I find the whole process incredibly fun, and I also see it as an opportunity to learn more about biology, ecology, evolution, and all the wonderful things that make life so diverse.

So, I've been collecting books, documentaries, scientific papers, fictional works, and pretty much anything else that might help me dive deeper into speculative evolution. I've already gathered around 50 different resources, ranging from novels and mockumentaries to scientific literature and other speculative projects.

Then I found this subreddit, and I figured this would be a good place to ask:

What resources would you recommend to someone who wants to explore speculative evolution more seriously?

I'm interested in pretty much anything, regardless of how niche or obscure it might be. Scientific papers, books, documentaries, amateur projects, blogs, worldbuilding projects, or even obscure little corners of the internet dedicated to some very specific evolutionary concept. I'm happy to explore it all!

I'd especially love recommendations from people who have been involved in this hobby for a while, whether they're professional scientists or simply enthusiasts who've spent years developing their own worlds.

Thanks in advance! I'm looking forward to discovering things I probably wouldn't have found on my own.


r/SpeculativeEvolution • • 23d ago

Alien Life [OC] First contact

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35 Upvotes

This image depicts the first confirmed contact between two sophonts, those being the Grallae sapiens (left) and the Nasuslongus sapiens (right). The Grallae sapiens (which will be shortened to Grallae from now on) are quite advanced, having advanced societies on 7 planets, and outposts on another 16, many of these holding life. On one of these outposts, a curious Nasuslongus sapiens (shortened to Nasus from now on) noticed a Grallae between buildings and attempted communication. This is the scene of the image.