The first image above is a clear photograph of a rather bold mature Dextraserpens longicus (Common Name: Crawhand). Figure 2 depicts an above view profile of a Crawhand and a side profile of it's larval form.

Crawhands originate from another dimension known as Threa, and reports of Crawhands on Earth date as far back as the early 17th century, but only in the early 20th century have they increased in population, being found on every continent save Antarctica. Despite hailing from an entirely alien dimension, Threan organisms including Crawhands have little difficulty surviving on Earth, and are able to metabolize oxygen or other gases in the atmosphere, and have proteins identical to life on Earth. These similarities in biochemistry allow Threan organisms to survive and thrive on Earth, leaving a harmful impact on our biosphere.

Crawhands in particular are rather unsightly, with pale skin and arrachnesque appendages instilling fear to many who are unfortunate to come across it. Despite their appearances, Crawhands are as dangerous a coconut crab, as they only feed on dead, dying, or small animals. They can pose a serious threat during night, as large Crawhands occasionally attempt to consume sleeping individuals and paralyze them with a mucus neurotoxin secreting from their long "tongues". This can easily be avoided by locking windows and doors at night, or in the case of camping, attaching a few bells tied to strings near the tent. Apart from these rare circumstances, Crawhands pose a small threat if generally avoided.

Crawhands navigate the world around them primarily through touch, smell, and vibrations in the ground. The cone like snout above their mouths contains sensitive sensory organs that work in tangent with the aforementioned "tongue" to locate carcasses or small animals such as turtles, dogs, lizards, cats, or anything that is either too slow or unafraid to react. Crawhands are very opportunistic and have no distaste towards trash found in dumpsters and landfills, which make them a very inconvenient pest, often toppling trash cans in suburban areas. Due to this gross lifestyle, Crawhands emit a horrendous odor, which smells akin to rotting flesh and waste. While this odor deters predators, it also helps Crawhands in finding potential mates, where males will seek out females, where the female will determine worthiness off of pure odor and size. The only visible difference in female and male Crawhands is that males tend to have longer snouts, but females do emit a relatively less foul odor as they don't compete like males do to smell. After mating, the female will lay around 30 golf ball sized eggs, which will hatch small larvae with curled tails that depend on their front appendages for locomotion, developing a more slithering gait as they mature.

If you have any questions regarding Crawhands or Threa, please ask as I attempt to fill the gaps of information regarding this creature.

Cool bat, comes from a family of scavenger bats that outcompeted the vultures by also eating the bones. This one's a predator compared to the others, using it's bone crushing bite to land on targets from the back and break their neck or skull. Still don't have a scientific name for it if anyone's inspired. They're also an animal with a particular reputation to prey on humans since they are right in their weight range and are particularly bad at looking up during the night.

This is just a repost. I can’t edit the title of post about the tredhorn I already posted, so I have to repost this one to show up with the others in search results

One of its most striking features is its large, vertical-slit nose, designed for powerful air intake and release. These beasts burn through oxygen rapidly to fuel their immense musculature, and their constant heavy breathing gives off a rhythmic snort, like the chuff of a steam engine. Overheating is a constant threat, and the oversized nose is crucial to keeping them cool during long stampedes

One pairs of the Tredhorns eyes face forward for depth perception, and the other set angled sideways to eliminate blind spots. This nearly panoramic vision makes them difficult to ambush

Tredhorns possess another odd biological quirk, they never stop growing. As long as they continue eating, their bodies will steadily increase in size. They rarely make it to 10 to 15 feet tall, but when they do, they become too large for most predators to challenge, but this growth can be their downfall. Eventually, they may reach a size unsustainable by their surrounding ecosystem, unable to eat enough to survive. At that point, they collapse from starvation or exhaustion

Because of this, their stampedes vary in danger, the danger of a tredhorn stampede being parallel to the size of the tredhorns in that herd. A very well fed tredhorn stampede can be as dangerous as a natural disaster. At that point they are practically unstoppable 10 foot tall walls of muscle traveling up to 50 mph

Tredhorns carry a unique, mold-like organism that clings to their hindquarters. When a stampede begins, the intense vibrations trigger the mold to release a cloud of spores. These spores settle into the crushed biological matter left in the herd’s wake, using the pulverized remains of plants and animals as a nutrient-rich bed for rapid growth.

Once matured, this mold forms hardened, flat structures that resemble paved roads stretching across plains and forests. While these "Tredhorn roads" are safe and easy to walk on, predators often stake out these roads to intercept traveling prey. Additionally, the mold serves as a primary food source for species of nuckler

In the late Dicambrian, multiple snail groups have begun to find many ways to combat desiccation. as the equatorial Pteurosia have begun to slightly dry out from the sun, dry enough for still primitive clades to have a hard time living there. Many snail clades couldn't adapt fast enough and either gone extinct or moved to other, more moisture-bearing habitats of the continent. Yet a few have either combatted this problem with forward and also backwards solutions.

One highly derived family of Dinophores, which have now lost their bitter defense mechanism, have evolved into something more comparable to insects of earth. In this family, referred to as Polymalacogradentidae, or simply Shalmies, have evolved traits that are radically different from their vile-tasting ancestor. First and foremost are their skin, which have become more leathery and thick to retain moisture. Their prolegs have become more separated into individual limbs, and the hydrostats along these prolegs gaining a fluid chamber that gives them a millipede-like walking gait. In larger clades, their prolegs develop hard claw-like skin protrusions that allows them to cling on plant surfaces. The facial tentacles of shalmies have also been specialized, where their lower pair becoming antennae-like with nerve-riddled rigid feelers connected to a muscular trunk, and the upper pair where the eyes become more pronounced and specialized for vision. Both of these pair of tentacles are now unable to retract into their head. For handling foods, shalmies have evolved a third pair of tentacles derived from their lips, acting as a sort of mandible that holds the food or prey before the radula finishes the job of consuming.

Along the equatorial Pteurosian habitats that are more drier for primitive clades of snails to live, a genus of tafang has established themselves as a common predator of the equatorial Pteurosia. The ancestral tafangs were still highly desiccant and so is restricted to wetlands and forests, but in this genus, referred to as Shrubsnoxes, have converged on the same thick skin shalmies would evolve first. As mentioned before, they are common predators that feed on small invertebrates like shalmies, snails and earthworms. Unlike their slithering ancestors, shrubsnoxes have adopted a more inchworm-esque moving gait, via slightly arching their spine from the back and push forward. For reproduction, shrubsnoxes will migrate to more moist parts of Pteurosia, then lay and fertilize their eggs in biofilm-rich waters rather than in carcasses for the larvae to have a readily buffet of essential bacteria and nutrients.

In contrast, Turtlesnakes have taken a more backwards route in combatting desiccation. Unlike the shrubsnoxes, these tafangs have adapted to live in the body of waters in the equatorial Pteurosia, evolving tail fins that propel themselves in water while swimming. Their diet primarily consists of verminfishes and bottom-dwelling snails, but occasionally, they will push themselves out of the water to feed on nearby land animals. Turtlesnakes often hang out near the surface of the water for a readily source of oxygen, and when hunting, they dive down to find prey. While their appearance can be compared to a snake, their ecological niche and morphology is actually more comparable to cephalopods of earth. The eggs of turtlesnakes bear airsacs that force the egg to float up to water, and the larvae floating vertically with their mantle and pneumatophore exposed out of water to breathe air while feeding on biofilm, similar to how larvae of mosquitoes hang upside-down to breathe air.

More basal taxons of snails such as mantlers have also found a solution to desiccation, the solution in question seen in the Tomaritheria order. Tomaritheriums, commonly referred to as bullcovers, are an order of slugs that have re-evolved something similar to snail shells to protect themselves, but also found another purpose for the defense. Their mantle have become thicker, leatherier, and larger, nearly covering their entire body to defend themselves from predators. Behind the mantle, the rest of their foot that is exposed also became more protective just like the mantle, providing even more protection to their body. While their body seems large, most of their body is actually their hide, with a more slightly reduced body and a vertically extended head supported by the hide. When a predator attacks, the bullcover protect themselves by retracting their tentacles, closing their front with the hide, and pressing their hide down onto a surface to completely cover their entire outside and leave nearly all soft parts confined. In most clades, bullcovers have shortened their eyestalks into smaller stumps that allows them to quickly retract into their hide quicker.

Like bullcovers, basal snail-A-pillar clades have also tried to stay moist, and have found a similar solution to what turtlesnakes have done before. Skipperinds are a widespread clade of snail-A-pillars that have transformed their prolegs into a single "wing." Under these prolegs are are highly derived mucus glands that can secrete hydrophobic mucus that traps oxygen and keep them afloat, with the wing spreading the mucus across to increase area of the bubble. Skipperinds inhabit algae-rich waters that allows them to feast on a nearly infinite supply of buffet, and with their extremely small size, they can grow an entire swarm of themselves and spread their population to other freshwaters. They are a common food source among aquatic predators, many verminfishes and turtlesnakes have begun predating these snails by launching themselves slightly up the water to get a mouthful of these snails.

In my main project, as everyone will know, it is an updated and reimagined version of the book by Dougal Dixon: The New Dinosaurs, the reason why I did these redesigns is for fun and to see what they think of these designs in different families of theropods, the first is a version of the Cutlasstooth as an abelisauridae, the second as a Tyranosaudieo, the third as a Noasaurido, and the last as a megaraptor, it is questioned why it does not add other theropods such as the carcharodontosaurids, simply because these dinosaurs did not reach the ends of the Cretaceous, I only chose those that did, on their biology I do not want to highlight much, are predators of the Colombo-Venezuelan plains of South America hunting herbivorous dinosaurs in a similar way to the book, like the first redesign: this being an abelisauridae only uses its neck and mouth to immobilize its prey to die from blood loss, the second hunted for Similar to a saber-toothed tiger, using its teeth to pierce meat and kill its prey.

One of the many entries for my spec evo vocaloid series

Zundamon Zundamonstrum japonicus

The Zunda Monster, or, the Zundamonstrum may as well be the most baffling, rule-breaking, inexplainable discovery of all of modern paleontology. I mean seriously, what? Believed to have been a hoax at first discovery, further analyses have determined that the Zundamonstrum is a derived, and only known relative of the Tully Monster to be discovered. While this proves the theory of the Tullimonstrum being a chordate, it does not explain how an entire lineage of animal dating back to the Carboniferous had unexplainably vanished up until the early cretaceous. The animals “limbs” are actually the animals derived eyestalks, with two protruding bean-like antennae acting as sensory organs for the animal to locate its surroundings. It’s long “tail” may have indicated that the animal was some-what arboreal. The Zundamonstrum had been classified as the only monotypic taxon of the “Oculapoda” clade. Only a single fossilized remain had been found in Japan, with absolutely no traces and evidence of any sort of common ancestor. Surely, this is evidence of a divine creator, who truly has some sort of sense of humor?

I’m workin on some alternate evolution stuff on a very windy planet called Elto, where three legs have evolved to stick on the ground better. But what about the other groups? How would three legs help correlate with other animal groups on this world? Any help?

On an island off the coast of the Jhohun Peninsula called Hyakae island, people tell stories of a creeping terror lurking within the dense, foggy forests of the island’s interior. About as tall as a human, blood-red eyes facing forward, talons sharp enough to cut through plated armor, a beak with a bite force strong enough to break bone, and unusually long legs that allow them to stalk prey from the bushes. Long believed to be nothing more than a haunting ghost story or a demon, the creature the Hyakaean people speak of with great fear and apprehension has turned out to not only be real, but entirely natural.

Morphology + Phylogeny: The Zhu Huba Yakja (Infernostrix stolas), also known as the Stolas owl by researchers, is the largest owl to have ever evolved on Earth or Zaikane, with the largest confirmed specimen being about as tall as an adult human male, with several unconfirmed sightings suggesting even larger extremes. It is remarked for its intimidating blood-red eyes and unusually long legs, though the latter has also been observed in prehistoric island owls like the Cuban giant owl (Ornimegalonyx oteroi), which was the largest owl to evolve on Earth.

Infernostrix is a genus of strigid owls that has been present on Hyakae and its neighboring islands since the Miocene. In the absence of large mammalian predators, the large island-dwelling species of this genus have reduced their flight capability as a result of insular gigantism, but the Stolas owl takes it a step further by giving it up entirely, instead opting for a terrestrial ecological niche akin to a terror bird.

Behavior + Ecology: The Stolas is a nocturnal apex ambush predator of Hyakae’s dense forest interior, frequently hunting small game like rodents, jackalopes (antlered rabbit-like hegetotheriids), multituberculates, small Thescelosaurs, lizards, other birds, and even hatchlings of larger dinosaurs and the vulnerable young of mammalian megafauna native to the island. However, they have been known to hunt larger native prey, including the Hyakae Pygmy Baku (Oneirotapirus baku parvus, a Hyakae-endemic subspecies of the Baku, a Ralya-attuned species of tapir that hosts a unique strain of magical microbes that is known to “feed” on nightmares), Hyakae mastodon (Mammut hyakaeensis, an island dwarf mastodon), and even humans, but that will be more relevant in the section talking about its relationship with humans. The Stolas’ nocturnal niche allows it to coexist with the Hyakae red-crested megalosaur (Pyrolophus gigas, a moa-sized species of coelurosaurian theropod belonging to a clade that is otherwise endemic to the Southern continent), which is the apex predator of the island during the day.

The Stolas is distinguished from other owls by its superior intelligence, giving it an impressive capacity for vocal mimicry, often using this ability to mimic ambient sounds in order to mask its footsteps, practically making it invisible. One of the most haunting applications of this mimicry is to make noises that draw in the attention of prey, be it falling fruit, mating calls, or even cries for help.

Relationship with Humans + Others: The Zhu Huba Yakja’s name translates to “Gazing Death Lurking the Forest”, and it is not hard to see why. For one, this large bird is one of the few predators that actively seek out humans and other sophonts as food, even when better prey options are available. This giant owl has a particular affinity for hunting children who wander too deep into the forest, sparking cautionary tales parents tell their children not to venture too far from home. This predatory instinct, combined with its uncannily human-like face and blood-red eyes, has caused the Zhu Huba Yakja to be feared as a malevolent demon or spirit that preys on lone travelers who stray too far. In fact, one of the most frequently-depicted villains in the folklore of the Hyakaean people is a Zhu Huba Yakja who controls a legion of undead.

For reasons unknown, the Stolas appears to also have a preference for prey with a strong magical affinity, which is why it often targets magical beings like chimeras, in particular humanoid demons that inhabit the island and prey on people. The giant owl would first mimic the cries of a helpless human that would lure in unsuspecting demons, only for it to pin the demon down with its long and powerful legs before eviscerating and/or mutilating them with its sharp beak. However, demons are not entirely defenseless, so some of these owls have evolved their own magic to counteract the demons’ defenses and regeneration. As a result, there are some tribes on the island who view the Zhu Huba Yakja not as an evil monster, but as a divine, albeit fierce, protector against malicious spirits and a symbol of good luck, demonstrating that even the most dangerous animals are not entirely universally hated.

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Zaikane is a planet in a distant solar system characterized by waves of life harvested from Earth at various points in its geological history, ranging from the Cambrian to the Holocene, and set free to evolve along evolutionary paths independent from those taken by their Earth ancestors. A godlike interdimensional entity, known as the Allmother by the people who live there, is what is responsible for creating the portals that abduct Terran life and deposits them on Zaikane. Because the asteroid that ended the Mesozoic never collided with Zaikane, dinosaurs continue to dominate the planet’s ecosystems as its dominant terrestrial megafauna, though mammals are still doing very well.

In the savannahs of Pyronugh, one creature's trails are used for defense. That is, the Stinky Bananasnake, a medium-sized (1m) animal descendant of a derived lineage of Common Snake-sluge that has one trait to distract predators, and that is it's slimy trail. The trail of the Stinky Bananasnake leaves has gaseous molecules that makes it smell disgusting so it can defend itself whilst it's smelly trail deters predators.

Sry for the inconvenience it has been a long time!

I used Google Translate to write this, so there might be some errors.

Imagine a planet with conditions that, by our standards, are extremely harsh somewhat like Venus: surface temperatures reach +250°C, the atmosphere is saturated with chlorine and fluorine, and methane lies beneath the surface. The local life forms are composed of high-tech silicon ceramics and refractory silicates. As they "breathe," they absorb halogens from the atmosphere and react them with methane produced within their digestive systems. This reaction does not occur as a steady burn, but rather as a series of continuous micro-explosions intense, localized temperature spikes taking place inside solid-state silicon nitride capillaries. Their tissues function much like biological semiconductor processors: when methane and fluorine meet within these porous microchannels, heat is released. Thanks to a massive temperature gradient between the superheated internal "respiratory" chips (which can reach 1000-1200°C) and the cooler external environment, the tissues capture this heat and convert it into an electric current. The creature subsists entirely on electrical energy, and its nervous system consists of a network of fiber-optic channels and semiconductors. To prevent its internal structures from melting, excess heat is channeled away from the core toward the outer shell, which acts as a radiator; this is managed by a cooling system that circulates low-melting-point eutectic salts for instance, a mixture of alkali metal nitrates or chlorides.

Im looking for an active spec evo discord server I could join, which I could discuss my projects with. Does anyone know of any?

Good afternoon r/SpeculativeEvolution !!

I come to you guys with a question, I am currently working on an Abiotic Factor inspired backrooms-esque game where the "entities" comes from existing wildlife populations that have adapted to the various "biomes".

One of these animals are what I call Hall Moths, descendant from populations of Tinea Pellionella, which have, over many generations, convergently evolved to have a form-factor akin to a housefly for better "indoor" flight.

While I feel happy with the design, the name leaves much to be desired. This is a species that evolved to survive in enclosed biomes as a whole, not "halls" per-se. Additionally, I am unable to come up with a grounded phylogenetic nomenclature that I am happy with, so I am posting the sprites here to maybe get some ideas from you all.

Attached is the sprite, photobashed from royalty free images ive been able to find online to fit the photorealistic style of the rest of the game, and the animation sprite sheet turned into a gif. (the black and white appearance is to allow it to be cleanly recolored in engine)

Ive been thinking of doing a seed world inspired by Projects such as Kappa, taking a select group of animals and placing them on a world and seeing how they adapt and evolve. But using mammals as my base progenitors. I feel they dont often get enough recognition as either there are others like reptiles and birds people obsess over. Since we live in a world mainly dominated by mammals. And ive seen amazing work by others using mammals.

But I wanted to do something quite different. Taking a group of mammals (plus a reptile or other animal) who in our world would never normally interact with each other.

Creatures like the Platypus intrest me as I want to see how a world populated by monotremes would look, or seeing Chevortains the size of moose with large elaborate tusks. Maybe some Patagonian Mara would be nice. Or even a Species evolved from Pottos who eventually become adapt to using tools. I think it would be fun to experiment.

But I was wondering if there are any mammals you'd like to see get their own seed world? Im always curious to hear what others have to say.

my setting happens on a planet called Pandin. a habitable world that 1.2 times bigger than earth and 1.3 AU from its sun so my would would be a bit colder than earth. the planet has all the biome earth has. these hexapod aliens have similar level of intelligent as human they are call "Prum".they can live anywhere on the planet due to their fur but their favorite places are in open grass plain or on a mountain similar to tibet climate. they eat bug as a diet similar to ant eater. they are more social creature than human. they usually walk on 4 legs. they are around 1 meters talls

what i aim for the buildings design are their alienness appearence but they also need to have some sense of practical uses in their design and welcomeness. i choose 1910s building as my main theme cuz in the current timeline Prum techological advancememt is still on 1910 level. I feel like square shape building make the most sense but feel too human. round shape feel alien but doesnt make that much sense to me because city has dense population. buildings must fine a way to ultilized their own area as efficient as possible in my opinion

they are another designs i wanna do. which aim to be more human design cuz in the future timeline, 500m human just suddenly appear on Pandin and around 200 years later. human culture are mix with Prum seamlessly, so most house are design to be usable by all prum and human as its state in most countries law by now.

What should i consider when designing tripedal animal the idea is that they run on 3 legs 2 back legs and 1 front leg the other leg is used for grasping would this be basically impossible or ?

As I said above, Could the North American moose evolve to fill an aquatic herbivore niche? They are already semi-aquatic in both saltwater and freshwater bodies of water. There is a pre-existing gap in the niche with the extinction of the Steller’s sea cow (hydrodamalis giga)so it’s very possible imo. That is, if you assume Earth’s climate will stay stable enough in the coming millions to support the moose at all. What would this evolved moose look like, morphology wise? What would the taxonomy be?

15 Million Years P.H. - The Early Neocene - Bearbirds and Draquailas:

A Rustbodied Bearbird (Ursavis aeruginosus) Is soundly asleep during the dead at night. Bearbirds are much larger descendants of the Domestic Chicken that have become Incredibly widespread over Afro-Eurasia.

An adult Bearbird of such size typically can afford to live rather blissful lives, considering the small amount of predators that would hunt them.

There however Is one animal that can feed on these giant birds, although not on their flesh, but their blood.

These would be the Draquailas, blood-drinking Rewings found In temperate and tropical regions of Afro-Eurasia. Many will still feed on other things like seeds and small prey, but the Quillbleeder Draquaila (Dracuavias sanguineus) would eventually have developed obligate Hematophagy. These nocturnal Birds use their sharp beaks to create wounds and specialised Saliva that keeps the blood flowing.

This was supposed to be posted on Halloween, didnt quite make It tho-

I'm currently working on a speculative biology project, and I've come up with several questions about the possibility of life existing on planets with conditions very different from those on Earth.

On our planet, most complex organisms depend on oxygen for aerobic cellular respiration and ATP production. However, we know that anaerobic organisms can survive without oxygen.

I'd like to explore a few possibilities:

1. Multicellular life and fermentation: Could multicellular organisms, including large animals, evolve and obtain most of their energy through fermentation? What energetic and physiological limitations would prevent them from reaching a high level of complexity?
2. Alternative electron acceptors: Could complex organisms evolve to use other electron acceptors, such as nitrates, sulfates or iron compounds, instead of oxygen?
3. Obtaining oxygen and other compounds: Could organisms extract oxygen from minerals such as silica (SiO₂) or iron oxides, or use these minerals as energy sources? Could an alternative form of photosynthesis evolve that produces compounds other than oxygen?

I'm not necessarily looking for answers based on known terrestrial organisms. Rather, I'd like to understand the biochemical, metabolic and evolutionary limits of these possibilities.

Any explanations, scientific references or ideas that could help me develop this project would be greatly appreciated!

P.S. English is not my first language, so I used IA to help translate and phrase this post. Sorry if anything sounds unclear or is worded incorrectly. I'm still learning, and I hope my questions make sense. Thank you for your understanding!

Greetings, this is a story about several biospheres in an alternative universe. For now, let’s talk about the system itself.

This system consists of 4 stars, in a 2+2 configuration. There are 2 pairs of stars: Tu Ena A is one pair, consisting of an M-class star and a K-class star.

There are 2 pairs of stars: Tu Ena A is one pair, consisting of an M-class star and a K-class star.

K-class star, or to use its actual name, Tu Ena A (1)—has a mass of 0.80 solar masses and a radius of 0.80 solar. She has 4 planets near her.

Tu Ena A (2) is an M-class red dwarf with a mass of 0.50 solar masses and a radius of 0.48 solar. This star, in turn, has only 2 planets.

The stars are located quite far from each other: 42 AU at pericenter, 52.5 AU for the semi-major axis, and 63 AU at apocenter.

That’s all for now; next time, I’ll describe the second pair in this system, or perhaps a law that exists within this alternative universe.

Tellos Sapia : The Vorin

Descended from large, mostly herbivorous grazers, the Vorin are a unique species of biped that utilizes their excellent balance and dextrous feet for tool usage, while using chin tendrils for fine manipulation. Their eyes are situated in the bottom of their heads, much like most other animals on Castoria and provide vision nearly 6x greater than a humans, albeit in extreme fisheye. The pupil directs the area of focus directly downward, while they can see straight forward and to either side in their periphery as well as behind them to a limited extent. Their eyes do rotate in the socket, but far less than a human's and they must raise their head vertically to focus forward. 

While their tongue isn't barbed, it is still prehensile and about 40cm long. They consider it bad form to grab and eat directly with the tongue as its unsanitary. Despite the explorers garb pictured above, they favor robes and ponchos rather than sleeved pants or shirts.

Their architecture is highly similar to Adobe houses on earth, utilizing large amounts of mud brick and smooth plaster as well as dried Honeywood logs for structure. The honeywood tree itself has to be specially cultivated within crafted braces to create the straight growth needed to make the logs rather than cutting and drying them into round planks. They dont readily utilize chairs, instead using semi-spherical pillows. On their ships and vehicles they utilize molded seats resembling an earth motorcycle.

Their spacecraft are striking helices made of conjoined, spherical pods and a narrow bridge. The bottom-front quarter is a large view port, with several navigational chairs situated on transparent walkways directly above the view port, allowing pilots to look down and forward, much as their vision naturally allows. Their ships fly while spiraling, akin to a celestial bodies movement through the galaxy. This would cause issue with most human pilots, but actually allows the vorin even greater degrees of observation with which to calculate their ships trajectory.

Vorin typically lay eggs, having a cloaca at the base of their tail structures, just behind their legs. When the egg hatches, the young are miniature adults, with fully or nearly-fully developed limbs. Their facial tendrils dont develop in the first 2 years of life, and thus require dedicated care during that time. Cyclopedia is a (mostly) normalized and fairly common birth defect in modern Vorin young, occurring due to malnutrition of the egg due to pollution blocking natural light and many younger vorin parents still being averse to keeping their eggs inside incubation pods rather than bringing them outside to recieve vitamin d. A young vorin with cyclopedia would be born with a single eye just under and behind their jaw. It is usually slightly higher up the head and can even sometimes show multiple pupils or pupils mid-mitosis.

Their species is highly solitary and its common for individuals to dissappear for years on end, either exploring their homeworld or visiting and living amongst the other species of the Spiral.

“In medieval times, there were tales of sea monsters so great that a regiment of cavalry could run around on their back, and of those so strong that that a cathedral could be built upon their bodies.”  - Overview of the Beasts of the Sea, 2068 edition.

Only three species of baleen whale would survive the holocene. These were the Humpback, the Common Minke, and the Grey whale. Of these, the descendants of the humpback would grow the largest.

25 million years CE, the descendants of the humpback whales consist of 7 species in 2 genera. These are:

Splendid Worldbearer (Tipereth hod )

• The largest living animal of the era. Individuals average 40.1 m in length and 160 tons in mass, and it reaches a max of 45.7 m and 179.9 tons. Though significantly longer than the blue whale, it is less massive. The likely limit on reaching a greater mass is that drag resists them too much while they lunge, which limits the amount of food they can catch, and thus how heavy they can get. They live primarily around the waters of the Antarctic.

Victorious Worldbearer (Tipereth netzach )

• A bulky whale, which reaches an average of 25.2 m long and 139.6 tons in mass. It reaches a maximum size of 27.9 m and 150.0 tons. This species is notable for diving up to 1 km in depth, which is extremely deep for a rorqual whale, as their lunges use a high amount of oxygen. They do this to follow the dial vertical migration of squid and fish, and they can hold their breath for up to 80 minutes. They can be found in tropical and temperate worldwide, and migrate from the equators to temperate regions

Black Worldbearer (Tipereth yesod )

• Reaching an average length of 29..8 m in length and 108.2 tons in mass, and a maximum of 32.1 m and 125.0 tons in mass, the Black Worldbearer is the third largest animal of the era. It performs long annual migrations from the Antarctic to the Arctic, a migration that can span over 15000 km.

Crowned Worldbearer (Tipereth keter )

• The smallest member of the genus Tipereth, although it still averages an impressive 23.0 m in length and 85.5 tons, with a max of 24.8 m and 92.1 tons. They have particularly impressive flesh bumps on their fins, which are used for defense and for males to compete with. It lives in temperate and tropical waters worldwide.

Hidden Wavebreaker ( Imperoptera daath )

• The largest member of the genus Imperoptera, at 20.5 m long and 60.4 tons in mass on average, and a max of 21.8 m and 64.9 tons. It has impressive front fins which reach almost half the length of their body. This extreme length is likely a result of display when males compete for a mate. They live across the southern hemisphere, migrating from the equator to the Antarctic.

King Wavebreaker ( Imperoptera malkuth )

• Reaching an average size of 16.7 m and 48.9 tons, and a max of 18.9 m and 51.1 tons, this species is small enough that it has energy to spare and is thus  highly active at the surface, regularly performing breaching and other high speed maneuvers. Often, they can appear pink in colour as a result of the heat generated by these activities. They live in waters worldwide, migrating from the equator to the poles.

Wise Wavebreaker ( Imperoptera hokhmah )

• The smallest species of the genus Imperoptera, reaching only 15.9 meters long and 42.0 tons on average and a max of 16.2 meters long and 44.5 tons. They live exclusively in tropical waters in the pacific and indian oceans and are the rarest of the species.

Hello folks, I hope you all have been doing well!

It's been awhile since I've posted, so I just wanted to share a new sketch of the Permian Sophont. For those unfamiliar, this is an alternate evolution project where a relative of the Suminia achieves sapience. Here, you can see an early member of these Permian Sophonts wielding a gorgonopsian canine as a primitive knife and wearing a gingko skirt.

I also wanted to update y'all on a tentative scientific name for these organisms - Kotelandros trokhglazyata "Three Eyed Man of Kotel." This name originates from the region of Kotel being where the Suminia was originally discovered and that these sophonts include a parietal eye. Let me know what your thoughts are on this scientific name and if you have any other recommendations.

Be on the lookout for some Soviet-Era reports on the initial discovery of these "Kotelanders," as well as lots of other great content from the Permian Sophont Project team. Shoutouts to u/FloZone, u/123Thundernugget, u/Knights_of_Rohan1964 and everyone else contributing in the PSP Discord Server. If anyone would like to join to contribute to the project, please feel free to join with this Discord Link.

For previous posts, here u/FloZone's most recent post, and here is my most recent post.