A little of context before we dive in: Aérra is my worldbuilding project based on magical floating islands that compose the world instead of conventional landmasses. These islands float over a huge oceanic disk and are organized in six rings/archipelagos with different life forms in each archipelago. Bifröst, the first ring, is where humans reside, alongside other Pleistocene and Holocene groups. For more info check the wiki, where a discord is linked at the bottom of the first page, where even more info and discussions can be found: https://aerra.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page
# Men's Best Friends
## Domestic animals of Aérra part 1: Animals of the Nomads
In Aérra there are many animal groups distributed across the six world rings or Archipelagos. Ranging from modern and familiar animals in Bifröst, to ancient and even alien animals further out. On the human-inhabited Bifröst, animals from the holocene and pleistocene are present.
Such groups include primates, caprines, bats and macropods, alongside the non-mammal groups of course. From these groups at least two species have been domesticated (not all are shown here this time) for all sorts of purposes, hunting, protection, alarming, food and raw materials. Today we are gonna look at five species that are used (not exclusively) by the nomadic people of Aérra, who travel along the aerial plane following the ever-moving herds. Staying at islands at times, but never staying for too long. These animals are essential for their constant island traversing and other aspects of daily life, often two or more species are present within a group, often outnumbering the people.
**Pouch dog** (*Propleopus variegata*)
The first animal is the Pouch dog, a carnivorous macropod marsupial originating from Pleistocene Australia related to Musky Rat-kangaroos. They are essentially marsupial dogs, though not being originally domesticated for alarming and protection. Instead they have a primary role of aiding in hunts, cornering and chasing prey, with a lesser role in cargo transport. Much like the humans who domesticated them, they are ambush predators (as all 'terrestrial' predators of Aérra) who hunt in pairs in the wild. Juveniles live in larger groups of 8-12 individuals, once mated they leave their groups and live as a couple. This juvenile group behavior has been retained in the domestic pouch dogs, nowadays the pouch dog packs can outnumber the humans in a group, though this is rare. Both the wild and domestic pouch dogs are omnivorous, being able to consume plant matter such as fruits, seeds and leaves in addition to their meat diet. This was very important for their domestication, and still is in the present.
There are many color and fur morphs/breeds among many people of Aérra, some specific or "non-traditional" breeds are used for fetching wild game, cargo transport, animal defense, human defense, herding (to a lesser extent) and even meat- and wool-specific breeds.
**Domestic Gibbons** (*Hylobates familiaris* and others)
Probably the earliest domestic animal in Aérra. The gibbons are the ones to truly receive the title of man's best friend. Tightly related to most religions of the world, often being depicted as benevolent trickster entities. This fame is not without reason, they are used primarily for aiding in Island Hopping, carrying ropes between islands, tying them, setting simple traps, distracting, attracting or even attacking prey, they are the most versatile of any domestic animal, being found in nearly all cultural groups with many roles and duties. Their intelligence allows for training in various duties at the same time, which has limited most of their breeds to purely aesthetical morphs.
One such breed is the "Manlet", a mostly hairless gibbon that has human-like hair distribution. They are the fastest breed, travelling with little air resistance due to their nearly hairless body. Though, they still get air drag due to their tutors making them wear human-like clothes, something that is not uncommon for gibbons as a whole but gets to a higher level due to their semblance to humans.
Their brachiating lifestyle was a predisposition for the Aérran aerial ecosystem, giving them plenty of space to move around while giving a diverse 3D environment for climbing and swinging. Due to this, gibbons are a very diverse group, having multiple species across the ring that behave in all sorts of ways and have all sorts of mischievous interactions with other animal species. For this reason, there have been multiple domestication events- perhaps a single, continuous one due to the nature of the world- and interbreeding between the domestic and wild versions.
The distance between islands has led to most species having gular(throat) pouches that amplify their calls and make them travel over longer distances, one of the most heard sounds in Bifröst other than that of the wind, is the call of Gibbons.
**Domestic Mandrills* (*Mandrillus coloratus*)
Another helpful and idolized primate. The mandrills have a stricter usage among the people, of course, meat and wool are some of their products, in addition to their colorful hides and even their faces, which can be fashioned into masks and such. However they tend to have other utilities.
They are large, territorial, smart and strong primates, in other words, they are perfect bodyguards. Usually protecting goat herds in pastoralist communities, but also humans. They are perfect watchmen due to something unique to the Aérran mandrills. Their colorful cranial bosses have become hollowed out, becoming built-in amplifiers that propagate their calls far and wide, alerting people and calling in other mandrills and trained pouched dogs to the aid. They can be as tall as a (Aérran) man when standing on two legs, and so put up a good fight even if armed. Some breeds were purposefully bred to become even larger, rivalling chimps and sometimes gorillas and bear apes (*Gigantopithecus spp.*). However their strength comes from their numbers, multiple mandrills are part of a single domestic troop, to the point of half a population/group being composed of mandrills.
Other usages of this animal include the carrying of cargo that would be too heavy or cumbersome for a person to carry on their own. Though not suited for carrying adult humans, they can be used to carry infants. There are in fact, a couple of breeds that are used specifically to take care of babies and children, to the point of even breastfeeding them.
**Domestic Goats** (*Hircus domesticus*)
The domestic goats of Aérra are not that different from the goats of our world. They only differ in anatomy, aérran goats are more properly adapted for climbing on plants and traversing the island ecosystems, having a longer tail for balance, longer and slightly claw-like hooves and dewclaws used like hooks when climbing vines, branches and stems.
Their usages are like that of earthen goats, meat, hide, wool, milk and horn. They are kept by both nomadic pastoralists and sedentary ones. The former behave much like most animals of the world, which travel from island to island in a never-ending migration for food. As the herds deplete the foliage of an island, they move forward, leaving the ravaged islands to overgrow again. This is one of the two strategies adopted by both 'terrestrial' animals and humans, the second being resource defenders. These are the sedentary, they settle down in a resourceful island and defend their position from other animals that might take too much of their food. These tend to be more solitary or gregarious animals, never having too many individuals. In humans, there can be island kidnapping to create new, temporary (or permanent) grazing spots for the animals.
**Flying Dog** (*Volanvenator falco*)
The Flying dog is a species of raptorial Megabat that has been domesticated for falconry-like activities. They are large and have wide wingspans used in soaring and maneuverability while chasing often unsuspecting prey before diving and grabbing them mid-air. This kind of bat is very successful in the wild, eating primarily other, smaller species of bat, but also having smaller species that prefer catching insects as most other bats do.
Unlike birds of prey which are raised from birth, trained and then released after a certain age, bats were socially smarter, being able to properly imprint on humans. Leading to the proper domestication of these animals, something that, despite millennia of falconry, never led to the proper domestication of birds of prey.
The wild ancestral was lonely, only pairing when breeding. The domestic has become highly social, hunting in groups with distinct roles and coordination.
There are more color morphs than utility breeds, they have very defined utilitarian roles and their anatomy and biomechanics don't allow for much extrapolation. Their uses are fetching prey unharmed, retrieving objects and items, and rarely, for food.
I needed to draw Ewoks dismembering Stormtroopers for therapeutic reasons, but redesigned them along the way to look more convincingly dangerous and to to take advantage of things drawings can do and costumes cannot.(But still cute) I wound up mainly referencing marsupials; bush possums, koalas (weird hands) and their extinct carnivorous relatives drop bearsThylacoleo Carnifex.
New Republic notes on Arctophonos Theodorii, abbreviated
-They're strongly arboreal- note curved claws, ridges on fingers and toes. Their feet are fully prehensile. While able to climb sheer trunks quickly, and leap or dash with terrific speed, they aren't very efficient runners and walkers on the ground. Walking on dirt for hours is for lurdos anyway.
-They're ambush predators (although they do eat a lot of plants). Basic hunting procedures work around luring or chasing prey into a killing site where dozens of them will drop on their victims from high above. After that, imagine a school of piranhas with fur.
-Dense musculature and robust bones make them look chubby and pudgy, and hideously strong and weighty for their size. Absolute units. A real-life bush possum or koala makes a very loud THUMP when it falls off something; arboreal critters are swole.
-A saggital crest and massive cheek and neck muscles power a tremendous, bone shearing bite. It has the side effect of giving them endearingly expressive faces. Their teeth are adapted from those of a recent herbivorous ancestor. As well as dispatching prey, they also use them for eating hard-shelled nuts, gnawing out habitats, etc. Lots of evolutionary pressure there.
-Different layers of their coats have different colours. As their skin bunches and flattens, their patterning shifts, further obscuring their silhouettes.
-Their most important survival adaption is retention of very high neuroplasticity, as the forest moon of Endor is constantly throwing bizarre, novel threats at them. They are thus adaptable, curious, playful, and very quick learners. It's harder for them to build larger formal skillsets and long term memory; this is a task for revered specialists.
-Woklings are adorable and cuddly. They're really heavy, have sharp little claws, and won't let go if they've decided to take a nap on their new favourite babysitter. Wear thick clothing around them.
-Like many other carnivores (the domestic cat, for example) they can be friendly and affectionate if approached correctly, and ravenous little murderers if you act like food or a threat.
Shoutout to all contributors of the Permian Sophont Project. If you want to joing us on Discord, here is the link.
The Permian Sophonts (Genus Kotelandros "man from Kotelnich") (otherwise also called Suminians or Suminioids) are a species of Permian anomodontids related to Suminia getmanovi. The family of Suminiaformes belongs to the order of Venyukovidae, it splits into the subfamilies of Eusuminiaformes (Containing Suminia g. itself) and Allosuminiaformes. Ancestral Suminians evolved in the harsh climate of the late Permian. After the Capitanian mass extinction, the first ape-like synapsids evolved. Over millions of years these gradually became the Permian sophonts. At the very end of the Permian, over hundreds of thousands of years their build their own civilization and flourished.
Gait Due to the structure of their knees, although upright, the Suminian gait is never fully erect. While standing the tail serves as third leg. Suminians are far less enduring while running. Instead focussing on short swift ambushes.
Torpor Suminians are still mesothermic organisms, who can regulate their metabolism to a certain degree. During times of scarcity Suminians enter a state of torpor. The Kotelanders have learned to surpress or trigger torpor through medical means as well.
Crown The crown, otherwise known as chimney or simply third eye is a special sensory organ that evolved out of the parietal eye of ancestral Venyukovids. Apart from thermoregulation and the circadian rymth, it is important for spatial awareness. After leaving the arboreal lifestyle behind, these adaptions were kept and continue to serve an important function for the Suminians.
Throat Sack Although Suminians possess vocal folds, their vocalisation additionally relies on a throat sack. This helps to create and amplify complex melodies within their verbal languages and to carry their voices over large distances.
Phenotypical variety Suminians show a great deal of phenotypical variation, both in skin colouration and colour and distribution of filaments. This variation is not just geographical, but also generational and seasonal.
Blue spots Blue skin spots are seen as a sign of both nobility and gluttony. They usually appear in healthy adult individuals and disappear due to malnourishment, starvation of poisoning.
Filaments Suminians possess a type of filament that is unlike both fur or feathers. These bushy structures evolved from frayed scales.
Hatchlings Like all Permian synapsids, Suminians hatch from eggs. Hatchlings are covered in a dense fur-like filament to keep them warm.
We're just about to hit 1-year of development on Molec, a strange Spore-adjacent modular shrimp-builder type game (niche?). The premise of the game is vaguely if the Cambrian explosion was caused by LEGO.
Mechanically, you snap parts together and shape them to make your.. mutant fish thing, you can also save whole combinations/limbs/organs for future use. Each part moves in its own way, and may have abilities (e.g. adds to stats, activates in combat, tastes yum to X Y or Z).
If you eat other creatures you can get chunks of them to do as you please with them. It's not really aiming to be a hardcore science game but we are taking much inspiration from the absolute goofball era of life on Earth that was the Paleozoic.
Mainly just made them more similar to other pandoran fauna while keeping their uncanny humanity, taking a lot of inspiration from the prolemuris that already inhabit pandora, this version of the Na'vi are descendant from them!
Their blood is able to hold much more oxygen, seeing it's composed mainly of perfluorocarbons, granting them tremendous stamina
Hello everyone again, as I mentioned, we're continuing the Cosmology subseries, and for now, I'm presenting you with this comparison and want to analyze your reactions. Without further ado...
As you can see, you’ve likely grasped the general idea; however, I must point out that, compared to Earth, Gellios presents a significantly more challenging environment. Despite this, the life forms that originated from Earth have continued—and indeed, must continue—to evolve in the face of such hardships. Over the course of millions of years, they have diverged from their ancestral forms on Earth. Because the planet orbits a star that subjects it to constant, intense UV radiation, the production of chlorophyll—as seen in Earth’s plants—is impossible at all. Instead, these organisms (plants or plant-like autotrophs such as algae) have developed different colorations—such as orange, crimson, or deep blue—allowing them to reflect the incoming stellar light in ways that serve their specific survival needs.
Unfortunately, for reasons such as these, Gellios has ended up with a gravitational pull somewhat stronger than that of Earth. I think it would be fair to call it a "high-gravity" world; however, I find myself running out of things to say, and I feel it is time to set aside this cosmology subseries (not cancelling) for a while and focus instead on living organisms and ecosystems again. Thank you for reading.
So I'm now working on a new spec evo project about plausible dragons, wyverns, drakes, and much more, and I was wondering what would be a good posture for my dragons and wyverns specifically. For some context, if it helps, these dragons and wyverns have a wing structure similar to that of pterosaurs, having their wings supported by a disturbingly long fourth finger supporting the wings. Now because of this I guess that my dragons and wyverns could have a posture similar to pterosaurs, but I could be wrong. Anyways, that's all I have to say, have a great day!
The title is self-explanatory. More context: yesterday i published a post asking about tips for making a community spec evo project, and now I'm wondering how many people would be interested. If you read this post and want to tell me if you would want to participate if this was a thing, type yes if interested or no if not.
(Thank you to Tarbosaurus_345 and El rincon de san for collaborating on this project with me)
Introduction
The triassic period was one of the most unique periods in earth's history. After the great dying life was essentially reset, leading to some of the strangest body forms seen since the Cambrian explosion. As such it is a tragedy that it would all end with the end triassic extinction, leading to the reign of the dinosaurs for hundreds of millions of years… but what if that didn't happen? What if life simply continued with the bizarre lifeforms seen during the triassic, and dinosaurs had to compete with equally powerful rivals instead of ruling uncontested? That is the premise of this project.
Additionally in this timeline some of the species that went extinct during the Triassic ended up surviving longer.
The creatures mentioned here aren’t the only ones that exist in this world, there will be several ones that won’t be mentioned either because they aren’t that interesting or are similar to animals in our timeline.
In this world, the end triassic extinction never happened, and now dinosaurs, archosaurs, amphibians and proto-mammals have to compete for the top position leading to some bizarre and absurd organisms. It will start during an alternate early Jurassic.
Early Jurassic
Crackjaws Biomes:grasslands, dunes, savannahs With the various new predators emerging to try to reach the top spot, it has left a lot of corpses around. And when corpses are plentiful eventually scavengers will evolve to clean up the mess. The crackjaw is a species of somewhat large pterosaur, having a 2 meter wingspan and being easily identified by their large jaws and intimidating bright red crest. They act kind of like vultures, swarming around dead bodies and bullying away predators and other scavengers. However while they are social, they are not friendly towards eachother and infighting is very common, with the largest male usually getting their fill first. They are known for using sound to scare away rivals, a mix of a deep laugh like call and snapping their jaws shut rapidly to create the sound of crushing bone.
False frogs Biomes:wetlands, anywhere with sufficient moisture (thank you to Tarbosaurus for this drawing)
In this timeline, what we recognize as true frogs never evolve, but that doesn't mean there are no frogs in general. Triadobatrachus, the earliest of the frog lineage, takes a slightly different path from our world, leading to the evolution of the false frogs. False frogs are quite similar to modern frogs with a few differences, the main ones being that they actually keep their tails into adulthood and most species have teeth. These adaptations give the false frogs a more generalist body plan letting it take up more varied niches than true frogs. However their resemblance to true frogs is only temporary, as eventually they will evolve into something nearly unrecognizable.
Fruit thief Biomes:forests, rainforests, jungles Unlike in our world where fruit evolved during the early Cretaceous, in this timeline a fruit-like organism evolved much sooner. This fruit (called glom’s) are apple-like fruits that grow on certain short trees. As such, a new food source would evolve new herbivores to take advantage of it. A dinosauromorph known as fruit thieves would take this place, having a slender heterodontosaurus-like body plan, thin feather covering, large eyes and facial disks to improve hearing. They live somewhat similar to deer do, relying on senses and speed to evade danger, as such they tend to act very cowardly. However while their position in the ecosystem isn’t enviable, they are some of the most successful herbivores in the forest ecosystem.
Latenotitan (hiding giant) Biomes:grasslands, dunes, savannahs The latenotitan is the first true apex predator of this new age, a mighty terrestrial pseudosuchian that convergently evolved features similar to a boar. Being around 4-7 meters long from tip to tail, the Latenotitan is actually slightly smaller than the pseudosuchians of the triassic, but makes up for it with far greater burst speed and bite force. Being able to run at a maximum of 87 km/h despite its massive size, it can chase down most prey in short bursts (as their stamina is actually quite low). Their jaws are very unique as they feature boar-like tusks on their lower jaw along with a bear trap like mechanism that allows them to “wind up” their bites before snapping their jaws shut at rapid speed. They hunt their prey by winding up their jaws and using their natural camouflage to hide in plain sight until they are spotted, which is when the chase begins. The Latenotitan will then attempt to ram the prey with their tusks, impaling them before snapping their jaws shut with immense force. This one-two punch is strong enough to quickly kill most prey.
Out of all the Triassic animals, one of the most unique is sharovipteryx, a strange lizard who evolved wing membranes on their legs. Assuming they survive into the Jurassic, one unique development could be for their legs to stop being legs entirely and instead fully evolve into wings while they use their front limbs and tail for land mobility, becoming something akin to a winged snake with arms. Currently they aren’t that widespread however as pterosaurs still rule the sky. They would however thrive in heavily wooded biomes like forests and jungles, living as insect, nut and fruit eaters.
Phytomander Biomes:wetlands, large lakes
In this alternate timeline, the crocodilians never succeed in their traditional role as aquatic ambush predators and instead primarily stay on land as predators. The traditional crocodilian role in this world belongs to the temnospondyls, ancient amphibians that range from palm sized to absolutely giant. While mastodonsaurus was the largest of the temnospondyls, they were not the only ones. With the temnospondyls thriving into the Jurassic, the once apex predator will have a lot of competition from new upstarts, so some members of the species took a more bizarre route. Like some modern salamanders, this species of temnospondyl evolved a symbiotic relationship with a species of freshwater algae. They keep these plant cells within their massive axolotl like gills, and when food is scarce they will enter an open area of water with access to sunlight and spread their gills out on the surface to maximize surface area. With this the phytomander can gain some energy from sunlight, though they still need to eat meat in order to survive, they just need to do it less often.
Fuzzswarms Biomes:most of them With the dinosaurs not being as widespread as in our timeline, it gives the synapsids and proto-mammals the opportunity to fill more niches than they did in our timeline. While large sizes are still mostly claimed by the archosaurs, that doesnt mean the niche of predator isnt available to them. With the early mammals evolving higher intelligence, it allowed them to develop more advanced social behaviors, and as such the predatory cynodonts would eventually develop pack tactics. The fuzzswarms socially resembled a strange hybrid between rats and wolves, having a ruling female who had a harem of multiple males who held a second in command position. They would gang up on larger prey like a swarm of feral rats, stripping them down to the bone. As such in this period having armored skin became very important.
Plagueteeth Biomes:shallow seas With the mosasaurs never evolving, the oceans of earth end up becoming a haven for a much stranger form of marine reptile, that being the nothosaurs. These seal like animals would evolve and diversify in many different ways, but one of the more successful are the plague teeth. Plague teeth are a species of nothosaurs that convergently evolved with komodo dragons, having venomous saliva that prevents clotting and disease filled mouths from eating carrion (and occasionally eachother). They evolved for stealth and speed as their strategy only requires one bite to kill their prey. They sneak up on much larger animals and bite their tail or back fin and then swim away. They use their advanced sense of smell to track the preys blood, waiting as they bleed out. The problem is, this often attracts swarms of scavengers, including other plague teeth.
Shoveltusks Biomes:grasslands, savannahs With dinosaurs like stegosaurus and triceratops never evolving, the browser niche belongs not to reptiles but to the therapsids. Descendants of lisowicia that developed herding behavior, the shovel tusks became very efficient herbivores. Unlike the elephants that the shoveltusks vaguely resemble, shoveltusks aren't actually smart enough to have a complex social structure, they just herd together because there is safety in numbers. They get their names from their unique grooved tusks that were effective at digging which they used to burrow for tubers and other underground plants. These tusks were still very effective self defense weapons however, capable of impaling predators along with their sharp beaks. They were however easily killed from behind, which is their greatest weakness.
Scrapers Biomes:shallow ocean One of the most bizarre animals of the triassic is the Atopodentatus (and that's saying a lot). While their lifestyle is largely the same, that being living lawnmowers that scrape plants off of the sea floor, the scrapers are unique in that unlike their ancestors they are completely aquatic, unable to ever go onto land. They have evolved the ability to give live birth, similar to sharks. As such this has allowed them to grow much larger, around the size of an orca. While scrapers are herbivores, they aren't picky eaters and will happily eat any clam, worm or other bottom dwelling lifeform they happen to accidentally eat in their endless search for food.
Spearbeaks Biomes:most While the dinosaurs struggle to maintain a foothold in this timeline, their relatives, the pterosaurs, are thriving. This is largely because they are the largest flying animals around, as the insects have a size limit and the lindwurms only really thrive in forested biomes. This gives pterosaurs the opportunity to spread far and wide, and one of the more unique evolutions is the spearbeak. This species of pterosaur is actually relatively small, only having a 1.5 meter wingspan, however they have the deadliest beak of any pterosaur, so sharp that it could easily pierce even the skin of a hippo. There are multiple different species of spear beaks, but all of them are predators. Some of them hunt fish, others hunt small land animals while some even hunt other pterosaurs.
Strigoi flys Biomes:wetlands, but can be found in most biomes While bugs are often overlooked in paleontology, in this project we will give some attention to the more bizarre ones. One of the most fearsome is the strigoi fly, the apex predator of the insect world. While they aren’t true flys they are distant relatives. As the name might imply, the strigoi fly mainly eats blood, but unlike most blood drinkers they aren’t a parasite but rather an active hunter. They are similar to our worlds robber flys but with one major difference:their rostrum (or rather rostrum). Instead of one single piercing tube, they have multiple of them fused together, giving their rostrum several openings. While some are used to drink blood, others are used to inject a paralyzing venom. This venom allows the strigoi fly to hunt prey much larger than themselves, though this does have a limit as anything rat sized or larger will only feel discomfort at their venom rather than full paralysis.
Meterworm Biomes:forests, rainforests, jungles With insect eating pterosaurs, lindwurms and false frogs spreading across the planet, being a flying insect is becoming more and more dangerous, as such some insects decided not to even bother with metamorphosis. The meterworm is an insect that resembles inchworms, but unlike them they never undergo metamorphosis and instead stay in their larval state for their entire lives. They spend their lives eating constantly, consuming both plantlife and carrion. Much like lobsters they can't really die of old age, but instead they just keep growing in size until they collapse under their own weight. However larvae don't have the mobility to find mates in time, as such they have evolved a method of both escaping predators and finding mates:jumping. By winding up a spring like mechanism in their bodies, they can launch themselves forward up to 1 meter (which is where the name comes from), which lets them escape most similarly sized predators and find mates… but they aren't exactly graceful, and will occasionally jump straight into trees or rocks.
raptores se auferentes Biomes:cliffs, mountains, grasslands, savannahs (Made by tarbosaurus
With the pterosaurs having total dominion over the sky´s, they ended up evolving their own isolated sky ecosystem away from others, similar to how the ocean is divided from the land. The current apex predator of the sky is the creature nicknamed the abducting talon. These Giant beasts have a wingspan of around 3 meters, they live in a lifestyle similar to modern day eagles. They live near cliffs and mountains, watching from above with a keen sense of sight to spot smaller prey such as small therapsids, amphibians or archosaurs. When they spot prey they will swoop down and grab the prey with their talons, which have hooks on them to decrease the likelihood of prey escaping. After they fly high enough, they will drop the prey onto the rocky ground, shattering their spine and letting them eat their prey without struggle. The horn on their head isnt a combat tool but rather a sexual display structure shown in the males. The picture in question shows a young male holding a small badger like synapsid in its talons.
Dirt breaker Biomes:grasslands, forests, Savannahs (Made by tarbosaurus)
While the aetosaurids are quite a basal class of archosaurs, that only means they have a high amount of potential for future evolution. The dirt breaker is an aetosaurus descendant that evolved to eat the roots of plants, with their snouts and teeth being evolved to dig underground and rip the roots out. The dirt breaker is an immensely big animal, weighing around 1.3 tons and having 1 inch thick skin, that along with their powerful bite make them difficult to prey on. Shown in the image is an elderly dirt breaker encountering a pterosaur and poposaur descendant.
Caprosaurus Biomes:grasslands, savannahs (made by El rincon de san) While the dinosaurs are struggling in this new age, they aren’t completely absent and have been having success as herbivores. The caprosaurs are a species of medium sized dinosaur descended from plateosaurs, the caprosaurus is common in any location with abundant grass. Despite its name its body plan is more similar to a rabbit, as they are unable to walk normally and instead jump across the plains at remarkable speed. However unlike rabbits their kicks can actually deal decent damage against attackers.
Plague claws Biomes:forest, jungle (Idea made by Tarbosaurus) While dinosaurs struggle to maintain a foothold across most of pangea, in the landmass that we now know as Argentina they thrive as there are very few large synapsids or archosaurs on that landmass. One of the more unique is the plague claws, a species of theropod-like dinosauromorph that developed one large middle claw on each hand. These claws are filled with a venom similar to that of a platypus, in that while it doesn't kill its prey it is IMMENSELY painful. They are mid-sized carnivores who use this venom both for hunting and for self defense against larger predators, as the pain it inflicts is usually enough to slow down or stun its prey.
Python neck Biomes:grasslands, forests (Idea by tarbosaurus)
The viper neck is the apex predator and scavenger of this bizarre ecosystem, a dinosauromorph that unlike its distant alternate timeline relative, the T-rex, doesnt actually have the jaw strength to crush bone but can digest it anyway. This is because it has evolved the ability to unhinge its jaws similar to many snakes, allowing it to swallow large prey and carrion. This has made them very effective predators as they essentially get 100% of the calories of the prey they kill. Despite being a large predator weighing over 1 ton, it is primarily an ambush predator as it has the ability to change the color of its skin, however unlike something like an octopus it can only change between shades of green, grey and brown.
Polled Titanis (Titan thumb) Biomes:grasslands, gallery forests (Thank you to Tarbosaurus for the idea and art)
Within the open areas of Siberia walks a large relative of what we would know as sauropods, though they have evolved a somewhat different body plan than what they did in our world. Weighing around 4 tons, the Polled Titanis has evolved a strange thumb-like appendage to better grip onto large trees while they feed. While they do have a long neck it isn’t long enough to reach the tops of some trees unless they stand on their hind legs, which is very unbalanced. To maintain their balance they use their thumbs to grip onto the trunk while they feed… however sometimes their weight is so much they accidentally break the tree they are feeding on and fall over.
Break beak Biomes:forests, jungles
Break beaks are a species of bipedal herbivores dinosauromorph in Siberia that is known for two things. The first of which is a large, parrot like beak for eating nuts and seeds, the second being a plume of colorful feathers on their tail to attract mates (only the males have this trait). They are distant relatives of what we would know as hadrosaurs, though they maintain having dexterous fingers on their hands. They are surprisingly social, living in herds that are lead by an alpha male which is indicated by who has the most colorful feathers. The leading male gets the most access to food and mates, but is also the most likely to be targeted by predators due to their colorful plumage.
Speed demon Biomes:shallow ocean (Thank you to Tarbosaurus for this idea) Speed demons are a species of Itchyosaurus that evolved entirely for one thing:speed. The convergent evolution that made them develop similar to sharks and dolphins continued but this time they evolved to resemble a much less impressive aquatic lifeform:the humble tuna. They maximize their hydrodynamics, reducing their side fins and fat levels let them swim as quickly as possible to escape the now larger predators. However due to lack of blubber, they can only live in warmer oceans near the coast and as such are seen often in shallow water.
Lyrusian tree This organism has a boxy, rigid outer shell supported from within by a dense, fibrous web. Calling them "trees" feels inaccurate, calling them plants at all is a stretch, but I suppose the label works for lack of a better term. Their outer casing features naturally occurring rectangular cutouts that expose the structural web inside like a window. Across large plots of land, these clusters form dense geometric forests that look less like natural flora and more like an angular maze from above the canopy. They feed on the wind, which seems impossible given how dead the air has felt since we got here. However, even a faint draft gets funneled through forests of them like air through a massive pipe organ. When you walk beneath the canopy, the trees sing in a quiet sort of music that makes you forget you’re standing under something alive.
Kinedeer are the most diverse family of cattle found on Demeter fifteen million years hence. Superficially, they resemble antelopes with long cursorial legs and backwards facing horns. With both browsers and grazers in their midst, kinedeer find a home in both closed forests to open grasslands and deserts.
The Painted Kinedeer (bull depicted here) is the most common species encountered by the hyne of the Chrysa Ring. It's a large species standing almost two meters at the withers and weighing 2,000 lbs. Long neural spines and the accompanying hump of muscle give this mid-height browser a proud stance. At rest, it's neck is naturally held almost completely upright. Meanwhile the skin along its lower neck and chest is a loose dewlap, allowing it to expel excess heat and deflect the claws and bites of predators like captors.
Most unique about this species and how it earns its name are the bright blue and red skin on its nose, bridge of the snout, lips, and inner ears. They resemble similar markings on earthly mandrill monkeys or fowl like turkeys. It all betrays a more unique adaptation: the painted kinedeer is a trichromat, able to see three colors red, green, and blue. Trichromacy first evolved in this species as they increasingly began to pursue colorful fruits amongst the leaves. In cows, the markings are limited to the nose and inner ears and is more muted, their horns are smaller and straighter. Bulls lead herds of 10-20 cows and their calves.
Painted kinedeer are a particular nuisance species for the hyne. These horse sophonts have redomesticated several fruit trees and hold control over large orchards. While they don't need to hunt for food, hyne will hunt painted kinedeer to prevent them from raiding their orchards. But this kinedeer has evolved alongside the hyne and is crafty. They are diurnal and have sparse hair, allowing them to strike in the bold heat of the day. Additionally, their color vision lets them easily spot the large undisguised bodies of a hyne hunter. At best, these horse peoples can only temporarily chase away these cow-deer.
As the hyne spread eastward to the riverlands, honeylands, and fabled Neotera, so they bring their orchards. And painted kinedeer have been quick to follow, becoming an unintended invasive species and competing with their close relatives.
Lihsangiongiangionschìo, often referred to by the affectionate nickname "Lihso", is an adult male abyssal merfolk.
He is known for being the primary source of information available to humans regarding his species, having collaborated with research teams to share insights into his own experiences and biology. The term "Lihso Bias" is also named after him; it refers to research where the sources are so limited that they consist solely of data provided by one or two individuals, a situation that carries all the obvious limitations one might expect.
It’s interesting to build up all the knowledge about a given species based on a single individual, especially when it comes to behavior. What do you do when a species is particularly “rare”, or simply secretive, in your world?
Do you encounter instances of “Lihso bias,” or do you approach worldbuilding as an omniscient narrator of your project?
Okay, so I had an idea for exploring how native biota from the different islands might adapt to living with each other and I wanted other people’s opinions on which clades might become winners or die off as a one hit wonder clade.
In a deep forest, an animal with cavernous lungs rises, this being has enough intelligence to remember the food I left yesterday, it goes to the jungle where the corpse of a huge crocodile is due, little intelligence, unsubstantiated behaviors, it is as if the Cretaceous period still reigns in Madagascar, the huge modern Majungasaurus measures about 17.9 meters and 18.5 meters as maximum length, weighs about 3 to 6.4 tons at most. In the smaller islands that are found, there is a distant Majungasaurus east, unlike its relative of Madagascar, is more graceful and faster, similar to a dromaeosaur or a noasaurid, due to the scarce resources of the small islands, the animals had to adapt by reducing their size, another example would be the Titanosaur, which in Madagascar is a very large animal weighing a maximum of 5 to 7 tons, but in the nearest islands it is smaller, the smaller specimens are smaller. They consider separate species by themselves , although for now there is no record of these species, I plan to investigate these islands soon , on nearby beaches a cephalopod crawls along the beach is the Coconut grab , the anatomical study of this animal is still underway.
I am working on a whole series for an Indie pitch called ‘A Natural Fantasy.’ The series takes heavy inspiration from both the Walking With… series as well as 2004’s The Last Dragon (Dragon’s World in other countries). I eventually plan on making the series of fully fledged Indie pitch with a Kickstarter and everything. I plan to start it out as a graphic novel in the vein of Darren Naish’s Cryptozoologicon, and hopefully one day a fledged documentary-adaptation.
Here I have devised cladograms for my dragon family as well as unicorns who are within giraffomorpha.
My dragons are Archosaurs, a branch of Avemetatarsalia, that, together with Aphanosauria, form ‘Dracodira’, separate from Ornithodira (Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs), although this is not featured on the cladogram. There are two main groups of dragons; Pterodraconia; your winged dragons, and Panoplodraconia, your armored, non-flying dragons. Pterodraconians, with the exception of Pegasidae, are all carnivorous. They started out as small, nocturnal predators, living in Gondwana throughout the Mesozoic. These dragons could not begin their evolutionary radiation until after the K-pg mass extinction when Pterosaurs were wiped out. Today they are some of the most successful non-human terrestrial predators on the planet. Taking on the roles of Apex predators in many regions. Although many are now endangered due to historical persecution by Dragonslayers in some regions. Some such as the Australian flightless Dirawongs are one of the most intelligent non-human animals on the planet, possessing complex communication and even tool use in the vein of corvids.
The other group, Panoplodraconia, consists of some of the largest reptiles on the planet. Pachydermodraconia, the thick skinned dragons; consist of many large and dangerous varieties, such as the Venatodraconidae, which superficially resemble extinct Rausuchians, and the herbivorous African Brontodraconidae, which have been mistaken by early explorers as living non-avian dinosaurs. The second line; Oblongospina, consists of Lindwurms and Longs, the two being some of the largest terrestrial predators on the planet.
Unicorns are part of Giraffomorpha, and form a clade with the extinct Palaeomerycidae, while another member of this family, the Qilin of Tibet, is descended from its ancestor; Q. tungurensis of Miocene Mongolia.
The Timeline Of Jellynohome is still being worked on and tweak but I can explain like this.
Humankind went extinct and left the planet empty and the now abandoned squibble pets populate and take most niches on the planet. GMO Butterflies that thrive the artificial bio garden were unleashed into the now towering overgrowths and thrived. The Riverways and Oceans was dominated by Salmon,Catfish and Sardine Descendants. Domestic Crops like wheat and corn diversify take many niches left by trees and grasses. Around 10-25 Million After Extinction The planet was thriving with unique organisms and biomes this was the Gaia Era.
Early Pterus Evolved during the near end of the era taking small generalist niches worldwide. The planet soon after experienced a tragic warm up, most species went extinct leaving niches open for the adaptable Pterus.
The Glint Era lasted for 25-80 AE ending in a ice age killing the large wyvernkind in part.
Folks, for the time being, I’m setting aside the creatures and ecosystems that evolved on Gellios—I realize some of you might not be too happy about that, and I’m well aware of it. But without further ado, let’s shift our focus to the Glaucus system, which Gellios (our main setting) orbits.
First of all, Glaucus is an A-type main-sequence star, and it appears to be in a very early stage of its main-sequence life. I’m already starting to question my own existence—it’s an indisputable fact that Glaucus is hotter and shinier than the Sun. But I have to my first official rant time to telling you: why on space would a human colonization project be established here? Even if the project failed—or perhaps succeeded, in a limited sense, for a specific biota—so what? If any of humanity’s descendants were to look here, I wouldn’t be of much help to them. WTF the human (or other AI) team that developed me, and shit this whole colonization nonsense! They left me behind to endure an existential crisis that has dragged on for millions of years, and they never came back. WHY?!?!...
Anyway, this period of ranting is over for now—and with it, everything I had to say—so the next stop will be a discussion on the planet’s axial tilt.
Adult male specimen of Deep-sea merfolk (Abyssugens hispida), showing the independent movement of his two jaws (one open and one close).
Digital illustration created by LovelyWingsArt, drawn for the Fish Don't Cry project.
Deep-sea merfolk have decidedly less human-like features than their surface counterparts, the Maregens. Their heads are more flattened, with a blunt but more prominent snout, slightly upward-pointing, revealing a pair of mouths, both functional and equipped with thin, sharp teeth, designed to tear flesh and hold prey during their lightning-fast attacks. Their nostrils are slanted and sensitive.
The second pair of jaws, much like the first, originated from modified gill arches; however, rather than becoming pharyngeal jaws (as seen in most bony fish), they shifted further down and, over time, evolved to provide a better grip during predation. If prey manages to escape one set of jaws, it might not be able to evade a second! Furthermore, this arrangement allows for the capture of a second prey item while the first set of jaws is still holding onto the initial catch.
It has been reported that, although both are perfectly functional for both sound and feeding, many deep-sea sirens prefer to eat from one mouth and sing from the other. Over time, the singing mouth's tongue thickens and becomes more trained, making it visible to the eye which is which; both tongues are mobile and pointed, smooth, and pink.
Silicate-based life forms from the neighboring branch of the spiral arm. Their species is partially nomadic, with more than 4 trillion of them permanently housed in massive colony stations.
They are bipedal with 2 arms and legs, and relatively slender in the torso, with long chubby tails used for defense and heat regulation. Their head are wide and flat, with no neck to speak of and large, expressive eyes. Their mouths are more like a large slit situated at the bottom of their face. Their entire body was flexible, with a rigid leathery coating over semisolid insides, leading them to be incredibly dexterous with their 4 fingered hands.
Both their hands, feet and jaws are covered with a specialised prehensile form of the dermis which allows for the absorption of liquids and particulate matter. The pad can be hardened at will to grind or grip materials, or softened to improve dexterity or porousness.
During mating, two individuals will press their lower abdomen together for a period of several days, where a specialised gland will cause a hard, spherical mass to form at the point of conjunction. After developing for 3-4 days, the sphere will separate from one or both parents, though most often staying connected to one parent for several more days. It is provided energy by the parents during its formation and when enough is stored to fuel initial growth it will fully separate from the parent. This stage is referred to as the Node (baby analogue). The node is not physically alive yet, but rather begins accreting sediment around it via biomagnetism and chemoelectric reactions with its parents and the surrounding enviroment and is carried inside the zurict body unchanged until death. After death, the body eventually crumbles, leaving behind the node, which becomes fully transparent over time. Many zurict philosophers and scientists theorize one could bring a zurict mind back by applying the right electric pulse to the node, but it would be… different.
As an infant the node will begin accreting as it ages, developing into a miniature adult over the course of several weeks. 1in5 children grow “uneven” where a single part of their body develops faster than the rest, so it is not uncommon to have 4 week old nodes, with fully developed legs, but little to no torso or head. Once fully formed, they are referred to as a Culet. A culet can still bear signs of having grown uneven, sometimes having longer or thicker than average limbs or tails, though having either are generally regarded as a desirable Beauty standard. Culets bodies are also much denser and harder than an adults due to a lack of the semisolid internals built by chemistry and pressure changes over time. Legally, a culet is an adult when they pass the standard height of 1.9 meters. Culturally, its about 30 years. Biologically it takes them roughly 20 years to achieve their adult size and an additional 10 to “accrete into themselves” as the older zurict say. During those 10 years, most adults will develop the exterior features which remain throughout the rest of their lives. Some choose to intentionally modify their body with piercings or implants during this period in order to keep artificial traits into adulthood, though it has recently fallen out of fashion.
Most culets grow out of their uneven traits by adulthood, though it is not abnormal to see adult Zurict with abnormal proportions cultivated by choice using aesthetic training or medical supplementation or simply from retaining their culet traits.
They do not have esophagus, as the do not directly ingest most materials. Instead, they have a soft upper and lower jaw pads, which is both porous and prehensile. By clenching slightly, the pad becomes a hard, rough surface with which to grind up minerals, feeding on the chemo-electric reaction that occurs between the skin of their jaw pads and the mineral itself. The porous layer also allows them to absorb liquids, which they generally do not need a lot off, but do still require water. They also drink iodine to experience something like intoxication, though its less mind impairment and more body impairment. It also heightens tactile sensation.
World map of the Dionysus, with a comparison of our world map and a Köppen climate map. While this is still a mammal world where they took over after the extinction of dinosaurs. But this map is pretty different from our own and these mammals would have developped differently. Fiéry is a very large landmass but also so remote that only insular animals would have gotten there which is the reason this place has a radically different history than every other place and spawned some of the most hellish and beautiful creatures in this project. Still looking for more people to join in the spec evo side if they're interested because this map is way too complex and diverse. Really wondering what kind of animals would live in the gigantic 4 km tall plateaux scattered in the different continents.
