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Afroterra
Topic Started: Oct 6 2013, 06:12 PM (885 Views)
martiitram
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Admantus
Oct 10 2013, 07:31 PM
martiitram
Oct 10 2013, 12:52 PM
Admantus
Oct 9 2013, 09:45 PM
I'm thinking that they radiate into more herbivorous niches, and maybe even become fish eaters.

I'm skeptical about the latter part though. I'm only saying that because manatees and dugongs are known to eat fish on occasion.
They could probably evolve omnivores , but that's it , cause they have no teeth.Also , how can you make a project like "Afroterra" or "Future of the World in here"?
Are you asking how to make one? Well all you need is some good ideas, a scenario, and bam.

If you're asking why i made this, i made this because it was an idea that i had.

Manatees and dugongs do have teeth. They are in the back of the mouth.
Maybe they could be marine cancrivores , but what about more dolphin or orca like marine mammals?Also , I was asking how can I create one in this zetaboards?
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Olympianmaster
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Click on new topic in the forum you want it in.
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martiitram
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Admantus
Oct 6 2013, 06:12 PM
A warm breeze blows through the grassland. The rains have already fallen, and the underbrush is green and lush. Here, massive herds of steppe gorsia, saiga-like herbivores graze on the brush. Although the gorsia look like antelopes, they are actually more closely related to hyraxes. There are many species of gorsia, with some species being forest dwellers, and others being plains dwellers. As opposed to the hooves that antelopes have, gorsia have canine-like feet. These peculiar herbivores range from the northern continent to the Midwestern portion of the eastern continent, where they are the principal small to medium sized herbivores in their habitats.

Stalking the gorsia is an even more interesting creature. A pack of leapers has just picked up the scent of the herd, and is silently flanking the herd. Leapers are an interesting order of predators that are descended from the elephant shrew. After millions of years of fine tuning, the ancestors of the leapers evolved bipedal movement. The ancestors then evolved into fast, cursorial forms, as well as a couple of large scavengers. Leapers kill, as their name suggests, by jumping onto the backs of their prey and inflicting as many slash wounds as possible. When a leaper is dealing with smaller prey, like a juvenile gorsia, it bites the back of the neck and snaps it. Leapers are very successful, living on all 5 continents of Afroterra.

As we move closer to the coast, we see gigantic forests of redwoods and arucariad trees. In these forests, giants are stirring. Oliphants, so named because of their tusks and enormous size, feed on the giant trees of this forests. Descended from the African bush elephant, oliphants make their home in cool temperate forests, open woodland, and savannah. The biggest species, the Goliath Oliphant, makes its home in the cool coastal forests that harbor giant trees. An adult oliphant has no predators, but a juvenile is vulnerable to attacks by leapers.


More on the way.
In Carbocene I actually have predatory and herbivorous bipedal elephant shrews , but I thought them before I even found out about afroterra and I can prove it by showing you how I thought the idea : Elephant shrews resemble a bit the extinct leptictidium , which seems to have not moved by hopping like a kangaroo , but more like a theropod (the scientist discovered that from the structure of the ankle) , so I thought about theropod like mammals.In my project the herbivorous ones are no more than 150 kg , while the carnivorous ones are no larger than a wolf (60 kg are usually the largest wolves).They live in the east-African subcontinent (which is an island and in my project it's name is Neoafra).Also , you could check my project if you want (I have made a topic about it in Saecula novae).
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Zirojtan
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Have you figured out any of the particulars about your planet here, Admantus? Cuz I like your concepts, I just want to know a little bit more about what's going on before I start submitting my own two cents about different animals and such.
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Admantus
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I need to create the geography of the planet. I might just make it in paint.
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Sheather
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The concept is definitely interesting - and due to the enormous timespans involved I'd say far from likely - but it's of a sort which I find really interesting because it's just so obscure. Are the afrotheres the only large animals on the planet or are there also birds, etc?
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Admantus
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Late response, but afrotheres are the only vertebrates on the planet. There are inverterbrates, yes, but no birds or fish. The niches of fish are taken by squid, crustaceans, and some species of diving beetle. The fliers on the planet are derived sea slugs.
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Admantus
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This is the geography.

Posted Image
Edited by Admantus, Jan 4 2014, 06:06 PM.
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Admantus
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Donodonts
Donotonts are a very successful family of herbivores and omnivores descended from hyraxes. Given their unspecialized body shape and diet, hyraxes radiated into all sorts of niches, from gracile grazer to stocky browsers. Some have even become omnivorous.


Gorsoids

The most common grazer on afroterra's steppes are the gorsa. Gorsa stay in herds of up to 100,000 during the dry season, but during the wet season, herds can number in the millions. Males have a single short horn on their forhead that they use to joust with other males during the breeding season. Females give birth to 2 cubs that can walk immediatly after they're born. Cubs take 1 year to mature to adulthood. Gorsa are prey to leapers, spinebacks, and an unrelated lineage of predators, the impalers. Some gorsoids have become woodland browsers, browsing on lichen trees and maple leaves. These have two small stubs instead of a horn, which allows for easier browsing

Huppirax

Further south, in the tropical wetlands, lay herds of huppirax. These are semi aquatic herbivores that have not changed much since adapting to their habitat. They eat water shrooms, water grass, and cyanobacteria mats that grow on the surface of the lakes that they live on. Huppirax have little to no predators as an adult, however newborns need to watch out for ambushersquids, swamp kebabs, and wide-footed leapers. A couple of Huppirax species have taken to land and have become solitary grazers and browsers.

Boarsnouts
Boarsnouts are a very adaptable family that have adapted to live all over Afroterra. From bulky species the size of a cow in the far north to dwarf species living under the feet of Groons, Boarsnouts can live anywhere. Armed with a pair of sharp incisors at the front, and cutting and grinding teeth at the back, the boarsnout can tackle all sorts of food items, like bacterial mats, carcasses, branches, and even the odd baby forest gorsa.

Bass Boomers

In the open woodlands and coastal forests of east Afroterra, the sounds of booming *roa roa roa* in staccato ring out all around. These are the Base Boomers. A lineage of mega herbivores closely related to the gorsa, Bass Boomers are often the biggest herbivores in their respective habitats, second only to the massive Olifants and Regal Mammoths. Ranging in size from a large horse to an indricothere, Bass Boomers occur over much of eastern Afroterra, eating all sorts of tall plants with their long necks and trunks that help them grab branches (think like a black rhino or tapir). The reason for them being called Bass Boomers is because of their intriguing mating ritual. The biggest species, the BoomBox, has an inflateable bladder in its mouth that inflates during mating season. To attract mates, the BoomBox stands in a clearing and utters a very loud and booming "roa roa roa rua". If a female likes the sound, she will come near, and mating will commence. There are many varieties of these mating calls, with some being just a loud booming "ROOAT" and others sounding like dripping water.
Edited by Admantus, Jan 13 2014, 09:28 PM.
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Admantus
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Para-Verts

Since the original inhabitants of Afroterra, the inverterbrates, had 200 million years to adapt before Afrotheres were introduced, there is a considerable amount of inverterbrate megafauna, as well as countless species of normal sized inverterbrates. At first, giant arthopods scuttled around on Afroterra's soil, echoing a bygone era of earth. However, these creatures were not meant to last. One group of creatures, the velvet worms, was to create an entirely new order of animals: The Para Verts. Being completely blind, the para verts rely on their sense of smell more than other Aftoterran creatures. In a sense, the Para Verts graze, hunt, and live in a world governed by smells. Having evolved an internal skeleton early in their evolution, the Para Verts have done away with the many padlike legs of their ancestors, and have gone with even numbered legs, the most being 6. A Para Vert's skeleton is different than a verterbrates. For example, their skulls have no eye sockets, only two holes at the top of the head, where the olfactory antennae are located. There is also a ridge at the back of the head. This is used for anchoring a muscle that ejects acid onto a food item, and the mouth, completely separate from the skull, dabs up the broken down food. The biggest of the para verts are the Groons, massive 5 story tall omnivores that literally "vacuum" any edible food item into their mouths. Para Verts are found all over Afroterra, and are even found in the oceans. Here are the major clades of Para Verts. For some odd reason the Afrotheres and Para-verts have coexisted without one outcompeting the other.

Sloorts

On the plains of Afroterra, there are many predators. Danger is never too far away, and it could be life or death. That's why there is safety in numbers. Sloorts are an interesting family of Para Verts, having learned to utilize the herds of Gorsa as an effective tool against predators. Having 2 pairs of folded away arms and one pair of long and muscular legs, Sloorts slightly resemble an ungainly purplish brown ostrich creature, but closer examination reveals that the "head" is actually an elongated proboscis that vacuums up anything edible, although it prefers algal mats and grass shoots. The actual head is lower down at the base of the "neck". When Sloorts smell a predator coming, they release a high pitched screech, akin to a balloon getting deflated. If the Sloort is in a herd of Gorsa, the Gorsa herd will run away in fear. Sloorts are found in all sorts of habitats, from coastal mangroves to tundra to tropical savannah and jungle, where they fill the niches of fish eaters, oppertunistic omnivore, and savannah grazer.

Impalers

This is the most interesting lineage of Para Verts. These reign supreme as the apex predators throughout their range. Ranging from tiny aboreal species to saltwater crocodile sized monsters, these are the most successful predators on Afroterra. Most species are ambush hunters, catching their prey with a liquid that solidifies in normal atmospheric conditions into a ropelike structure. The prey is then finished off with a venomous bite. Some species, however, have taking this to a different level. These "Dart Shooters" shoot calcified darts out of specialized pores. The darts are serrated, and cut through the prey's flesh and tendons. After the prey animal has to lie down, dart shooters finish it off with a single bite. The more common species, however are the "Flower Jaws". These Impalers use a barb to stab the prey before closing in and biting it. These have stockier and less serpentine bodies than the Dart Shooters and Glueheads, and thus are better adapted for tackling prey. The biggest, the Sun Grin, is named because of it's impressive mouth, which can open into 5 separate parts. Growing as large as a saltwater crocodile, the Sun Grin takes any prey it wants, be it Huppirax or Sloorts. Impalers occur all over the main continent.

Ambulotids

By far the most diverse group of Para Verts, Ambulotids contain the Groons, the biggest terrestrial para vert, and the TurboConch, a species of marine Para vert that kills via lethal injection of toxins. It also contains a huge amount of microfauna that are very important to Afroterra. The Groon is a greyish yellow Ambulotid that lives in the central part of the main continent. It is an oppertunistic omnivore, eating anything it wants, be it an unsuspecting durd, afrothere, carcass, squid, or leaves or fruit. The Groons have 10 species, which are mainly the size of dogs, but the Bongo Groon is the biggest. The TurboConch is a part of a marine radiation of para verts. A 10 meter creature, the TurboConch is named because of its way of feeding. It impales a larger animal, (like a Giant Bolsa) and injects a lethal combination of toxins into it. The creature dies shortly afterwards, and the TurboConch can eat its meal. It is the only venomous member of its family, with most of the species just having a spear to catch squid and motile sea squirts. These occur in all of afroterra's oceans.
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