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Afroterra
Topic Started: Oct 6 2013, 06:12 PM (884 Views)
martiitram
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Admantus
Jan 5 2014, 02:52 PM
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.

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 "BOOM ROOAT" and others sounding like dripping water.
How do bass boomers look like?
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martiitram
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Admantus
Jan 11 2014, 08:01 PM
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.
Are these descended from aliens or from introduced invertebrates?
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Admantus
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Bass boomers are horselike in shape, only much bigger. Think indricotheres.

Like I said, Para Verts are descended from velvet worms, which are real world creatures.
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martiitram
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I see.
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Admantus
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Yeah.

So I've been thinking, and I might change the way this project gets updated. Instead of introducing families of creatures, I will do habitats, with species introduced in each update. And I will try and get to draw these creatures, so you will at least get a visual representation of this project.
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Sheather
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Oh my god the para verts are so amazing.
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Admantus
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Thank you! I wanted to make this planet really alien, so I did. I kinda got motivation from sheatheria, to be honest!
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Admantus
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Central Woodlands
On a cool autumn day, in central afroterra, giants trudge through the forest. Five giant yellow grey shapes make their way through the woods, branches snapping and the sound of giant inhaling and exhaling. These are the groons, the largest para verts on afroterra. Standing 60 feet tall at the head, these are surely an impressive sight to behold. A stocky body, (with the head inside the body, not projecting outwards) rounded at the front and slender near the end, with a retractable and mobile vacuumlike mouth that is situated near the bottom of the animal for sucking up anything in its path. Here we can see a group of boarsnouts following the groons as they look for tiny insects scattered by the massive beasts. In the trees are a chorus of chirps and buzzes. These are the flingbats. Although they fly, and are sometimes colored brown, flingbats are actually extremely derived sea slugs, having evolved from a pelagic gliding ancestor in the distant past. These are the temperate flingbats, which are common in this part of afroterra. After the groons leave to socialize in a clearing, the boarsnouts regroup, with the leader of the pack calling everyone back with a hooting yell, not unlike a terran baboon.

Groons have long, thick legs, almost like giant yellowish grey tree trunks. At the base of the legs are big two toed feet, which are widened to help spread the weight of the massive creature. It has two big antennae at the middle of its body, which it smells and analyzes its environment with. It has two big holes next to its head. These are its breathing orifaces. When groons encounter a predator, the leader of the group will make a trumpeting sound and squirt the attacker with solidifying liquid. Groons are viparious, giving birth to 5 young that grow to half adult size within 7 years. Groons live for 100 years on average, although some have been recorded to have lived for 140 years. They share their woodlands with another big and loud animal, the Beats Boomer, although there is really no overlap, so the two giants mind their business and coexist peacefully.
Edited by Admantus, Jan 14 2014, 08:09 PM.
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Admantus
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Sengis

Before the introduction of "advanced" vertebrates, para verts roamed the rich red green and purple landscapes, bounding, slithering, and rolling in a very alien world. After the introduction of afrotheres, things got faster. Elephants ate a lot of the foliage, sengis and tenerecs ate everything, and the rest were detrimental to the changing of the afroterran surface. After 100 million years, the two groups balanced out, and the rich red, green, and purple landscapes of lichen and grassland are once again in abundance. One group, the sengis, has radiated into many predatory niches and has created a new family of giant macro predatory hopping carnivores, some of which rival some carnosaurs in size.



Common Leaper

One of the most prolific of the predatory sengis is the Common Leaper. Ranging from the steppes to the woodlands, the Common Leaper has a wide variety of subspecies, although the steppe Leaper is the most common. Growing to about 5 feet long, and weighing in at 100 pounds, these, like all other afroterran sengis, move by running with their back legs, occasionally supporting themselves on their front legs. Their most common prey is gorsa and plains sloort, although they won't pass up on river copepod. They kill their prey by stamina, running after it and leaping onto the prey's back, killing it with a bite to the spinal cord.


Shark Tooth Reaper

One of afroterra's most ironic animals is the shark tooth reaper. Growing up to 49 feet in length, and growing up to 8 tons, this is the apex predator of the central woodlands and giant redwood forests in which it lurks. This giant eats anything it wants, be it elephant, groon, or anything else. The shark toothed bouncer is more quadrupedal than other sengis, preferring to walk on all fours, only rearing up when they attack prey. It has a noticeably big head, with big shearing teeth that cut through flesh and bone. On their front feet are sharp retractable claws that help to keep the prey in place when it goes in for the kill. Its sensitive twitching nose has evolved into a sort of trunk, which is used for ripping legs from bodies, as well as being used for drinking. The central woodlands population has thicker fur than the redwood forest population. Reapers are usually solitary animals that only come together briefly during the mating season. Reapers communicate with infra sound, picking up the vibrations in their padded feet.


Catspurs

On the opposite side of the size spectrum are Catspurs, which are small, omnivorous creatures. Named because of their catlike alarm call, and the spurs on their feet. They are mainly aboreal creatures, climbing up all sorts of trees in search of succulent lichen buds, maple sap clusters, and the occasional para vert or small tree vark. They live in all of afroterra's terrestrial habitats. When threatened by a larger predator, be it a swooperslug or a climbing durian, it fluffs up its fur, screeches like a cat, and scrambles away. Like terran feral cats, Catspurs live in clusters, with a matriarch having loose authority over the rest of the clan.
Edited by Admantus, Jan 22 2014, 06:37 PM.
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Sheather
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Could a 49 foot animal really hop, though, without breaking all of its bones?
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