#spec evolution

Ambush of the Zmora

The Zmora, also known as the “Leopard of Tataria”, is a distant, mainly nocturnal (but sometimes diurnal) relative of the Panther-Rats which inhabits the large island continent of Tataria. It has a body length ranging from 4 to 5 meters, weighs nearly 850 kg, and is a very successful predator, inhabiting a wide range of habitats ranging from forest and grassland to scrubland, and the coat colors of individual Zmora can vary from tawny brown to jet black and from spotted or speckled to plain without any markings. The Zmora sports large fangs that are capable of delivering a powerful dose of venom which is twice as strong as that of a Black Mamba to kill its prey, and it is an excellent climber that is also adept at occasionally hunting smaller prey animals such as baboons and some species of chameleons high up in the trees. But this predator most commonly hunts large ungulate prey such as antelopes, deer and horses by stalking them from the tops of trees while it uses its excellent night-vision and whiskers to move about in the darkness until it pounces upon the backs of its unfortunate victims and quickly subdues them with the use of its powerfully-built forelimbs, claws, and a venomous bite aimed at the trachea or sometimes the head to quickly subdue them.

Australia is full of weird animals that aren’t found anywhere else on Earth. Because of their environment and isolation, they evolved to fill a wide variety of roles and forms. Animals like the Tasmanian tiger/wolf were more closely related to koalas than they were tigers or wolves. But, they filled a similar predatory role. 

Even stranger than marsupials, are monotremes. Monotremes are egg-laying mammals unique to Aussieland. Arguably, the best known monotreme is the platypus. Which brings me to the point of this post: the owlbear. 

Traditionally, the owlbear is blamed on who else but a mad wizard. But what if it wasn’t? If monotremes radiated out like marsupials, filling different roles, maybe some ancient branch of monotreme evolved along very different lines. 

Moving into an omnivorous, terrestrial lifestyle, the platypus-like ancestors of the owlbear continued to grow. Perhaps, being similar to a wolverine at first, a vicious animal able to drive back competitors much larger than itself. Its electro-receptive beak gave it an early warning that prey or competition was near. When it sensed another creature approaching, it whipped itself into a frenzy. It rears up on its hind legs and emits a hooting roar while slashing at the air. Between its bizarre noises and razor-sharp claws (talons?), it was able to make most competitors think twice about challenging it. 

Spectmeber 2024 Day 26: Northern Shark-Sturgeon

Spectember 2024 Day 22: Imperial Greatsword

At 16-18 meters long and about three to six tons in weight, the Imperial Greatsword is the largest species of the billfish genus Megaxiphias or Greatswords, Enoch are very distant relatives of the sailfish and swordfish that have specifically evolved to feed upon swift, fast-moving prey up to the size of a beluga Potworia’s second-largest Bony fish species after the Regal Doublefin, and one of the largest, fastest and most fearsome predators ever to swim across the planet’s seas. Megaxiphias imperator inhabits the cold, temperate southern hemisphere half of the vast global ocean that separates one end of Jariloia from the other, and it hunts schooling fish, the slightly larger creatures that are attracted to them such as the wolf-fish, a few species of trevally, as well as swimming coastal parachiropterans. As it does so, the giant fish raises a huge, colorful sail which reduces sideways oscillations of its head, and thus enable the 5-meter-long bill, which can be used to impale prey animals in a similar fashion to Vlad lll’s infamous execution method, to be less detectable to them.

These tiny creatures represent one of the primordial body plans of Verso’s biosphere. Coroplicare (folded crown) have a ring shaped body with a distinct “fold” running its circumference. The edges of this fold are mobile, working with the feeding tendrils to move food particles into the gut. These creatures are planktonic, carried by the intense rolling currents of the Band Sea.

Verso, five times the size of earth with a rotation period of only 3 Terran hours. The incredible spin has resulted in the bulging shape of the world, as well as the prominent Band Ocean that wraps the equator.