Description
If extinctions are random in their effect, then replaying them will yield very different results. In this case, the dice (actually it was a random number generator) spelled oblivion for the crocodiles and pterosaurs, and obscurity for turtles and lizards, and wild success for plesiosaurs, theropods, and eutherian mammals. The result is a diversity of mostly hairless, ectothermic predatory mammals lurking in swamps and scuttling up walls. Small, semi-terrestrial pliosaurs bask on logs, and maniraptors…just keep on manirapping, you know? Those fingers are pretty big, though. That sure is something.
This picture is dedicated to Melissa Walshe , who beta-read The Goose’s Wing and helped me fix it. She asked for something “surprising” and these creatures certainly surprised me, so… thanks, Melissa!
Comments: 19
6544R13 [2024-09-28 15:54:32 +0000 UTC]
👍: 1 ⏩: 1
povorot [2017-09-30 01:39:14 +0000 UTC]
i like this line of thought a lot
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bensen-daniel In reply to povorot [2017-09-30 14:30:41 +0000 UTC]
I ran the random number generator again and I got this timeline:
Extinct: pterosaurs, ducks/loons, ratites, non-avian theropods, eutherians
Relictal: all other birds (including some enantiorniths), crocodilians, ornithiscians, sauropods, multituberculates and eutherians
Successful: lizards. Just. Lizards.
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
povorot In reply to bensen-daniel [2017-10-13 21:15:23 +0000 UTC]
My favourite of ALL TIMELINES
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Lediblock2 In reply to bensen-daniel [2017-10-01 14:50:59 +0000 UTC]
.....Holy shit, that needs to be drawn now.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
raygungoth [2017-09-29 06:45:27 +0000 UTC]
That owl raptor looks like it's hunting the way a mantis does.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
bensen-daniel In reply to raygungoth [2017-09-29 11:03:19 +0000 UTC]
Maybe! Mostly I was thinking about the hands becoming secondary jaws.
Another thought occurs: what if the hands were also part of food processing? Grinding molar-fingers?
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
raygungoth In reply to bensen-daniel [2017-09-29 23:32:08 +0000 UTC]
Yes! Like a dragonfly larva's jaws or the pharyngeal jaws of lots of ocean critters.
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Whachamacallit1 In reply to bensen-daniel [2017-09-29 12:26:20 +0000 UTC]
I would say that the owl raptor looks like it's plotting and scheming something...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1