HOME | DD

TerrificTyler20 — Gull on the Ground

#gull #antarctica #futureevolution #speculativeevolution
Published: 2019-11-14 21:02:20 +0000 UTC; Views: 1626; Favourites: 10; Downloads: 1
Redirect to original
Description In the vast fields of tussock grass on the cold Antarctic tundra, a single gull strides between the piles of rock and the various simplistic plants. Ordinarily a seabird, she came from the seaside for the breeding season, with her and many others of her kind using the cold, barren expanse of land as nesting ground free from predators.

Even with tens of millions of years behind them, these gulls have remained largely unchanged. They still have the same long body, long-distance flight capabilities, and even a fairly similar color scheme. In essence, they are indistinguishable from the gulls of the Holocene.

As she walks, a pair of Antarctic midges stumble in front of her, likely emerging from some hole amidst the many piles of rock dotting the landscape. Striding past, she swoops her neck down, grabbing and proceeding to swallow one of the midges with her beak, not even lifting a feather.

While she or none of the flight-capable birds nesting on Antarctica realize it, they represent a wind of change coming in all directions from the North. While for now the virgin land lay mostly empty, with time, a myriad of organisms will arrive, as this is merely the start of a hundreds of millions of years spanning journey.

-----
Consider this supplementary material to The Colonization of Antarctica
Related content
Comments: 0