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Allocene Era
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One very big topic coming up lately in terms of wildlife and evolution is the Allocene Era, or the period occurring 5 million years after the end of the Holocene which we live in today. It is still unknown when the future Allocene ends.
It is part of the "speculative evolution" stages of topics, and I really want to know if there are others who are genuinely interested in this sort of topic. Speculative evolution involves discussing what Earth will be like after a certain species (most notably human) dies off; what will the Earth's biomes look like, how will these biomes be distributed, is it an ice age or global warming, what kind of mammal/reptile/any animal will rule the planet from that point on, and etc...Basically, we can assume the end of humanity (with plenty of nature destroyed) and the end of most living animals today, save for sharks, crocodiles, and very small mammals such as rodents (these guys survived long!). Until now, there are many, many drawings, depictions, and texts of what the world and future fauna/flora will look like after we are gone. Speculative evolution means to look into future tendencies with the data we have now, and of course, if modern humans continue the way they do, the world is going to look quite distraught. Just a fact. But this is way after humanity, when the Earth rebuilds itself (by natural disaster and destruction) into a beautiful Earth once again.
There is a whole slew of depictions on Reddit and DeviantArt on this topic. I've contacted some of the posters, and many have agreed.
Credits to JuniorWoodchuck from DeviantArt:
 *This image is copyright of its original author "Somewhen, somewhere on Earth, the lands are still recovering from the apocalyptic extinction event that ravaged the planet’s surface and turned it into a near-uninhabitable hellscape. Most surface dwellers got wiped out but below the ground, in caves and burrows, animals found shelter and were able to survive the cataclysmic conditions. It is the descendants of those minute animals that once more conquered the lands and took on the challenges created by the new face of their world. It is them that once more turned Earth into a busy madhouse and it is them that can be seen now. A loud serious of cacophonous calls penetrate the calm before one of the frequent and violent storms as two Snaggletooth Fregs happen across a group of Astrorhynchids. With their resilient bony shells designed to withstand whatever the elements can throw at them and armed with chisel-like incisors, they’d be a tough prey for the lanky predators. Only in some rare and dire instances do Fregs dare to attack these living tanks... and even then, they methodically target subadult or elderly, weakened individuals that have become separated from the herd. Utilizing their formidable, moveable rostrum, they brutally pierce their prey’s main artery and watch from a safe distance as they bleed to death. Smaller animals, like this Striped Yalun depicted above, often hitch rides on the slow-moving Astrorhynchids as they make their way through the bubblemoss. Not only does this help the smaller animals conserve their energy, they are better able to spot their prey as well as approaching predators from their dorsal vantage points. In return for the transport and protection, they act as their carriers’ cleaning units and early warning systems. In the hopes of scaring off the Fregs, the Yalun perched atop one of the Astrorhynchids’ shells joins in the herbivores’ chorus of yells and groans with its own shrill squealing, elevating the noise to a thunderous crescendo. Fortunately for all the parties involved as well as all those with fully functional ears, the Fregs are not out for blood but they are merely heading back to their burrow to find shelter from the storm, the noise dying down as sudden as it has started."
Credits to JuniorWoodchuck from DeviantArt:
 *This image is copyright of its original author "[color=#2c3635][size=x-small][font=Verdana, sans-serif]Much like my last upload featured organisms too small to depict in a bestiarium entry with other larger animals, the creatures depicted here are mostly too big to fit into a regular piece. -The coastal waters of Africa and the flooded mangrove forests are infested by these dark-skinned marine hippos. Unlike their amphibious cousins, they are a lot more streamlined and are able to reach astounding speeds when under water. Should someone ever find themselves in waters infested by these hunters, their only chance is to get to land as the marine hippos’ legs are too feeble to support their weight for too long. -I only got a quick glimpse of this jetfoil/catamaran orca so the cause and purpose of its strange anatomy remains a mystery. -This giant green-skinned pterosaur uses the chlorophyll in its wings to gather additional energy from sunlight. -Inhabiting a giant cave system along with a whole slew of primordial monstrosities, this creature with features from crocodilians and pliosaurs is the largest of them all. It slumbers for prolonged stretches of time, only to wake up with a ravenous hunger that can barely be satiated before it goes back to sleep.Whenever it wakes, the cave system’s other inhabitants try ther best to find a hiding place strong and small enough to evade this monster’s hunger. -Despite their fearsome appearance, these large dilophosaurid sapients are actually extraordinarily friendly and talk with a charming British accent. -I only glimpsed the skeleton of one of these humongous paraceratheriums/macrauchenias in a museum and created this reconstruction based on that. -Living within large gilt framed paintings two of these large bison are trapped in a constant battle, eternally charging at one another, smahsing their heads together for all eternity. -Unlike its relatives, this long-necked hippo lives completely away from water. Despite its rather volatile temper, it is often used as a beast of burden by the local people. -Guardian of the God’s temple, this red dragon with winglets on its lower jaw might seem large but compared to its brother, it is an insect. I would have depicted its brother, oddly named Grasshopper, here too had he not seemingly been made out of pure, incinerating light. The beats of his wings were like thunder, creating winds strong enough to tear down houses. -Badly injured, this giant dragon was on the run from the relentless Huntsman. Crashing through the concrete ruins of a destroyed metropolis, it had nowhere to hide from the Huntsman’s arrows. (juniorwoodchuck.deviantart.com…) -Living in family groups, these eight-winged bird spend their entire lives up in the air. -One of the last two owl-like harpies, a powerful shapeshifter." 
At the rate we're going now, looking at how animals have responded to human stresses may be a good way to think about future species. For instance, the loss of tusks in elephants thanks to poaching.
(03-06-2018, 12:36 AM)tigerluver Wrote: At the rate we're going now, looking at how animals have responded to human stresses may be a good way to think about future species. For instance, the loss of tusks in elephants thanks to poaching. Agreed. I expect animal evolution to process even faster due to human pressure...but a more interesting question would be how they will evolve without humans? Eorodentoeurythus
"Fifteen million years from now in the Allocene period, rodents become the new master carnivores of planet earth. This is when the rise of Eurodentoeurythus, or "New Robust Rodent" is imminent. At slightly more than 4-meters and averaging 550 to 700-kilograms, this giant nightmarish rodent dominates the lands in which it occupies; no bears, tigers, or wolves from our current era....hungry, giant rodents. Spanning both American continents, most of Asia, and Australia, this humongous rodent has great speed for its size as well as a powerfully-equipped jaw for snapping necks and spines: its robusticity compares to that of a giant grizzly, if not even more. As with other rodents, two of its incisors stick out in the front and its eyes are big for its head. Notably, the strangely-colored horn on top of the giant rodent's snout explains two things; maturity and sex. The horn's structure will be detailed later on."
"For eight more million years, or 23-million years after the death of humanity and the Holocene, this powerhouse ruled much of Earth, only dying out when smaller, more efficient rodent-like competitors and "land cetaceans" took its place. An absolute marvel of the early stages of the Allocene..."
"Below is a prime male adult specimen."
"Below is a specimen in infancy. Notice the much shorter and redder horn and larger eyes due to its size."
Eorodentoeurythus Horn Growth
DEFINITIONS Medium of growth: a defined line on the rodent's horn, usually within the middle, which indicates where the hornbone fibers are the densest. Secondary sexual characteristic. Grows thicker with age. Tubercle split: an area in which densely-packed collagen fibers intersect the horn's bottom, making the bottom of the horn appear to be split into two halves. Advances with age. Prominence shaft: the area in which the front-exterior of the horn protrudes past the front of the horn's bottom. Characteristic of advanced-aged Eorodentoeurythii and those that live in extreme snowy or rugged conditions. Mating shovel: in males, a "shovel"-like structure used for sexual display and to attract mates. Grows larger in size with maturity. STAGES Infancy (birth - 1 year): horn is almost equilateral-triangle shaped, reddish color mostly except for white tip at the top. No visible split or shaft, but a slight medium of growth is visible. Pre-adolescence (1 - 6 years): horn grows more vertically. Orange-ish color extends down to the midst of the horn while the reddish color composes the bottom half of the horn. Medium becomes more defined, and so does the tubercle. Adolescence (7 - 11 years): puberty occurs. In both sexes, the tubercle is more visible and the medium of growth even more defined. The red color starts to decrease towards the bottom while the orange starts to dominate the horn; a yellow tip at the top emerges. In males, the horn starts to develop a "mating shovel" while it curves much more slanted backwards. In females, the horn is much like the pre-adolescent horn with the adolescent growth pattern. Post-adolescent/Sub-adult (12 - 16 years): puberty is finished, and yellow starts to dominate the top 25% of the rodent's horn. Prominence shaft is now much more visible. ♂️: horn curves much more backwards. ♀️: horn simply grows more vertically. Adult (17 - 38 years): this is the age range when the yellow, orange, and red colors are perfectly distributed within the horn, with each color consisting up to one-third of the horn at a time. The tubercle shaft is perfectly aligned with the bottom of the horn and the prominence shaft is very visible. ♂️: horn's "mating shovel" becomes wider and more robustly-refined in shape. Elder (39 - 44 years): the horn becomes yellow in color and slowly starts to decompose, splitting along where the tubercle split intersects the horn. If not split yet, the horn immediately curves backwards and medium of growth is extremely and overly defined and visible from a great distance, indicating breakage instead of density now. ♂️: the mating shovel starts to incline at an angle of 15 degrees from the rest of the horn and slowly start to grow again but with weaker bone formation. Split of the horn results in abandonment by social hierarchy and soon, a slow death from inability to function normally. |
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