Welcome to Terra 2: A Second Tree Of Life, an on-going speculative evolution project.
Speculative evolution is a sort of writing and artform where one uses basic principles of science to construct fictional yet realistic worlds and the life living u...
10 Million Years Post Establishment: Okiina And Darsi
About 250 or so miles away from Almara are the connected lands of Okiina and Darsi. Although one would expect all the landbridges to have broken as of 10 MYPE Darsi has actually begun moving north, making its way to collide with Okiina, not break away. The northernmost continent is Okiina, however despite this it's still the warmest continent due to a warm air current and a lack of tall mountains, and is home to some very exotic species of fauna. The southernmost continent of Darsi is a temperate land and houses the Darsinium Sea, also coincidentally the warmest aquatic environment currently on Terra 2. Darsi will also be the first continent to see the formation of a desert, though this isn't for another 5 million years. As the fauna of both Okiina and Darsi begin adapting for the warm tropical temperatures it seems that many will die off in the future eras as they're lead into a environmental trap, evolving to cope with warm, tropical temperatures just before an ice age. While many seem destined for nothing some are in just the right ecological niche to survive the impending extinction event. Now let's take a look at those animals who are destined for death and those for survival in more detail.
Fauna
Capybara Descendants
Barvines
Meandering across the lush northern Okiinan praries lives the cow sized barvine. Standing 5'6 at the shoulder barvines are moderately large herbivores that share a common ancestor with the capyram overseas, only diverging about 5 million years ago. With long, shaggy fur and a strong appetite for grass the barvines seem perfectly prepared for the upcoming ice age. They weigh in at 140 lbs and consume around 20-30 lbs of grass every day, primarily feeding on grass and flowers, although, like nearly all large herbivorous baras of this era, they are not obligate herbivores and often eat meat, albeit carrion. In fact their digestive tract has begun to specialise for digesting meat. On a continent that lacks the presence of proto-predators such as the hooksparrow the baras have begun to fill this empty niche of opportunistic omnivore. Unlike what their appearance might tell you these omnivorous mammals are preying upon small burrowers and birds more frequently. Some have even begun evolving to chase their meals, often chasing small subterranean animals like bunsters, small burrowing hamsters closely related to the Almaran burrowjacks. Their jaws are strong and able to kill an unlucky prey item in just a few painful crunches.
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Above; A juvenile Darsinium Barvine (Boscanis Flavumvirga or "Yellow Stripe Cow Dog") gives chase to small bunster. Though it hasn't grown its teeth fully and has little hunting experience the youngsters practice is vital, for when it's in need of protein small animals may be the only source.
The barvines teeth are mostly blunt and more suited to chewing plant matter, though their front two teeth have begun sharpening. As some groups of barvines continue evolving to become semi-predatory other groups will remain as Okiina's and Darsi's main herbivorous megafauna. Similar to the evolution of horses on Earth, the barvines lineage history is a very straightforward line from small forest dweller to large plant eater. The group that has started eating more meat may set the base for future predatory mammals on the Okiinan-Darsi landmass, preying on the weak and encouraging the evolution of better defence in their prey. While I'm not going to give anything away right now 10 MYPE, the barvine lineage may give rise to a very, very special species of bara in the far future. But for now some choose to stay vegetarian while others choose to clumsily chase down their food items as their behaviours begin to differ from one another.
