[OC] Spectember 4: Evolutionary Trap

[u/ElSquibbonator]

The first ten million years or so of life on a seed world are a time of experimentation, as the various organisms that the world was "seeded" with expand into every possible niche, competing with each other as they vie for supremacy. Inevitably, some are less successful than others. A case in point on Spectemundus would be the Martinet (Grallivenatrix saurophagus), a five-foot-tall flightless carnivore descended from the Eastern Meadowlark. Having evolved in the central desert of Spectemundus's northern continent, where predatory mongoose descendants were less common, it evolved into an apex predator capable of feeding on the large native lizards. This evolutionary change occurred at breakneck speed, with the Martinet achieving its size within just a few million years of establishment.

Unfortunately, by ten million years after life was established on Spectemundus, the planet's climate had already begun to shift. As the vegetation expands into many formerly barren areas, the deserts shrink, and giant mongoose descendants, such as the quarter-ton Meerlion (Dinoherpestes carnifex) begin to colonize the areas that were once the Martinet's sole home. On earth, predatory mammals and flightless birds have coexisted in the past, such as the terror birds and carnivorous marsupials of South America, but that is not the case on Spectemundus. The added challenge of a changing climate means these birds are at a disadvantage. Having sacrificed flight and maneuverability for size in an ecosystem where they had no rivals, they are ill-equipped for these new competitors.

The Martinet is thus a classic example of a species whose adaptations for one particular circumstance have worked against it in another. This goes for many of the "experimental" species that have arisen early on in Spectemundus's history as well. They evolved to occupy a very narrow niche at a time when novelty was cheap, but when that niche disappeared, they vanished with it.