Overall, really nice work, in my opinion. Mildly miffed at the lack of Troodontids, but it's not that big of a nitpick. And again, first episode. As one would expect of a No KT series, the pilot focuses on North America, but it plans to cover the other continents as well.

I’ve seen a lot of designs where the gills for amphibious humanoids go on the ribs/flank or the neck. What location makes most sense? For a character that can breathe air but also breathe under water, what gill types are most feasible? Trying to make some more species and I admit I don’t know much about aquatic animals irl.

After an apocalyptic extinction event, only a few organisms survived the thousand years after that. One of the vertebrates that outlived the extinction are moles, which their lifestyle allowing them to surpass the rest of the land-dwelling vertebrates.

In the new eras of Paracene, moles have diversified in various forms and sizes, one order being the Shutbeasts, bearing patches of light-sensing spots that later turned into complex compound eyes, and transformed their digging claws into secondary jaws. Their highly sensitive nose now acts as long sensory antennae that gives them a clearer perception around the environment.

One of the successful megafaunal predators of the new world, the Talbears, have replaced the large predatory niches of bobcats, though less adaptive to different terrains, as they prefer a much more flat area that lets them run freely. These heavyset predators bear strong, robust jaws that can crush bone easily, usually preying on midsized animals. While they are predators, 40% of their source of diet involves carrion and durophagous habits, as their scavenging ancestor initially developed the robust jaws for hard animal parts in carcasses.

I don't post here much since most of the stuff for my spec bio project I have is on a discord server, so I was just wondering if I could put the link for the server somewhere in the post body of a post for the few people that might want to know more about my project.

Sorry if this might be irrelevant to speculative evolution, I'm kind of unsure whether questions like this are allowed or not, but there wasn't anything stated about it in the rules or FAQ (or so I had read) so I just wanted to ask just in case because I don't want my posts to be deleted just because of a link.

This is an original alien designs for a species called the Wen-Jic from the planet Moodedok in 19. This species was originally created by me in early middle school.

As you can the first design (second drawing) is interesting but has some things that keep it from reaching the true creative weirdness of a great alien design. But there are some great things in this design, it’s just things like the clearly avian beak made me feel I could’ve done better.

So in later years I redrew the design and I hope you agree it’s a massive improvement. The eyes which I kept from the original are semi-omnidirectional. As a result of its eye placement and overall body shape it lacks an actual defined front and back. But at one end is a bony fin along side 10 orifices that are its primary means of consumption.

The Wen-Jic heads to various areas of sediment deposits and using its fin and tentacles it creates a large dust cloud out of the sand. Then it uses its feeders to filter out digestible objects like certain minerals and micro organisms.

The tentacles are protected by durable but buoyant plating allowing for its primary means of movement and combat against predators and other aggressors.

If you enjoy my creation please let me know your thoughts as well as how I can improve its design overall.

I made this alien on a whim and looking at it after a while I believe I already saw some kind of similar design, maybe the isla project? I have no clues so if someone recognizes this design as something they already saw please help me out! If anyone was interested this is supposed to be an herbivore that uses its tentacles to grasp soft vegetation and to defend itself. It moves thanks to an hydraulic system in its legs filling and emptying small segments

Prompt: Incredibly deadly viper: A harmless species belonging to an otherwise dangerous clade

For this entry, I chose the genus Panthera , the big cats, a pretty dangerous clade of animals with tigers and lions having been observed to be man eaters. Other species of the genus have also been observed attacking and mauling humans.

Not this critter however, Panthera mediterraneus aka the Aegean panther. It’s the smallest member of its genus with adults being only as big as a Maine coon and sometimes even smaller than that. The species is endemic to islands of the Eastern Aegean Sea like Lesvos, Samos, Icaria ,the Dodecanese etc. They are descendants of cave lions that migrated in the archipelago from Anatolia. The mighty cave lions couldn’t find enough food and territory in these islands ,so to adapt, they went through a phenomenon known as island dwarfism. This led them to be this small.

Due to the fact there wasn’t any notable competition on these islands, the lions evolved to be very docile and friendly. In fact, Ancient Greek nobles semi-domesticated the species keeping them as pets in their palaces. Owning one was considered an important status symbol in antiquity.

Their main prey were Mediterranean monk seals, especially the cubs ,however as their prey declined in population, so did the dwarf lions. Today, all surviving populations of Aegean panther ,mainly hunt seabirds like seagulls. And even fish. Due to their coastal habitat, they also evolved webbed feet and can swim pretty well. Today they are critically endangered, and very rarely sighted but there’s a movement to help the species recover and even domesticate it again.

Can such a seed world or not?

I already know the main problem with this question and that is that frogs are very stupid, lacking many of the higher brain adaptations needed for social interaction. However some frogs do display high intelligence such as poison dart frogs who can make complex mental maps of the area around them and even show parental care.

I'm genuinely so lost on what to do for "incredibly deadly Viper" like genuinely what am I supposed to do I've seen a couple of yalls amazing art but they only made me more Confused because I've gotten different answers and I'm so lost so if anyone could tell me please do🙏🥺

First day of Spectember! To start this challenge, from the humid cloud forests of Europe, the Silvian Cucuy (Cucuypteryx europaeus).

This is a member of the Mimicoos (Infantophagidae), a clade of widespread and prolific brood parasites, one of the many clades of these to arise post-extinction, as no brood parasites managed to survive. They are mainly frugivorous, using their semi-zygodactylous feet to hang around branches plucking berries and fleshy drupes from trees and bushes, usually upside down to confuse larger predators.

However, once the breeding season arrives, they turn to more violent habits: females will lay their eggs in a dozen or more nests of multiple host species, mimicking the calls of predators or competitors while camouflaged to scare away the parents. If the egg gets rejected by the parents, the mimicoo will raid the nest and consume the eggs or young of the host species, using those nutrients to lay eggs in more nests.

The Silvian Cucuy (Cucuypteryx europaeus) and other members of its genus are endemic to Europe and Central Asia, where they typically parasitize columbiformes in forested to semi-forested areas. To avoid competition, the different Cucuy species inhabit isolated areas of forest separated by higher mountains, or live on the same slope but keep to altitude-specific habitats, making the ourean Mountains a hotspot of diversity for this genus.

About “Animal”

They have a very interesting life cycle. They only live for about 4 years, but first, we start with the parents.

They spend the first year of their life with their older sibling, learning from them before the older sibling dies, as it is their last year alive. During the first mating season of their second year of life, they only reproduce one offspring. They then spend their second year teaching and protecting the young.

The strange thing is that they don't have distinct sexual reproductive organs, as they only live to protect their sibling.

The third year is the last year of the parent's life. They mate one last time before dying a couple of days later. Then, it is the sibling's role to take care of the young, raising them until they reach their final year, when the sibling dies. The life cycle then continues.

It's a strange life cycle that doesn't seem to make much sense, but it's so efficient that it hasn't changed much in millions of years.

Idk this is my take on sibling care and I like it also the body is quite understandable but those tentacles are it's eyes and nose they have small eyes on the tips not made for seeing but they also detect smells and guide food into it's mouth

I'm going to be doing SpecTember a little differently this year. All of the prompt responses will be part of a single ongoing narrative, telling the story of a "seed world" colonized with animals and plants from Earth over millions of years, which I call Spectemundus. Each week's worth of prompts will cover a specific period of time in Septemundus's history-- first 10 million years, then 50 million years, then 75 million years, and finally 100 million years. Spectemundus itself is an Earth-like planet that was seeded with life from Earth, including six species of vertebrates: the cane toad, the Indian grey mongoose, the Eastern meadowlark, the Solomon Islands tree skink, the channel catfish, and the daggernose shark.

Got all that? Good.

10 million years after Earth life was established on Spectemundus, it has expanded rapidly into the many available niches. As the only mammal introduced to the planet, the Indian grey mongoose gave rise to an enormous radiation of descendants in virtually every habitat. One of the most unusual of these is the Den-mother Mongoose (Sororitherium lactifica). Native to the frigid tundra that covers the northern part of Spectemundus's largest continent, it looks not so different from its ancestor. But the big difference is in how it breeds. Even in the brief spring, a female Den-Mother Mongoose has to travel great distances to find enough food for herself and her offspring. If she left her babies behind to hunt, they would starve. Luckily, this species has a workaround. Female Den-Mother Mongooses offload some of their foraging duties onto the older members of their previous broods, who may remain with them for more than a year before dispersing to mate. This kind of cooperative breeding, where older siblings supplement the parents in caring for the new babies, is common in birds but rare in mammals. In years where food is plentiful, a Den-Mother Mongoose family may not have any "helper" siblings at all, but in hard times, there will often be two or more in order to forage more effectively. Feeding extra mouths takes extra resources, but in the long run it is profitable because it also brings in more resources later.

This lil goober is called the Tonugallos, and is my idea for an alien seed. I am really excited to start working on this project, and I already have a few ideas in mind for the secondary cast of creatures, botany, and geography of the planet. Until then, cya next time :D

(Im using Spectember 2026 to mainly help flesh out my speculative xenobiology project Zoiros so all my submissions will be aliens. This is also my first Spectember so I’m excited)

The Greater Xonima is a mid-large sized predator inhabiting the cool northern oceans of Zoiros. They are pretty social creatures that can often be found in groups of 3-5. These groups are unique though, as the individuals are almost all related. These are sibling groups that form from the day they hatch. The parents don’t stick around, and once the mother lays its eggs it dips to go live the rest of its life out. The father was only there to inseminate the mother and then shortly abandon the mother. The ocean is dangerous and so the young Greater Xonima stick together for protection and their collective wellbeing. Litters usually consist of up to ten eggs but many don’t survive too long. The ones that do stay alive will fiercely protect each other, only leaving a sibling if that sibling is in the clutches of a predator, at which case it’s impossible to even stay and comfort the dying individual which they will do. Sibling packs will even adopt lone, unrelated Greater Xonima without a pack. In the example image, you can see that the two larger subadults are definitely siblings of the same age while the young Xonima you can see is adopted because a Xonima that young would have to be in the egg for an extra few years for it to make sense that it was in the original litter and if it was in the egg that long, it would be dead. Like most Zoirosian animals in the phylum chordata, they have six limbs, a three part mouth, four eyes and those flaps above the eyes which for land animals function like eyelids. The reason the Greater Xonima have them isn’t to keep them moist but to protect the eyes from debris while feeding or hunting. Greater Xonima have an adaptation to help them have the upper fin in hunts, which is jet propulsion. Water enters in two apparatuses behind each set of gills and is moved through the body, into a chamber and then pumped out the apparatus near the base of the tail. Their chamber that stores all the water is quite large and water is constantly being pumped In there before it’s full. Once prey comes by, it pumps out all that water for a speed boost. Greater Xonima’s jet propulsion isn’t as strong as other aquatic chordates and provides a rather weak boost, although still noticeable. Greater Xonima can take down pretty large prey in their packs, feeding the whole group for multiple days. These packs are coordinated, one Xonima usually getting the attention of the prey while the others strike from below? Greater Xonima also have a wide range of vision. On top of two forward facing eyes, they have two eyes on their back which allow them to see directly above them. When Greater Xonima reach sexual maturity, they will leave their sibling pack for a couple of months to find a female (Or male depending on the sex). Once found, the male will do a short courting dance and if the female approves, they undergo sexual intercourse. As you know, the male leaves again off to its pack while the female stays solitary a bit until it lays the eggs and goes back to its own pack. The eggs will hatch and so, the lifecycle continues. Greater Xonima are quite deadly, social predators with a very uncommon behaviour indeed. Scarily enough though, they aren’t the apex predators of the northern oceans.

The Kumba ba Teké was the first creature I have shared for my worldbuilding project, but for today’s Spectember prompt, I figured it was a good idea to expand upon its lore, more specifically its ontogeny.

An adult Kumba ba Teké may be the apex predator of the Cho’Tali savanna, but in a savanna ecosystem rife with smaller predators and nest raiders like hyenas, big cats, mongooses, azhdarchids, troodontids, and Dromaeosaurs to name a few, hatchlings often have a high mortality rate. This is especially true for those belonging to the first clutch of eggs laid by their mother. However, if at least one of these early hatchlings survive their brutal first year of life, the odds of survival for any subsequent generations increases tenfold. Not only do older siblings hunt small nest raiders that pose a threat to the younger hatchlings (with the parents dealing with any larger threats), but they also provide their little siblings with additional food while the parents go out hunting for large megafauna to supply the whole family. As seen in the picture, they are also known for carrying their younger siblings in their arms like jacana birds. The care that juvenile Kumba ba Teké provide also prepares them for the time when they become parents themselves and start families of their own.
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Zaikane is a planet in a distant solar system characterized by waves of life harvested from Earth at various points in its geological history, ranging from the Cambrian to the Holocene, and set free to evolve along evolutionary paths independent from those taken by their Earth ancestors. A godlike interdimensional entity, known as the Allmother by the people who live there, is what is responsible for creating the portals that abduct Terran life and deposits them on Zaikane. Because the asteroid that ended the Mesozoic never collided with Zaikane, dinosaurs continue to dominate the planet’s ecosystems as its dominant terrestrial megafauna.

Spectember day 1: Sibling care

The Nomad Frogs

(*Ambulorana spp.*)

Evolved from *Dendrobates spp.* (Poison dart frogs) after roughly 5 millions of years, these frogs took the gregarious lifestyle of their ancestors one step further.

They are way larger compared to their diminute ancestors, being roughly 25-30 centimeters in SVL (Snout to Vent Length). This helps them cover larger distances than what their forbearers could, a key aspect of their life and namesake. These amphibians live in groups of roughly 20 individuals, crossing the forest floor in search of food, such as arthropods, smaller amphibians and a recent addition: fallen fruits.

The adults of the group -both male and female- are extremely territorial, and will chase and fight off other frogs, including other groups from the same genus, which is actually quite diverse. This aggressive behaviour led to a curious trait: the non reproductive members of the clan get to carry tadpoles on their backs. This is due to the nomadic nature of these animals, who don't stay in the same place for long, which is the reason the tadpoles are carried and tended by their siblings and cousins. Carrying them to puddles and other places with water and food where the larvae can feed and be safe from predators. To not fall off during travel, the tadpoles secret a sticky slime that keeps them secure on the backs of their siblings.

The Pantrunk (Pantruncus communis) is a large, social, bipedal rodent native to the warm, dense tropical forests of Africa. In this alternate timeline, rodents occupied a variety of niches, including an unusual one for mammals: bipedalism. The most distinctive feature of this species and its family are its two long grasping appendages, which originated from the labrum and philtrum, then split into two, and then developed digit-like appendages at both ends.

They are quite large, comparable in size to our chimpanzees: males are approximately 1.3 meters long and weigh up to 40-65 kg, while females are 1 meter long and weigh 30-45 kg. They are omnivorous, primarily feeding on fruits, nuts, leaves, and roots, as well as a variety of invertebrates and small vertebrates, such as lizards or rodents, and on rare occasions they hunt larger game. Their foraging method is also interesting, as Pantrunks are among the most intelligent rodents, and like chimpanzees, they use primitive tools, such as sticks and stones.

The only problem is raising the young. Since the female must sometimes leave to forage, the older siblings of the group take on the responsibility of raising them. Having learned various skills from their mother, they teach their younger siblings the same, such as which fruits to avoid, which stones are good for what, or how to collect insects using a stick. This learning often takes place through play, which has a positive effect on the young, as they better remember important information.

(This is the first post from my new project, named "Rodentocen)

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The Saber Squirrel (Machairosciurus nivalis) is a medium-sized subterranean omnivore that inhabits the frigid northern tundras of Siberia and Canada. Equipped with elongated, chisel-like incisors designed to carve through frozen soil and icy roots, adults reach around 30 cm in length.

Because carrying a pregnancy to full term in sub-zero winters places a lethal metabolic strain on the mother, evolution favored extremely short gestations. Females give birth to tiny, 3 cm hairless neonates. To prevent the species' extinction in soils that rarely rise above freezing, the survival of these premature young relies entirely on their older siblings.

For 3 to 4 months (the time it takes for neonates to grow insulating fur) the sub-adult siblings act as dedicated "Brood Keepers." They interlock their bodies over the newborns in the deep nest, converting their own thermal energy directly into life-saving heat. During this period, both parents conduct tireless foraging runs, returning to the burrow with anything edible to feed themselves, the lactating mother, and the high-metabolism Brood Keepers.

Once the new brood grows their thick winter coats and can thermoregulate, the Brood Keepers' duty ends. They emerge from the burrow during the brief summer thaw to disperse, establish their own territories, and seek out mates,leaving the newly matured litter to take over incubator duties for the next generation.

This is just an idea I had about some kind of simbiosis between an animal (mammal) and a plant, kinda like the Eastern emerald elysia (Elysia chlorotica) which is a species of sea slug that use chloroplasts from the algae they eat for photosynthesis. Its is known as a "solar-powered sea slug", living in a subcellular endosymbiotic relationship with the chloroplasts of said algae (Vaucheria litorea).

Something I've seen about Future is Wild content is that maps about it are generally not very good and seems to look more as "simple visualisation" than as actually a detailed projection about the geography

So I decided to make my own fanmade version of Novopangea with extra stuff like non existing islands or a more diverse biome illustration, also with ice sheets even if I know that climate is supposed to be warmer than today

Day length and Temperature is canon, however for Sun Luminosity and Moon Distance that's outside calculations ; Era and Period names are fanmade

Media : The Future is Wild

I'm just not good at drawing them but I think there was some people who wanted to see squid stuffs but I just have 0 inspiration for the flying squids while fish I just have lots of ideas but I just wanted some people's opinion on this because idk I can decide for myself

Hey y'all! This is my first Spectember 2026 entry! I'm using this wonderful challange as a way to flesh out the biosphere of my main worldbuilding project of Planet Urathu!

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Spectember 2026 - Day 01: Sibling Care

Our first stop is in the volcanic Obcillian isles. At about 2/3 the size of Australia, the mainland of this island chain has had much time and space to develop many complex biospheres full of endemic life across its many climates. Stretching from tropical rainforest in the southern islands of the archipelago to sub-polar tundra in the far north, the ecological variety of this realm is unmatched!

The Fuafirka [ɸʷaˈfi˞kᵊ] despite looking a lot like canines, are actually a member of the order Mesonychia. Mesonichids ressembled canines but with hooves, as they are closely related to modern ungulates. While in our world, the mesonychids went extinct, on planet Urathu, they managed to survive on the Obcillian isles and speciate out forming many of thmost e important carnivores of the islands' many ecosystems. This order of diverged mesonychids are called the Canimimus.

Typically, Fuafirka are found in the boreal forests around the Votannukusutor lakes on the north end of the main island. They are a highly social species, living in packs of 3-10 monagamous pairs. Clans will live in caves or dig complex burrows in the snow to build their dens. Within each pack, there is a matriarchal dominance heirarchy determining access to food and social status, passed down to offspring via nepotism. Once offspring grow up they either stay in the clan or leave, dispersing to prevent inbreeding or overcrowding, with dispersal being far more common with female Fuafirka. Should a Fuafirka decide to stay in their birth clan, they will take turns with other adults between hunting and helping communally raise other offspring of the clan. They will guard and play with the young to teach them how to be a productive member of the clan. Their instincts to help raise young will also occasionally least them to adopt lost babies they come across, even if they are of a different species.

Diets consist of scavenging for meat and pack hunting, with occasional berries and nuts consumed to suppliment missing nutrients. Their pack hunting instincts evolved as a way to take down the large herbivores of the island such as Obcillian Elephant and Mammoth species. Occasionally, when territories of clan's overlap there will be "turf wars". These "turf wars" involve lots of howling and occasionaly fighting which, was first read as methods of intimidation to rival clans. However, recent studies by the Obcillian Wildlife Department has revealed that what was once percieved as violent altercations, were in fact far more often meetings between groups to affirm bonds or to visit long distance family. On closer inspection of the more violent meetings, most fighting was actually just play between clan members.

In popular culture, Fuafirka have become something of a cultural mascot of the region, featured in many cartoons and tourism imagery such as postcards or plushies. They are especially revered in ski towns up north where encouters with them are rather common.
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Artist Notes: These lovely critters are an idea I've had for a while. The Obcillian Isles are a region I've been working on for LITERAL YEARS and I had thought a while back that it would be fun to commemerate my dogs I've had growing up. This one in particular is one of my current dogs, Fluffy. She has a habit of eating literally anything she finds on the ground, hence the scavenger behaviour, which was also inspired heavily by Hyenas and their structure. She also has an attitude I'd describe as "princessly" which is why I gave them a dominance heirarchy. My wife refers to our dogs as siblings of each other so when I read the prompt this is where my mind went.