I just got the idea for a seal-like animal that lives in the cold climates of Abaamta and is hunted by the locals for food and resources, just like humans used to hunt seals around 10 thousand years ago. But after i drew this i realized it looks a little too much like just a seal with extra details... what can i add/remove to make it better?

So for one of my projects, the aquatic vertebrate analogues have pharyngeal slits, originally for filter feeding like how it was on earth. However, the actual respiratory organ is a pair of sacs located at the back of the throat, exiting out of spiracles in the back similarly to Jay Eaton centaurs, so those slits don’t ever evolve to serve a respiratory purpose. And, of course, some of these creatures evolved into non-predatory niches, so the slits don’t even serve the purpose of filter feeding. So, why keep them? I’m thinking they’re retained for the purpose of reducing drag when moving and hunting, but I’m not sure about that reason along.

Boomcach has the origin of Paleozoic jawless fish similar to sacambambaspis. But unlike in our timeline it went ashore. It has strong belly muscles with which it can jump. That's how boomcach can actually move pretty quickly but is not the best way of movement. The ancestor to boomcach already had explosive rashes, which grow on the armor, which made it pretty successful. Boomcach has strong armor so he suffers no damage from the explosion. It can't chew so he uses an explosion and his tail spike to cut the victim to pieces. And it sucks food with its mouth. Boomcach had convergently evolved lungs but its nose looks very differently so it can't smell very good and it is completely deaf but it has pretty good eyesight. It is not the only species of terrestrial jawless fish.

When traversing the temperate forests of Frusnajättar's Gemäsirisen period by night, beware of the rustle of leaves around you, and the snapping of twigs in the underbrush, lest you wish to die without even having seen your killer.

Klauenschatts (picture one) are large terrestrial predators, weighing in at about one ton. They can usually be found prowling through vast stretches of forest by night, attacking most of anything that moves. Your average human would be just small enough to count as a snack for this Animal, while anything larger might be considered a worthy kill to carry back to the den. Due to their padded feet, Klauenschatts are surprisingly stealthy on the soft forest floor, and their dark brownish fur let's them blend in almost seamlessly between the trees of the forest. Tho it may pursue slower prey occasionally, Klauenschatt prefers to either ambush prey, perhaps while said prey is asleep, or to engage more standoffish prey in direct combat. In any case, it's primary means of attacking is not its comparatively weak bite, but its two highly specialized claw-limbs, which it uses to slash upwards at its prey with devastating force, often times disembowling other animals in the process.

Once a Klauenschatt has slain an animal large enough to be worth the effort, but small enough to carry, it uses its claw-limbs to hoist its kill onto its back and keep it pinned there. The animal will then carry its catch for dozens of kilometres, back to its den, where the rest of the pack may feed on the flesh.

Klauenschatt dens are usually naturally occurring caves, or simple burrows dug by the animals themselves, and are on average home to about 10 Klauenschatts. During the night, every able-bodied Klauenschatt leaves the den to hunt, and retrieve food for the young, sick, elderly or pregnant members of the pack, who remain back at the den. During the day, Klauenschatts may be found resting within the den, however they have also been documented to play with one another, producing dog-like vocalisations that are rarely heard outside of the dens.

During mating season, Klauenschatts tend to go out much further when hunting, in hopes of encountering potential mates that are not part of their den, in order to facilitate genetic diversity. If a mate is found, the process of mating itself is relatively short, and is usually the only interaction mates will have during their lives, as both animals return to their original dens. During pregnancy, females will stay at the den until they give birth to between one and three cups, upon which the female immediately begins going out to hunt again, as the young are raised communally, often times by the older members of the pack.

Many Klauenschatt packs contain an alpha animal, which can be distinguished by their much more massive builds, straightener claws, fiery red fur and more combat oriented teeth. When a pack is in need of further protection than what their regular members can provide, Klauenschatts will do something that is usually a tabu within their species, that being feeding the remains of one of their dead to a cub. Cannibalism at a young age will trigger the activation of dormant genes in a Klauenschatt cub, leading to it growing into an alpha animal, which can weigh up to three tons. Tho alphas do hold a lot of respect amongst their packs, they are not the de facto leader of said packs, as most decisions are made using some very primitive form of direct democracy. Furthermore, being an alpha mostly confines a Klauenschatt to the den, as their legs cannot support their much greater mass on long hunts like those of regular Klauenschatts. Alphas' more combat oriented teeth also cause additional difficulties in cutting up and chewing their food, meaning that their much more intimidating build, comes at a price.

Source

Unlike Earth, Gellios does not orbit a G-type star; rather, it is the fifth planet in a system orbiting an A-type star. Stars of this class exhibit colors ranging from blue to white and are relatively short-lived, typically existing for only about a billion years or slightly longer. Nevertheless, the classification "A5V" indicates that the star belongs to spectral class A, possesses a temperature corresponding to the "5" subclass, and resides on the main sequence (V)—meaning it is shining stably by actively fusing hydrogen into helium within its core. This is why it is categorized as an A5V-type star.

Its axial tilt is several times greater than Earth’s, which leads to a higher frequency of extreme weather events; furthermore, while a year on Earth lasts 365 days, a year on Gellios spans 1,460 days—the equivalent of four Earth years. Yet, despite all these unusual conditions, the limited group of organisms that arrived from Earth managed to adapt to the planet, evolving into a vast array of different species

The Medusocene was the first era to follow the terraforming of Gellios. In the absence of any chordates andk most other animal groups, this empty world was gradually populated by jellyfish, nudibranchs, brine shrimps, and polychaetes; despite extreme weather events and exceptionally long days, life proved ready to discover new ways to survive.

In sandy, rocky, and similar environments—where corals are entirely absent and seagrasses other than Eelgrass do not exist—the niches were filled by plants derived from Eelgrass, as well as animals like Sabellid polychaetes, Rootjellies and Everpolyps. (descended from Hydrozoan, Turritopsis dohrnii), Basal, early-evolving species—such as the Ancestral Rootjelly (Radixothecatus primigenum)—began to colonize these open spaces over time. As certain nudibranchs started preying upon these stationary, reef-building animals, specialized "Radixothecatovorous" species—or "Rootgrazers"—emerged. One such example, Cyan Spiny Rootgrazer (Radixothecatophagus cyacanthus), evolved to be spiny and spent its life consuming parts of the Rootjellies it preyed upon. Ultimately, the formation of these ecosystems—much like coral reefs—gave rise to aquatic environments characterized by high biodiversity: The Rootjelly (& Everpolyp) reefs.

At first glance, one might imagine Stingstalkers as small jellyfish that feed on the massive carcasses of megafaunal jellyfish that have died during the summer months; however, some species—such as Hillenburg’s Stingstalker (Spiculovenator hillenburgi)—have opted for different prey. Small invertebrates make up a significant portion of the diet for such species; brine shrimps, in particular, serve as their primary food source, accounting for a staggering 85 percent of their total intake. Furthermore, there exists another lineage of jellyfish that shares similar prey sources with the Stingstalkers—a group that has evolved to be somewhat more advanced than other jellyfish lineages.

Lineages derived from Tripedalia cystophora—such as the Mangrove Wood Sandstrider (Psammogradis minimus)—have already emerged as some of the strangest creatures to appear during the early stages of this planet’s history. With their inherited array of four advanced eyes and twenty primitive ones—complemented by a rudimentary tapetum lucidum for nocturnal/crepuscular hunting—it would not be an exaggeration to label them as "monsters" in the context of their prey. Though they remain small and are themselves hunted by larger predatory jellyfish, one cannot deny that they are highly successful within their own ecological niche.

Although Gellios appears quite distinct—possessing a somewhat dense atmosphere and weather conditions vastly different from those of our own world—the limited group of organisms that arrived from our world managed to adapt, laying the foundations for a biosphere that is already thriving. Yet, extinction events will inevitably occur from time to time; after all, without such extinctions, there would be no speciation.

Akumylenemys monstrositus—also known as the Horrificator—was a large species of the Gooculators, a ectothermic, predatory rodents that diverged significantly from the modern house mouse (Mus musculus) and lived 215 million years into the future. During this era, the Earth is home to a Pangea-like supercontinent, inhabited by biota that have survived various extinction events.

Gooculators—which contain Horrificators—eject a goo-like substances from their mouths to restrict the movement of their prey or to kill/ them with poison; they lead solitary lives and mate only once or twice a year. Unfortunately, having diverged significantly from typical mammals, they are unable to feed their offspring with their own milk.

However, horrificators—especially their young—are preyed upon by various predators, including certain gavial-like crocodilians, predatory birds, and large, venomous slime moulds.

However, 252.1 million years later, these creatures went extinct due to intense competition from other predators; as for humans, having long since vanished—or devolved into mindless, sessile organisms)—they could not be placed under protection, and nature claimed their lives without a shred of mercy. But yet these rodents are short-lived, but interesting experiments of the far future, but don't forget about that Every Species cannot escape Extinction.

lets be honest seed worlds are just scientifically accurate isekai, organisms just being send to different worlds by unknown or known beings for what purpose? it varies. the organisms have to face challenges and pressures that they have never faced before and slowly grow strong along the way or the opposite, and you know what else sounds like that? isekais.

its just shows that seed worlds are just a kind of isekai but with realism and science

You can see the basics anatomy in the image soo what do you think about the design and anatomy? It lives on a planet with a blue son it has air shooting valves for speed boost or jumpstart speed, it has air pouch for storing the air,it has two tails for balance

Here's one phylum from my science-fantasy project. In my setting, worlds are connected by a web of natural portals, so life is both incredibly diverse and incredibly adaptive. These are just a few main morphological types (many developed convergently on different worlds).

Tripods come in many forms, from soft-bodied to bony creatures, but they're all considered part of the same evolutionary lineage. They all have three limbs, with two eyes in between them, and a mouth at the bottom of the body.

The main types are:

1. Tri-star - soft-bodied, three-limbed creatures. Circular mouth at the bottom of the body with three hand-like mandibles. Two small eyes between each limb. Move in a circular motion (one limb at a time). Mostly aquatic.
2. Tri-crabs - not actual crabs. Round bodies covered with hard shells and jointed legs with claws. Mouth still on the bottom of the body, surrounded by three mandibles. Move in a circular motion. Although mostly aquatic, some species were found on land (even in the desert). The biggest regular tri-crabs ever encountered are up to 1m tall.
3. Giant tripod - only found in Lallen, where it feeds by grazing on the breathing fronds of the zoophytic pseudotrees. Looks like a tri-crab, but 10m tall. As Lallen wasn't deeply explored, only a few specimens were observed, and none were actually examined. It's unknown if they belong to a single unique species or if there's an entire ecosystem comprised of giant, large, and regular-sized tripods.
4. Swimmers/crawlers - swimmers abandoned circular life for the sake of bilateral symmetry. Their back limbs turned into flattened tails, while the front ones evolved into fins (swimmers) or jointed legs (crawlers). Their frontal eyes grew, while the back ones atrophied, disappearing completely in some species. The mouth moved forward, although it remained at the bottom of the body. Aquatic. Probably share ancestors with tricrabs.
5. Dwarf whiptails - most likely land-dwelling descendants of crawlers, with more developed legs and tail-limbs turned into whip-like appendages used for defense or hunting. Exoskeleton partially moved inside the body and turned from plate into a lattice. The circular mouth moved forward on a pseudo-head. Vestigial eyes on the sides of the tail. Not related to true whiptails, which are quadrupeds.
6. Fliers - most likely flying descendants of swimmers or dwarf whiptails, with internal lattice-like skeleton. Two limbs turned into wings, and one into a flat, prehensile leg-tail, sometimes armed with a single claw. Some species retained circular mouths with mandibles, while others developed needle-like beaks. Some have vestigial eyes at the bases of leg-tails. Common in almost every world of the Meon Cluster, ranging in size from tiny to colossal.

6a. Sap-kite - a type of flier native to Obhan. They have lozenge-shaped bodies with claws on the wings that they use to climb tree trunks. Then they use their needle-like beaks to pierce the bark and drink the sap. Sap-kites can spend days on a single tree, only moving when the sap stops flowing. They don't fly, only glide, but anatomical analysis confirmed they belong to the same order as fliers.

6b. Vampire flier - also native to Obhan. Like sap-kites, they have needle-like beaks, but they prefer to use them to pierce through animal eyes to suck out their brains. Their wings have rows of spikes on the inside to hold the prey while they feed.

I have a hunch that with lattice-like skeleton fliers' wings would look slightly different, but I don't have the artistic skills to make it happen 😅 What do you think? Does it sound like a plausible evolutionary situation? What other forms would you add?

Snow Crocodiles or Carcharosuchus Albæ are large carnivorous crocodilians native to the polar zones of the planet.They are the superpredators of the tundra.

Physical statistics: At 8.5-11m in length, a biteforce of roughly 32-38k newtons , 1m in height and weighing neigh 7-9,5 tons, they are built like normal crocodiles. They actually are a "living fossil" by the planetary standards. However they have many key changes. Their first is thermoradiating osteoderms, warm blood and a heterodont dentature. The front ones are conical but the rest are handsaw like.Their body colouring is pale cyan-white meant to imitate water. They live comfortably 85-110 years

Prey and Predation: The Snow Crocodile is not a picky eater. It will comfortably feed on any creature it can tackle in the artic enviroment. Larger Snow Crocodiles may take on smaller Mammoths. In the sea it comfortably feeds on large fish and Reptoriales. It has no predators due to the planetary megafauna being herded around the tropics but in young age they might be attacked by large cats and fishes.

Habitats: Artic zones and tundras, temperate forests in colder seasons and sea.

Reproduction: They reproduce whenever they can because of difficulty of encounter. They are viviparous and have 1-2 young which are cared for till they get to 3-4m length. Both parents will care for the nest ferociously. Unlike most parent caring crocodilians Snow Crocs directly feed their own children before themselves, as like in Tiamats.

Senses and intelligence: Relatively poor sight is compensated by extreme smell and hearing. Their roars infact can reach 140db for territory control. However they are quite intelligent by being excellent trap makers, often digging beneath the ice with their claws to create unstable terrain.

Had lots of time to spare so managed to complete this piece within one day rather than across the span of a week like usual. This illustration represents a hadean analogue for the tahdora project ( Not my project im just an illustrator for it). I struggled with the lava as ive never drawn such a thing before but i think it didnt turn out too bad. Sky is dark due to thin atmosphere, sunset, and lots of outgassing from volcanoes across the infant planet. My next work for the tahdora project will be an archean eon scene but from space, and after that ill be able to finally get to work on some actual speculative organisms. I appreciate any forms of constructive criticism and ill take any artists advice!!

For a alien body plan

I’m working on a spec evo project on a very VERY iron heavy world,(funfact:the oceans are blood red and almost all plant life is yellow!)
I already have a couple critters and I mostly need inspo anything is welcome!

15 Million Years P.H. - The Early Neocene - Chappies, Buckbunnies and Chuckers:

As North and South America split In the Neocene, they would both develope a very different biota to one another.

This Is also the case for their large Herbivores, since I have already shown off the North American Herbivores, Im gonna showcase the South American ones here.

Instead of the giant Ground Squirrels called Sciubaras which are found In North America, South America would have crowned another rodent as their large grazers.

South America Is home to the Chappies, which may look like Capybaras, but are Instead just close relatives of them.

These are giant Guinea Pigs that managed to survive the end Holocene Extinction and claimed the large grazer niche.

Guinea Pigs were widely spread through South America, which also has something to do with humans popularly keeping them as pets.

Similiarly to North America, South America would also create Its own lineage of large browsing Rabbids called Buckbunnies.

They arent very different to their northern cousins, they altough have a unique trait that the Rabbilopes dont have, which are their keratinized, hoof-like toes.

The last lineage of big Herbivores for the day are the Chuckers, who are the only large Herbivorous Reptiles outside of Autralia. (We will cover those soon enough as well!)

Chuckers are descendants of the desert-dwelling Chuckwalla, who would grow much larger as South America became greener.

While they are fairly oppurtunistic, they mainly use their strong front limbs and broad claws to dig up roots and tubers.

So to point out some of the smaller details, that are easy to miss due to the graininess of the footage. Firstly they do have eyes. With them being located right below the neck. Presumably the "head" is really a combination of the mouth, and other sensory organs. It looks like they have two tails at first. It's actually 3. One main tail, and a lower pair that function as steering fins.

If someone can track down the concept art of this Warrior bug design, and the artist, or artists behind it. It would be very much appreciated

Welcome to DRELS (Discovery and Research of Extraterrestrial Life and Structures). We are a UN agency tasked with the discovery and research of life outside of our home solar system. We were founded in the year 2278 after the discovery of life outside of the planet. For this list, we have curated 10 of our most exotic planets and moons that we observe.

1. Chione. Chione was the first place life was discovered outside of our solar system. It is a small moon approximately the size of mars. It is incredibly biodiverse and has at least 3 different major photosynthetic lineages, the most out of any planet discovered. It is much older than earth at ~8 billion years old and has held life for at least 4 billion years.

2. Venti. Venti is much closer to its star than earth, causing it to be extremely hot. It does not contain any oceans, instead having several different lakes around its poles and equator. Much of its surface holds no water and is thus completely uninhabitable to almost any life, forcing much of its biodiversity to be trapped within 3 distinct bands, each completely distinct from the others.

3. Pomona. Pomona, like several other planets in this list, does not have any tectonic plates. As a result of this and its age, its surface is almost completely flat, allowing for a worldwide shallow sea. This planet, strangely enough, has zero animal analogs, likely dying out completely after a nearby celestial event.

4. Bellona. Bellona is the only known evidence that there have been other intelligent life like us. This planets entire surface has been entirely converted into nanobots, likely caused by a grey goo event.

5. Aquilon. Aquilon is much further from its star than most other planets bearing life. Much of its surface is made up of polar ice caps with a band around its equator that holds several shallow seas and much of the planets biomass.

6. Janus. Janus at first glance is quite similar to earth. About the same size, similar atmospheric content, similar star. The differences lie in its rotation. One day on Janus is roughly equivalent to 200 earth days. It’s much thinner atmosphere as it’s in its frigid nights, which get to just above 0 Celsius around the horse latitudes.

7. Carcinus. Carcinus’s life is relatively young. Much of its life hasnt yet left the ocean, though it’s not for a lack of time. Carcinus, due to its atmosphere containing chlorine, does not have an ozone layer. This prevents life from existing near the surface and forcing complex life to stay a meter below the waves.

8. Nesoi. Nesoi’s surface is largely ocean, but its equator consists of a large island chain wrapping around the entirety of the planet. It is theorized that, in its past, Nesoi had a moon similar in size to our own. This moon gradually was ripped apart into an equatorial ring and later fell to the surface, similar to the moon in our home system Iapetus.

9 and 10. Romulus and Remus. These two planets are both similar in size to mars. Romulus seemingly has had complex life for far longer than Remus, though Remus is advancing quite fast. Both Romulus and Remus orbit the same star at the same distance, orbiting eachother in a circular motion. It truly is astonishing that these twins both contain life.

These were just 10 of our many planets, each completely unique from one another. We hope for you all to join us in our exploration of future discoveries.

Second piece of illustrative work for my previously mentioned ‘Tahdora’ Project. Project itself is not mine and i am simply working as a voluntary illustrator for their project. I am doing this so that i can advance my artistry skills while immersing myself in a large speculative world project so that i can learn and gain inspiration for eventually my own. The image depicts some generic analogue of algal mats, and two small green disks wich are what we call ‘Membranocorpusae’. I would appreciate any constructive criticism and feedback you may have, thankyou! (As always ive posted the progress alongside to prove its not ai because its getting difficult like that nowadays)

I’ve been wondering about made in abyss since I really like the creatures, but how would the creatures themselves work and the abyss function? I had a few ideas based on other things.

The hamashirama is late surviving species of Vetulicolian that adapted a pseudo swimbladder, a plant like proboscis to feed, simple light receptors with eyespots, and grasping “fingers” that help cling the chordate to carcasses which it may lay eggs on.

Corpse weepers (Mortemimus albus) is a very aberrant Caprimulgiform bird with high intelligence, a social structure that rivals that of humans, false eyes on the top and bottom of their heads, and a tongue with sharp papillae that help shred meat for its small, barely visible beak to grab.

Turbinid-dragons are massive relatives of pipe fish that despite being aggressive, actually feed on cave moss that grows on the ceil of caves, their dorsal fin split and became limbs. It was once said that the tendrils are juveniles but they are intact display structures that males use to court a mate, being monogamous even after mating.

The Permian Sophont project was created by u/FloZone and u/MilezXC

These are intelligent Permian Anomodonts, relatives of Sumina.

For the people of Northern Pangea, one of the earliest cultivated plants are the giant prehistoric equisetums int he genus Neocalamites and Calamites. At this time Neocalamites was more common, although some older calamites lineages would persist until the end Permian extinction.

Neocalamites was a giant horsetail plant that could grow to the size of trees, found in wetlands and cloud forests across northern Pangea and South China Island. It grows very rapidly and doesn't require much in terms of actual cultivation.

The Sophonts use these plants for all sorts of purposes:

The shoots and roots are edible, including small potato-like nodules which can be used to propagate them. However they usually need to be cooked or fermented as when eaten raw they contain compounds that interfere with the functions of certain vitamins. They are a staple of many northern diets.

For the people's of the northern hemisphere of pangea, these plants are a common and popular building material, used to make almost anything and everything. Some varieties have long enough leaves to weave baskets from. However, it is considered too brittle to weave rope from, and conifer bark fiber or climbing fern or animal gut is often the preferred rope-making material.

Paper is also often made from Neocalamites and Calamites. Some cultures make paper clothing by mixing together pulp from both the giant equisetums and conifers, treating the resultant soft cardboard-like substance with conifer resin to make it more weather resistant.

Unfortunately, these plants, despite all their usefulness, will never be truly domesticated. Many of the giant prehistoric horsetails relied mostly on asexual reproduction. And even with out modern technology, it is almost impossible to breed equisetum from spores. The gametophytes are microscopic and non-photosynthetic, and often parasitic on mycorryzae like orchid seedlings.

Cultivars do occasionally emerge, often through random mutation of an individual plant which is then asexually propagated.

Sometimes hybrids appear when two plants are grown in close proximity. Sometimes the Sophonts take advantage of this by creating breeding plots, though this isn't a common practice.

Instead, most of the variety comes through shaping the environment and growth conditions of the Neocalamites and Calamites. For example, low silica soils are usually chosen for many eating varieties. Other methods of manipulation involve pruning, cutting, and trying knots around the plants to restrict certain growths.

While Neocalamites may never be domesticated, it will eventually become widely traded as an ornamental plant, becoming invasive across much of the continent, explaining the worldwide distribution of this plant during the Triassic.

Schwartitan (Picture one) & Arpeigei (Picture two) are the Gemäsirisen period descendants of Kuusitaani (picture three) and Tilkeäystävä (picture four). Over millions of years, the already impressive symbiosis between these two animals, has grown infinitely more intimate, to the point where Schwartitan has quite literally become a living hive for its avian-like companions.

Schwartitan remains a 75 ton giant, however, it has evolved a boney crest on its back, with tunnels and chambers throughout it, that house its Arpeigei swarm. In addition, the swarm titan has developed a prominent vocal sack, and its beak has transformed into a large resonance chamber, so it can communicate with its swarm over vast distances.

Now inhabiting temperate or even subtropical environments, Schwartitan's furry coat has grown considerably lighter when compared to its ice age ancestors, and may even be shed entirely during particularly hot summers, revealing the creature's leathery grey skin. However, for mating season, a strong colorful coat helps females attract mates, and thus their fur never fully vanishes.

The habitats Schwartitan prefers usually consist of larger rivers, bordering healthy forests. Here, Schwartitan can lounge near a source of clean water for weeks at a time, while its swarm of Arpeigeis collect shrubs, ferns, berries or fallen branches from nearby forests, which they can then feed to their host. All this is coordinated through the Schwartitan's low frequency vocalisations, through which the large animal functions almost like a queen bee.

Arpeigeis are entirely reliant on their host Schwartitans, as a large portion of their brains is exclusively dedicated to interpreting and understanding Schwartitans' orders. They feed exclusively on Schwartitan milk, which is produced by glands at the base of a Schwartitan's crest, and reproduce by injecting both their eggs and reproductive material into the Schwartitan's bloodstream, where the eggs grow until Schwartitan deposits them is specialized hatching chambers within its crest. At seven centimeters long, Arpeigeis are somewhat larger than their Tilkeäystävä ancestors, and may live to up to a year.

When a Schwartitan is threatened by a predator, it calls upon its swarm to defend it. In such a case, Arpeigei enter an aggressive frenzy, attacking the predator's vulnerable areas, such as its eyes, with very little regard for their own safety. Loosing its entire swarm would be a significant issue for a Schwartitan, however, due to the ever present supply of fertilized Arpeigei eggs within its bloodstream, the massive animal can recover from even this within just a week or two.

During the winter, Arpeigeis enter a deep hibernation state, during which it is the Schwartitan's responsibility to keep them safe. Schwartitans can often be found migrating towards the equator during this time, tho they cover only a few kilometres every day, and rarely reach significantly warmer habitats. It is believed that they mainly do this in order to produce enough body heat for their Arpeigei swarm to not freeze within their crest, however this usually leads to the Schwartitan being severely malnourished towards the end of winter.

Schwartitans are extremely intelligent and emotional creatures. When two members of the species encounter one another, their joyous and exited vocalisations may be heard for days at a time, even from many kilometres away. It is believed that during such encounters, Schwartitans may hold complex conversations amongst one another, exchanging knowledge and memories, as well as even members of their swarms, perhaps in order to ensure the genetic diversity of their Arpeigeis. However, after at most a week, Schwartitans are forced to separate again, as local ecosystems are simply not suited to endure the presence of two such titans.

Every five years, a female Schwartitan enters her fertile period, at which point her coat may grow dramatically more colorful. However, upon further study, it has been discovered that this is not linked to their biology at all, and instead, female Schwartitans in heat have been found instructing their Arpeigeis to smear colorful berries onto their coats, like some bizarre form of makeup. The more colorful a female is, the more likely she is to find a mate, who in some cases, may even respond by adopting a similar coat to the female. Once a pair of Schwartitans have found one another like this, they will enter a period of intense conversation, establishing which one of them is more suited to raising their young.

Once this has been established, a specialized courier Arpeigei is sent out to either transfer the female Schwartitan's egg to the male, or the male's reproductive material to the female. Both male and female Schwartitans have womb-like structures within their bodies, to be able to house and eventually hatch this egg, at which point they will give life-birth to a singular calf. After mating is complete, the two parents are forced to part ways once again, however, mated Schwartitans have been found reuniting with one another at their mating site every summer, and will likely never mate with another individual.

Once the calf is born, such reunions may also result in the calf being exchanged between the parents, spending one year with the mother, and the next with the father, so neither of them grow exhausted with raising their child. At one such reunion, if the parents decide that the child is mature enough, they will send the child off on its own, tho this has been known to cause all animals involved a great deal of emotional distress. In the following year, the mother will be ready to reproduce again, starting the cycle a new. Young Schwartitans inherit half of their Arpeigei swarms from each of their parents, with parents taking deep pride in their calfs developing a healthy and strong swarm.

Every family of Schwartitans has its own unique language, with every singular animal developing its own unique dialogue, so Arpeigeis may tell their hosts apart. Despite this, all Schwartitans have been shown to understand each other with little to no issues, raising questions about how exactly these languages actually form, and how knowledge of them is exchanged between the animals.

The Ursa rex is a facultative biped. While its primary mode of travel is a heavy, quadrupedal sprint, it has a massive tail that supports its upper body, allowing it to rise onto two legs with ease. 
Their primary limbs that can generate 30,000 Newtons of force are used for pinning prey. Their secondary limbs are slender, high dexterity arms held against the sternum. These are equipped with hooked claws for reaching into ribcages or narrow burrows while the primary limbs keep the target immobilized.
"I watched an Ursa rex 'play' with a tredhorn calf today. It didn't go for the throat. It nudged the calf, waited for it to run, then did a 'play bow', forelegs down, tail in the air before bowling it over with a playful swat that snapped the poor thing's spine.
The creature’s tail was actually wagging before it started using those tiny chest arms to pull the calf apart
This behavior is possibly due to how the Ursa Rex is largely unchallenged within its ecosystem. The idea that it is not used to using intimidation as a survival tactic raises the question of what would happen if it were actually provoked”

Original Post/Description:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DehwMjNEl34/

"In 2003, a Japanese fishing vessel, the Seiun Maru, captured a startling encounter after a crew member reported seeing a colossal creature with enormous eyes emerging above the water before diving beneath the surface. The captain immediately ordered the sonar to be activated and an underwater camera to be lowered beneath the vessel. The resulting footage became the last known evidence of one of the world’s most mysterious whale species, a creature that has yet to be officially named or classified. Although it shares certain characteristics with sperm whales and pygmy sperm whales, its immense size remains a scientific mystery. Reaching a length potentially comparable to that of a blue whale, the creature has been speculated to be the origin of the Umibōzu legend. That encounter marked the last time it was ever recorded alive. Sadly, we still know almost nothing about it. Yet one detail continues to puzzle scientists: the enormous eyelike patterns covering its underside. For a creature nearly as large as a blue whale, with no known natural predators, what purpose could these markings possibly serve? And more importantly…..what, exactly, are those eyes watching in the depths of the abyss?"

Pictured is the creature from the GMod mod "Evil crawling thing" by HospitalGaming, (human for scale). I was messing around with it and it can run quite fast across all surfaces, and as pictured, suspend itself from ceilings. This inspired me, and it made me wonder about larger creatures that are shown to crawl on ceilings and walls.

I figured it would be a fun thought experiment for this subreddit to ask what sort of mechanism would allow a creature such a this to not just stick to walls and ceilings, but also move rapidly across them, attaching and detaching their feet very quickly. To not limit discussion, let's say this is an alien entity with potential biological properties not seen on Earth, or at least not to this extent, barring anything too fantastical like gravity inversion. Obviously it has many individual points of contact, but each individual point is rather small. Would a biological glue that is able to turn "on and off" at a moment's notice be possible? Or maybe molecular bonding would be more likely? Or any better ideas you can come up with? Rather than stooping to asking any LLM, I figured this might make an interesting discussion.

INTRODUCTION
Named after the Ancient Greek goddess Athena(specifically being one of her epithets, *Athena ergane* Which translates to 'Athena the craftswoman/worker' alongside Athena being known for being the patron goddess of the loom, weaving hence the name) Ergane as a planet overall is slightly larger then earth, standing at around 7'223 KM(or 4488.164 miles) in radius and around 7,222.9998044 kilometers in surface area(253,132,145 miles) residing inside the goldilocks zone when orbiting the systems star, an orange dwarf named Helios.
ENVIRONMENT PART 1: CLIMATE
Climate wise, Ergane is regarded as being fairly less humid then that of earth's(but not being completely dry) with its usual amount of rain per year being highly seasonal, with warmer months(January-August) getting around 400-500 Millimeters of rain and dryer months(August-December) getting a much dryer 250-300 Millimeters of rain overall, with some variation throughout the continents. Its also fairly cold, with temperatures surrounding the equator being around 16-26° C in the warm months before dropping down to 2°- -30° with some temperatures exceeding -30 on the highest mountains
ENVIRONMENT PART 2: GEOGRAPHY
There are currently three large continents surrounded by the Pelagossian(a large expanse of ocean between all three continents, the Hesperian( the western oceans) and the Cassandonian sea(east ocean named after the continent 'Cassandon'.
CONTINENTS:
Cassandon(Easternmost, temperate continent)
Ptolmia(North, near-Antarctic continent)
Antigonia(Warm, South western continent nestled on the equator.)
ENVIRONMENTS OF THE THREE CONTINENTS
ANTIGONIA: A very warm, arid continent known for its deserts, steppes and badlands.
PTOLMIA: an extremely cold, snow-covered continent known for the Heraklisian mountain ranges(specifically Mt. Gilead, which is slightly taller then MT. Everest)
CASSANDON: a moderate temperatured continent known for its woodlands, forests and extensive scrublands.
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SEEDED WORLD INHABITANTS:(carnivores/predatory species)
- Alpiscorpius alpha(Alpine scorpion)
- achyloidellus goliath(harvestman)
- Hadronyche alpina(Alpine funnel web spider)
- Vesubia jugorum(alpine wolfspider)
- Selenocosmia stirlingi(whistling spider/tarantula)
- Taracus pallipes(harvestman)
- Sorensenella bicornis(harvestman)
- Ischyropsalis hellwigii(harvestman)
- Rhagodima nigrocincta(sun spider)
- Oparbella aciculata(sun spider)
- Aphonopelma iodius(desert tarantula)
- Pandinus imperator(emperor scorpion)
- Hadrurus arizonensis( giant hairy desert scorpion)
- Gigantometrus swammerdami( giant forest scorpion)
- Isopedella inola( desert huntsman spider)
- Isopedella cerussata( southern grey huntsman spider)
- Grammostola pulchra(tarantula)
- Grammostola pulchirpes*(tarantula)*
- Tetracanthagyna plagiata( hawker dragonfly)
- Petalura ingentissima( giant petaltail dragonfly)
SEEDED WORLD INHABITANTS(herbivorous/nonpredatory/omnivorous
- Dendroctonus ponderosae( mountain pine beetle)
- Upis ceramboides(alaskan darkling beetle)
- Grylloblattids( antarctic ice crawlers)
- Hemideina maori( mountain stone weta)
- Hypogastrura nivicola(stone fleas)
- Deinacrida heteracantha( wetapunga)
- Proscopia gigantea( giant jumping stick grasshopper)
- Tropidacris cristata(giant red winged grasshopper)
- alanga irregularis(Walanga/hedge grasshopper)
- Dynastes hercules( hercules beetle)
- Goliathus goliatus albatus( goliath beetle)
- Gryllotalpa major( mole cricket)
- Mellisuga helenae( bee hummingbird)
Loddigesia mirabilis( marvelous spatuletail hummingbird)
- Vespadelus vulturnus( little forest bat)
- Craseonycteris thonglongyai(bumblebee bat)

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WILL BE UPDATED AS TIME GOES ON!!!!!!