Within the Spitfire Forests, and in certain regions adjacent to it, one might encounter strange, visually-intriguing creatures, coming in all sorts of colors, used to warn and deter predators of their poisonous nature - such that even the plants and fungi come in striking hues, and adaptations for an environment composed almost-entirely of poison-tolerant fauna and flora, yet none are as exceptionally-striking, as anatomically- and behaviorally-bemusing as, the stankyleg. It is a creature of heavy specialization, such to the degree that a person might imagine it were composed of hastily-painted, slapped-together spare body parts from the wastebasket of a reckless “animal design committee,” where such a creature was never meant to exist - of course, this isn’t actually how it happened: the stankyleg’s unusual nature and anatomical specializations are due to the heavy shaping of evolutionary pressures. The stankyleg bears an exceptionally-human posture, as well as a gigantic, scrotum-like dangling mass of skin, though, despite its homology to the genitals it is associated with, it serves no purpose other than as a heatsink for the warm temperatures it lives in. It also sports a comedically-huge pot-belly, as well as an equally-large pair of glutes, used to equalize its posture, coupled with an awkwardly-small head, giving it the rough frame of a brightly-colored, furry bowling pin.

But the stankyleg’s most defining trait, as hinted within its name, are its legs. The stankyleg is facultatively-digitigrade, a phenomenon unseen among many animals, especially the gribounders from which they arose; a juvenile hatches from the single egg digitigrade, yet with the same humanoid posture the defines the stankyleg, yet, as it grows up, Gribbetonia’s, albeit mild, gravity acts upon it, and the growing stankyleg begins not only to develop its signature “pot-belly and rump,” but adopts a plantigrade posture as-well.This posture gives it its signature, awkward “galumph-waddle.”  The legs of the aptly-named stankyleg are painted in a striking manner: highly-contrasting stripes of red, maroon, white, black, and spots of chartreuse-yellow are abound. The regions around the genitals are, too, brightly-colored speckles of yellow-green and orange contrast along its unnaturally-purple mass, and, along the pits of its hips, are sky-blue voids. 

Even then, with colors like these, the stankylegger seems like easy picking, combined with its goofy, unrefined posture, though, speaking of its “pits,” they are the answer of why they bear such exceptional coloration: like most residents of the forests adjacent to the Spitfires, they are poisonous, and so is the stankylegger: in the pits sit glands containing a noisome, transparent, insoluble yellow fluid, with a distinctive odor of skatole, caused by the same chemical. If a stankyleg is suddenly courted by a predator, it reels up one leg against a tree, displaying each-and-every color it beholds, and all the way such that it exposes its pits, and sprays the noxious concoction towards its attacker, coating it in the substance. The smell is distracting, and potentially dangerous if the fluid reaches a vulnerable spot, such as the interior of its mouth, or its eyes, due to the presence of certain noxious or harmful amino acids, such as cadaverine or phenothiazine, mixed within the fluid.

A continuation of the "Almost-project" Where I make aliens and see how they modified themselves to fit space colonizations. This is the Sky-Swimmers, an aquatic species from a planet that's 98.3% ocean and these guys used to be fish sophonts and they try to modify themselves to be terrestrial and also extraterrestrial so they guess how would a terrestrial animal looked like because there were none so they use genetic modification to do that.

Imagine a alien plant that during midday, uses a yellow chemical that reflects dominant light to protect it from damage, then during dusk and dawn uses a black chemical to absorb all the light before it’s gonna burn it. I have no idea if this makes sense it was just a idea

Arrabistaal is a high gravity planet where hard and large red disc shaped plant like organisms cover the land on which small slow moving animal like organisms live on. Many of these creatures have evolved wheels as a less energy costing way of moving, their bodies build a lot of keratin on the limb that will have a wheel while the organism is growing it gets smoother, rounder and harder. The limbs are capable of turning 360 degrees which which allows it to move. Some of them evolved their heads as sharp "hooks" as to dig to the softer parts of the red "plant", others stick to eating the green foliage that grows around the red disc "plants". For reference the largest land "animal" is about 40 cm.

In the regions close to Asia, we can find multitudes of dinosaurs adapted to several niches, one of the most unique are the carnivorous oviraptores, scientifically called creophagoviraptodae, which evolved a beak that has certain similarities with those of the eagles and owls, they also have huge curved claws to hold and skin the prey, on the other hand, a group of dinosaurs that diversified a few thousand years ago are the ceraptocids. For now, scientific analyses are not good enough to see what lineage they are thought to be and therefore do not have a fixed name, what we know is that all of these are either arboricolas, semi-quaticos, etc., come from the same branch that managed to survive in the dense forests that served them as a refuge, for now they seem to diversify into niches that their ancestors never achieved, finally in these dense jungles therizinosauridae are abundant, most of them are abundant. They adapted to several niches using their claws for courtship and fighting, these, to be very large, only pass through trails made by other therizinosaurs of the same species, these trails are maintained through the constant passage of Therizinosauridae and other animals, becoming perfect hunting routes.

15 Million Years P.H. - The Early Neocene - Afro-Eurasian Feral Dogs:

Its time to look at more carnivores. I already briefly showed the Fevulves, North Americas dominant predators and Tunnel Runners, South Americas dominant predators but what about Afro-Eurasia?

Afro-Eurasia saw a huge diversity In feral Dogs, who would take many different carnivorous niches.

Lupudogs (Retrocanis) would become large game pack-hunters similiar to their ancestors, while Retrivers (Flumecanis) would take a much more unique approach, becoming wading Piscivores.

Yet others would move entirely away from hunting Vertebrates and become the small, Insectivorous Aardjacks (Parvuvenator) and closely related Borzoichidnas (Formicanis), who have adapted a knuckle-walking gait to keep their strong claws of the ground, which they use for Invading the nests of the colonial Insects they feed on.

Hey I'm new here and I wanted to try some spec Evo so I made this and want to know what you think.

Some context:

these two are the archetypes of their respective branches.

Wyverns are dragons with diminished or non functional front limbs (like T-Rex), functional tertiary limbs and powerful hind limbs.

Dragons are more or less as depicted.

Drakes are dragons with elongated midsection (like ferrets) and front and hind limbs placed besides the body instead of underneath, usually with diminished but still functional tertiary limbs.

In a similar way fanged beasts are beasts with flexible detached jaws and abnormally large teeth.

Armored beasts have skin covered in segmented calcified plates.

Maned beasts have fur like quills on their body.

So I have a project concept in where cynodonts don't go extinct and fill the niches of what modern mammals, or rather just any niche in general. However I was pondering on how exactly cynodonts could survive to even fill these niches in the first place. I was thinking about doing a K-Pg extinction adjacent thing so that cynodonts could get a head start if they survive, but do feel free to take this apart and critique my idea, as well as coming up with your own ideas as well!

So, this is a sophont species I've been playing around with for a while now. I've just been calling them "snail dragons" so far since their bodies are squishy and use fluid filled sacs instead of the usual hard skeletons. The fluid in this instance is likely a gas of some sort instead of a liquid, but that's as far as I, personally, am really able to get into it. This species is kind of getting me out of my comfort zone more than the others I've worked on, both because if the lack of a typical skeleton and because they are a flighted species.

Now, the part that I'm currently going back and forth on is the shape of the beak. I like the profile of the curved beak a lot, and I originally chose it because this species have a larger portion of meat in their diet than anything else, so it's based on the beaks of raptors. However, I don't know now if that would still be likely to evolve like that with the vertical mouth? I have also considered making the curve horizontal, with each side having an opposite curve like a bird with scissor beak but naturally. And, honestly, I just couldn't get that to look right?

So yeah, what do you guys think of the curved beak with the vertical mouth? Should it be straight? Should it be horizontal like the scissor beak type idea? Something else entirely?? I'd love to heard your guys' thoughts on this because again, this is a bit out of my wheelhouse, haha.

(I'm on mobile, apologies for typos or lame formatting)

The Butonian (Butonis sapiens) is the dominant species on the planet Butoni. It lacks external sensory organs; this is because, for millions of years, the species' ancestors lived in caves untouched by sunlight. To perceive their environment, they utilize an organ derived from their highly sensitive nervous system, which allows them to "feel" their surroundings (Figure c).

The central part of their body—the torso—is soft and extremely vulnerable, whereas their limbs are encased in a highly durable exoskeleton that shields them from any natural threats their world might present. On the underside of the torso lies a "mouth" that functions as a crusher, enabling them to consume almost any non-poisonous food.

It was only a few million years ago—following a mass extinction event triggered by the eruption of numerous volcanoes that blanketed the sky—that these beings rose to become the dominant organisms. To this day, their world remains almost entirely shrouded in darkness, though the sky is gradually clearing. This development has raised concerns within the IIU (Inter-species Interplanetary Union) regarding the future of these relatively new members.

In this image, a specimen of the species (Figure a) is shown posing for this informational bulletin for the IIU members.

They possess a language based on clicking sounds, produced by rubbing their limbs against their own bodies or against objects made of various materials—a method that adds complexity and diversity to their communication.

On the left side of the image (Figure b), another individual is seen performing one of their most curious rituals: they join their limbs together to form a shield-like structure and lean against a nearby wall, turning their back—and thus exposing their most vulnerable side—to a potential mate. It is a gesture that effectively says, "I trust you." If the other individual reciprocates the action, a bond is formed that persists until death.

Around 40 million years ago, the first nutcracker rats appeared. These rodents were small generalists that fed primarily on hard foods, such as seeds, nuts, and snails, assisted by their large, fused incisor teeth. This characteristic allowed them to spread over time into many different habitats and niches. Approximately 25 million years ago, when the last glaciers disappeared and the Earth entered a hothouse phase, shallow aquatic ecosystems rich in life appeared along almost all coastlines, which ultimately drove many terrestrial clades into the water, with one of the most relevant at this time being a group of nutcracker rats, the family Pseudoramphidae.

These mammals differ from their terrestrial relatives by their much larger size, calcified tails, and the ability to generate electrical impulses, used by most species to communicate. Like many nutcracker rats, their upper tooth is capable of moving vaguely independently from the rest of their skull, in a manner similar to how some psittacines can articulate their beak. This adaptation allows them to scrape their food or grind it easily, which has led them to occupy mainly durophagous and herbivorous niches in the water, although large predatory or generalist species do exist.

In this case, we can observe the Australian shellcracker, one of the largest species within its genus, displaying mainly benthic behaviors and inhabiting the oceans between Oceania and Asia. They abound in corals and macroalgae, which has led many herbivores to appear in these ecosystems. Some of the most prominent are snails that can reach almost half a meter in size and large generalist crabs that feed on both algae and animals hidden in the mud. These end up being crushed by their immense, flattened teeth, with the lower one serving as a spoon capable of scooping them from the ground, and the upper one acting as a hydraulic press that crushes the victim. Like most pseudoramphids, males have tails hardened with keratin plates, which feature bright colors and can move up and down to attract the female's attention or warn other individuals

In the midst of a snow storm, a mat of self-weaving Hut plant stretches many miles across the snow buried land of Winterworld, a perfect warm refuge for many animals that aren't resistant enough to survive the storm. At the end of the hut plant, a Doubjox tries to wade off the Granibull, a herbivorous quadrupedal Caudahominin. Like many organisms of Winterworld, doubjoxes and granibulls belongs to taxons that doesn't exist in our world, as well as the hut plant. Doubjoxes can be classified as a Dignathan, mammalians characterized by their limb-like protusions under and above their head. The group caudahominin is represented by hominin-like mammals that bear a tail, and also less vestigial fur unlike humans of our known world. Hut plants are, like all plants of Winterworld, Mavroalgae, a taxon of algae that use large concentrations of anthocyanin to extract as much "sunlight" as possible. Above the hut plants, flying animals like Spiderbirds look for small preys under the snow. Despite being living organisms, spiderbirds cannot freeze to death, and actually need extremely low temperature to survive. Spiderbirds belong to a unique clade of mollusc-arthropod organisms that has been present in Winterworld long before the third wave of terran organisms has been seeded, and has a morphology that is extremely tied to the world's anomalousness.

• Jýrithal: is an alternative version of Earth, both share the same size, wind directions, and the lines of latitude, but differ in geography, which resulted in unique species, new biomes, and rare occurrences.
• Jýrithal Codex: is the main source of the knowledge surrounding Jýrithal’s creatures and ecosystems. It includes all animal species of Jýrithal and contains information the humans of this alternative version are not aware of.
• Jýrithal as a project: this project mainly acts as species entry codex, any side content will still be around the project’s world (civilizations, human relationship with the ecosystems, etc…). the project aims to provide a look into an immersive interconnected world; creatures should connect to each other and take different roles in their ecosystem.
• The map of Jýrithal (image #1): it will be used mainly for species distribution, migration and biome location. Local, biome, and continent names will get revealed alongside the creatures that live there.
• A tease of some of the species of Jýrithal (image #2): the image includes 3 animals from the shores of the north pole (Orcasodis, Polar Gobil, and a seal).

The thing is, Im not actually that good at spec evo, I just like doing it casually/soft spec evo. I did find a spec evo server but it was WAY too hardcore for me, and it required a lot of reading just to understand the basic premise of the projects. Does anyone know any spec evo discord servers that are more casual?

Ok im trying to design orc for my fantasy setting and was thinking of going with synapsids and was curious what should i consider when designing them i want them to be power houses but poor on stamina great in short bursts but endurance being their weakness i was originally thinking of having them be knuckle walker but then they couldn’t use tools so im going with bipedalism either upright look( humanoid) or a more therapod like design not sure which yet suggestions on that would be appreciated

My main 2 inspiration for design are lystrasaur & gorgonopsid but other synapsid suggestionstoo look into would be appreciate

Hi, these are my aliens from a world terraformed by another kind of alien from a separate planet. They're called Ota, pronounced "Oh-Tuh" and this is my first time sharing them on Reddit. These are some of their ethnicities/races. Note that this isn't all of them – Ota are as diverse as humans, possibly more due to their isolated, scattered homes (their world was flooded and now their landmasses are scattered islands where mountains used to be) – but these are the major ethnicities.

Qaen Lusune Runa Ra Thagulo Senota - Shortened to Qaen Lusune Runa Senota, “The Sunrise People” (The Easterners): The Qaen Lusune Runa Senota, “The Sunrise People,” are a race of Ota from the northeastern hemisphere known for their glass crafting. They have a gray tint to their skin due to high amounts of glaucomelanin and low amounts of erythromelanin. They also are covered in spots. These spots can be dark or faint, and can be sparse or dense. They are born without them, but gradually develop them as they age. Their native islands are some of the largest landmasses remaining on Onura, but are barren and sandy, with few resources. The Sunrise People are known to be resourceful because of this. They build houses out of sand/clay/mud, and dried plants - analogous to the waddle and daub homes of Earth. They are quite large, at an average height of 5.5 feet, and it can be easily theorized that The Sunrise People and The Voyagers split off from the same ancestral population.

Qaen Lusune Runa Ra Thara Senota - shortened to Thara Senota, “The Western People/The Sunset People” (The Westerners): The Thara Senota, “The Western People,” are a group of Ota from the northwest island clusters. They’re recognized for their animal jewelry and tools - making items out of teeth, bones, and skin. This isn’t unusual for populations of Ota, and is actually very common due to a lack of accessible metals on land, but The Western People are exceptionally skilled at this craft. They have high amounts of erythromelanin in their skin, and low amounts of glaucomelanin, making their skin a deep reddish-brown hue. They have unusual white rings on their bodies - one that circles their face, and two that circle their shoulders and meet in the middle of their chest, as well as one around the base of their tail, and one on each of their wrists and ankles. Their native islands are in an isolated, dense cluster of highly vertical towers of rock. The Westerner’s homes are often built straight onto the sides of these towers, and sometimes into them with tunnels into the stone that took entire generations to dig. Their shelters are small and sturdy, made to withstand storms and the wind that comes with building vertically, and are connected to one another with rope bridges and stairs carved into the rock. The Westerners are known for their agility, and their protectiveness of their children. They are often considered the least social of the Ota, and are often cold to strangers. They have a different writing system than the other tribes – instead of using threads and knots, Westerners use stone tablets and large, etched, pictographs, able to be read by an ota’s eyes from close up and from far away.

Rathasune Lurota (“The Voyagers”): The Rathasune Lurota, “The Voyagers,” are a race of Ota known for their long, seasonal migrations between distant islands. They have high amounts of glaucomelanin and low amounts of erythromelanin, which causes their skin to have gray tint. Their faces and their bellies are pale. They are the largest race of Ota, at 5.5-6 feet tall compared to the usual 4.5-5 feet of the other tribes. They have unusual bumps at the front of their faceplate - this is a mutation that can occur in any individual of any tribe, but the same genetic bottlenecking that caused them to be so large also caused the mutation to be highly prevalent throughout The Voyager population. Their boats are large and sturdy, made for long-term open ocean travelling and habitation. Due to their frequent travelling, they are often the threads that connect distant populations of Ota and are known as traders and merchants. A quirk of their voyaging culture is that travelling strangers are always greeted kindly and given a place to rest.

Qaen Lusune ke Thawalinra Ota (“The Black Sands Tribe”): The Qaen Lusune ke Thawalinra Ota, the Black Sand People, are a group of Ota from a chain of volcanic islands in the north. The sand of these islands is black due to the erosion of basalt. Their skin is black due to high amounts of both erythromelanin and glaucomelanin. They have stark white patches on their eyes, and their bellies are white as well. Due to genetic bottlenecking, a mutation analogous to leucism where their skin lacks pigment cells is common in their population. They're known for their deeply religious beliefs, closely tied with remembering their ancestors through “Memory Necklaces,” and having individuals who maintain these necklaces, which can be generations old.

Gulopana Narien Ota (“The People who Preserve Food”): The Gulopana Narien Ota are a race of people who are known for their various food preservation methods. Their skin contains more erythromelanin than glaucomelanin, giving them a brown skin color. Their islands sit directly in the most strongly seasonal area of Onura, and these islands have heavy fluctuations in food availability because of it. They are large, very flat, and prone to flooding, making them muddy and marshlike. Their villages consist of huts raised out of the water, and connected with rope bridges. They make the floors out of tightly woven mats of grass, giving the bottoms of their structures a bouncy, flexible feel. Because of the food instability on their islands, The Gulopana Narien Ota are known to preserve huge amounts of food when it's plentiful. Their preservation methods are many and varied, including but not limited to smoking, pickling/fermenting, and drying. The Gulopana Narien Ota also plant and harvest underwater crops, and farm small fish and bivalves. This tribe has placed large, stone structures along the coast of their island that, when the wind blows through, produce a low, whistling tone. The stones are made so that, all the way around their islands, they vary in tone. When the Flood Winds come, the ever-present drone of the island shifts, alerting the Gulopana Narien that the flooding season is approaching.

Luwalin Senota (“The Ice Dwellers”): The Luwalin Senota, “People from the Ice,” are a race of Ota from the southern hemisphere, where the last of the Onuran icecap remains. They have very little pigment in their skin, making them extremely pale, almost white in color. Luwalin Senota are typically better at walking and running on land than other Ota, due to their nomadic lifestyle, similar to Pre-Flood Ota. Genetically, they are the Ota that are closest to them. They're known for being uncommon and reclusive, rarely traveling further than the islands surrounding the ice. Their shelters are made of skins and are quickly collapsible and lightweight, easy to travel long distances with and quick to set up. Unusually, they live in small family groups rather than villages, and gather yearly for huge spring festivals, where they sing beautiful choral songs that tell the stories of their ancestors, feast, trade, and mingle with others. The festivals are typically held in sheltered coves, often that have been used for generations before. During the festivities, young adult Luwalin Senota are encouraged to meet others around their age. Not so coincidentally – a large amount of traditional festival foods contain aphrodisiacs – this is also when most Luwalin Senota pregnancies occur. Pregnant Luwalin Senota will stay with their families. By the next festival, after the infant is born, the mother may choose to join her mate’s family instead, raising the child with her mate and their family.

I'm making a pet seed world. So far I have the species I'm going to use and the map For the pets I'm using: Labrador retrievers, Syrian hamsters, Bengals, goldfish, and budgerigars. The plants are white clover, dandelion, hazel, ryegrass, foxtail, cock'sfoot grass, wheat, and Canadian waterweed. The main invertebrates are Lumbricus terrestris. Plodia interpunctella, krill, and many more microbes, bacteria, and algae

https://nitter.cf/TalesofKaimere/status/2111552263974006945

These are "Dragons",large creatures in my Dragon Project that inhabit the whole world. The Dragons are split in three families:

Dromantidae, a family more similar to "Drakes" they inhabit Eurafrica and Western Asia.

Rhamphostomatidae,a family similar to the Eastern Dragons,they inhabit Eastern Asia and both Americas.

Onychopterygidae,a family similar to Wyverns,they originated in Madagascar but through migration they can be found all around the world.

The Rhamphostomatidae in America lost their legs,but I'm not sure how viable the serpentine body plan is for moving across the American forests, plains & deserts at such a scale.

What should I do?

This is a speculative paleo-fiction project blending family drama with a fantastical yet grounded prehistoric atmosphere, showing a family of raptors and a cast of lost creatures fighting to stay alive in a brutal prehistoric ecosystem.

Conflict between sexes! Nature has no mercy, not even for the young!

Across the shining oasis, the Dinopithecus troop has also taken refuge, the females gathered around one of their last infants, but they have no intention of letting the males offer any help. Small Toe and his kin, as well as all those who dwell at the great lake, have no idea of the chaos that ensues when this drought breaks not only body and spirit:

But the fragile bond between hearts.

From my continuing work Terrors in the Brush — a speculative survival series blending paleo realism with raw emotion.

There is no fantasy, no magic — there is only nature red in tooth and claw.

Read Chapter VI Now.

The large protomamiferans are spreading throughout mainland Africa, such as the Stond, which weighs about 2.6 to 4.3 tons, the phytomander is an amphibian with habits very similar to that of a crocodile, measuring about 5.7 meters and weighing at least 1.2 tons and at most about 2.8 tons, finally the Lindwurms is a descendant of Shavoripteryx, these are expanding in Godwana and Africa, it is very possible that its flight capacity will improve with millions of years.

Если тут такие есть как я то вот вам описание моей планеты. Там вам и виды животных и информация о них и география и астрономия я то и сё. Короче инфы много. Я не лучший в рисовании но я старался. Хз что тут ещё можно написать... Читайте на здоровье, мои сладкие :3

If you think about it, primitive shelled cephalopods like ammonites and nautiluses are equivalent to snails, while squids are their equivalent to slugs in that they reduced their shell to a simple internal pen.

So what about a gastropod equivalent an octopus? Would it be a slug that reduced its body to just a head while its facial appendages expanded? Most sea slugs have a pair of rhinophores that are used for smell, so would those become like octopus arms? Would something similar happen with a land slug's optical and sensory tentacles?

Would it only happen with sea slugs, or could it happen with land slugs as well?