"Tehar, the Other Earth" is a worldbuilding project, focusing on alternate history, alternate geography and speculative evolution, set on a
Tehar is basically our home planet, Earth, but one from a parallel universe, a different timeline. While some subjects are roughly comparable to our version of the planet, such as, for example, the existence of humanity, or the global (but not local) climate, there are major differences in history, geography, biology and other spheres of knowledge. Tehar’s features making it distinct from our timeline Earth are quite a diverse bunch, ranging from living enantiornithines in Holocene to existence of a very large freshwater lake in Northwestern Asia; from separate western and eastern parts of the Antarctic to Quechuan languages being spoken in the Caribbean.So let's begin the tale of this different world and see the green rainforests of Kadalia, ancient cities of Libya and frozen landscapes of Sagastan.
Note: Tehar has a taxonomic system somewhat different from the one in OTL. =otl is used to show what OTL clade is equivalent to that clade on Tehar. If =otl is not used, the clades are the same in two timelines.
Birds (Aves, =otl Theropoda) is the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate clade (typically considered a class) on Tehar, with over 13000 species inhabiting the planet's whole surface, except for deep oceans and some caves/subterranean ecosystems. Birds are a relatively young group of animals, having first evolved in Triassic and being closely related to another living class, gryphons (Gryphi, =otl Ornithischia) and an extinct class Anserotitania (=otl Sauropodomorpha), united together in a clade called dragons (Dracones, =otl Dinosauria). They are also more distantly related to suchians (Suchia, =otl Pseudosuchia).
Some characteristic features of birds are their, at least ancestrally, bipedal gait, light pneumatized skeletons and complex breathing system with air sacs inside their bodies; some traits, such as strict oviparity, feathers and endothermy, are shared with other dragons; finally, a common feature for most but the most basal birds today is complex feathers and ability to fly.
Historically, there were many different ways to classify birds, such as splitting birds into Pterygornithes, incorporating all winged birds, and Apterygornithes, incorporating the archaic wingless lineages; or dividing them into Odontognathae (toothed) and Anodontognathae (toothless). Externally, it was pretty well-understood that birds and gryphons are relatives, but what other groups do they have relations with has been a subject of debates for decades. Still, nowadays it is pretty well-known that birds (and gryphons) are suchian relatives, and internally, bird class has been divided into 6 living and many more extinct clades.
The most basal living avian clade is Euapterygornithes (=otl Ceratosauria). Wingless, toothed and long-tailed, these avians have branched off the whole avian tree all the way in the Triassic. Nowadays they are a very diverse group, including animals of different sizes, diets and anatomy, having underwent most of that evolutionary radiation relatively recently in the Paleogene. They inhabit Motutea, Kadalia, Tanah and Uzun.
Somewhat less basal than the euapterygornitheans are the motunuiavians, found predominately at Motunui but also at Motutea. These birds are also wingless, toothed and long-tailed, but they have much more rigid tails and are, in fact, closer to all other living bird groups than they are to euapterygornitheans. There is a relatively little number of their species nowadays, most of them predatory. The ancient ferocious regiavids of Cretaceous Uzun are their close relatives.
Third group of birds, enantiornitheans, is extraordinarily diverse. They have lost long tails and are typically volant, with feathery wings helping them stay in the air. However, they have teeth. After neognaths they are the most diverse birds on Tehar, though differences in their ontogenesis and social behaviour make them less prone to high diversification of species (most enantiornitheans, unlike most neognaths, grow slowly and occupy multiple niches as they age). Enantiornitheans are found worldwide.
The fourth, relatively small, avian group is Noctiraptora. While historically these toothed, volant birds have been considered a peculiar branch of enantiornitheans, they are nowadays seen to be closer to palaeognaths and neognaths and particularly close to an extinct lineage of aquatic Cretaceous birds, Palaeolari (=otl Ichthyornithes). Noctiraptorans are exclusively predatory and volant, and are more diverse at Libya and Uzun than any other continent.
Fifth bird group is small and includes almost exclusively secondarily flightless forms. The palaeognaths are edentulous, typically large and cursorial avians widespread on all continents, except for Motutea and Sagastan. They have some typical archaic features that have made them associated with enantiornitheans sometimes in the past, though nowadays they are well-understood to be neognath relatives.
Finally, the neognaths, the most common and diverse avian group on Tehar, inhabits the whole planet and includes a vast number of toothless, typically volant, birds of all shapes and sizes. From tiny songbirds of Uzun's temperate forests to giant flocks of seabirds at the shores of Qaria to terrifying bearbirds of Hatunwata, most birds on Tehar are neognaths.
And here's a last little group of various sketches of Chlorophylla on Jom'Gol. These members drawn here don't really represent one group and are rather various forms of flora found around the planet.
A few notable ones may include another moving heavy-vascular plant on the right, some nonvascular mosses/algaes on the bottom, a few lacustrine reeds and gourds, some fern-like understory-dwelling plants, a few Flavumplantae, some stemmed "water lillies", and some desert/steppe dwelling aloe-like water-filled organisms in the middle (the spiky one :) )
I hope these few sketches give you guys an idea on some of the species of various flora around Jom'Gol and some of the more unique environments life has adapted to on the planet! You may see some more of these drawings here and there (working on a sheet like this for fungi rn).... but as you know me I like to jump around and work on miscellaneous parts of the planet in random orders so.... off to do that lol! Stay tuned for more art.
How our perception of Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals changed over the decades, as more discoveries were made. This is the second video I made on this subject. Hope you like it :)
The SS Warrimoo, a passenger steamship traveling from Vancouver to Australia, was silently knifing its way across the mid-Pacific waters. The navigator had just finished calculating a star fix and handed the results to Captain John DS. Phillips.
The Warrimoo's coordinates were LAT 0º 31' N, LONG 179 30' W. The date was December 31, 1899. "Know what this means?" First Mate Payton announced, "We're only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line."
Captain Phillips was prankish enough to seize the opportunity to do the nautical feat of a lifetime. He summoned his navigators to the bridge to double-check the ship's position. He altered his course slightly to focus directly on his target. He then altered the engine's speed.
The calm weather and clear night worked to his advantage. At midnight, the SS Warrimoo rested on the Equator, exactly where it had crossed the International Date Line. The ramifications of this odd arrangement were numerous.
The ship's bow was in the Southern Hemisphere, in the middle of summer. The stern was in the Northern Hemisphere, in the midst of winter. The date on the aft portion of the ship was December 31, 1899. The date on the forward half of the ship was January 1, 1900. The ship experienced multiple days, months, years, seasons, and centuries simultaneously.
Sometimes drawings just happen, and in this case I wanted to draw a tree trunk hanging pber the water, maybe with a dinosaur relaxing on it. So I looked for small tyrannosaurids. And suddenly this little critter was there, and balancing on the trunk. They ended up looking downward, and suddenly I was drawing the frog down there.
Two invertebrates from the Geoling homeworld of Anuwaara. More info on these two below the cut.
The first, T'kathucht, are jumping predators that fill a similar niche to some species of frog or toad. They go after flying prey and can launch themselves forwards and backwards up to impressive heights. The species depicted here is native to the Wyu'hlkee grasslands and beaches where it blends in with the red foliage and extremely dark volcanic soil and sands. They're sought after by some bug keepers for their complex patterns, but they have a bad reputation with some who keep dart gardens due to t'kathucht's tendency to hunt and consume the female darts (who are favored by geolings tending the gardens due to their high iridescence and capability for flight). While they have various names in the languages used in the islands, their most common name of t'kathucht comes from "t'kata", a simple toy that would bounce or flip off the ground when one pressed down on and let go of it.
Despite the silly appearance the gliēgl is also a predator. It can be found in slow moving streams and pools of water where it floats and darts around towards other animals, injecting them with a venom that liquefies their insides and then sucking it out with the needle-like mouthpart. They are seen by geolings as a desirable species because they eat common 'pest' species, and are also a nice yellow color. In the tropics of Asagann their presence is believed to bring good harvests, and in the Kaswassan coast and Wyu'hlkee islands they're a symbol of joy and good luck. Familial groups in the South will often keep a gliēgl in a wide shallow dish in the entryway of their home to invite in happiness. "Invitation" bowls which are decorated rain collection dishes are also common sights outside of island homes. These are left out by inhabitants in an effort to attract one of these animals to their settlement. Gliēgl's are also very popular among "stripe-coats" (children) and bug collectors. Kaswassan geolings will wear insulated sleet coats that have been stylized in their image, and in the tropics they're often depicted as charms or floating toys. They are widely beloved and would be considered to be a charismatic animal by the people.
