The Far North - An Overview of Alphas Fauna
Macroterra: The World Of Bilbies
30 Million Years P.E. - The Early Continentocene
While the early Continentocene has seen an increase In temperature, one continent has not recieved as much of the new worlds warmth.
That continent Is non other then the most northern continent of Alpha.
By the Early Continentocene, Alpha Is so far north It almost reaches the northern ice caps.
Summers and springs are still fairly temperate but winters get bitterly cold.
But even In an environment like this, peculiar fauna manages to thrive here.
Like on most continents the dominant grazers of Alpha Is a type of Nomwat, specifically a Womboar known as the Red-Eared Wombuffalo (Bufalusaper Auricularubra). Womboars have In a sense already been pre-adapted for a live In a frigid world, possesing long tusks to scrape away snow from vegetation and a dentition to deal with the tough grasses that manage to thrive In this tough environment.
The Red-Eared Wombuffalo Is the largest animal to evolve on Macroterra as of this time, with this size and a thick wooly coat to retain heat It manages to thrive well In this frigid region.
An unique trait about these giant Womboars Is their red fur around their ears, Womboars use their normally white ears as flag poles, but In the snowy habitats the white fur Isnt as visible, so they have went for a shade of red, their predators also cannot see the color red, so their not sticking out as much to predators as they do to herdmates.
But the Wombuffalos are of course not the only herbivores In this lands, the niche of a low browser Is covered by at ypicall contender that being the Bilbeelopes, specifcally the Hammerlopes have seen alot of succes In the recent years.
So Alpha has Its own low browsing Hammerlopes like the Axe-Crested Hammerlope (Hiemsungula Securisindens).
Their one of the largest Hammerlopes to have evolved so far and this size Is needed for retaining heat In the north.
Another iconic herbivorous clade are the Scoppels, bunny like oppurtunistic herbivores.
On Alpha these critters have also made a living for themselfs as a fairly basal species.
The Snowbackel (Hiemscuniculus Nivalis) despite being very basal has adapted a trait completely new for Macroterrian fauna, they seasonally shed their fur.
In the summer their fur Is a shade of brown to blend In with the vegetation and during the winter Its white to blend In with the snow.
Talking about smaller critters, the Mausbies are some of the most widespread clades of smaller fauna, typically holding the niches that are occupied by rodents on earth.
Considering how widespread and diverse the Mausbies are, It should be no surprise that they also have settled on Alpha.
The Tiger Dwarf Hampter (Tigriscricetus Septentrionalis) Is one of the most widespread Maubies In the area.
Dwarf Hampters typically only form very loose family colonies, with very few individuells that tend to quickly fall apart.
The Tiger Dwarf Hampters family groups are although alot more stable, especially during the winters.
In winters, Tiger Dwarf Hampters form huge colonies often consisting of various different families.
The Hampters will gather large amounts of food for the group and cuddle with each other to stay warm.
The Northern Starrel (Stellassciurus Septenentrionalis) Is another common Mausby species around here.
They are a clade known as Terrisquis, terretorial arboreal meso-herbivores.
The Northern Starrels females posses a simple brown coat to camoflage In the canopy, while males have an almost fully black coat with strong blue pattern covering It to dend of rivals and attract mates.
But with all these prey animals there are bound to be predators as well.
The apex predator Is not-so surprisingly a type of Crybeastie.
Crybeasties have for the most part already been the apex predators when there was only a single continent on Macroterra.
The Sabered Chien-Waos (Herbadonta Chien-Paodi) are specifically a part of the Affrolf family, pack-hunting Crybeasties who have specialised In large and tricky prey like Womboars and Hammerlopes.
A key characteristic about the Affrolf Is also that the males sport a affro as a display of good genes, In Chien-Waos these affros have over the course of sexuell selection eventually formed horse-like manes.
As their name implies they posses imperessively large saber-teeth canines which they use to cause severe bleeding In their megafaunal prey.
as a skilled small game hunter we have the Coated Pterowl (Noxiousvespertilio Acutusauribus) as a representive.
These creatures are part of the Pterobats, a clade of airborn fauna, the Coated Pterowl specifically are part of the Pterohawks, also known as Pterobats of prey.
With their satellite like ears they can pick up the faintest sound, they can even hear a Hampter colony shifting and moving under layers of dirt and snow.
They will then grab the small critters with their dextrious clawed hind feet, common for Pterobats of prey.
Although, the Pterowls arent the only small game hunters.
During the Origocene, the Measels have dominated small-game hunter niches, In the Continentocene 10 million years later this has remained mostly unchanged.
Especially the Madger, stonky build ambush predators of the Measel family, are very sucessfull.
With their chonky and short-limbed build their bodies were pre-adapted for retaining heat.
Specifically the Alphanien Madger (Septentrionalismeles Alphas) Is common around here.
With a coat blending In according to the season, these critters will silently wait In high vegetation or small burrows to ambush their prey.
They are although also capeable of digging up Scoppel burrows to get to their food.
Another common Measel clade consists of the semi-aquatic Shell-Fishers and with Alpha having bodies of waters, It should be obvious that Alpha also has native Shell-Fishers.
The Alphanien Shell-Fisher (septentriōnēslutra Alphas) Is a fairly basal creature.
The ponds and lakes In Alpha usually dont fully freeze allowing Shell-Fishers to hunt their aquatic prey all year around.
Considering how much Alpha Is advertised to be a frigid region, you might think that insectivores arent doing to well on the continent, but that couldnt be further from the truth.
Alpha specifically Is home to a incredible insect species, the Northern Locrickets (Examengryllus Septentrionalis).
While these insects cant survive the winters, they will lay thousands of eggs dormant, that upon spring will hatch Into huge swarms casting huge shadows over the continent.
It didnt took long for an airborn insect catcher to take advantage of this sky buffet.
The Swarm Traveller (Insectivorusvespertilio Peregrinans) Is a common sigt on Alpha, but not a reident.
Swarm Travellers are migratory Pterobats, spending the warmer months on Alpha to feed on the heavily abundant flying insects.
But there are also permanent residents that enjoy them a plate of insects.
The Spotted Quill-Cow (Aciesvacca Maculatus) Is one of them.
The Quill-Cows are a member of the Hedgey family, an incredibly diverse and succesfull clade of insectivores having originated from the Middle Origocene.
Hedgeys native to Alpha tho need some new adaptions to truly thrive here.
As you remember, the only other Alphanien insectivore Is only a migratory species, simply because the winters are almost completely avoid of bugs.
While the Quill-Cow lives are pretty carefree during the warmer months, It gets problematic during the colder ones.
So the Quill-Cow has developed a lifestyle unique for fauna on Macroterra, as Quill-Cows will hibernate through the winters.
But there Is another Insectivore who Is on Alpha all year around and doesnt oversleep the winters.
This creature Is the Northern Blue Tongue (Caeruleuslingua Mollis).
The Northern Blue Tongue Is a insectivorous Hammerlope who Is specialised In the the Ant Eater niche.
They use their cheek horns, not just for mating displays but also for breaking insect nests, on top of that they also have shovel shaped hooves for digging up ant colonies.
With these tools they can even reach small insect critters tugged away for the colder seasons.
kianamaiart
pixelskylines
areudirty
yousharknotpass
germansingergirl
prguitarman
stormborns
