#mars ll

[makairodonx]

An assortment of some of the most well-known megafauna that inhabit Mars ll, specifically the massive supercontinent situated on the planet’s equator known as “Jariloia”, which has a seasonal, semi-arid climate with vast, sprawling grasslands and forests that surround rivers and streams, a few mountainous area here and there, as well as a vast desert that covers the interior. The dominant tree of Jariloia is the Acacia-Oak, which can grow up to 15 meters tall, is specifically adapted for the supercontinent’s dry climate, and is a major component of the biome unique to Jariloia that is known as the “Oak-Savanna” and is fed upon by its endemic variety large herbivores, which occasionally frequent the desert from time to time to find water holes, along with three of the most common predators that inhabit that vast open ocean that spans a whole half of the exo-planet.

1. The Great Konik Neoequus conicus is the second-most common large herbivore found on the Oak Savanna, and is also one of the largest equid species found on Mars ll. It travels in large, nomadic herds that are led by a single dominant stallion and his mares and foals, and the herd that strengthen their social bonds by grooming. As they travel, the dominant female and its offspring leads the group, followed by the next most dominant member, and the family stallion lads from behind.

2. The Common Turtle-Titan is the largest and heaviest land animal of Jariloia, and is the most abundant megafauna herbivore of Jariloia. Females stand up to 7 meters tall and weigh up to 13 tons, and males stand up to 11 meters tall and weigh up to 18 tons. As the most important keystone species of the Oak Savanna, the turtle-titan plays a major role in dispersing the seeds of the plants it eats.Turtle-Titans travel in small herds of 20-30 individuals that are led by an experienced large male who knows where the right feeding grounds or water holes are. During the mating season the Males fight each other over a small harem of females, which will soon lay a batch of 15-20 eggs and leave the hatchlings to their fate.

3. The Jariloian Dragon-Skink is one of the largest reptililian predators of Mars ll, and it manly inhabits the gallery forests in order to avoid competition with the predators of the grasslands, where it preys on hard-shelled prey with its powerful jaws. It measures around 13-14 meters long and weighs up to 7-9 tons, and its chief prey are the rhino-sized pill-millipedes that inhabit the woods.

4. The Jariloian Zipper-Mouth is the largest mammalian carnivore/omnivore found on the Oak Savanna. It had an average length of 8-12 meters long and weighs around 6-8 tons.

Despite looking like a cross between and elephant and a rhino, the Jariloia Zipper-Mouth is the most well-known member of the Pchyderm-Shrews, since it evolved from shrew-like ancestors, and it occupies an ecological niche on the Oak Savanna that is similar to those of spotted hyenas.

5. Parachiropterus gigas is the largest flying animal of Jariloia, as well as the largest flying mammal found on Mars ll. It head mashes 4 meters long, and it weighs up to 500-600 kg, with Females stand 7 meters tall and males stand around 9-10 meters tall. It sport uniquely hollow bones and heavily-powerful muscles to keep it lightweight body aloft over the skies.

Although The species often occupies a similar ecological niche to the griffon vultures of Earth by scavenging on the remains of megafaunal herbivores, it will also stalk the grasslands for small prey such as antelopes, rodents and small birds and reptiles, and flush them out to catch them as the oak-savannas are set ablaze by periodic wildfires during the peak of the dry season.

6. The hammer-headed terror bird Pachycephalornis is the largest avian carnivore of Mars ll, and its heavily-boned head was reinforced by a thick layer of keratin. stand up to 3.9 meters tall, and two heads had a span a total length of 3.7 meters. The animal pleased a heavily-built neck that was used for thrusting the had in sideways attacks aimed at the flanks and ribs of their swift ungulate prey such as antelopes and horses.

7. The Imperial Sword-Ray is Mars ll’s largest oceanic predator, measuring around 13-18 meters long and weighing around 4 to 6 tons. It is a fast-moving swimmer that is capable of making spectacular breaching displays, and it inhabits the tropical to temperate waters of the great ocean that spans the entire half of the planet and is the main top predator, preying on smaller fish-eating carnivores that are around the size of dolphins or beluga whales.

8. Raptoricthys lupinus, better known as the Wolf-Fish, is a hypercanivorous, dolphin-sized relative of minnows that inhabits the open ocean waters around Jariloia and occupies a similar niche to some of Earth’s pelagic shark species. It measures around 3-4 meters long and is among the most common predators that are found in oceanic feeding frenzies targeting shoals of mackerel or sardine-like feeder fish, alongside the Pelagic Parachiropterans, and it is also the most commonly-sought prey of the imperial sword-ray.

9. The Coastal Parachiropteran is a smaller, more maritime-based cousin of the Ibis-Headed Parachiropteran. Its body has a length of 2.8M and it had a wingspan of 6 meters. This species lives in large harems on the rocky, cliff-lined coasts of Jariloia,and they are ruled over by aggressive, territorial males thatprotect their many females from intruders. They are also capable of diving into the sea to catch feeder fish, just like earth’s gannets or shear waters, and frequently show up at feeding frenzies.

[makairodonx]

Ambush of the Zmora

The Zmora, also known as the “Leopard of Tataria”, is a distant, mainly nocturnal (but sometimes diurnal) relative of the Panther-Rats which inhabits the large island continent of Tataria. It has a body length ranging from 4 to 5 meters, weighs nearly 850 kg, and is a very successful predator, inhabiting a wide range of habitats ranging from forest and grassland to scrubland, and the coat colors of individual Zmora can vary from tawny brown to jet black and from spotted or speckled to plain without any markings. The Zmora sports large fangs that are capable of delivering a powerful dose of venom which is twice as strong as that of a Black Mamba to kill its prey, and it is an excellent climber that is also adept at occasionally hunting smaller prey animals such as baboons and some species of chameleons high up in the trees. But this predator most commonly hunts large ungulate prey such as antelopes, deer and horses by stalking them from the tops of trees while it uses its excellent night-vision and whiskers to move about in the darkness until it pounces upon the backs of its unfortunate victims and quickly subdues them with the use of its powerfully-built forelimbs, claws, and a venomous bite aimed at the trachea or sometimes the head to quickly subdue them.

The Zmora is a member of the Viper-Rat genus which also includes the much larger, tiger-like Easter Viper Rat that inhabits the dense tropical rainforests of Kruszwica and evolved from ancestors which migrated there from Tataria 7 million years earlier when the two continents were joined by a small land-bridge that eventually collapsed due to a brief but violent period of major tectonic activity that was marked by several earthquakes and a volcanic eruption and was soon submerged by rising sea levels.

[makairodonx]

Somewhere out on the plains of Tataria, the giant grassland-dominated island continent that lies to the far southwest of Jariloia, a few Lesser Ibis-Headed Parachiropterans arrive to scavenge on the remains of a large Anvil-Horned Rhinoceros that died of thirst during the middle of the dry season, and are soon joined by a swarm of kingfisher-related carnivorous birds known as Scarletbills. The Lesser Ibis Headed Parachiropteran is much smaller than its Jariloian counterpart, standing up to 3 meters tall and having a wingspan of about 6.6 meters, and just like its larger cousin further north, it has a highly-developed sense of smell and is not only a scavenger, but also a hunter of small vertebrate animals that hide amongst the grass and flee when the Tatarian grasslands are hit with periodic wildfires during the dry season.

[makairodonx]

Testudotitan atlas, the largest land animal of Mars ll’s or Potworia’s giant supercontinent of Jariloia, feeds on the great Acacia Oaks that dot the sprawling savannas which surround the massive Jariloian Desert as two Parachiropterus ibis, one of the largest animals ever to fly across Potworia’s skies, fly overhead in search of prey the size of cows and horses…

[makairodonx]

Somewhere on the oak-savannas of Yariloia, the largest continent of Mars ll, two Great Koniks and their foal give way for a pair of Testudotitian atlas as they march towards a grove of Acacia-Oaks while a lone Ibis-Headed Parachiropteran flies overhead; swooping high above the giants are a flock of Indigo Flycatchers, large swallow-tailed relatives of the hummingbird that feed upon the insects that swarm about the large herbivores that dominate the oak-savannas.

[makairodonx]

Spectember 2025 Day 28: Northeastern Pig Bear

The Northeastern Buta-Kuma/ Pig-Bear is a highly-derived relative of Earth’s Sloth Bear which is endemic to Mars ll’s semiarid to humid southwestern continent of Svarogia. At 500 kg in weight and measuring around 3.4 meters long, Neoursus porcinus is the most abundant species of the genus Neoursus, also known as the Buta-Kumas or Pig-Bears, while have evolved significantly from Sloth Bear-like ancestors into ursine analogues of South America’s giant anteater. Like the other species of its genus, the Northeastern Buta-Kuma possesses a pig-like snout with a cartilaginous disk and long claws, which are used to tear open termite mounds, and feeds primarily on termites and ants with the use of its prehensile lips and long tongue. The animal will also occasionally hunt down fox-to-goat-sized prey and scavenge on carcasses at times during the dry season so as to supplement its diet of insects, and it is also capable of standing its ground against other predators such as the lion-sized Svarogian Mongoose and the smaller, pack-hunting Ochre Hare-Pika.

[makairodonx]

Somewhere in the middle of the great, nutrient-rich inland sea that separates the supercontinent of Yariloia from the smaller island continent of Tataria, a massive shoal of small sardine-like feeder fish gets torn apart to shreds by a host of fast-swimming hunters that are in turn preyed upon by much larger predators. Here the gigantic 20-meter-long Megaxiphias imperator, the chief apex predator of the inland sea, lunges from the surface waters to impale a 2.5-meter-long Black-Faced Shark-Guppy, which voraciously preys upon the feeder fish, with its long, swordfish-like rostrum as Maritime Pseudochiropterans fly overhead to dive-bomb upon the shoal like Earth’s gannets. M. imperator is the largest marine bony fish ever to inhabit Mars ll, and is found across much of the planet’s tropical and temperate waters.

[makairodonx]

As the star Zorza sets upon the plains of Jariloia, a giant supercontinent that straddles one half of the planet of Mars ll, two Ibis-Headed Parachiropterans, giant bat-like mammals that stand 7 meters tall and are essentially Jariloia’s ecological equivalent of Earth’s ground hornbills, stalk the 2-meter-tall grasses in search of giant duikers or any other small prey that can easily be scooped in their 3-meter-long jaws.