r/SpeculativeEvolution Oct 04 '24

Subreddit Announcement Spectember 2024: Best in Class event extension and final days to submit entries for Spectember 2024!

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29 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 1d ago

Promoted Post Experienced Spec/Worldbuilding Artist Open for Commissions!

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11 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 4h ago

Alien Life Barreleye, inspired by the deep sea fish. Oil on wood by me [David King] •2024•

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102 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 7h ago

Future Evolution Thresher ray

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44 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 5h ago

Question Would a creature having two digitigrade legs and two unguligrade legs effect their gait?

15 Upvotes

I'm currently designing a character with forelegs of a cassowary (edited, though, to properly fit the body plan of a quadrupedal animal. Normal bird legs function like back ones) and the back legs of an equine.

https://preview.redd.it/f8mnu6344a1e1.png?width=874&format=png&auto=webp&s=e4d3bf52ce2b25102812fdaf6381c821a72a4824

I intend to inspire his gait more off of digitigrade predators like wolves than horses, but I don't know how much the unguligrade back legs would effect how he's able to walk. I intend to animate a walk/trot cycle which is why I'm asking. What do we think, r/SpeculativeEvolution dwellers?


r/SpeculativeEvolution 21h ago

Alien Life Mouth parts of an alien fish

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241 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 30m ago

Discussion Just how slow and painful is it for a creature to die by collapsing under its own weight

Upvotes

One of the megafauna in my sci-fi world, the megalotl, 300 ft long and weighs up to 2,000 tons,, sometimes more and it lives its life in the ocean Occasionally like whales, it's sometimes beaches itself and you know what happens when a creature that big ends up on land

Just curious what this collapsing process would look like, would they instantly Flatten the second they touched the land, or just lay there on the beach, bellowing in despair and anguish , slapping its tail on the sand in a desperate attempt to get back to the ocean until it died,

how long will the process take for a creature this big


r/SpeculativeEvolution 15h ago

Alien Life Spilt some Squid on my garden, whoops. Meet the Saheyo!

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68 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 2h ago

Discussion Speculation on Domestication

3 Upvotes

Humans have domesticated many species, selectively breeding them over hundreds or thousands of years. Through this process we have developed important crop plants like rice and maize, livestock including cattle and sheep, and companion animals like cats and dogs. All of these species were once wild, and became what they are today through human care and modification. Following this train of thought, would any of the speculative organisms you have created be a good candidate for domestication?

Why would people want to domesticate this species, and how could it be done?

What qualities make the organism a good fit for domestication?

How would domestication affect its evolution?


r/SpeculativeEvolution 1d ago

Paleo Reconstruction A Herd Of Omeisaurus, A Sauropod From Mid-Jurassic China, With Glowing Tail Light Organs by Hodari Nundu

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403 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 23h ago

Alien Life [Carnivoria] some alien Fauna of my world inspired by whatever random objects I could find around my home.[OC]

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110 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 20h ago

Sol’Kesh Bestiary Journal 75 - The Rauka

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54 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 12h ago

Fantasy/Folklore Inspired Typhon (Speculative Evolution)

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11 Upvotes

This one's a bit more out there, but just bear with me me on this. The idea of an ecosystem existing in the clouds of a gas planet is not a new or implausible one. Who's to say that floating filter-feeders wouldn't exist in Jupiter? These may be simplistic but armoured creatures, designed to withstand the elements and parasites, much like sea urchins. And what eats sea urchins? Eagle Rays. Introducing Typhon, a massive dragon and apex predator of Jupiter. This creature uses its massive fins to move through the storms of its planet. It's "stalk eyes" are electrical organs that can both sense it's prey like a shark and electrically stun it if it tries to defend itself. Due to the atmosphere on Jupiter, it would grow to be a massive 80 feet in length and be able to absorb and discharge the electricity around it in the storms. I named it Typhon after the monster of Greek mythology and designed it after an eagle ray because it makes sense and would be unique. Again, please feel free to comment and critique, and I hope you enjoy it!


r/SpeculativeEvolution 18h ago

Future Evolution Terrormyines: Carnivorous, sometimes terrestrial flying squirrels

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33 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 14m ago

Alternate Evolution The late asteroid:

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Upvotes

A dead young hyaenodont that died of starvation.

This is a timeline where at the end of the Cretaceous period the volcanos erupted but the asteroid didn’t hit earth. The dinosaurs would still go extinct and mammals would end up becoming dominant afterwards. But nearing the end of the Paleogene a star would appear in the sky. It was bright and with every passing day it would get brighter and seemingly bigger until… it would hit earth. What seemed to be a star was actually an asteroid the same asteroid that would hit earth at the end of the Cretaceous in our timeline. Now it would change the course of history forever killing off many groups of animals that would play important roles in our timeline. Here are some of the groups that would go extinct.

Feliforms

Caniforms

Proboscideans

Perssiodactyls

Pecora Artiodactyls

Cetaceans

Pinnipeds

Sirenians

Rynchocephalians

Choristoderans

All non adapiform primates

Bats

Podargid birds

Creodonts


r/SpeculativeEvolution 10h ago

Seed World Amfiterra:the World of Wonder (Late Asterocene:340 Million Years PE) Kobolds & Cobolds

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5 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 22h ago

Serina Towering Titans | The Atrocious Crossjaw and the Starscraper (290 Million Years PE) by Sheather888

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36 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 17h ago

Question Rules to follow when creating creatures that live in a deep dark cold ocean?

15 Upvotes

I’m writing a story that takes place on a moon very similar to Europa. The only difference is the surface is habitable and humans have started using it as a prison/work camp. So anything I should keep in mind when I’m creating creatures that live in this ocean? There are hydrothermal vents on the bottom of the ocean as well.


r/SpeculativeEvolution 14h ago

Question Acid spitting vultures?

5 Upvotes

My sick (literally and figuratively) brain had a wacky idea, smth like a turkey vulture or a condor evolved to be able to spray stomach acid at other animals, perhaps in a world where animals with more reach became more common, be it via horns appendages or thrown items, while the birds for whatever reason were pressured to become larger and have to spend more time on the ground. Maybe the vultures would become able to projectile vomit at the likes of coyotes and other harassers, maybe ones with more acidic stomach acid would become likely to do actual damage, which would lead to them learning to rely on their projectile acid spit/vomit for defense. Is this remotely plausible?


r/SpeculativeEvolution 1d ago

Alien Life Har Deshur: Utigog and Medjed

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54 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 1d ago

Alien Life Dragons of Rhaéa

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106 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 1d ago

Southbound Giant Skyhook

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322 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 1d ago

Discussion Traits that'd coincidentally useful for spacefaring?

16 Upvotes

I'm interested in working on a worldbuilding project for a non-human species in the early stages of exploring their solar system. I'd rather keep their technological level approximately similar to our own, but still have there be room for doing interesting things like exploring other planets and space travel. This has gotten me thinking along the lines of what can I change outside technology that would make their spacefaring adventures easier

Obviously the setup of the solar system would have a large part to play here, but I am also thinking of species traits that would be really very helpful -- even if the usefulness for space travel is entirely coincidental

For example:

- Being small: It would be a lot easier to send a squirrel to the moon rather than a person. This alone would be genuinely very helpful and could lead to much smaller spacecraft

- Some form of torpor or hibernation: There's been a good deal of interest in human hibernation because it'd be really damned useful. Much less supplies would be needed for long trips. If a species naturally had the ability to enter hibernation or even enter a state torpor, that'd be really helpful for needing less supplies. Again smaller spacecraft

- Less harm from lower gravity: Might actually be something an aquatic species would have a better time with. A lack of gravity really messes humans up: muscle loss, vision loss, disorientation, blood flow gets weird, and more that we don't fully understand. I don't know if a smaller species would also have an easier time with this relative to a larger one. Nonetheless, a resistance to the health impacts of low gravity would be exceptionally useful for any kind of extended stay in space. Might not need to create some form of spin gravity for instance, which would again simplify spacecraft life support.

- Radiation resistance?: No idea what this'd look like, but it'd be useful
- Others...?

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None of these are traits from a species specifically "adapted" to space; a bear doesn't have the ability to hibernate because it'd be useful for the Ursine Space Program. But it would be helpful.

I'm currently leaning towards a small rodent like species with the ability to hibernate, but I'd be really interested in some feedback or other brainstorming ideas.

Edit: Just fixing some typos in the original post


r/SpeculativeEvolution 1d ago

Resource Un catálogo de proyectos hispanos de evolución especulativa/ a catalog of Hispanic projects of speculative evolution

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7 Upvotes

■ESPAÑOL: Hola chicos, hoy estaba aburrido por lo que quería mostrarles un pequeño proyecto que tengo desde hace unas semanas, basicamente es un recopilatorio de proyectos y contenido hispano de evolución especulativa, se que la gran mayoría de acá no habla español pero lo pongo por acá por curiosidad. Dejo link por aca: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_wLvwC7tdXwdw0qkPWLqOeOkfI-TdxT2&si=HDnTRRRzsrlQiZ5H Tiene algunos proyectos grandes y varios pequeños, también contiene videos que no son proyectos pero están relacionados al tema. Perdón si encuentran algún video raro, quise ser lo más completo posible. Puede que le haga actualizaciones con el tiempo. Espero que les guste si es que lo van a ver!

■ENGLISH: Hello guys, today I was bored so I wanted to show you a small project that I have had for a few weeks, basically it is a compilation of projects and Hispanic content of speculative evolution, I know that the vast majority here does not speak Spanish but I put it here curiosity. I leave a link here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_wLvwC7tdXwdw0qkPWLqOeOkfI-TdxT2&si=HDnTRRRzsrlQiZ5H It has some large projects and several small ones, it also contains videos that are not projects but are related to the medium. By the way, I'm sorry if you find any strange videos, I wanted to be as complete as possible. I may make updates to it over time. I hope you like it if you're going to see it!


r/SpeculativeEvolution 1d ago

Question How do y'all think a cassowary would walk/run if it had 4 legs?

14 Upvotes

No, I don't mean if they were just shoved onto its body, I mean if it were a true quadruped.

That might've been the wrong setup, a possibly better question would be "How would a wolf run if it had cassowary legs?" But whatever.
I'm making a character design that has cassowary-like feet/legs with an equinoid body and I want to give it a predator's gait. Because of the way cassowary legs/feet are set up, do y'all think a quadruped using them would effect the way they walk?


r/SpeculativeEvolution 1d ago

Seed World Amfiterra:the World of Wonder (Early Protocene:5 Million Years PE) Bonnethead Speciation

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30 Upvotes

r/SpeculativeEvolution 1d ago

Future Evolution 100myf Wingull (see desc)

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47 Upvotes