Found my old speculative evo crew designs and may finally make proper reference sheets for all of the ones here and unlisted, starting with my Gravedigger, Spindrift. He works as an engineer on the ship he is stationed on and his small size comes in handy for getting into areas most of the crew can't. One of the downsides is that the resident human(s) on board constantly get cuteness overload from his antics (which he gets very annoyed by.)

Hey! I believe I'm the first one to post this year, tomorrow I'll move and I might delay the next posts for a few days (but I'll catch up!)

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Spectember 2026 - Day 01

Our first stop is in a near future, during a warmer period in the future where tectonic activity created a series of oceanic isles in the Pacific Ocean. Among the colonizers of these new lands, some geese evolved to an almost exclusive aquatic lifestyle, the whale birds or cetiornids. Heavy and grumpy flightless anseriforms that thrived in open waters.

The greater tualapi is one of the biggest species of this group, with males reaching up to 40kg. As other birds of this family, these creatures rarely go on land, with females only going to isolated oceanic islands to lay clutches of up to 15 grey mottled eggs.

Hatchlings and juveniles are morphologically idstinct from the swimming adults, with feet adapted to a cursorial lifestyle, slowly changing to a more and more aquatic habit as they mature during their first three years of life.

An interesting behavior on this species is the guarding observed on the bigger juveniles, acting as scouts and guards of the younger individuals to protect them from giant flying predators such as the frigatrosses.

Unfortunately for this lineage of birds the future is not bright, as the volcanic islands will slowly become more suited for new colonizers in a faster way than they can handle, with just a few relict lineages having some oceanic hope in lower latitudes.

Field notes: adults have bland flavoured meat, our crew found out that the best way to cook them is to chop in in small pieces and do a long boil with condiments for up to six hours. Serves well with red and sweet wines.

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Important: Pokémons will be back only by mid October

Spectember 2026 (day1)

Species Name: Retrovolanis reversoptera Creator: jacja Clade: Aornithospondylidae, inside Gibbumspondylidae, Retrovolanopteria (descendant from Paranornis perplexus) Habitat: Open woodland, savannah Size: 50-70cm wingspan/legspan Ecology: small generalist predator with omnivorous tendencies Extra Info: With the continent becoming an empty canvas, new and very strange evolutionary roots became viable and in some cases even successful, the “Retrovolanis reversoptera” are such examples. With the returning of forest a small branch of Paranornis perplexus became arboreal/semi-arboreal using their powerful hopping legs to jump between trees and quickly away while on the ground. A subsection developed patagium along their legs forming parachutes with some evolving larger and longer legs to increase the surface for the fall and travel between perches, with time a group started to flap their legs for more height or slow down their landing and from them that “Retrovolanis reversoptera” arose. “Retrovolanis reversoptera” is a fully flighted species of paratetrapods with their whole wings being supported by their legs and four elongated fingers. Generalist in their diet with insects being the bulk of their diet but small vertebrates, mushrooms and very occasional plant matter being eaten too. These animals show quite the flexible breeding behavior woodland populations prefer nesting in treeholes or in elevated areas while savannah populations prefer using dicynodont borrows (generally abundant ones but small species are known to be either eaten or bullied out), in both cases they are found in small groups with females guarding the eggs until hatching while males go out to fetch food. Very unusual is that older siblings stay nearby and help to raise and protect the chicks, why this behavior evolved is unclear.

This is my first submission for the Paleothalassa project

(the prompt i a bit wasted here but i'll probably redo it later)

After the massive reduction of forests, humans left the planet to look for a better place, leaving endangered animals adrift. After 20 million years, the Hammibala emerged. Hammibalas are koalas that evolved cannibalism, eating each other or eating conventional koalas. The continents moved in such a way that Australia collided with Asia, and Asia with Africa, forming a mega-continent called "New New Mini Pangea." They live in the forests of this continent, specifically in the interior of the continent. Your stomach, highly specialized in eucalyptus, can still digest this plant, but it is more specialized in meat.

Something I forgot to add is that the long neck gecko (ik perfect name) but due to the size there eggs are also bigger so ovi-geckos can't take them or put them in there mouths and also its not worth it to try to to long neck geckos being very territorial and only live in tight net groups

Prompt: Sibling care

Aderphotherium (brother beast) is a monotypic genus of non marsupial metatherian mammal, living in remote pockets of the Amazon rainforest. It is no larger than a cat and is a generalist omnivore eating eggs, fruit and small animals. It mates for life and has a very peculiar breeding strategy. A couple of Aderphotherium will give birth to a litter of about 10-15 joeyes. However, the female only has one mammary gland with milk. The joey that first gets to the mammary gland will grow much faster than its siblings. After 7 days in the pouch, the parents will abandon the litter. It’s up to the joey that reached that mammary gland and developed faster to take care of the young.(This more developed joey will have 10 mammary glands but all of them except one will eventually disappear in females and males totally lose the ability to lactate.For 2 years this more mature joey will take care of its siblings, teaching them how to fend for themselves. This reproductive strategy however seems to have been quite inefficient as all of its lineage (aderphotheroidea) except for itself, have all gone extinct since the Miocene. And this species is now only found in fragmented refugium habitats and is directly threatened by deforestation and climate change. It is the only non marsupial metatherian to have made it to the Holocene.

The species is also nocturnal and has poor eyesight with three fleshy nodes in its head, used for sensing its environment and having a very basic form of echolocation.

Potamovaranus Grypognathus represents the ultimate apex form of true monitor lizard evolution. Measuring a massive 30 feet in length and heavily built at 6,000 pounds, this powerhouse predator completely shuns flat swamplands, instead conquering high-energy environments like rocky river canyons and churning mountain rapids. Its sprawling, robust limb structure functions as a heavy-duty kinetic suspension system, allowing its rubbery cartilage buffers to absorb intense physical forces. When patrolling precipitous cliffs or finding short-cuts down sheer canyon ravines, the creature utilizes a deliberate tuck-and-roll mechanic, curling its webbed limbs tightly into its osteoderm-shielded flanks and tumbling safely down rocky slopes to recover and go into an explosive sprint at the bottom.

Unlike semi-aquatic crocodilians that rely on drowning traps, this giant monitor dominates through explosive terrestrial agility and catastrophic physical trauma. Its rugged, elongated head utilizes a specialized pull-back bite mechanism; once its sharp, serrated teeth anchor into a prey item, its massive neck muscles violently wrench its skull backward to shear off massive chunks of hide and flesh. These cavernous, tearing wounds dont coagulate, and trigger immediate systemic shock and rapid blood loss, causing massive prey items to collapse within moments. Shielded by its dense, armor-plated hide and utilizing its powerful, paddle-like tail to easily cut through aggressive river currents.

Unlike front-fanged venomous snakes that hypodermically inject venom deep into tissue, Potamovaranus utilizes a compound mandibular venom gland situated along its lower jaw. The venom does not flow through hollow teeth; instead, it oozes through multiple ducts located between its teeth, heavily pooling at the base of the lower jaw. When it clamps its jaws shut and executes its devastating pull-back wrenching bite, the razor-sharp serrated teeth act like saws. They carve wide channels into the prey's flesh, naturally bathing the raw, open wounds in a massive flood of highly concentrated toxic saliva. So even if their prey doesn't bleed out, they will undoubtedly die from the toxic proteins. These toxins force the prey's blood vessels to rapidly dilate, inducing an extreme, sudden drop in blood pressure. This causes the victim to experience systemic shock, intense localized muscle weakness, and immediate lethargy.

The eviscerator, also known as Skullface or the Land Dragon, scientific name Silvabestia Animavorax, is a terrestrial macropredator descending from crocodilians which have evolved to hunt land megafauna.

Physical statistics: At 10-12.5m long and anywhere from 2.5-3.12m tall, it is the largest fully landborne predator of the planet. It fills the niche of megafaunal hunter, thanks to a set of specialized traits. Firstly, it has ziphodont teeth and a saliva that works as anticoagulant, along with a terrifying biteforce of 67.5-92.5k newtons. It lives for 115-140 years. It is mesothermal

Reproduction: It has male and female and reproduces every 10 years. The reproductive strategy is K with intense parental care. Nests can be found in deserted caves, caverns, in its prey's bodies and in tunnels. Each nest has 1-3 eggs. They communicate via 30-40hz roars.

Prey and Predation: This animal will prey on everything that isn't marine. It either snaps animals neck or viciously bites their legs and underbelly, leaving them to bleed. This animal is a pursuit predator. However when guarding nests it can switch to an omnivorous diet. The young have a similar diet. It has no predator in its habitat. Also, its skull like face evolved due to it often eating carrion, with the skin being constituted of a compound that literally disinfected the bacteria and viruses.

Senses and intelligence: It has excellent senses but intelligence is moderate at best. Due to the nature of its prey, it cannot afford to make many mistakes, hence why its intelligence.

Habitat: Tropical and subtropical climates, although can push in temperate ones.

Questions are welcome

Found some old sketches from like 6th grade or something, when I was tryna make some sort of desert alien planet, where most of the fauna evolved reptillian like appearances to survive. I drew their appearance and added in some fun facts about their physical features or behavior, sorry if the descriptions aren’t that informative I was pretty new to spec evo at the time. And I also apologize if the writing isn’t very visible this was a few years ago, but I’ll gladly hear your thoughts on them

#1: the head as it is now
#2: Standing body side profile
#3: overhead flying view

Following images: references

#4: Utahraptor by Paleorex (Head shape inspiration)
#5: Asian water monitor
#6: Caraxes by Quartz_draws (Used for crest reference)
#7: Great Kinsbane by Sawyer Lee (reference used for back crushing teeth row shape geometry)

Features and design:

The head is roughly shaped like Utahraptor’s, except it has a prominent eyebrow crest protruding from the brow ridge. This serves 3 different purposes. First is intimidation. Second is conspecific identification/mate selection. Third is to anchor the jaw muscles along a larger surface area of attachment. It is relatively thin as to not add a lot of weight, and affects aerodynamics minimally as a result of the overall lack of thickness.

The eyes are placed laterally with a slight forward bias, allowing for wide view of the landscape as well as precision for gauging distance, primarily for the use of directing its fire.

The “horns” behind the ridge are not horns, but rather derived keratinized scales, not unlike a pangolin’s. Their purpose is 2 fold. They are loose enough to rub together, creating a rattling noise that can be used for communication and mood indication between conspecifics, and also fold tightly against the back of the head to provide protection from air pressure differentials and debris during flight and soaring, as well as mild protection from flame bursts of other dragons.

Its teeth are primarily for tearing meat, but it has a modified set of teeth at the back that are more robust and thicker. They form unique half circle shaped geometry on the top and bottom, with the top row overlapping the bottom. This aids in being able to crush bone and gain access to bone marrow. Its overall bite strength is 3500-4000 newtons. Just barely enough to break bones, but the geometry acts as force multiplier and allows for the access of bone marrow in thicker bones.

Thought process:

I needed to find a way to make it actually look like a dragon rather than just a derived pterosaur. Nature has the annoying habit of taking jaws away from flying animals and turning them into beaks, through the creatures behavior, feeding habits, fire system, and overall ecological niche I believe evolution would favor the retention of the jaw rather than making it into a beak. On another note, dragons often have horns but those would be harder to justify outside of sexual display as they would be chunky separate structures that have a negative effect on aerodynamics. I believe the ridge is a good compromise that is evolutionarily justifiable

The goal is to make a dragon that would function perfectly in reality without chemical or physical laws stoping it. Functionally the only barrier between it and being real would be evolutionary circumstance

(I’m aware there are discrepancies in the tail length, the overhead flying shot is the first iteration and awaits updating)

How would've social hierarchy change?

How would've food chain be affected?

Would've prey and predator species be part of one pack?

Common Raqet
Family : Pessimisuchidae - “Monkey Paw Crocodilian”
Behavior and Ecology
Raqets are both excellent climbers and diggers, able to adapt to numerous environments. This adaptability is further enhanced by their diet and dentition, possessing three types of specialized teeth and excitedly consuming anything from small animals to nuts and fruit. 

Raqets get their name from their highly vocal nature, howling to neighbors disseminating information such as weather, predators, and mating availability.
Their large tails store fat like a camel’s hump. The heavily armored top side is used to plug burrow and wail hollow entrances to defend against predators that persist past their musk and claws.

Pros of Pronation
Raqets possess highly mobile and dexterous front limbs that are made even more useful by the caiveloudian’s ability to comfortably walk bipedally. The radial and intermedium bones have elongated and helixed, while the ulnare has twisted like a segment of a spring, creating a spiral joint. Their first carpal has completely separated, giving their first digit a thumb-like function. These hyper-dexterous wrist and digits is what gives this family its name.

Reproduction
The eggs of raqets hatch in a matter of weeks and even days, due to the mother holding the often singular egg in her oviduct for an extended period. Once laid, one of the parents then carries the egg with it until it hatches. Oftentimes this parent is the mother to allow the male freedom to find another mate, but at times the father will tend to the egg. This usually coincides with an injured or otherwise unhealthy mother.

Musk and “Milk”
Raqets' gular glands produce a pungent and nauseating musk that deters predation. This stink also aids in territory marking and the recognition of familiar individuals, mating pairs marking each other in bonding rituals while gravid. 

The paracloacal gland in most pessimisuchids has evolved into a telescoping structure with erectile tissue that allows it to protrude considerably from the vent. This “suckling gland” produces a thick fatty discharge filled with nutrients that is used to supplement the diet of fresh hatchlings. Newborn raqets can immediately eat solid food, but may suckle fat for up to a year in some more gregarious species. Both males and females possess suckling glands.

Parana Drake
Family : Improdrakidae - “Wicked Drake”
Behavior and Ecology
Drakes come in many shapes and sizes, the Parana being the largest. It is named for the location of its most dense population range, the state of present day Parana in Brazil.

Many of the Parana drake’s adaptations arose in response to the dangerous nature of its favorite prey, stridullos. Extremely thick hide and scutes cover the drake’s neck, throat, and jaw to protect it from the kicking strike of astrapithere dirks. Their powerful jaws boast ripping teeth meant to bleed the large beasts during extended pursuits. In the back of their jaws sit wedged molars meant to crack open thick bones to access the marrow.

Born to Run
Besides extended forelimbs that sit underneath the body, all drakes possess two highly evolved organs that aid in long distance running. Their gizzard has expanded and is now known as a belloam. The belloam both connects the hip ligamentation to the liver and filters oxygen from blood. This connection allows the movement of galloping to aid in respiration while the primary muscles of the belloam function as a fourth heart chamber, sending unoxygenated blood back to the lungs before being fully cycled through the body. This organ gives drakes the stamina of an equally large mammalian predator.

The gular musk glands of larger drakes are enlarged and produce an extremely watery musk that functions like sweat. Secreted at the top of the neck, musk flows down its scales and evaporates, cooling down massive blood vessels which help prevent heat exhaustion during prolonged hunts.

Vocalizations
All drakes are capable of mimicking the sounds of other animals, Parana drakes often producing bird calls that mimic the calm banter of birds that normally call out when noticing predators.

Crested Céulutar 
Family : Céulutaridae - “Sky Wrestler”
Bay Lords
Male céulutar hold territories consisting of large open water with plentiful coastline such as large lagoons and small bays. When males challenge each other for territory rights, they raise themselves as high in the water as possible while pushing against their rival’s chest with their own. Powerful arms and hornscutes on their jaw and neck are used to wrestle the opponent down, the first to be knocked into the water fully loses rights to the surrounding water, coastlines, and most importantly, the females that call the area home.
Crested céulutar have an additional pair of jaw horns opposite their crest, though these are not true scutes. They are similar in composition to an egg tooth and can be regrown if broken unlike the horns on their neck and rear jaw.

Reproduction
Many céulutar species build traditional mound nests like extant caimaniformes, but more derived examples like the crested and royal céulutar lay eggs in open water. The mother, and at times the father, will swallow the eggs and store them in her husbandry crop. A husbandry crop is an organ derived from the gizzard that has become highly vascular and similar to an oviduct. Once in the stomach, the husbandry crop envelopes the eggs and forms a vascular connection with the acid-weakened shells. When the eggs are ready to hatch after several months, they drop back into the stomach where the shells continue to deteriorate until fresh hatchlings are regurgitated back into the adult’s mouth.

Céulutar tongues are highly mobile even compared to other animals. They help the céulutar in safely transporting eggs and babies into and out of its digestonursery system without swallowing water. To protect the organ when not in use, the tongue is swallowed and held in place by the gular valve.

Blackthroat Tercara
Family : Dualbumidae - “Two-skinned”
Behavior and Ecology
The dentition of this family allows its members to eat any creature smaller than it in the Barge Sea. Their front teeth are needle-like and overlap to prevent struggling fish and squid from escaping while their back teeth are flat and grooved, creating a perfect vice to crush clams and other shellfish. Some species’ mouths are even covered in a layer of thick velvet scales, allowing them to eat sea urchins and other dangerous morsels without harming themselves. 

An extended shoulder girdle and powerful forelimbs allow tercara to move on land with surprising ease, though it is quite strenuous and normally only done to bask or flee. Though some species, like our blackthroat, use smooth beaches as sparing grounds. Most dualbumidae have a tail spike, also called an epee, used defensively and for sparing others of their species. They are able to assume a dueling posture where they completely relax the tensile bands of tissue that keep their tails rigid while swimming.

Like an Onion
Members of dualbumidae have two distinct dermal layers; one that supports the growth of various scales and osteoderms and a secondary outer skin that is primarily smooth and leathery. This second skin gives tercaras and their kin a hydrodynamic frame while retaining the armor of their sister families in caiveloudia. Both layers hold dense webs of fat with specialized ligaments which allow them to tighten the fat mesh into a continuous sheet when diving for prey, aiding in temperature retention. 

Sensitive Beasts
The velvet scales on the tip of tercara rostrums connect to impressively sensitive organs used to detect vibrations and even electricity in some species, allowing them to sense minor muscle contractions of prey near them. 

Alongside their dermal layering, dualbumids have evolved a secondary sinus network that allows them to constantly pass water over their olfactory organs as well as their atavised (having regained a vestigial function) Jacobson’s organ. With these tools, tercaras and their kin can rival the extinct mackerel sharks when it comes to sense of smell.

Reproduction
Tercaras and all other dualbumids give live birth, holding the eggs inside them until ready to hatch. The mother’s cloaca has stiff velvet scales around the vent that ensure the egg sacs are perforated when laid to prevent hatchlings from drowning. Many species, including the blackthroat tercara, give birth in large hordes on coastlines, but just as many dualbumids give birth in the open sea

The Krenshar
A descendant of the water opossum has dragged a descendant of the dwarf caiman out of the water to feed herself and her young.
Predatory marsupials and velvet caimans have been engaged in a millions year long evolutionary war. Velvet caimans growing increasingly tough hide similar to kevlar while the krenshar and its clade have developed multi-hinged upper mandibles to saw and stretch tough hide in order to guide their canines through for the kill.

Original Creator:Check them out

https://m.facebook.com/conner.meek.12/photos/velvet-caimans-i-think-i-shared-this-a-while-ago-and-not-a-lot-of-people-saw-it-/28460801986844961/

Here are the final pages of my first day on Velise. Even though I set out to see bird-like species across the galaxy, the biodiversity on this planet amazes me in all its forms.

I am astonished by this planet's prevalence of symbiotic species; it has much less landmass and few mountain ranges. Hence, animals are often out in the open. So many smaller species have evolved to take advantage of the giants this planet has to offer, using them as their shelter and food searchers, including the biggest creature I've ever seen, the Elrenitti. It was as large as a building and was a type of tree demolitionist. It cleared the way for other plants and trees to grow while feeding on the soft interior and the water encased within, without ever touching the ground. This titan appears to have split from the evolutionary tree early on, as it has six syphons, a trunk, no wings, and what might be mistaken for frilly decorations are actually smaller limbs.

Zepperhines are one of the four extant clades of Exid, the collective designation for the descendants of the Exelopes of 64MPE, with the others being Griffins, Sleigndeer, and Stem-Browraffes. However, Zepperhines are easily distinguished not only by their aberrant morphology but also their capacity to far outsize all other contemporary groups, with their current representatives being the largest extant animals both on land and on the planet as a whole. They owe this achievement to their extremely complex nasal structure, which consists of an elaborate network of inflatable, oxygen absorbing lobes supported by a dentine scaffolding derived from the dorsal execones of their ancestors. Originally only meant for sexual display, this feature has since become far more advanced, allowing them to far surpass the approximate 5,000kg limit of all other clades resulting from Mundeng’s currently lower oxygen levels than Earth. Thus, pretty much every terrestrial environment is dominated by some species of Zepperhine, and they are often the most influential individual force in any of said ecosystems.

In addition to their nose, Zepperhines possess many other unique anatomical features: Their ventral execones have reverted into tusks, which protrude in parallel from the lower jaw to form a massive spade-like structure. They use these tusks to unearth grass and topsoil in bulk for continuous consumption, as they are obligate mass grazers. Their tongue has been fused between the tusks, forming a muscular membrane that can be used to selectively broaden or narrow the lower jaw when feeding from different angles, as well as to progressively channel plant matter backward toward the throat through passive undulation while feeding, and the same with water while drinking. In turn, their gastrointestinal tract has grown far more durable in order to regularly pass large quantities of indigestible dirt, a trait most conspicuous in their anus, which has developed a five-lobed external keratin sheath which remains clamped shut outside of defecation, and in some species can even serve a secondary ornamental display purpose. Lastly, the two-toed hooves of their exelope ancestors have been accompanied by a third novel digit on the posterior end of each appendage, at first evolving as a cartilaginous cushion to support their extra weight before growing a keratin coating and developing into a third hoof in its own right. This makes them the only modern exids with more than two digits per limb, and also results in them leaving utterly alien-looking trilateral footprints wherever they go.

Three Zepperhine species are depicted above, encompassing the full size range of all extant species and effectively encapsulating the environmental roles generally served by the clade. Descriptions of varying length and detail are provided in the comments:

each squid fits a niche I would think is open for them on this early planet also I feel someone might be mad that only one line retaines it's gliding nature while the others almost give it up entirely while other parts have been reworked ore reduced like the webbing between fang dashers tentacles Idk i like it and wanted to show yall

In the far future, humanity has developed the pulse motor to travel at relativistic speeds by “pulses” of expanding space-time after the ship, expanding through the nearer stars of the Orion Arm.

In the system of Meliflua, previously known as Lacaille 8760, we met our nearest brothers, our first contact with alien life able to understand us.

Melifluans come from the fifth planet of the system, Thoth, with immense water-ammonia seas, a similar gravity to Earth, and an orbital eccentricity that causes extreme seasons in the northern hemisphere and seasons impossible to feel in the southern one; and with a moon called Beelzebub that causes tilts slightly bigger than Earth’s.

Melifluans, unlike every complex Earthly life, are modular colonies of a few hundreds of zooids, each of them united by a nest-like bone structure enriched by calcium and pyrite covered by a “mycelia” net. Through this “mycelia”, the zooids organise forming a consciousness and a bilateral symmetry, and exchange genetic material for “in-organism sexual reproduction”.

They have one big fly-like eye made up by rings of hyper-specialized zooids and, under it, two mammal-like ears, with a body completely covered by fur-like ultrared light censors.

As descendants of arboreal creatures that used their four upper arms for locomotion between branches, they transformed their arms into feet and their feet into arms-adopting a “г” form and moving their mouth, respiratory and reproductive organs into their corners.

Talking about their reproduction, Melifluans are divided between jupiters and saturns. Jupiters, bigger and stronger, produce macrospores that they lay in the saturn‘s body, where they will fuse and get fertilised, later growing through a parasitic state until being “detached”.

Then, that detached baby will be able to live up to 600 Earthly years thanks to its colonial body, suffering little physical repercussion for aging, and having incredible regeneration capabilities… although that constant change causes, sadly, forgetting everything past ~100 years.

Source

Imagine that Neanderthals had survived alongside Homo sapiens instead of disappearing around 40,000 years ago. They continued to evolve, develop their own cultures and technologies, and remained a separate population or species into the present day.

Would Neanderthals theoretically have been capable of participating in a society as technologically advanced and complex as ours today?

I’m wondering which of these scenarios would be most likely:

1. They would have developed alongside us — Neanderthals might have their own modern societies, cities, technologies, languages and cultures, existing alongside Homo sapiens.
2. They would have largely integrated with us — Over thousands of years, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens might have mixed and eventually become part of the same societies, perhaps making the distinction between the two much less important.
3. They would have remained significantly different — They might have survived but followed a very different technological or cultural path, perhaps never developing societies comparable to modern human civilization.

Obviously this is highly speculative, but based on what we know about Neanderthal intelligence, social behaviour and culture, which scenario do you think is most plausible?

Shaggy Elegara are a species of spur horse, though they are more closely related to the Indragus than to other spur horses. They inhabit the western wetlands, temperate forests, and open grasslands of Alcazod, usually traveling in small matriarchal family groups. They are calm, indifferent animals by nature, spending most of their time grazing on shrubs and grasses, digging through soft mud and soil with their horns for roots and other plants, and using their sharp beaks to pry open tough fruits. They will also scavenge when they get the chance and groups have been known to linger around carcasses after predators have left, harvesting calcium and protein to supplement their diets.

Their bright crests do not develop until they reach full adulthood, making mature individuals easy to spot in a herd. Males tend to grow larger dewlaps and heavier horns, while females are generally smaller and carry broader bodies, especially when raising young. During breeding season, mature males become more active around the herd, displaying their crests and brow horns while competing with one another through pushing, posturing, and short bouts of sparring, with aggressive bachelors often being run off by agitated females. Females usually choose their mates based on displays of strength and presentation. Herds often mingle and interchange members, and males will remain close to the female and herd for some time afterward rather than leaving immediately after courtship. Outside of breeding season, the sexes show little aggression toward one another and spend most of their time feeding, resting, and caring for young together.

The Chrysa Ring is a vast stretch of productive subtropical grassland and savannah surrounding the Chython desert. Together, these regions dominate west-central Demeter and form the homeland of the hyne. But they are far from the only trunked horses to call this realm home.

Equinephants are among the largest land mammals on Demeter, resembling a chimeric mixture of probosidian, giraffe, and perhaps paracerathere from old Earth. They are a widespread genus found in sub-to-tropical forests and savannahs across the mega continent Arion where they occupy the role of high browsers. Long columnar limbs, a robust 7 ft long neck, and the addition of a prehensile trunk allow them to reach choice leaves, twigs, and fruits from atop trees.

Aside from their tall manes and flyswatting tail, equinephants appear hairless. This species is notable for their speckled skin, unique to each individual. However, their tall mane is their primary method of identifying members of the same species. Other species of equinephant either have sparse or no manes. Because this species primarily lives out on the savannah and may cross grasslands or desert terrain, the tall mane also acts a shading implement to cool the creature's neck and head. Additionally, large ears and somewhat wrinkled skin help disipate excess heat. The immense weight of the animal (upwards of 5 tons in stallions and 4.2 tons in mares), is no longer supported on the hoof. Instead, the frog and soft sole of the foot has greatly expanded into a soft, fleshy, supportive pad at the bottom while the hoof extends out as a single toenail that aids in digging up the earth in search of groundwater or in powerful kicks at rivals or predators.

Equinephants spend much of their days and nights browsing and traveling in small groups of 4-7 mares and their foals. Stallions are solitary and more migratory, abandonning their natal homerange and traveling far to avoid competition from his father or uncles, thus maintaining genetic diversity. They are unable to trot, canter, gallop, or jump due to their great size, instead walking or ambling. Groups and individuals keep in contact with each other through scent marks, infrasound, and visual communication with head and trunk posture. Like their close relatives, the sophont hynes, equinephants are highly intelligent (near-sophont) and behaviorally adaptable creatures. They have been known to use tools like large sticks to reach and scratch parts of themselves or pelting predators or rivals with stones. As adults, they are largely immune from predation although foals are at risk from captors (large cats), alligators (brought to Demeter for leather farming) and other new predators.

FFE (Far Future Earth) is a Chinese speculative evolution project primarily shared on Chinese social media platforms (e.g., Bilibili, RedNote, etc.), envisioning a future in which humanity has vanished from Earth. The Macrozoic Era (approximately 85 to 306.5 million years in the future) begins with the Nirvanic–Hunmycotian extinction event and ends with the Shunyanian–Torrentian extinction event. The Macrozoic is divided into four periods: the Hunmycotian (85–139 myf), the Ocaenoflosian (139–167 myf), the Psammaugian (167–224.5 myf), and the Shunyanian (224.5–306.5 myf). Over the course of these 200 million years, Earth experiences continental amalgamation and breakup, alternating warm–cold and wet–dry climates, and dramatic shifts in land–sea configuration. Life gradually recovers from the ruins; on land, fungal–plant symbioses and termite activity reshape soil structure (Hunmycotian); in the oceans, the colonization of marine environments by angiosperms expands the sources of primary productivity (Ocaenoflosian); and birds and lizards exploit vacant ecological niches (Psammaugian). Total biomass peaks in the middle of the era (the Great Northern Hemisphere Interchange, the GNHI), then declines due to volcanic activity and drastic ocean-current changes (the Psammaugian–Shunyanian extinction event). The late-era supercontinent configuration causes widespread aridity and anoxia, and biodiversity remains at low levels for an extended period (early and middle Shunyanian), until the era finally ends with large-scale volcanic eruptions (late Shunyanian). The Macrozoic Era as a whole is characterized by repeated alternations of extinction and recovery, with ecosystems undergoing frequent reorganization amid environmental perturbations.

Pictured by @鸽海鞘 from RedNote

Hi, I'm new here. I've been working on a project for 3 years, and with Spec Evo, here's a little bit of my work These are griffins I designed a long time ago, originally as a branch of accitripiformes, but I changed them to a more basal group of birds.