I Said It In The Notes On The Last Post But I’m Gonna Say It Again.

The Late Rodentocene: 20 million years post-establishment

Island, You Land, We All Land: The Centralis Archipelago

In between the narrow strait separating the continents of Nodera and Easaterra lies a small group of five islands, that have been separated from the northeast peninsula of Easaterra for only 500,000 years. And yet in this in this relatively short span of time life has evolved in strange ways in these secluded islands: as islands in isolation become hotspots for unusual routes of evolution, and the Centralis Archipelago is no exception.

No other example illustrates this better than the badgebears of Isla Maslum, the largest and most northernmost of the islands that unlike the others was once part of the Noderan mainland. On the scrubland of southern Nodera lives the common striped badgebear (Badja badja badja), a lapdog-sized omnivorous ferrat that feeds on a wide range of available food. However, in the forests of Isla Maslum, lives a different subspecies: the insular striped badgebear (Badja badja maslum), still technically the same species as its mainland relative. However, the differences are obvious: the insular subspecies is at least three times as big as the mainland one, and is entirely herbivorous, feeding on fruit, seeds, and low-lying vegetation that grows in abundance close to the forest floor. In the absence of competition, the insular striped badgebear has filled an entirely new niche, despite otherwise still closely resembling its mainland subspecies in nearly every other respect save for size and diet.

Isla Maslum is also home to grazing hamtelopes, most notably a close relative of the rusty hamtelope, the painted hamtelope (Erythrocervimys piniata maslum). Free of competition from large grazing jerryboas the painted hamtelope is free to conquer the open grasslands of the eastern side of the island. Its conspicuous bright coloration is used in social signaling, with the lack of predators making camouflage less necessary.

Meanwhile, on the other islands live very unusual forms of ratbats, which spend most of their time hunting on the ground and only rarely and clumsily taking flight. It has not been long since the ratbats first evolved flight, and yet here in these islands some are already on their path to flightlessness. Having flown to these islands only 100,000 years ago, they quickly filled the niche of ground predator at the expense of their flying capabilities, and are now, for all intents and purposes, now confined to this isolated ecosystem.

On Isla Vodum lives the ground foxbat (Nyctovulpes kitsuni vodum), a Labrador-sized omnivore that forages on the forest floor for small rodents, insects, fruit and berries. Still capable of short bursts of flight to ascend trees, it is now by no means a significant flyer, unlike its relatives on the Easaterran mainland, which, as with the badgebears, are technically the same species, but now in a subspecies behaviorally different from its still-extant forebearers.

Meanwhile on Isla Dolum lives another insular ratbat, that has independently began losing its flight as well. Known as the Dolumian catratbat (Nyctoailurus felinoides dolum), this tiny carnivore is about as big as a small housecat, and is an avid predator of the numerous abundant furbils and duskmice that are endemic and plentiful on the island. Hunting its prey on the ground, it has almost all but lost its ability to fly: an unnecessary expenditure whose energy is better spent toward better running, after its grounded quarry.

However, despite these unique adaptations that they have developed, the endemic fauna of the Centralis Archipelago have essentially backed themselves into a spot of trouble. Evolving in isolation, they have lost many of their abilities to deal with competitors: and should the islands reconnect with the mainland in the distant future, these strange new pioneers may struggle in the face of new adversity: forced to adapt, or go extinct trying.

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I cast Summon Kidney Stone

I have long wanted my tumblr to be free of politics and focus on creative things I love. But I just can't keep my anger and fear under wraps anymore. I'm saving most of my divisive commentary for discord and still straying from most subjects (including my beliefs about the current war), but I'm not going to be silent anymore about how the hate affects me as an Israeli Jew who was raised in and still lives in the United States.

open family and abuse

Guys, please be aware that there are some people in the consanguinamory community or on incest forums who might throw around words like “open family” as code for abusive behaviours involving the abuse of minors. Grooming is abuse. The concept of “open family” often implies grooming, whether these people admit it or not. This topic needs to be addressed sometime more properly, but for now, please be aware. Open family is a code word used by these very sick individuals, just like the term “MAP”.

Consanguinamory allies do not support grooming.

Nēnē (Branta sandvicensis)

© Melanie Barnett

I feel like maybe starting a blog again I want to write in depth posts about topics with full html support And I also want to talk politics in a public space without all the problems of talking politics on social media. Especially I want to keep my tumblr account mostly non-political.

Also first time posting in months Again. Or even checking tumblr. But this is my only social network now (stopped using twitter even before the fiascos with Musk) and I kind of miss having that. But I also find myself with a lack of anything to share. Life has been pretty boring in most non-political regards.

The Late Rodentocene: 20 million years post-establishment

The Map and World of the Late Rodentocene

The Late Rodentocene, 20 million years PE, is a world that geologically speaking has changed very little from the time the hamsters first arrived, save for the rise and fall of the sea levels due to the glaciation of the northern and southern ice caps, which in turn repeatedly exposed and submerged land bridges that allowed hamsters to migrate across continents only to later be isolated from their relatives, to diverge genetically and become a new species.

The climate of the Late Rodentocene is temperate and humid, and conducive to the growth of a wide array of biomes across its six primary continents: small Borealia in the north, Easaterra and Nodera south and east of Borealia, temperate Westerna and tropical Ecatoria across the expanse of the Centralic Ocean, and the oddly-shaped Peninsulaustra at the south of the Centralic. For a brief period spanning a few thousand years, they were all connected when the sea level dropped, bridging them all to Isla Genesis (highlighted in orange), the experimental island where hamsters were first released as test subjects in a secluded environment.

With the land bridges long since sunk, however, the continents have been cut off from one another and in their separation have developed their own unique flora and fauna, such as Peninsulaustra becoming an frigid tundra home to species adapted to the cold, and Borealia, with only a few species making it across the land bridge before it flooded over, now being a thriving hotspot for endemic species found nowhere else on the planet.

The seas are also thriving as of the Late Rodentocene: while no hamsters have colonized it, at least just yet, the warm waters are flourishing with reefs and algae forests that grow with tremendous jungles of kelp that form their own biome from small organisms that take shelter in them. Most conspicuously, however, are the lack of fish: and in the absence of the dominant marine vertebrates of Earth, strange new clades have evolved in the briny depths, to fill the gaps left vacant.

The era is a time of stability: for the next tens of millions of years, the clime and tectonics will change little and the biomes will remain habitable and little-changing. But while the world itself stagnates, its creatures do not -- and this era will be their first big hurrah, as the planet's dominant clade.

Technically true.

Fresh Waffles and knock knock wildelifecomic.com