A Wild Future of Evolution?
A series to fuel the imagination:
The Future is Wild
Mankind has gone from the Earth, leaving an impoverished planet. The mammals are reduced in variety; all whales and dolphins extinct. Global warming is over. Life continues to evolve. So what might appear?
5 Million years in the future, the final ice age is in progress. Unfamiliar descendents of common mammals battle for existence on the ice sheets. In the grasslands and deserts elsewhere advanced monkeys are preyed on by packs of killer birds. Subterranean descendants of the grouse build nests like ants. Other birds have taken the place of whales and dolphins.
In 100 million years tortoises bigger than dinosaurs roam vast swamps. Amphibious cephalopods raise their young in groups. Algae are the reef-producers, replacing the long extinct corals. The last mammal species is farmed by spiders.
In 200 million years after a mass extinction crustacean larvae have replaced almost all the fish. The remaining fish have taken to the air, filling the niche left by birds. The crustaceans are fed on by vast intelligent squid which in turn are hunted by packs of communicating sharks. In the huge wet forests filled with tree-sized lichens elephantine land-squid thrive on fruit. And, in the trees, swinging from branch to branch, a large-brained tree squid teaches its young how to play, and the first signs of "Squid sapiens" can be seen.
Enjoy:
Videos
The Future is Wild
Mankind has gone from the Earth, leaving an impoverished planet. The mammals are reduced in variety; all whales and dolphins extinct. Global warming is over. Life continues to evolve. So what might appear?
5 Million years in the future, the final ice age is in progress. Unfamiliar descendents of common mammals battle for existence on the ice sheets. In the grasslands and deserts elsewhere advanced monkeys are preyed on by packs of killer birds. Subterranean descendants of the grouse build nests like ants. Other birds have taken the place of whales and dolphins.
In 100 million years tortoises bigger than dinosaurs roam vast swamps. Amphibious cephalopods raise their young in groups. Algae are the reef-producers, replacing the long extinct corals. The last mammal species is farmed by spiders.
In 200 million years after a mass extinction crustacean larvae have replaced almost all the fish. The remaining fish have taken to the air, filling the niche left by birds. The crustaceans are fed on by vast intelligent squid which in turn are hunted by packs of communicating sharks. In the huge wet forests filled with tree-sized lichens elephantine land-squid thrive on fruit. And, in the trees, swinging from branch to branch, a large-brained tree squid teaches its young how to play, and the first signs of "Squid sapiens" can be seen.
Enjoy:
Videos