Welcome to my Metazoic site! This site discusses the existence of the creatures to come along after humans will be extinct. I first became interested in a world after man when I acquired my first copy of Dougal Dixon's After Man: A Zoology of the Future in 1992. However, I unwittingly created creatures that did not exist from the time I was about 8 years old. But it was after I obtained a copy of that book (now a collector's item) that I decided to take these same creatures I created as a child and make them more realistic in an evolutionary sense. Though it may be hard for a lot of us to grasp, humans will soon become extinct. One of the biggest factors of how this will happen is the current overpopulation rate. Which is why I don't contribute to the population. I created this world with little more than mammals fulfilling all ecological niches with the help of some friends. I even gave the era of the age after man a name, I called it the Metazoic, derived from the words for "After-era" (Meta, meaning after, and zoic meaning era). We are now in the Cenozoic era. To view all the animals I have created since I began this project, you can go to the "Meet the Mammals" section of this site. To discuss your own ideas about what you think will happen in the future world, and share your ideas with others, please feel free to leave a comment.
One more thing, some of you may find this site quite offensive, and you have a right to your own opinion. But please respect my right to have an opinion too. I'm not saying there is no GOD, I believe it was HIM who got the ball rolling. But I believe after that, evolution took over. There is so much more evidence of evolution than there is of creation. Even that going on right under our noses. Other than that, enjoy yourself and visit our many links.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Cool Video!

Alan Root had a remarkable encounter with what was perhaps the World's rarest carnivore. His films are always quite good, but here, he struck diamonds!! He filmed a highly elusive aquatic genet, or Osbornictis piscivora. It is the rarest carnivore on Earth. In the 80s, it was believed there were no more than 18 individuals in the wild, and no captive animals remain. Nobody knows how many are in the wild now, which is why it is so amazing he was able to capture this footage of a genet on the hunt.

Aquatic genets are rather unique. They hate the water, but that is where they get all their prey from. If they can survive longer, it wouldn't be too big of a leap for these animals to develop fully-aquatic lifestyles. Very few feliformes actually like the water. In fact the only feliformes that are to any degree aquatic are in the mongoose and civet family (Viverridae). All others of their kind are land-based. This is the animal that gave me the idea of a fully-aquatic viverrid of the late Metazoic. I called the animal Thalassogenetta (formerly Hydrogenetta), of the Atlantic. It is a 50-foot long, very powerful animal with a long, oar-shaped tail, and limbs that more resembles flippers. The mouth is huge and the teeth are made for crushing and are very sharp, powered by jaws more powerful than those of a crocodile. Their prey consists of fish, cephalopods, crabs, smaller aquatic prosimians like Oreolemur and Rhynchocebus, and especially sea turtles. But for now, the aquatic genet feeds on fish and frogs.

If you'd like to see Thalassogenetta, you can visit their page on my site HERE. Thalassogenetta also will have a similar cousin on the Pacific side of their range, Oceictis. This animal will be a lot more advanced than Thalassogenetta, all limbs will be reduced to flippers, and the tail will be flattened sideways, giving them a side-to-side swimming motion, much like eels.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this video. I actually was privileged to stay at Alan Root's compound at Epulu Zaire back in '93. He had two aquatic civets in cages out back an a little baby one as a pet indoors. I believe he must've filmed them in his studio on site there soon after I left the area - this must be the result. A real treat, thanks again.
Casey Gibbons
caseygibbons@hotmail.com

Dee TimmyHutchFan said...

Wow, I bet it was awesome to see those little guys. Thanks for sharing that Casey.