Dixon's book After Man actually portends that rats will become predatory giants. I agree with it. Rats are very successful rodents. There is no doubt in my mind that a rat could become a predatory animal. I don't agree with everything about the creatures Dixon created. He still drew rats with long, naked tails, like they have today. I highly doubt they will still have the naked tails. That's how all mammals started out, and today, the only mammals that have that feature are the smallest of their kind. So I don't think rats will always have the naked tails. I place these rats in my checklist under the family Caromuridae. I myself have not yet worked on this family, but there is a place for it on my Metazoic site once I decide to work on it.
Anyway, Dixon's idea is that these rats will evolve modified incisors to resemble the canines of modern predators. It could very well happen. One thing that has people today stumped is that rodents have incisors that continue to grow, making the development of these modified incisors impossible. I figured a solution to that problem as well. I figure that these rats will have incisors that continue to develop inside, much like what sharks have or lizards, and when one tooth falls out or is kicked out, a new one will grow back in it's place, fully-formed, and ready to kill again. No other mammal has this feature, and rats would be the most likely to develop this, giving them a great advantage over other predatory mammals, who are so designed that when they lose teeth, they stay gone forever. Rats have a powerful bite as well, several times more powerful than the bite of a lion. Imagine the bite force of a 6-foot long rat like Amphimorphodus (pictured to the left of this article). It's mouth can open wide and grab an unfortunate prey animal like a rabbuck or one of the therapeds and bring it down nicely. Again, I don't agree that predatory rats will have the rat-like tails that Dixon pictured here. In my book, Amphimorphodus has a long, hairy tail like a tiger or a leopard. Rats won't always have naked tails, that's the beauty of evolution.
The beauty of rodents is that they can regrow their incisors at a fast rate, so any that fall out will never be missed. It would not really take much to evolve this feature, and this would make rats the perfect predators. In my book, different species evolve different shaped incisors. This species, Amphimorphodus, has incisors specially designed to puncture the jugular and suffocate their prey, just like a modern lion. Another species like Caromus, has circular-shaped incisors to crush bone, not exactly designed for piercing, but for plain crushing. It's helpful in breaking the spine of their prey, paralyzing it to be fresh when eaten. Well, those are just the 2 main types. But that is how I picture these carnivorous rats to be designed in the future.
1 comment:
I personally think that if rats do evolve into predators, thet their dentition will most likely resemble that of the Thylacoleo (Marsupial Lion). There wouldn't be much of a modification on the basic design of the teeth, and it would still tear into you (squirrels use their incisors to kill birds, and on one occasion, a dog). Perhaps one set of molars could develop into "canines" in addition. Dixon's design is therefore unnecessary.
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