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.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Family of the Week: The Metazoic Tapirs

At first, this family, Articulostiidae, was almost directly inspired by the eeopie from Star Wars. But I trashed that and instead made these descendants of the tapir more like the prehistoric Macrauchenia from Walking With Prehistoric Beasts. For the most part, these animals also resemble a cross between the tapir, a horse, and a llama. They have large eyes and a long, flexible proboscis, as seen in modern tapirs. The body is more streamlined than those of tapirs though. The legs are longer, much more like in llamas. The neck is long and slender. The ears are small and round. The tails are either really short or non-existent. In one species however, Hippotapirus longicaudatus, the tail is longer and tipped with a tassel, as seen in giraffes. The feet are like those of tapirs though, only more slenderly built. The fur is soft and thick, though not as long as it is in the llamas. But rather short and lies smooth like in camels.

These animals live in herds. The herds usually number up to 20 individuals. They are active during the day. They are vegetarians, feeding on grass mostly, leaves, berries and any other types of vegetation in thier range. Some species even wade in the water for the lucious aquatic plants. Though this is not a common act for them. Most of these species live in the New World, particularly in North America, and some in northern South America. There really are no smaller and larger species, the smallest species is perhaps Hippotapirus floridanus, which stands about 3 feet tall. The largest species stands about 6 feet tall. It is the species Articulostium cameloides. But basically all have much the same body structure and much the same lifestyle.

They are fast animals, capable of reaching speeds of 50 mph easily. This is for good reason. Mongooses and foxes all would love to prey on these animals. They may also fall victim to large snakes, alligators, and even Berofelids. I am as of lately, working on an offshoot family for this group that will exist into 50 million years AM. I will be posting about this "new family" when I can. My time with this computer is running out though, so count on it being a while.

8 comments:

Metalraptor said...

Wait, are these actual descendants of the tapir, or from some other animal that evolved into a tapir-like form?

Dee TimmyHutchFan said...

I made them actual descendants of the tapir.

Anonymous said...

What are barofelids? I thought you had cats go extinct.

Dee TimmyHutchFan said...

I know it. Berofelids are an offshoot family of the felidae that Metalraptor had been working on and is letting me use.

Metalraptor said...

Think of a tiger crossbred with an oxyena crossbred with an arctodus, and you'll come pretty close. Just one note, its Barofelidae, for baro- means large or heavy in Greek.

Dee TimmyHutchFan said...

Shoot! I keep forgetting that!!! OK, BAROfelids! LOL! Funny I keep forgetting that, because I have a family of BARAdapids. It basically means the same.

Anonymous said...

You could always make the tapimuses primitive Metazoic tapirs, ones that continued into a forest-dwelling existence, developing tusks on the upper and lower jaw to spar for mates and sift through leaf litter.

Dee TimmyHutchFan said...

That's true, I can. It's a good idea.