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.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

RIP-OFF!!!!

Hm. It seems that I have been accused by someone of shamelessly ripping off Dixon’s creatures from After Man. LOL! Well, that is something that I have openly admitted to since the beginning. I really do not care what this person says or thinks, but I thought it would make for an interesting topic to put on this blog. I thought that I would look at some of the critters on my site that were indeed directly inspired by the creatures presented in After Man. Some I altered a touch, some that I felt were fine the way they are I didn’t need to alter at all. Some I altered completely. So, let’s look at them all, shall we?

Castosarchus - a carnivorous ape referred in After Man as “Phobocebus”, and I kept that name at the beginning. At first I thought it was a good idea to give the animal scaly feet pads for more traction and faster running. But then I tossed that idea, and just made it a slender ape with nude feet pads. There are 2 species on my checklist of Castosarchus. One was the one presented in Dixon’s book, the other is one that I thought up myself that lacks the spiral markings on the body and dark mane, and instead is a solid tawny color of the grass. Including the face.

Anabracchium - Presented in After Man as a bipedal rodent. In my checklist and my site, it is an armless theraped. I took what was originally meant to be a rodent and made it an ungulate. I didn’t change it much because I liked it’s streamlined design. I only changed the color to match the red sediment of it’s home land.

Ophiuchus - a squirrel that was presented in After Man as Ophicaudatus. I didn’t like that for a genus name, so I named it “Ophiuchus”. It has a tail that resembles a predatory snake that scares off birds and predatory bats. One species was presented in Dixon’s book. But my checklist has 2 species. The other species has a long body like a python, and even the same markings we typically see in pythons. And when a bird or bat attacks, it lays flat and curls up on a branch in a very snake-like fashion.

Amphimorphodus - a predatory rat which has several species presented in After Man. Of the 3 species of Amphimorphodus listed on my checklist, one was my own creation. I altered them a bit, instead of the rat-like tail Dixon gave them, I made the tails more like those seen in cats. They were the inspiration for the entire carnivorous rat family, which Metalraptor and I worked on and instead of making them rat descendants, made them descendants of dormice. Other genera taken for the Caromuridae family that I got from After Man were: Smilomys--no changes made, Vulpemys--no changes made, Scinderidens--no changes made, Thalassomus--no changes made, Viverinus--also no changes were made. But in between those, the species I created entirely by myself were Caromus, Procyonomys, Sarchophagomys, Lophogomphus, Cynoformis, Coelicticus, Megaloraptor, Monarchomys, Ailurotheria, Compsomys, Dryptomus, and Ravennia. So that’s a total of 18 genera. Only 6 of which were not my own creation. That is less than half.

Thylapithecidae - A small family of only 2 genera and 2 species, both of which were presented in After Man. No changes were made.

Carnopapio - A large, bipedal baboon presented in After Man. I kept the name and most of the concept, but I made them look a lot less dinosaur-like. There are 3 species, created by Dixon, but altered a bit by me. Not only did I make them look more monkey-like, but I also gave them naked heads for probing into the carcasses of dead animals.

Alesimia - A gliding monkey presented in After Man. My checklist has 3 species, only one was presented in After Man. I didn’t make many changes to the animal other than adding 2 more species. Another change I made was to give them claws to grip the bark when they make a landing.

Saevitia - Presented in After Man as the last of the felines. However I made it a monkey. It seemed better to make this brachiating, meat-eating, primate-like animal a true monkey than to say cats will evolve hands and feet for grasping and moving around like a gibbon. There was only one genus and one species of this monkey.

Araneapithecus - A small, round-bodied monkey presented in After Man. I didn’t make any changes. There is only one genus and one species in the book and on my list.

Natopithecus - Originally presented in After Man as a tailless, swimming monkey. I made quite a few changes though from the animal presented in the book. I gave them a flat, beaver-like tail. I also shortened their arms and legs, I put the eyes, ears and nostrils on top of the head like a hippo. There was only one species mentioned in After Man, but I added another species that differs by having long, thick whiskers.

Formicederus - Originally presented in After Man as an ant-eating hog. It inspired the entire ant-hog family Formicederidae. In my checklist, there are 5 genera and 14 species. Of these 14 species only 2 were created by Dixon. One was in this genus and the other was in the genus Procerosus. The rest were my own creations.

Myrmevenarius - the swimming anteater, presented in After Man for sure. I didn’t change anything and I thought it was too good of a species to just throw away. Along with it, I created a species of ant that makes it’s home in the reed beds, with paddle-shaped feet for swimming.

Cursomys - Also presented in After Man. It was presented as a large, bipedal rodent. However, in my list, I presented it as a theraped. Not many changes other than that were made to this animal.

Ungulagidae - Like the predatory rats, these were presented in After Man as descendants of modern rabbits and hares. They are deer-like animals. I changed the order name at Metalraptor’s suggestion to Lagomerycoidea. My checklist lists 10 genera and 18 species. Of those 18 species, 11 were presented in After Man. The rest are my own creations. I didn’t change much. Just added a few species of my own.

Silfrangerus - Presented in After Man as a large, bulky kangaroo. I took it and altered it a little. I made it a quadrupedal kangaroo. Aside from that, I did not change much.

Tapimus - A rodent presented in After Man as a tapir replacement. At first I was going to make this an antelope (Tapimimus), but I decided against it. South America needed a replacement for the tapir. I still have Tapimimus as a small antelope, but I also have this rodent. One species was presented in After Man. But my checklist lists 3 species under Tapimus.

Thylasus - Presented in After Man as a descendant of the bandicoots. I thought that was a great idea, so I kept it. I didn’t change much, but I also made deer-like descendants of bandicoots that are all my own creation. The Thylogazellidae. There is only one genus and species in the Thylasuidae, as presented in After Man. But there are 10 genera and 17 species in the Thylogazellidae.

Phocapotamus - Presented in After Man as a relative of the beavers. It was made to be a hippo-like rodent. I didn’t change much. But the family it is in, the Castoridae, is made up mostly of species I created myself. There is only 1 species in the genus Phocapotamus, as presented in After Man. Compared to the 19 other species in the Metazoic Castoridae that were my own creations.

Vulpemustela - presented in After Man as a descendant of the weasels. Metalraptor has urged me to just trash it. But I think it’s too good to trash. It inspired the family Vulpemustelidae. Other species in this family that was presented in After Man was Oreomustela and Hastatus. Of these, I only altered Hastatus, making it a sort of marten lookalike with slashing claws on the hands. Rather than the bat-like gliding animal that was in After Man. Other than that, the rest of the species in the Vulpemustelidae are my own creations.

Harundopedidae - A family of insectivores presented in After Man. My checklist lists a family made up of 19 genera, and 42 species. Of these 42 species, 9 species from 9 genera were presented in After Man. The rest were my own creations.

Scalprodens - Presented in After Man as a mole with tusks. I altered it a bit, instead of making the tusks stick out like those in elephants, I make them hang down like in walrus. They can still be used as burrowing tools. This species inspired the family Scalprodensidae, of which also presented in After Man was Psammonarus. But even that I altered a bit to make it more mole-like than the naked mole-rat-like critter with a shark-like head. Though it is still carnivorous. There are 7 genera and 13 species in this family, only 2 of which were presented in After Man. The rest were my own creations.

Subvilliidae - A family of 4 genera and 8 species. 3 of these species were presented in After Man. The rest were my own additions.

Pinnapodidae - A family of 3 genera and 5 species. Of these 2 species of 3 genera were presented in After Man. I named all 3 of the species of Platycaudatus though, as Dixon didn’t give them species names in After Man.

Tenebra - A small squirrel presented in After Man with thick, chisel-like incisors. I thought it was too good a species to let go of. Though I did alter it a bit and got rid of the caterpillar-like body form and made it look a little more like a ground squirrel.

Tendesciurus - I liked this squirrel, I did no altering or anything. It was too good not to add to my list. It also inspired the Metazoic squirrel family, Tendesciuridae. This family contains 19 genera and 81 species. Of these, only 6 species were created by Dixon. All the rest are mine.

Reteostium - Presented in After Man as the slobber. I didn’t like that at all! But the idea of a marsupial sloth appealed to me. So I altered it a lot. I made it look less like the creature in the book, and more like a cross between a koala and a placental sloth. And instead of it dropping slimy saliva on ants, it simply eats leaves and shoots, like modern koalas.

Caecopterus - presented in After Man as a basic blind bat whose ears had fused and grown together at the front of the head where it’s eyes should have been. I liked the idea, so yes, I used it. Though I might change the name.

Cryptochiroptera - an order of flightless bats that includes 2 families, 7 genera and 11 species. Of these, 3 genera and 3 species were presented in After Man. One, Manambulus, I altered quite a bit with the help of Metalraptor. I gave it eyes, and instead of having it walking on it’s hands with it’s legs bent up over the shoulders as grasping mechanisms, I have it walking on all fours. I also made the ears a lot smaller.

Even having listed all these, it’s still a relative few I “ripped off” as opposed to the more than 3000 or so species that I managed to create all on my own. That’s not bad statistics at all! I wouldn’t call that “shameless”, in fact there are many species I came up with on my own that I am very proud of. These are with no help from anyone. To keep it short and sweet, I’ll only list my most favorites.

Oplizochoerus - A giant, armored hog that looks like a cross between a pig, a rhino and an okapi. This animal I created in 2007.

Grammoclavia - A large armadillo with armor plates that resemble a chainsaw. Recently I found out there was a dinosaur that shares the same features known as Gastonia. I had no idea about Gastonia when I first created this armadillo in 1995.

Tachypus - basically a theraped that is an ornithomimid lookalike. I thought up this animal in 1993, and made it the fastest animal of the Metazoic.

Neantilopa - a small gazelle-like camel that is descended from deer. I thought this animal up in 2002.

Peradoradinae - This is a subfamily within the Macropodidae, of monkey-like tree and rock-dwelling kangaroos. They even have their eyes facing foreword as in monkeys. There are 3 genera and 14 species, all of which live in New Zealand. I thought these species up in 1998.

Daspletarctos - a very large polar fox that got it’s genes from the modern arctic fox and takes the place of the polar bear, and is about the same size. It feeds on seals and any other marine animals. I thought this species up in 1994.

Gorgona - A species of seal I call a kelp seal that lives among the kelp beds, and even colored to resemble the long stalks. When in the water, this seal swims vertically making it’s self blend in with the swaying kelp. It even feeds on the kelp. But it also feeds on sea animals as well, like fish and urchins. This was one of my first creations back in 1994.

Deinognathus - The largest predator of the Metazoic. This originated as one of my very first imaginary animals as a child. I made the first “prototype” for this animal back in 1980, but it was added to my checklist as an official species of the future in 1993.

Feresetta - A relative of Deinognathus, it is a small, jacana-like mammal that lives among water lilies. There are 3 species, and they were added in 1997.

Ictopotamus - A very long otter-like relative of the Metazoic weasels. It’s the mammal equivalent of the alligator. This animal was added to my list in 2002.

Jacanatheriidae - A family of mammals that are mammal equivalents of jacana birds. They have the long toes of jacanas and they are splayed out to even the weight distribution of these creatures. Though the crowning species was created by Paul in 2004, which I promptly named Jacanatherium valkovi, I actually thought up this family on my own in 1997. The family was renamed Jacanatheriidae in 2005, just because I thought it gave the best description of what the family is like.

Oreolemur - A large aquatic lemur that swims like a sea lion. They are poor on land though. The tail is flat, like those of otters. Oreolemur and Potamailuria used to be one in the same. But I have since separated them since Potamailuria are river dwellers and Oreolemur inhabits the oceans. This was one of my first official creations for the future of mammals from 1992.

Fructiphagous - Another lemur that feeds on toxic eucalyptus leaves, and then recycles the toxins in the leaves to the sweat glands in the skin. This gives these lemurs not only a bad taste and a mild toxin that would temporarily paralyze a predator, but also a eucalyptus odor. This animal was one of my first creations in 1992.

Myolestidae - A family of parasitic shrews that plague the bower rats in the family Nidimyidae. Nidimyids build big bower nests and raise their young, right after the young are born, and the mother is off to find food, the shrews seize the opportunity to kidnap and eat some of the young rats and replace them with their own pups. Rather like the cuckoos of today. This group and the Nidimyidae were both added to my list in 1995.

Peripithedorcas - A large, grass-eating descendant of the sifakas that developed long arms. They live the life of ungulates. This animal was added to my list in 1995.

Volacostidae - the gliding lemurs. These lemurs evolved extensions of the ribs that spread out when they take to the air. This leaves their arms and legs free for fast climbing. And it also allows them to glide farther than any other gliding mammal, about 400-500 feet. I first thought up this family in 1996.

Monodactylopteridae - An offshoot of the Pteropodidae. These bats though have only 1 finger in the wings, rather than the 4 fingered wings of the pteropods. This family was first thought up in 1995.

Wow! That got long-winded! But it is an interesting subject and I didn't want to leave any stone unturned.

6 comments:

Metalraptor said...

Monodactylopteridae - Is the one "finger" of these bats made of four fused finger, or one single one; because birds today have stiffer wings than their fingered kin (enantiornithes, confusciornithes, and such) because their fingers are fused.

Gorgona - I assume this is one of the "new seals" that are descended from otters?

Fructiphagous - I like the idea of poisonous mammals (especially since mammals do little in the way of toxins for offense or defense today, but you never know what they will do in the future). Just one question, since it eats eucalyptus and recycles the toxins, does this mean is smells like cough drops?

Castosarchus - I actually had an idea to make Castosarchus even less ape-like. It essentially looks like an aye-aye made love to a therizinosaur.

Ophiuchus - Perhaps it should look even more snake-like, with a lithe, weasel-like body (but retaining the long, fluffy tail with eyespots).

Carnivorous rats - Just an explanation for anyone who reads the post, but true rats actually use their forelimbs to dispatch their prey, and tend to take plant matter over animal matter. Dormice, on the other hand, are much more voracious and carnivorous. Metazoica, I do have a few suggestions for the existing carnivorous rats, including a more bad-ass name for Smilomys.

Carnopapio - If they are so different than the raboons already, why not just change the name. It doesn't sound much like the raboons of dixon, in fact Pauls predatory baboons sound a lot more like Dixon's than yours (no offense, Paul).

Manambulus - Manambulus actually means "hand walker", from Mano-, meaning hand, and ambulus, meaning walking. (Similar to Ambulocetus and such). Since this species is a quadrupedal species related to the pallid bat, why not change the name.

Reteostium - Just because the slobber resembles your marsupial sloth, doesn't mean it has to have the same genus name. Why not rename Reteostium Anthrothylacus, and have it and the Thylacopithecines in their own group, the "marsupial primates".

Hastatus - Same reason as Reteostium. Why not call it Mustelanychus instead?

Lagomerycoidea - I had some more ideas to make the lagomerycines less like the ones in After Man.

Natopithecus - Same reason as Hastatus and some of the others above. Why not change it to Hydradapis, or something?

Saevitia - Same reason as the others above. Man, this is happening a lot. Since it is more of a primate now, you could call it Venatadapis, or Dryptopithecus.

I also wanted to mention something to the readers of this blog. I did the calculations, and only .4% of all the Metazoic animals are After Man related or inspired. That's a lot, and the number is more likely to shrink as time goes on!

Dee TimmyHutchFan said...

Well send me your ideas Metalraptor. I will look them over and consider them.

El Squibbonator said...

Your revised Nightstalker actually seems more like the Future Predator from the BBC show Primeval (http://primeval.wikia.com/wiki/Future_Predator) than the original Nightstalker created by Dixon. Could you consider renaming it?

Dee TimmyHutchFan said...

I could try. Got any name suggestions?

Anonymous said...

How about Carnycteris hainesi, from "carni-" meaning carnivorous, "-nycteris" meaning bat (or oftentimes used as a suffix for bat), and "hainesi" after Tim Haines, one of the creators of Primeval. Or C. hainesodixorum, after its combined influence from both Dixon and Primeval.

Dee TimmyHutchFan said...

Great idea! I think I'll use the name C. hainesodixorum.