EVOLUTION ATTEMPTS: Symbiotise trees- 1+2=3, Hive spore mind control- 5, Parasitise balloons- 2, Cattle caste wood digestion- 4, Speed- 2, Suction cups- 4, Intelligence- 6+1=7, Web-spinning- 5+1
Webber slicers have recently evolved in the forests of the continent. These animals are highly intelligent, and play a large part in the ecosystem. Their hives have another caste, the radio caste, which imbeds itself in the brains of other flyers and controls their behaviour. Herbivores of all kinds now gather into one spot, becoming herds that the webbers keep together. These creatures also create webs, gluing balloons together to create fields for their livestock to graze on and trapping animals to be eaten. The massive success of these animals has meant more energy to go to brains, and they now are intelligent enough to have true pack hunting instead of mobs.
Cattle caste guidelings can now digest wood. This takes a lot of time, though, and other food sources are available. It does, however, help break down the wood slightly.
Strangely enough, the concentration of herbivores has in fact made the forest even denser, by letting more light to the forest floor and spreading balloon seeds through the area. The trees are even more purple than before, to cope with the increasing lack of green light. However, there is a problem growing. CO2 is being used up and trapped in the rotting wood, turning the climate colder. The other problem is that higher decomposition rates (thanks to cattle guidelings) is creating layers of methane on the forest floor, killing off many ground-dwelling species. This, alongside the increased density of hydrogen balloons and decrease in thunderstorms and lightning, is starting to turn the forest into a veritable time bomb.
GENERATION 22:
Webber slicer
A mottled purple-and-green bird-like animal that hunts above the swampforest. They use their fanged tentacles to attack and kill their prey. They mostly fly. They grow up to 40 centimetres long, and their offspring are called tentaclets. They use two claws on their back to snatch prey from the ground or air.
SOCIAL: They work together to chase or ambush prey. They put their hives together, so whole swarms of guidelets can protect them.
SENSES: It has a sense of touch that lets it figure out if it's touching food, and an extremely good sense of smell/taste. Symbiotic guidelings help it find live prey. A keen electrical sense lets it find creatures that are close to it, and it can feel vibrations from moving creatures. Its hearing is superb, and it can echolocate.
REPRODUCTION: It 'kisses' a mate it approves of, passing male cells to it, and growths grow inside of the womb. Tentaclets follow their mother until they can be dropped off at their hive. They eat mucus that the hive creates and, when they are large enough, find a suitable guideling to make a nest with.
MOVEMENT: They fly by using their front wings to glide and their back wings as engines. They have two legs on their underside.
EATING: It impales small animals and digests them by drawing them into the guts. They are able to prey on fast swimmers, and they use venom. Most of their food is from grazing worms and the dense vegetation. Other prey include land-dwelling spearfaced worms (slitherers) and other flappers. We can use a precise jet of neurotoxin, laced with silica shards (to pierce the skin), to kill prey.
PREDATION: We are mostly unpredated.
COMPETITION: We are currently the dominant predator of our environment.
ENVIRONMENT: A massive swampy forest, with torrential downpour and balloons filling the sky.
HOME TERRITORY: Swamp forest
NEARBY ENVIRONMENTS: Montane forest, saltwater swamp, swamp forest on another continent, cold forest
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Topic: Competition- An evolutionary suggestion game (Read 105886 times)