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Description

…or how terrestrial sapient placoderm seahorses became that, with more detail and some human thoughts.

---

This begins 380-360 million years ago. The planet of ‘vertebrates’ had just recovered from a severe mass extinction. The neo-terrestrial ‘vertebrates’ started diversifying, and some animals could notice a never seen before light. They didn’t pay much attention, being just animals, but one day from this lightning came drones with DNA samples of fish that wasn’t quite normal fish. They would establish several genetically diverse populations and leave the planet never to return (or, maybe, return several million years later…), so these populations would give rise to new species. In a sea with no native competitors save for ‘invertebrates’ the placoderms would diversify in great numbers, though most of these would soon die out, like how many animals do after quick diversification. Somewhere around 15 million years oceans would be jam-packed with competitors, so several species of still primitive Bothriolepis or closely related genus would go onto land and fill amphibious niches the ‘vertebrates’ left, as they already were endotherm, quasi-mammalian animals. Eventually ocean ecology would also be established, but these amphibious placoderms would stay on land, as they became much more specialized to live on land, with their pectoral fins and partially tail becoming three limbs.

The next step was to develop proper lung-analogue and ears. Already having ability to breathe air, they deepened this specialization, and developed the external nostrils as well. Ears developed from two plates which became connected to skull. This quasi-reptile still was tied to water as it didn’t develop any strategy to look after eggs or viviparity. Like amniotes, these animals would develop a similar adaptation to go further inland. This happened circa 70 million years after seeding of placoderms, and they still were tied to small animal niches back then.

For 90 million years they would fill these niches, developing endothermy and more upright stance, and, eventually, an asteroid made another mass extinction. It turned climate much more arid and hotter for some time, and ‘vertebrates’ suffered much from this, but terrestrial placoderms, which still had ectothermic or mesothermic metabolism didn’t, and, after catastrophe, they became dominant land life on the continent where they lived on. ‘Vertebrates’ still roamed other two continents, though with much previous major clades becoming extinct.

From now on all life had around 200 million years to diversify into current state. While two other continents, being located on equator and in northern temperate zone, experienced conditions generally appropriate for life, this was located really into south, and due to its bigger size it was far more arid. Here animals experienced drop of temperature faster than animals on other continents. Forests shrank down, steppes and deserts became bigger, and so evolution process would work double in life that survived the very first ice age.

And one group of animals would start to prosper in the new environment, with certain number of preadaptation and also a few new additions. They already were good at surviving in environments with not much food and water available, so spreading of deserted places would just be a little bit nasty moving homes to familiar but new place. They already were protected by a fur coat, and thickened it when days became colder. But this group still had a problem – reproduction.

While they didn’t have any problems with genetically defined sex of hatching young, they had problems with migrations towards northern territories of still-standing forests and giant death rate of said young. Once a year most species gathered in giant numbers, with small males having combats to impress their bigger partners. A mated female would leave soon after that, to move towards competitive, but warm forest, and most would go as well. Finding a good place for unhatched young would also be a problem. And an unprotected nest – cold-adapted desert-dwelling groups couldn’t really compete with forest animals – is a fairly easy target. This was an ineffective system. However, by now they were the sole, diverse tundra/boreal desert-living family, and could have such inefficiency until climate becoming even colder so they couldn’t rely on high numbers of eggs to have stable population.

The bigger species would move northern, but a complex of smaller, burrow-relying animals would stay. These species already had evolved full-time K-strategy with seasonal monogamy, and due to females being larger and more likely to find any food it was males who hatched eggs and reared young in safety of burrows. A small step was to find a way to move either eggs or newly hatched young so both parents can move from a dangerous place. When 120 million years ago the continent became an almost entirely frozen desert, a few genera of terrestrial placoderms would persist, and among these stayed this peculiar pouched one.

82 million years ago climate became warmer as planet’s volcanism increased. All continents moved as well, and the one on which placoderms persisted became positioned northern. But most egg-laying species were lost to time save for one clade of flyers, and this continent was inherited by animals that would be considered strange by standards of animal kingdom. These furry tripod placoderms evolved full-time male-brooding, becoming terrestrial placoderm seahorses. Eventually this system would upgrade, as evolution doesn’t stay on one place.

Around 20 million years ago a family of creatures diverged from main branch. They started having advantage if they were smart, learning and innovative in exchange for strength. At some point of time they started using tools, despite having no manipulators at first glance, but well, they developed an arm from an already prehensile penis/ovipositor, and this is basically name of this taxon, Fallobrachidae. Truly a bizarre limb and exotic equipment combined. And given location of this arm, near hind leg, it seems that they became tripodal just recently with developing one of legs into arm, until it starts moving, of course.

If speaking about developing of sapience, their females were savannah-dwellers and males were river-dwellers. Both environments are quite well-suited to developing intelligence, being information-rich, so both sexes had been pushed towards increased braincase and more tightly-packed neurons. They developed a monoculture with dualistic religion. Everything they had observed and questioned had a counterpart. Sun had moon, savannah had rivers, and they had aalullas, who were seen as spirits of bygone ages who had drown in river, since the closest tribes of second sophont also had been centered nearby rivers.

When we found these sapient species, we were both happy and disoriented. We finally found something that can think, but it could become no more. However, everything was stopped by our accidental interference – the starship came into planet’s atmosphere, and all sophonts of the planet had seen it as a sign. Sign to stop, to wait, or something else – we didn’t understood yet. But we had a chance to explore them, and we couldn’t lose it.

After all, despite the fact we became a new species, Homo familiaris, we were people. And, I personally suppose, it says quite much about our mindset derived from apes. By the way, we stopped this whole thing of war, they understood that each other is not quite evil, and everything ended perfect for us.

So, why had I remembered this whole thing? My drone captured an awesome image of these friend-shaped guys while I was collecting more info about their ancient cultures. Oh my, they are just cuties. I can’t wait them and their aliens to start a space age, it should be really soon. Some weeks in future, if saying honestly. These two I was referencing are on a walk in the park, holding society symbol of new, of changes. The park was built near a future-space-city, perhaps for relatives of the very first person space-travelers. Of course we won’t be able to normally communicate with them yet, but that’s still impressive.

I hope we will land on their planet after their first flight. Not sure if that’s the best way to present ourselves, after all, they had imagined us as… I don’t know, something like gods or their messengers or like that.

Not going to lie, after them starting their way into space-faring I had been feeling a very pleasant nausea. The fact that we will be joined by two fascinating species of sophonts is very… nice. Yes, that’s the word for it, perhaps. Amazing feeling it is.

Description

…or how terrestrial sapient placoderm seahorses became that, with more detail and some human thoughts.

---

This begins 380-360 million years ago. The planet of ‘vertebrates’ had just recovered from a severe mass extinction. The neo-terrestrial ‘vertebrates’ started diversifying, and some animals could notice a never seen before light. They didn’t pay much attention, being just animals, but one day from this lightning came drones with DNA samples of fish that wasn’t quite normal fish. They would establish several genetically diverse populations and leave the planet never to return (or, maybe, return several million years later…), so these populations would give rise to new species. In a sea with no native competitors save for ‘invertebrates’ the placoderms would diversify in great numbers, though most of these would soon die out, like how many animals do after quick diversification. Somewhere around 15 million years oceans would be jam-packed with competitors, so several species of still primitive Bothriolepis or closely related genus would go onto land and fill amphibious niches the ‘vertebrates’ left, as they already were endotherm, quasi-mammalian animals. Eventually ocean ecology would also be established, but these amphibious placoderms would stay on land, as they became much more specialized to live on land, with their pectoral fins and partially tail becoming three limbs.

The next step was to develop proper lung-analogue and ears. Already having ability to breathe air, they deepened this specialization, and developed the external nostrils as well. Ears developed from two plates which became connected to skull. This quasi-reptile still was tied to water as it didn’t develop any strategy to look after eggs or viviparity. Like amniotes, these animals would develop a similar adaptation to go further inland. This happened circa 70 million years after seeding of placoderms, and they still were tied to small animal niches back then.

For 90 million years they would fill these niches, developing endothermy and more upright stance, and, eventually, an asteroid made another mass extinction. It turned climate much more arid and hotter for some time, and ‘vertebrates’ suffered much from this, but terrestrial placoderms, which still had ectothermic or mesothermic metabolism didn’t, and, after catastrophe, they became dominant land life on the continent where they lived on. ‘Vertebrates’ still roamed other two continents, though with much previous major clades becoming extinct.

From now on all life had around 200 million years to diversify into current state. While two other continents, being located on equator and in northern temperate zone, experienced conditions generally appropriate for life, this was located really into south, and due to its bigger size it was far more arid. Here animals experienced drop of temperature faster than animals on other continents. Forests shrank down, steppes and deserts became bigger, and so evolution process would work double in life that survived the very first ice age.

And one group of animals would start to prosper in the new environment, with certain number of preadaptation and also a few new additions. They already were good at surviving in environments with not much food and water available, so spreading of deserted places would just be a little bit nasty moving homes to familiar but new place. They already were protected by a fur coat, and thickened it when days became colder. But this group still had a problem – reproduction.

While they didn’t have any problems with genetically defined sex of hatching young, they had problems with migrations towards northern territories of still-standing forests and giant death rate of said young. Once a year most species gathered in giant numbers, with small males having combats to impress their bigger partners. A mated female would leave soon after that, to move towards competitive, but warm forest, and most would go as well. Finding a good place for unhatched young would also be a problem. And an unprotected nest – cold-adapted desert-dwelling groups couldn’t really compete with forest animals – is a fairly easy target. This was an ineffective system. However, by now they were the sole, diverse tundra/boreal desert-living family, and could have such inefficiency until climate becoming even colder so they couldn’t rely on high numbers of eggs to have stable population.

The bigger species would move northern, but a complex of smaller, burrow-relying animals would stay. These species already had evolved full-time K-strategy with seasonal monogamy, and due to females being larger and more likely to find any food it was males who hatched eggs and reared young in safety of burrows. A small step was to find a way to move either eggs or newly hatched young so both parents can move from a dangerous place. When 120 million years ago the continent became an almost entirely frozen desert, a few genera of terrestrial placoderms would persist, and among these stayed this peculiar pouched one.

82 million years ago climate became warmer as planet’s volcanism increased. All continents moved as well, and the one on which placoderms persisted became positioned northern. But most egg-laying species were lost to time save for one clade of flyers, and this continent was inherited by animals that would be considered strange by standards of animal kingdom. These furry tripod placoderms evolved full-time male-brooding, becoming terrestrial placoderm seahorses. Eventually this system would upgrade, as evolution doesn’t stay on one place.

Around 20 million years ago a family of creatures diverged from main branch. They started having advantage if they were smart, learning and innovative in exchange for strength. At some point of time they started using tools, despite having no manipulators at first glance, but well, they developed an arm from an already prehensile penis/ovipositor, and this is basically name of this taxon, Fallobrachidae. Truly a bizarre limb and exotic equipment combined. And given location of this arm, near hind leg, it seems that they became tripodal just recently with developing one of legs into arm, until it starts moving, of course.

If speaking about developing of sapience, their females were savannah-dwellers and males were river-dwellers. Both environments are quite well-suited to developing intelligence, being information-rich, so both sexes had been pushed towards increased braincase and more tightly-packed neurons. They developed a monoculture with dualistic religion. Everything they had observed and questioned had a counterpart. Sun had moon, savannah had rivers, and they had aalullas, who were seen as spirits of bygone ages who had drown in river, since the closest tribes of second sophont also had been centered nearby rivers.

When we found these sapient species, we were both happy and disoriented. We finally found something that can think, but it could become no more. However, everything was stopped by our accidental interference – the starship came into planet’s atmosphere, and all sophonts of the planet had seen it as a sign. Sign to stop, to wait, or something else – we didn’t understood yet. But we had a chance to explore them, and we couldn’t lose it.

After all, despite the fact we became a new species, Homo familiaris, we were people. And, I personally suppose, it says quite much about our mindset derived from apes. By the way, we stopped this whole thing of war, they understood that each other is not quite evil, and everything ended perfect for us.

So, why had I remembered this whole thing? My drone captured an awesome image of these friend-shaped guys while I was collecting more info about their ancient cultures. Oh my, they are just cuties. I can’t wait them and their aliens to start a space age, it should be really soon. Some weeks in future, if saying honestly. These two I was referencing are on a walk in the park, holding society symbol of new, of changes. The park was built near a future-space-city, perhaps for relatives of the very first person space-travelers. Of course we won’t be able to normally communicate with them yet, but that’s still impressive.

I hope we will land on their planet after their first flight. Not sure if that’s the best way to present ourselves, after all, they had imagined us as… I don’t know, something like gods or their messengers or like that.

Not going to lie, after them starting their way into space-faring I had been feeling a very pleasant nausea. The fact that we will be joined by two fascinating species of sophonts is very… nice. Yes, that’s the word for it, perhaps. Amazing feeling it is.