A collection of new chapter ideas proposed by foreign members in English. These are already present, thanks to JOrnitho: 1. Easter Island - bestiary 2. Fernando de Noronha - bestiary 3. Marvellous Forest - about Atlantic forest - bestiary 4. A Trip across Highland - about a trip of Andean antelope, bestiary 5. A War for the Hollow - about a "war" against killer bees in South America, bestiary 6. Andaman and Nicobar islands - bestiary 7. A Stone Condominimum - about a sociable hornero and its parasites and enemies, bestiary
Отправлено: 20.01.25 04:36. Заголовок: wovoka пишет: You c..
wovoka пишет:
цитата:
You can write the chapters: 1. "Maracaibo: The lake that become a gulf" 2. "Maracaibo: Catatumbo lightning"
I'll start to work on that. I was thinking that we could replace an species for a type of venomous aquatic snake for the Parana-aware to eat in the chapter. It would show that they evolved to hunt these serpents.
I was thinking that we could replace an species for a type of venomous aquatic snake for the Parana-aware to eat in the chapter. It would show that they evolved to hunt these serpents.
As you remember, I've described Asakaimo as venomous semiaquatic snake. Parana-aware can eat these snakes.
I thought that you have described more species of birds and fishes for these chapters but I can't find the links.
Since the time of the extinction of humanity to the beginning of the Neocene, the continents changed their shapes. The tectonic plates moved, splitting lands and opening paths for the water to flow. Once upon a time, In the region of South America where northwestern Venezuela once was, there was a large body known as Lake Maracaibo. With 13,512 km2, it could have been considered the largest lake of South America, being larger than Lake Titicaca. The lake was connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by a narrow passage.
With the movement of the continents, this passage became large to the point of Lake Maracaibo joining with the Gulf of Venezuela into becoming the Maracaibo Gulf. This chapter is about this “mega-gulf” and the animals that call it home, in particular a young female that recently was born.
In a sandy island near the coast of Maracaibo Gulf, a group of dark-brown colored animals had gathered. They have a rounded head with a streamlined body, being very similar to seals. However, they aren’t seals. Most pinnipeds had become extinct during the transition from Holocene to Neocene, with only one species still remaining. The mammals now resting in the sand are descendants of the tayra (Eira barbara), which during their evolution had developed adaptations for an aquatic lifestyle. Named yara, like the siren from Amazon folklore, they are analogues to seals in the tropical sea of Northern South America and the Caribbean.
Like the seals, the yaras come ashore to have their pups. This group had chosen this sandbank as the perfect place to be their nursery. It was high enough that the water would not flood the place completely, but close enough to it that the females would be able to find food easily.
On this island, a group of 15 female yaras had gathered. All of them are closely related individuals, descending from the same grand grand grandmother. They were born in this place and came here one again to give birth. In the outskirts of the colony, one of these females is giving birth.
Her face is full of distress and is constantly grunting. She is pushing to make her small cub come out. After some time, the female is finally able to give birth. It’s a girl, like her mother, and has the typical coloration of pups: light brown fur and a white underside. The little yara came out confused, looking at the sudden clarity of the sun. Then, her mother started to call her. By instinct, the young cub responded and went straight to the teat, feeding for the first time.
Unlike its ancestor, the yara is born with open eyes and the small female is constantly looking at her surroundings, with everything being a novelty for her. From his relatives that are surrounding her mother and herself, to the insects flying around. Everything is new for the little yara.
A strange sound coming from the sky immediately attracted her attention. Up there was flying a group of loud birds. Those are Kàwiriri ducks, descendents of Dendrocygna autumnalis. They are gregarious animals, being always seen in these large flocks. The birds fly over the yaras, proceeding to their feeding grounds.
They feed among the aquatic vegetation that grows at the mouth of Catatumbo river. It doesn’t take much time for the birds to arrive there and they are soon foraging among the reeds. The ducks move their bills through the water, seeking to snatch aquatic plants and invertebrates.
The Kàwiriri ducks were so focused on feeding that they didn’t notice that they were being watched. A pair of eyes slowly emerges from the water and watches the birds. Its owner is an aquatic animal with an elongated body and a crocodile-like head, their legs are short with webbed feet. Their appearance is similar to that of a crocodilian, but in reality it is a mammal. The Tapiraiauara, a descendant of the crab-eating raccoon that evolved to be an aquatic ambush predator, partially filling the niche left by the caimans.
This individual is a young male that had recently left the care of his mother. During his time with her, he learned how to hunt and now he needed to practice with this knowledge. He is still learning how to hunt and hasn't totally grown. Thus, this tapiraiaura had decided to approach a more “easy” prey, which the Kàwiriri ducks were.
The young male remained partially submerged, with only his eyes out of the water and fixed in the birds. Moving slowly through the reeds, he approaches them. However, before he could attack, one of the ducks notices him and flies in panic. It alerts the rest of the flock that immediately flee, leaving the tapiraiaura without nothing. He still needs to learn more.
Not far from there, in the mangrove forests that surround the gulf, a group of primates move through the trees. Those are meku, descendants of the Humboldt's white-fronted capuchin. These primates are well adapted to live in this biome. They have partially webbed limbs that allow them to swim. However, they are cautious. With the rising tide, dangerous creatures can enter the mangrove and the monkeys are aware of that.
Moving cautiously to lower branches, they approached the water. The meku wanted to cross from one side of the mangrove to the other, but large predatory fish could be lurking there. After some time reflecting about it, the leading male finally makes the decision. He is the first to jump, his body hitting the water making a loud splashing sound. He is soon followed by the other monkeys.
Once they are close enough to the trees on the other side, the meku quickly climbs on it.These primates could be good swimmers, but they were still careful around it. A young meku was too slow crossing the water. It was a fatal error, because a Typanake-tunu, a Southern shark catfish, had launched over it and snatched the monkey. The rest of the family screamed in panic, powerless.
Not so far away from where the meku were attacked, among the roots of the mangrove, the water. It wasn't another Typanake-tunu, but an equally dangerous predator. An adult female sakompo, a large snake analogous to the anaconda, was on the move. She was seeking prey. A monkey would have been good, but now that they had panicked and fled she would need to find a new prey.
A full grown Typanake-tunu has no predators, which means that she can move calmly through her territory without having fear. The snake surfaced briefly, Using her forked tongue to collect the scent of suitable prey from the air. Without finding anything, she swam some more, moving among the mangrove roots. After trying another time, she finally detected a good scent.
Moving swiftly, but carefully, the typanake-tunu arrived close to her prey. It’s a young tapiraiauara, not the same from early. This one is walking through a mud bank, close to the water. By the way that it’s smelling the air, the mammal is also searching for food. The snake approached the mud bank, but remained in the water.
The clueless of the tapiraiauara remained in its quest of finding food with its. It soon approached the water and immediately detected a strange smell, but it wasn’t prey. It was danger! However, it was too late. The typanake-tunu jumped over it, constricting the animal. Soon, the mammal was dead and the snake proceeded to swallow it whole.
Not all the snakes of Maracaibo’s mangroves are giants.
In another part of the mangrove, a smaller serpent slither among the roots. This one is a asakaimo, a descendant of the rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus). Like many other denizens of the area, it’s hunting the next prey. Fishes are the most common part of asakaimo’s diet, with this individual constantly tasting the environment with its tongue in search of the food.
It didn’t take much time for asakaimo to locate a suitable prey. A shoal of Amòiky-sapelko, a descendant of the livebearing fishes is moving around. After getting close enough, the serpent remains still among the roots, waiting for the right moment to strike. When one of the fishes gets close enough, the serpent strikes. With the prey at its mouth, the asakaimo quickly injects its paralyzing venom.
While the animals proceed with their lives, time passes. The sun moves through the sky and it gets near the horizon. In the yaras’ colony, mothers and babies stay close. The newborns still have trouble in maintaining temperature and even in the tropics they can fall during the night. The little female stays close to her mother, who covers her with a flip.
Once the sun rises in the horizon once again, the yaras wake up. The female had survived her first night. Immediately after awakening, she seeks her mother’s mamma and proceeds to drink milk. During the next few days, they will remain on the beach. After that time passes, the mother will guide the cub to the water.
For them to stay at the beach for a long time is a dangerous thing. There are predators in the sky that are prepared to fly down and snatch a cub. The adult yaras constantly look up, paying attention to the birds flying around. Now they are paying attention to a particularly large bird of prey that is circling over the colony. The females immediately start to vocalize in panic. Their sounds are similar to a large dog barking.
It’s a Warulapai, one of the largest and strongest birds of prey in South America. It’s capable of carrying away even cubs of barocavias. However, it will avoid the yaras. The adults’ powerful bite makes them dangerous. With them at alert, the bird will have little chance to take a cub. Due to that, the warulapai decides to fly away.
The large bird moves through the sky, searching the area below with its keen sight. In a sandbank not so far away from where yara’s colony is located, a group of shorebirds had gathered. These are teitei, dancing lapwings. Descendants of the Southern lapwing (Vanellus chiliensis), these birds are in the process of forming pairs. Males are doing an elaborate courtship dance for the females.
The courtship leaves the birds distracted, which gives predators their chance. The warulapai descends from the sky and catches one of the males. The other teitei fly away in panic due to the attack. With his prey secure, the large bird of prey carries it toward the mangrove, where it lands in one of the trees and starts to eat. It’s a small prize, but will be enough to quench the hunger of the bird of prey for now.
With the predator away, peace returns to the colony of yaras. The females calm down and proceed to take care of their cubs. The female cub is being licked by her mother, a way that she can be cleaned. When she becomes old enough, the young female will be cleaning herself.
While peace returned for the yaras, the same couldn’t be said for the meku monkeys in the mangroves around the gulf. Yesterday they had lost one of their members to a Southern shark catfish and the primates are still nervous. Any movement in the water is enough to leave them in a state of panic.
Отправлено: 04.07.25 09:18. Заголовок: In general, this reg..
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I'm interested in the Easter Island one.
In general, this region is poorly developed. Here are the species that I found in the index: False-nandu Rapa Nui rat I can assume that the influence of the flora and fauna of Polynesia and the Burotu Islands will be noticeable on the Easter Islands.
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Отправлено: 10.07.25 15:58. Заголовок: Chapter about some N..
Chapter about some NZ lake with caves nearby (may be Lake Te-Anau and nearby Cave Te-Anau) about late evening, night and early morning life of the lake with such bestiary: 1. Big prey bat from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_bat 2. Fish-eating bat from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myotis_macropus 3. Helminth of fish-eating bat from Euclinostomum heterostomum or other species. 4. Introduced in NZ Lymnaea stagnalis, that will be helminth carrier. 6. Acridotheres tristis (that would become bigger) & become a middle-sized bird of prey or omnivorous bird that eating young bats. 7. Some new fish that still not described, that bats will hunt (or take some from bestiary, but new species always more interesting). 8. Some new frog that still not described (Litoria ewingii, for example), that bats will hunt (or take other frog from bestiary). 9. Waitoreke from bestiary 10. May be Kuihi-nui (big prey bat and Acridotheres tristis will hunt on the goslings). 11. May be try to make lizard Oligosoma polychroma, that is viviparous, little semiaquatic legless lizard like very small snake, that will eat little water invertebrates? It will eat Aoteapsyche colonica and Coloburiscus humeralis. 12. And may be, make with introduced to NZ Rupicapra rupicapra something living near lakes and rivers. May be with horns like one of these prehistoric animals: A. Prolibytherium; B. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Protoceras.jpg C. https://www.deviantart.com/nankeyike/art/Paratoceras-743867625 D. https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Giraffokeryx E. https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Hoplitomeryx-matthei
My idea for a chapter in Easter Island would focus in a young male false-nandu that is taking care of his chicks that hatched succesfuly for the first time. Other animals that were approved:
Chapter about some NZ lake with caves nearby (may be Lake Te-Anau and nearby Cave Te-Anau) about late evening, night and early morning life of the lake with such bestiary: 1. Big prey bat from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_bat 2. Fish-eating bat from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myotis_macropus 3. Helminth of fish-eating bat from Euclinostomum heterostomum or other species. 4. Introduced in NZ Lymnaea stagnalis, that will be helminth carrier. 6. Acridotheres tristis (that would become bigger) & become a middle-sized bird of prey or omnivorous bird that eating young bats. 7. Some new fish that still not described, that bats will hunt (or take some from bestiary, but new species always more interesting). 8. Some new frog that still not described (Litoria ewingii, for example), that bats will hunt (or take other frog from bestiary). 9. Waitoreke from bestiary 10. May be Kuihi-nui (big prey bat and Acridotheres tristis will hunt on the goslings). 11. May be try to make lizard Oligosoma polychroma, that is viviparous, little semiaquatic legless lizard like very small snake, that will eat little water invertebrates? It will eat Aoteapsyche colonica and Coloburiscus humeralis. 12. And may be, make with introduced to NZ Rupicapra rupicapra something living near lakes and rivers. May be with horns like one of these prehistoric animals: A. Prolibytherium; B. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Protoceras.jpg C. https://www.deviantart.com/nankeyike/art/Paratoceras-743867625 D. https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Giraffokeryx E. https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Hoplitomeryx-matthei
I like these ideas, specially the descendants of Rupicapra. However, we need to think how the niche partitioning would work since there is other ungulates living in NZ.
I can also suggest hiriva (as a resident of streams and a potential prey or competitor to bats), cave onihophoracave onychophora (as a hunter of small speleofauna) and te-pohehe, as an inhabitant of the lake shore. Perhaps he would visit bat colonies in search of food, as raccoons, skunks, foxes and other similar animals do.
I am offering such a wide list in order to have something to choose from, of course, everything will not be included in the chapter.
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