Terra 2: A Second Tree Of Life

10 Million Years PE: Almara

10 Million Years Post Establishment; Almara

So long has passed since the beginning of the project now that the land itself has changed. Darsi has started moving North to the pole, Almara to the southeast and Okiina has begun breaking apart. The climate is continuing to cool and more and more ice is forming, lowering the sea level and exposing more land. The three landbridges that once connected the supercontinent of Terra had broken as of 8 MYPE and sunny, warm days had been replaced with grey, melancholy ones. Rain has been replaced by often snow, even at the equator, and has caused bamboo forests to grow less frequently. The climate is changing so quickly now that some lifeforms have been unable to keep up and have gone extinct. For the first time in Terra 2's history it is already suffering an early mass extinction, though only a few hundred species have gone extinct. Most life at the equator had adapted for warm, temperate weather. Some robins had become large and flightless, about the size of emus, by 7 MYPE and some kiwis had even lost feathering around certain areas of their body, like the belly or neck. But now such species who couldn't adapt quick enough are extinct and have been replaced by hardier creatures. We will now look at the various flora and fauna inhabiting the northernmost continent of Almara in more detail and their many ways of dealing with the cold.
(Disclaimer: Latin/scientific names in this entry do not follow binomial nomenclature)

Fauna

Capbara Descendants

Capyram

The capyram has evolved from large baras of 5 MYPE that started mating through sexual selection. In this instance the females particularly liked males with strength and muscles who could fight off threats and keep them safe. The males who mated with these females therefore had strong, capable children (if they were male) who would grow up and do the same. But when two males wanted to mate with the same female they wouldn't both mate but would instead proceed to fight each other. And the females quite enjoyed the show. As of 8 MYPE the males were almost 4 feet tall at the shoulder and had small protrusions on the top of their skull which they would use to protect themselves during fights, instead of using it as an offensive tool as in earth rams.

But now, 10 million years post establishment, the capyram is a large herbivorous rodent the size of a large mountain goat with a similar apetite, consuming over 75lbs of grass and shrubs every day. Instead of horns, though, the capyram has a large plate of bone on their head encased in a thin layer of keratin, giving it a silver appearence, stretching from the forehead to just above the nostrels and they use this plate to engage in interspecific combat between males. Females also have this plate but its less developed and lacks the keratin plate, giving it a white/rusty yellow appearence. The capyrams still have the same box like shaped skull of their ancestors and ungulate like toes. Their fur is snow white or brown depending on the species, having grown fur on their previously naked toes.