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Description
I recently dug through my folder of alternative history critters and stumbled across some designs for an idea I was always rather fond of... even though I have already uploaded some concepts for it, I decided to draw another piece to showcase some of my favorite designs and ideas.
All these creatures hail from a parallel Earth in which the oligocene cooling and the ice age never happened. The sprawling forests never made way to open grasslands and the climate stayed rather warm and moist. Due to that, there is more oxygen in the atmosphere which enables insects to grow larger while most land-dwelling animals are rather small and adapted to life in dense forests. The ddd-toed cursorial ungulates of our reality never evolved and hoofed animals usually possess four toes. While they are still abundant and rich in species, humans never evolved into sapient beings and simply remained another type of animal.

While there are many amphibious and even fully aquatic proboscidean species, they were also fairly successful on land, filling niches similar to pigs and tapir. Measuring a maximum of 60 cm at the shoulder, the aardfant is one of the smaller representatives of its order. It is stoutly built and only sparsely covered with coarse hair (if any), its main protection is its tough skin. As the name would suggest, the aardfant spends a lot of time underground in burrows with its large tusk-like incisors and powerful claw-like hooves (that are usually larger than in the specimen depicted above).

Growing larger than any mammal, birds are the undisputed rulers of this Earth. They dominate the sky, terrorize the land and have even ventured into the oceans. Penguins do exist in this reality as well but just like in our own, they are restricted to the Southern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, grebes have evolved to fill the similar niches. The largest of them would be to look into a human’s eyes when stood completely upright. They are completely flightless, using their wings for display and for movement under water. When diving, they usually keep their long necks tucked closely against their body, lunging out at prey to quickly double their length.
On land, a large array of flightless birds assume the niche of our reality’s large herbivores and predators. One of the most common of such birds are the rattlebeaks which get their name from the clattering noises they makes with their large, partly hollow beaks. The various species in this group of herbivorous gastornids range from Eurasia to North America. Being one of the most common prey animals, they travel in large groups to ensure their safety and protection. Even though they mostly feeding on fruit, seeds, shrubs and fruit, they have been known to snack on smaller animals every now and then... lizards, insects and even small mammals such as bee monkeys oftentimes fall victim to peckish rattlebeaks.

Due to the higher temperatures, there is a lot less ice covering the poles which led to higher sea levels. Much of what are coastal areas in our reality are covered in shallow seas and lush wetlands in this reality. These light-flooded waters, deltas and swamps are home to a myriad of animals, hectically trying to outcompete their neighbors. An exception is the incredibly sedate wallower. This plump equine loves wallowing so much that it even got named after it. Spending most of its time half-submerged in water and feeding on hydrophytes, it is more alike a hippo rather than the majestic stallions of our reality. Despite its rather stocky appearance, short legs and relaxed demeanor, it is more than capable of defending itself against predators and running at surprisingly high speed should the necessity ever arise... when threatened, it usually prefers to simply retreat further into the water and wait it out.

Hosting no large predators, the Mediterranean islands spawned a large array of extraordinary herbivores such as the giant monkey-dormice. These biodiverse rodents spend most of the time ransacking the trees for fruits and seeds although they do not stop for small insects either. In the last couple of centuries, some of them have reached the mainland via driftwood and were able to establish themselves there.

They might be some of the most prolific animals in our reality, but lagomorphs are actually rather poor in species. Most of them inhabit the few dry landscapes in the heart of Asia. The gomphoroos as they are oh so imaginatively called are saltatory rodents. Living in small groups, they usually only venture out of their shelters at night to feed on whatever vegetation they can find, reingesting their droppings to extract sufficient nutrients. As they are the most common prey animal in the dry lands, they are very skittish animals, fearfully hopping away at even the slightest sound.

© by me

Description
I recently dug through my folder of alternative history critters and stumbled across some designs for an idea I was always rather fond of... even though I have already uploaded some concepts for it, I decided to draw another piece to showcase some of my favorite designs and ideas.
All these creatures hail from a parallel Earth in which the oligocene cooling and the ice age never happened. The sprawling forests never made way to open grasslands and the climate stayed rather warm and moist. Due to that, there is more oxygen in the atmosphere which enables insects to grow larger while most land-dwelling animals are rather small and adapted to life in dense forests. The ddd-toed cursorial ungulates of our reality never evolved and hoofed animals usually possess four toes. While they are still abundant and rich in species, humans never evolved into sapient beings and simply remained another type of animal.

While there are many amphibious and even fully aquatic proboscidean species, they were also fairly successful on land, filling niches similar to pigs and tapir. Measuring a maximum of 60 cm at the shoulder, the aardfant is one of the smaller representatives of its order. It is stoutly built and only sparsely covered with coarse hair (if any), its main protection is its tough skin. As the name would suggest, the aardfant spends a lot of time underground in burrows with its large tusk-like incisors and powerful claw-like hooves (that are usually larger than in the specimen depicted above).

Growing larger than any mammal, birds are the undisputed rulers of this Earth. They dominate the sky, terrorize the land and have even ventured into the oceans. Penguins do exist in this reality as well but just like in our own, they are restricted to the Southern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, grebes have evolved to fill the similar niches. The largest of them would be to look into a human’s eyes when stood completely upright. They are completely flightless, using their wings for display and for movement under water. When diving, they usually keep their long necks tucked closely against their body, lunging out at prey to quickly double their length.
On land, a large array of flightless birds assume the niche of our reality’s large herbivores and predators. One of the most common of such birds are the rattlebeaks which get their name from the clattering noises they makes with their large, partly hollow beaks. The various species in this group of herbivorous gastornids range from Eurasia to North America. Being one of the most common prey animals, they travel in large groups to ensure their safety and protection. Even though they mostly feeding on fruit, seeds, shrubs and fruit, they have been known to snack on smaller animals every now and then... lizards, insects and even small mammals such as bee monkeys oftentimes fall victim to peckish rattlebeaks.

Due to the higher temperatures, there is a lot less ice covering the poles which led to higher sea levels. Much of what are coastal areas in our reality are covered in shallow seas and lush wetlands in this reality. These light-flooded waters, deltas and swamps are home to a myriad of animals, hectically trying to outcompete their neighbors. An exception is the incredibly sedate wallower. This plump equine loves wallowing so much that it even got named after it. Spending most of its time half-submerged in water and feeding on hydrophytes, it is more alike a hippo rather than the majestic stallions of our reality. Despite its rather stocky appearance, short legs and relaxed demeanor, it is more than capable of defending itself against predators and running at surprisingly high speed should the necessity ever arise... when threatened, it usually prefers to simply retreat further into the water and wait it out.

Hosting no large predators, the Mediterranean islands spawned a large array of extraordinary herbivores such as the giant monkey-dormice. These biodiverse rodents spend most of the time ransacking the trees for fruits and seeds although they do not stop for small insects either. In the last couple of centuries, some of them have reached the mainland via driftwood and were able to establish themselves there.

They might be some of the most prolific animals in our reality, but lagomorphs are actually rather poor in species. Most of them inhabit the few dry landscapes in the heart of Asia. The gomphoroos as they are oh so imaginatively called are saltatory rodents. Living in small groups, they usually only venture out of their shelters at night to feed on whatever vegetation they can find, reingesting their droppings to extract sufficient nutrients. As they are the most common prey animal in the dry lands, they are very skittish animals, fearfully hopping away at even the slightest sound.

© by me