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Description
(Note ! : this creature here was already submitted before, this was this post : www.deviantart.com/olivierdudo… , but I end up deciding to remade it entirely.

The main reason about why I remade this creature of mine was that, after some steps back, I wasn't satisfied with the previous design.

The previous design was and felt too elephants-like in my opinion. To a point that wasn't realistic.

In its decription, I precised that this creature was a very derived member of the Truncotheridae, which the big members imagined by everyone in this contest, like the Highland Truncother by Joshua Knuppe itself for example, are already very elephants-like, but even such a derived member wouldn't look like an actual true elephant, or a deinothere in this case.

So, I decide to redrawn it from zero, and to made it with the goal that it appearance/bodyshape show the ancestral overall tapir-boar-pig like bodyshape of its ancestry. Its common ancestor the Miocene Scrofadon from phase II.

Sure, people can say to me that true elephants already descend from a tapir-boar-looking animal, like the famous Moeritherium for example, and as en effect, that wouldn't be farfecth to have the previous design as a viable form for the species.
But even Convergent Evolution isn't such high or extreme to made two completely unrelated animals looking exactly almost identical, from two complete differents lineages of animals and who evolved in two completes differents settings.

Convergent Evolution is a good help and tool in Spec Evo, but isn't a lazy plot device to put any animal we want into a setting.
I wanted to made a deinotherium-like animal, in order that we, if taken into the final results by knuppe, have in a way a deinotherium.
But the first design litteraly give a deinotherium itself, at y taste at least.

So, my creature wasn't too eligible as a potential inhabitant of the island. Now it is for sure with this complete redesign.

The differences with the previous design is a shorter trunk, a more flatter back, and more fur on most of the body.

Also, I redesign it also because recently, three of my others creatures, the Forest, Bushland and Grassland Shovel-Tusker truncotheres, were apparently too similar to another spec evo creature, and were complained by some to be just tracing.

So I remade and redesign them entirely from zero, as both 2.0 new apart versions, to correct that, because also Joshua Knuppe/Hyrotrioskjan itself respond to me and said that because these three entries (their original versions) weren't enough originals (because they looked too much to the others spec evo creature) that he will not take them into account.

But now that they were, as I just said, completely remade and redesign from zero, and their 2.0 version (currently in the DevinatArt submissions folder for Phase III, with the cut/deletion by myself of the first/old version), having anymore link or something to do with the original old versions, they are now complete originak entries and all as elligible again.

(Just hope that they don't look by coincidence to another spec evo crreature online somewhere, again)

If I mention that, it because my Donwnward-Curved Truncothere, here, was posted an submitted at the same time than my three Shovel-Tusker truncotheres.
So, I wasn't sure if Joshua Knuppe, when speaking about the old version of the latters, that he will not take them into account, included also this fourth species, in a way or another, for a reason or another, or not at all.

So, I remade it, just in case, to made my Deinotherium-like animal enough orignal and truly completely apart from any other potential spec evo creature which would look also deinothere-like.

Now all my 2.0 versions creatures are, now, as all elligible to be taken into account for he final results, thank to these redesigns.

Anyway, I hope that this new 2.0 entry will be now perfectly done and that people will enjoy it more than the previous version.

Thank you very much.

Olivier Dudot)

An entry for the Spec Evo community challenge/contest of Hyrotrioskjan/Joschua Knüppe 's #AtlantisBestiary3 project !

My 34th one !

For this entry, I choose to made another native species that descend from the surviving species from Phase 2.

This time, a species of another species of Pantodonts of the (fictive) family of the Truncotheres (Truncotheridae) who descend from the Miocene Scrofadon (see « Atlantis Phase 2 » Post, 1st April 2023, fourth box picture from the top of the chart. Link : www.deviantart.com/hyrotrioskj…).

This entry is the fourth and last one of what I call personnaly my "Truncotheres submissions series", composed by several species of elephants-like truncotheres, and made by taking into account the others elephants-like submissions made by the others followers to avoid competition between us and to allow both creations to realistically coexist on Atlantis.

The others elephants-like truncothere submissions, so far as I write the lines, are :

- Joshua Knuppe/Hyrotrioskjan's Highland Trukother : twitter.com/JoschuaKnuppe/stat…

- Raul The Fool's Woodland Truncothere : twitter.com/Raul_the_Fool/stat…

This time, I decided to made Deinotherium-like analog instead of a Amebelodontid one, because all the avaiblable niches and areas for such a species on Atlantis were already taken.

The two submissions of Joshua Knuppe/Hyrotrioskjan and Raul The Fool are both 90% grazers species, living respectively in the Highland (Upland and Alpine environment, and Open Woodland) with a annual migration in the lowland (Grassland) during some times in the spring (Highland Truncother), and in Woodland and Forest biomes (Woodland Trunkothere).

And my three previous Amebelodontid-like species are both low to medium vegetation browsers, distributed in all the possible forested and semi-forested areas of Atlantis, including one species living in open-eras in grasslands.

The only niche remaining available is the one of medium to high browser (so mainly high vegetation diet, includng mostly trees' branches and leaves vegatation).

All of the others elephants famillies (Mastodons, Gomphoteres, Stegodontid, Anancid, Mammoths) that exist or existed were mostly low to medium browsers or grazers.

ONE was a medium to high browser and folivorous animals : The Deinotheiidae !

Which include one of the most iconic Cenozoic and Prehistoric creatures that evere xisted and one of the most famous and beloved among the public, so this species is big and inspired respect and fear : Deinotherium !

The family was is also composed by two others taxas : Prodeinotherium and Chilgatherium.

Despite that Deinotheres were not very diverse, with only these three genera, firstly Chilgatherium, the prodeinotherium and Deinotherium itself (all form an evolutionary succession, with each new genus replacing the preceding one), they, yet, were surprisingly very, very successfull animals !

Thriving and managing to live from the Late Oligocene to the Early Pleistocene !

And as among the biggest animals of their times !

And yet, they changed very little, apart from growing much larger in size overtime, over their evolutionnary course !

Showing a great resilient and proof of their flexibility and adaptibility (why to evolve if you're already capable to live to almost anykind of contexts ?).

Their were "shearing browsers" adapted for feeding on plants above ground level, being high vegetation eater and folivorous animals (meaning they eat mostly leaves of trees).

Their most famous and distinctive features, their downward curved tusk and their longer legs compared to others true elephants (Deinotheres weren't part of the Elephantimorpha order, so not true elephant at all, even not archaic ones), were adaptation for this lifestyle.

Their down-turned lower tusks were used for stripping bark or other vegetation. While their longer legs made them more cursorial and fast, making them capable to travel long distances quickly, which was quite beneficial to travels vast open-space such grasslands when moving from a forest area to another one.

So, and because it a species thaat I, like plenty others, love a lot, I decided to made a tribute to this family by making a Deinotherium-like analog truncothere for Atlantis !

If there something we can said all for sure : It that Convergent Evolution is also a great plot device to have some of our favorite animals being present on Atlantis whithout being truly themselves XD !

(Thank to me, we will likely have a Deinotherium without without it really being a Deinotherium !).

Anyway, after that, there is no more elephants-like trucotheres, because now, all the possible niches available for such animals are all definitively completely taken now.

The results are the following species :

* The Downward-Curved Truncothere (Asdeinotherium atlanteum) ;

Among the cast of animal of Atlantis, one of these would have at the first look seemingly completely straight up from an long extinct clade of famous giants and out of place since it wouldn't be possible that a ghost lineage of them arrived on Atlantis in a way or another, and recently on top of that.

This animal is none other than the Downward-Curved truncothere.

This species is one of the most derived of the Miocene Scrofadon's legacies, and the lineage of truncothere who look the most to an actual modern elephant. A convergent evolution trend that occured in every true archaic elephants families (Mastodons, Amebelodontid, Stegodontid or Gomphotere, and Deinotheres, even if the very last ones weren't true elephants at all at the opposite of the others mentionned).

This species is a very successfull animal on all Atlantis, being a semi-forested and forested dwelling animal.
It a solitary medium to high shearing browsers browser, being a folivorous animal that eat only high plants matters above the ground.
Their diet consist of soft, nongritty, forest vegetation, such branches, twigs and leaves, and use their tusks for stripping bark and vegetation.
They eat grasses only as minor supplements.

Their long legs allow the to be faster, cursorial and to travel long distances quickly between forests separated by wide-open areas.

Among the others traits that betrayed its Truncothere’s nature is that it still have upper tusks, barely visible, on the upper jaw/mandibular.
It also have more basal hind feets, who looks more that the ones of the Miocene Scrofadon itself.
This feature don’t disturb it to run a great speed and to travel on long distances the grasslands of Atlantis to go to a new forest from another one.

It's a pretty colored and spotted animal despite being a big species, who are usually tern and uniform in colors.
This patterns are uses for cammouflage when young and for species recognition purposes between individuals when adults.

They have dense fur at the head and neck for defense when males fight between tham during mating season.

Description
(Note ! : this creature here was already submitted before, this was this post : www.deviantart.com/olivierdudo… , but I end up deciding to remade it entirely.

The main reason about why I remade this creature of mine was that, after some steps back, I wasn't satisfied with the previous design.

The previous design was and felt too elephants-like in my opinion. To a point that wasn't realistic.

In its decription, I precised that this creature was a very derived member of the Truncotheridae, which the big members imagined by everyone in this contest, like the Highland Truncother by Joshua Knuppe itself for example, are already very elephants-like, but even such a derived member wouldn't look like an actual true elephant, or a deinothere in this case.

So, I decide to redrawn it from zero, and to made it with the goal that it appearance/bodyshape show the ancestral overall tapir-boar-pig like bodyshape of its ancestry. Its common ancestor the Miocene Scrofadon from phase II.

Sure, people can say to me that true elephants already descend from a tapir-boar-looking animal, like the famous Moeritherium for example, and as en effect, that wouldn't be farfecth to have the previous design as a viable form for the species.
But even Convergent Evolution isn't such high or extreme to made two completely unrelated animals looking exactly almost identical, from two complete differents lineages of animals and who evolved in two completes differents settings.

Convergent Evolution is a good help and tool in Spec Evo, but isn't a lazy plot device to put any animal we want into a setting.
I wanted to made a deinotherium-like animal, in order that we, if taken into the final results by knuppe, have in a way a deinotherium.
But the first design litteraly give a deinotherium itself, at y taste at least.

So, my creature wasn't too eligible as a potential inhabitant of the island. Now it is for sure with this complete redesign.

The differences with the previous design is a shorter trunk, a more flatter back, and more fur on most of the body.

Also, I redesign it also because recently, three of my others creatures, the Forest, Bushland and Grassland Shovel-Tusker truncotheres, were apparently too similar to another spec evo creature, and were complained by some to be just tracing.

So I remade and redesign them entirely from zero, as both 2.0 new apart versions, to correct that, because also Joshua Knuppe/Hyrotrioskjan itself respond to me and said that because these three entries (their original versions) weren't enough originals (because they looked too much to the others spec evo creature) that he will not take them into account.

But now that they were, as I just said, completely remade and redesign from zero, and their 2.0 version (currently in the DevinatArt submissions folder for Phase III, with the cut/deletion by myself of the first/old version), having anymore link or something to do with the original old versions, they are now complete originak entries and all as elligible again.

(Just hope that they don't look by coincidence to another spec evo crreature online somewhere, again)

If I mention that, it because my Donwnward-Curved Truncothere, here, was posted an submitted at the same time than my three Shovel-Tusker truncotheres.
So, I wasn't sure if Joshua Knuppe, when speaking about the old version of the latters, that he will not take them into account, included also this fourth species, in a way or another, for a reason or another, or not at all.

So, I remade it, just in case, to made my Deinotherium-like animal enough orignal and truly completely apart from any other potential spec evo creature which would look also deinothere-like.

Now all my 2.0 versions creatures are, now, as all elligible to be taken into account for he final results, thank to these redesigns.

Anyway, I hope that this new 2.0 entry will be now perfectly done and that people will enjoy it more than the previous version.

Thank you very much.

Olivier Dudot)

An entry for the Spec Evo community challenge/contest of Hyrotrioskjan/Joschua Knüppe 's #AtlantisBestiary3 project !

My 34th one !

For this entry, I choose to made another native species that descend from the surviving species from Phase 2.

This time, a species of another species of Pantodonts of the (fictive) family of the Truncotheres (Truncotheridae) who descend from the Miocene Scrofadon (see « Atlantis Phase 2 » Post, 1st April 2023, fourth box picture from the top of the chart. Link : www.deviantart.com/hyrotrioskj…).

This entry is the fourth and last one of what I call personnaly my "Truncotheres submissions series", composed by several species of elephants-like truncotheres, and made by taking into account the others elephants-like submissions made by the others followers to avoid competition between us and to allow both creations to realistically coexist on Atlantis.

The others elephants-like truncothere submissions, so far as I write the lines, are :

- Joshua Knuppe/Hyrotrioskjan's Highland Trukother : twitter.com/JoschuaKnuppe/stat…

- Raul The Fool's Woodland Truncothere : twitter.com/Raul_the_Fool/stat…

This time, I decided to made Deinotherium-like analog instead of a Amebelodontid one, because all the avaiblable niches and areas for such a species on Atlantis were already taken.

The two submissions of Joshua Knuppe/Hyrotrioskjan and Raul The Fool are both 90% grazers species, living respectively in the Highland (Upland and Alpine environment, and Open Woodland) with a annual migration in the lowland (Grassland) during some times in the spring (Highland Truncother), and in Woodland and Forest biomes (Woodland Trunkothere).

And my three previous Amebelodontid-like species are both low to medium vegetation browsers, distributed in all the possible forested and semi-forested areas of Atlantis, including one species living in open-eras in grasslands.

The only niche remaining available is the one of medium to high browser (so mainly high vegetation diet, includng mostly trees' branches and leaves vegatation).

All of the others elephants famillies (Mastodons, Gomphoteres, Stegodontid, Anancid, Mammoths) that exist or existed were mostly low to medium browsers or grazers.

ONE was a medium to high browser and folivorous animals : The Deinotheiidae !

Which include one of the most iconic Cenozoic and Prehistoric creatures that evere xisted and one of the most famous and beloved among the public, so this species is big and inspired respect and fear : Deinotherium !

The family was is also composed by two others taxas : Prodeinotherium and Chilgatherium.

Despite that Deinotheres were not very diverse, with only these three genera, firstly Chilgatherium, the prodeinotherium and Deinotherium itself (all form an evolutionary succession, with each new genus replacing the preceding one), they, yet, were surprisingly very, very successfull animals !

Thriving and managing to live from the Late Oligocene to the Early Pleistocene !

And as among the biggest animals of their times !

And yet, they changed very little, apart from growing much larger in size overtime, over their evolutionnary course !

Showing a great resilient and proof of their flexibility and adaptibility (why to evolve if you're already capable to live to almost anykind of contexts ?).

Their were "shearing browsers" adapted for feeding on plants above ground level, being high vegetation eater and folivorous animals (meaning they eat mostly leaves of trees).

Their most famous and distinctive features, their downward curved tusk and their longer legs compared to others true elephants (Deinotheres weren't part of the Elephantimorpha order, so not true elephant at all, even not archaic ones), were adaptation for this lifestyle.

Their down-turned lower tusks were used for stripping bark or other vegetation. While their longer legs made them more cursorial and fast, making them capable to travel long distances quickly, which was quite beneficial to travels vast open-space such grasslands when moving from a forest area to another one.

So, and because it a species thaat I, like plenty others, love a lot, I decided to made a tribute to this family by making a Deinotherium-like analog truncothere for Atlantis !

If there something we can said all for sure : It that Convergent Evolution is also a great plot device to have some of our favorite animals being present on Atlantis whithout being truly themselves XD !

(Thank to me, we will likely have a Deinotherium without without it really being a Deinotherium !).

Anyway, after that, there is no more elephants-like trucotheres, because now, all the possible niches available for such animals are all definitively completely taken now.

The results are the following species :

* The Downward-Curved Truncothere (Asdeinotherium atlanteum) ;

Among the cast of animal of Atlantis, one of these would have at the first look seemingly completely straight up from an long extinct clade of famous giants and out of place since it wouldn't be possible that a ghost lineage of them arrived on Atlantis in a way or another, and recently on top of that.

This animal is none other than the Downward-Curved truncothere.

This species is one of the most derived of the Miocene Scrofadon's legacies, and the lineage of truncothere who look the most to an actual modern elephant. A convergent evolution trend that occured in every true archaic elephants families (Mastodons, Amebelodontid, Stegodontid or Gomphotere, and Deinotheres, even if the very last ones weren't true elephants at all at the opposite of the others mentionned).

This species is a very successfull animal on all Atlantis, being a semi-forested and forested dwelling animal.
It a solitary medium to high shearing browsers browser, being a folivorous animal that eat only high plants matters above the ground.
Their diet consist of soft, nongritty, forest vegetation, such branches, twigs and leaves, and use their tusks for stripping bark and vegetation.
They eat grasses only as minor supplements.

Their long legs allow the to be faster, cursorial and to travel long distances quickly between forests separated by wide-open areas.

Among the others traits that betrayed its Truncothere’s nature is that it still have upper tusks, barely visible, on the upper jaw/mandibular.
It also have more basal hind feets, who looks more that the ones of the Miocene Scrofadon itself.
This feature don’t disturb it to run a great speed and to travel on long distances the grasslands of Atlantis to go to a new forest from another one.

It's a pretty colored and spotted animal despite being a big species, who are usually tern and uniform in colors.
This patterns are uses for cammouflage when young and for species recognition purposes between individuals when adults.

They have dense fur at the head and neck for defense when males fight between tham during mating season.