Anthropoterras: Titanthropes

Order: Titanthropia

Families: 3

Species: 21 extant.

Next up on our list of interesting fauna are some unique Parthian oddities, unlike any other group ever seen, either on Anthropoterras or on Earth. These are the titanthropes, or as nicknamed by the first explorer Daniel Wallace ‘butt-scooters’ due to some very interesting anatomical features. They come in several forms, including the largest land animals around, surpassing even the largest syndactyls by a large margin. This is the story of the titans of the Parthian forests.

Evolutionary History:

The titanthropes are some of the descendents of early Parthian stock which developed across the lines of large herbivores and omnivores. These ones in particular avoided competition with the grass-elves and later the syndactyls and other groups by becoming browsers off taller trees. Their balance became difficult to maintain, so they began to develop a remarkable path. Around 45-50 million years before the present, one of them began to develop unusual extensions of the pelvis, in the forms of large extensions similar to chair legs. At first, these hindered the animal in most cases, though eventually, they proved their benefits as they allowed the animal a much more stable position while browsing, as well as taking pressure off their legs and allowing them to move somewhat faster over distances. It allowed them to effectively become quadrupeds without relinquishing the use of their arms. The extra support allowed and even required them to significantly increase the size of their hips and gut, allowing them to process more food and gain more nutrients from it. To balance this, the top of the animal’s torso became thinner and more elongated, allowing them to reach greater heights, along with their arms. For millions of years this group has flourished throughout rainforests, open woodlands and even the southern conifers and steppe environments. They are Parthia’s most spectacular land animals in terms of sheer mass and unusual anatomy, which we will explore now.

Anatomy:

The butt-scooters are so named due to the way that their hip-skids seem to stem from the buttocks, and scrape behind them similar to a plough. These skids are covered in hardened keratin preventing them from being damaged over long periods of time, allowing them to get quite usefulThey greatly reduce stress upon the legs, and can increased loading capacity by more than 150%. The legs are very thick and muscular, thicker than those of a theropod though less thick than an elephant or sauropod’s, due to their bipedal nature. The spine is very curved in nature, allowing for the very large hip region and the relatively small chest, giving it an exceptionally upright appearance, not too different to a bipedal brachiosaur or camel in design. The neck also has a limited S shape to it, with a reasonably large head at the end of it. The heads are surprisingly short, as this allows them generalistic diets. However, their mouths are incredibly large with a very small cranium and brain, leaving maximum room for their huge jaws, allowing them to eat as much as possible. Even more so, their jaws are capable of opening at high angles, in some species as much as 130 degrees. The arms are muscular and long, allowing them a long reach across vegetation, allowing them to gather whatever they like, with fairly large claws helping in defense. Very dim witted, they are however quite adaptable to change due to their very varied diets and the fact that their expanded wombs allow them to have multiple offspring at a time. Throughout Parthia, the group flourishes on whatever is available, though there have developed a couple of specialised forms in specific habitats. For example the marsh monster (hippanthropus robustus) is a semi-aquatic hippo like creature, feeding off the various underwater weeds and nearby aquatic trees for its food supply, with a flattened, almost duck like face as a result. Like other groups of giant animals before them, they come in a wide range of sizes. The smallest species is the barrowman (pachypithecus vulgaris), an inhabitant of the Parthian rainforests, feeding off fruit and the like. A fully grown adult measures about 3.5m tall and can weigh up to 1400kg, which is already pretty massive, and significantly heavier than any other biped of the same size. The largest, also the largest land mammal to ever exist is the colossus (titanthropus Austrialis), a huge beast that can reach a staggering 12m tall and weigh more than 35 tonnes, having developed into an almost brachiosaur like position, resembling a walking mountain with arms, filled with insects swarming around it, with small pteranthropids feeding on them as well.

Larger Picture here: i.imgur.com/IkzRU5G.png

Species shown include:

Barrowmen (pachypithecus vulgaris): a rainforest dweller in the deep jungles, somewhat convergent with the Kong of Barumak, though even more bizarre.

Marshmonster (hippanthropus robustus):  a wading, hippo like creature living in the same swamps as the barrowman, while feeding mainly on aquatic vegetation around the swamps. Has extended and webbed feet, in distant parallel with anthropocetes. Measures around 4m (very leaned over and more horizontal) tall and weighs about 4 tonnes or more.

Snowgre (cryophilus primigenus): a robust and hairy form living in the southern coniferous forests and even tundra. Mainly feeds off the local spiny trees, but also scoops up algae living in the tundra and the lakes around 5.8m tall and weighs up to 6 tonnes.

Anthrophant (Ambulotibus giganteus): a large plains dwelling species, measuring up to 8m tall and weighing around 14 tonnes as an adult, that combines a diet of dispersed trees of the savannah and the grasses there, having the niche of both an elephant and giraffe. It has an arching back to help it bend over and pick up grass, using a sheathe at the edge of each hand to cut the grass, scoop it up and take it into its huge mouth. Has an exceptionally large rear end due to the requirement to digest grass.

Dwarf butt-scooter (Nanotitan insularis): a dwarf species living on the island of Moreshet and its neighbours. Their size is greatly reduced from their ancestors, rarely surpassing 2 tonnes, though falling for prey to the region’s dwarf underbite.

Tuskman (hippanthropus antiquus): A relative of the marsh monster, this lives on the plains and fills an even greater similarity to the hippo, measuring 3.9m tall and weighing up to 7 tonnes. It has large tusks in its upper jaw similar to a walrus, used to attack other males and to defend from predators.

Collosus (titanthropus austrialis): The largest land animal around, this brachiosaur like titan lives in the open forests near the borders of environments, towering over any other creature on land, with an unusually long neck and a head that is all mouth. It has a symbiotic relationship with the smallest of all the humans, which helps pick off parasites from it.

Next up will probably be the pteranthropids finally.