Monster Hunter When Fantasy Comes To Life

Lynian

(Warning! This is a long chapter!)

We often think of ourselves as superior to all other species due to our intelligence. But the simple fact is that Homo sapiens aren't that unique. Throughout the world, many species are capable of doing the same things we believe makes us superior, with some even putting us to shame at these tasks.

Even creatures like parrots, dolphins, elephants, and chimpanzees show us that our intelligence isn't that exceptional, and some species, like one of our extinct relatives the Neanderthals, can even rival us when it comes to smarts.

However, one Primate superfamily has been able to constantly keep up with us in every way. The Lynians contain the only living species who can definitively rival Homo sapiens in wit.

Despite being incredibly intelligent Primates, Lynians aren't that closely related to our own species, having split off from the Cercopithecidae (old world monkeys) sometime during the early Oligocene, around 32 million years ago.

After the initial split, the Lynian superfamily divided into two new families approximately 26 million years ago.

One of these families originally stayed in Africa, quickly evolving to survive in the diminishing forests and expanding savannahs. These Lynians became the cat-like Fellyns. It's as yet unknown why the Fellyns evolved such an unusual appearance compared to other Primates, but it may be possible that our ancestors had something to do with their evolution.

During the late Miocene, a combination of factors such as the tectonic uplift in East Africa, caused the tropical rain forests in the region to shrink. As the forests made way for open grasslands, plants and animals either adapted, migrated, or went extinct.

One of the species to adapt to this new climate was Fellus arborealum, an ancestor to the modern day Fellyns. These creatures would have looked more like small mandrills with cat-like faces, long tails, and a mixture of canines and molars, suggesting a possibly more predatory lifestyle.

This body plan would eventually save them from extinction as it transitioned well in the changing environments. However, they weren't the only Primates to come down from the trees.

When our own ancestors entered the picture, it soon became clear that the considerably smaller Felluses couldn't directly compete with them. However, instead of leaving the areas, or being pushed to extinction, the Felluses evolved to occupy a different niche in the ecosystems they inhabited.

Due to their smaller stature, the Felluses would have been capable of searching areas that were inaccessible to other species. They may have even taken it as far as burrowing, a possible origin to their descendents' short, but effective claws. Unfortunately, their short size meant that they couldn't see over the grass, keeping both predators and other Felluses hidden from them. To compensate for these problems, these Fellyns slowly began walking upright and became digitigrades, allowing them to keep track of what was going on around them.

In addition, large ears positioned near the tops of their head allowed them to hear anything in the surrounding areas. Eventually, the Fellyns even grew sensitive whiskers to sense changes in air currents, making it possible for them to detect objects without the need to see them. With the help of their new abilities, these small animals were able to both avoid danger and find or catch food with ease.

In the end, this combination of traits made it possible for them to become effective hunters and foragers, which in turn allowed them to become smarter. Ultimately, this increase in intelligence allowed the Fellus' descendants to create tools like spears, clubs, sashes, clothing, primative pickaxes, and even medicine by the late Pleistocene.