Terra 2: A Second Tree Of Life

3 Million Years PE

We are now 3,000,000 years into the project. Though, on a geological scale, this is just the blink of an eye. To humans, even this relatively brief period is nearly incomprehensible. If you were a capybara living 3 million years PE, your ancestors would feel as ancient to you as humanity’s ape-like predecessors do to modern humans. Despite this, only small shifts have occurred in Terra 2's biosphere. However, what sets this period apart from any before or after is that, whereas in the past, species could still interbreed with close relatives, there are now species with common ancestors who cannot interbreed at all. Species on Terra 2 are now so different from one another that interbreeding between them is no longer possible.

The most changed in the last 2 million years are the kiwis. For 870,000 years, they were defenseless and vulnerable to predators like the egg robbins, who took full advantage of the kiwi’s flightlessness and inability to fight back. But then, 1 million years PE, something remarkable happened—a friendship between the kiwi and kiwi ants evolved. Both were easy targets for attackers, like egg robbins and large centipedes that sustained themselves off of the ant larvae. So, the kiwi and the ants teamed up to survive. The ants cleared large patches of grass by eating it, giving the kiwis places to lay their eggs and make roosts. If anything dared to go near those eggs, the ants would overwhelm it, not harming it, but irritating it just enough for the intruder to give up. In return, the ants got to feast on the kiwi’s body after it died of old age, using it to feed and house their developing nymphs. While some kiwi ants stuck to this friendly arrangement, others just couldn’t resist the eggs. Before long, what had once been a nice, mutual relationship started to turn parasitic. The ants made sure the kiwis laid their eggs near the nest, only to eventually eat them. Some got away with it by placing dead egg robbins near the eggs to "frame" them for the crime. Others weren’t so lucky and got abandoned by the kiwi after being caught in the act. But most kiwis did something very un-kiwi-like—they fought back. The Peawis (pee-wees) have evolved a threatening display, with feathers that fan out to the sides to make them look bigger. These feathers came from the old, useless wings that lost the ability to fly long before the kiwis even got to Terra 2. They’re taller now, about 30 inches, and far more aggressive—not just toward ants, but toward anything that isn’t one of them. These odd birds might just give rise to an even odder lineage in the future.

Above: A Defensive Peawi (formidulosus-avis defensus or "Scary-bird Defensive")

Oceanic mollusks diversified greatly 3 million years into the experiment. Sea slugs have grown to massive sizes, up to 4 feet long with amazingly colorful skin and a growing population high in the millions. Lobsters have become dominant carnivores in the equatorial seas, eating anything that moves in the water, including but not limited to Abyssal Goldfish, Abyssal Guppies, and other crustaceans. The sea slugs, while definitely not apex predators, have spread into various niches that subsist off of other animals for nutrients, gulping up shoals with their elastic, boneless mouths. But sometimes this can be a fatal mistake. While hunting in the depths one may encounter a Towering Jellyfish. They are the largest lifeform on the planet, reaching lengths of 50 feet, and have the most powerful sting of anything to exist, Earth or otherwise, able to kill anything before they are even able to know that they have been stung. Originally evolving from the box jellyfish, which already have incredibly painful stings, the towering jellyfish are at the top of the oceanic food chain, wrapping their tendrils around anything that moves or breathes. While this position is taken by a mollusk for now, this will not be a long-term reign, as fish are beginning to finally diversify.

The lobsters, some now reaching lengths of 1 meter, have proved as excellent marine predators. They have forced life in the ocean to diversify and defend against these large killer crustaceans. Most notable are the goldfish and guppies which have begun diversifying into a myriad of different species in the last 2 million years. Some have grown up to 4.5 feet in length and others have shrunk to just 0.5 inches in length. The bigger the fish the less likely it will be preyed upon. But now the first examples of fish-on-fish predation are evolving as large goldfish are accidentally swallowing guppies during their feeding frenzies targeted at plankton. And the goldfish are more than happy to accept a free meal. Many large Goldtuna are beginning to evolve larger gaping mouths with which to swallow schools of very small half-inch guppies. And so, the first piscine predators are evolving on Terra 2.

The world 3 Million Years post establishment is still plentiful but is now showing the first signs of predation and competition. It was the first time animals had to watch their backs and make sure they were safe.