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Submitted: February 21, 2009
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Cursorial rodent sketchby ~povorot

Traditional Art / Drawings / Animals

When South America split from North America in the Miocene, it ended up missing out on the mammalian conquest of the herbivourous niches, with oligocene dino groups thriving on the continent. By the end of the miocene, however, the diminutive rodents and handful of other mammal families gained a bit of ground, producing a wide variety of capybara-like beasts from hippo to guinea-pig sized, as well as a diverse group of cursorial, antelope-like grazers who were much more successful then their dinosaur analogues. After the great american interchange, the antelope-sized "Super-maras" spread across N America and Eurasia.

This is a sketch of two of those browsers. Instead of antelope or deer- style headgear, I went to the only other horned rodent in reality - the horned gopher of the pleistocene - as the model for horn growth.

!Social-Animal Mar 13, 2009

Male rats are called bucks, females are does. Convenient eh?

~povorot Mar 13, 2009

Ha! Very convenient.

(I didn't know that, either - I wouldn't have thought they'd have bothered to give rats names for their sexes)

~PonchoFirewalker01 Feb 28, 2009

Almost like a jackolope......

*viergacht Feb 22, 2009 Professional General Artist

Epigalus! I love that little guy. I like the nervous little lift of the hind leg you gave the animal in the foreground, really makes it lively.

~povorot Feb 22, 2009

Thanks.

~Lig28 Feb 21, 2009

Ah very interesting. Rodents do have wonderful evolutionary potential. Being a fairly basic form and generalist in diet they can adapt to a wide range of ecological niches. I can well see these critters coming about.

Oh and i have a bit of a random question. In your world we have various mammal sand dinosaurians about. What about primate life. Any species of them? Apart from something sentient I think they could be widely adapted to other niches as well. Also because this is along the lines of this. Did the hominid line arise in any way? Just curious.

~povorot Feb 21, 2009

The most successful primates of this world are/would be baboon or macaque-like, not bipeds.

But Yeah, I like the rodents as adaptable deer analogues. They fit the niche pretty well.

~Chimpeetah Feb 21, 2009

Oh man that is really good... I'd give it a 20 thumbs up if possible

~povorot Feb 21, 2009

Hah, thanks man.

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