speculative evolution

Carrion-eating megafauna of the African plains

Posted on May 24, 2022

The wildlife of the future, the human-deprived African continent is largely dominated by a variety of differentially specialized primates. Being the evolutionary most successful group, they covered all possible ecological niches, ranging from enormous grazers to voracious predators. This is why, and by analogy to the Planet of the Apes, this unique biosphere was called the Planet of the Primates. The African plains throughout the continent and especially the Serengeti ecosystem became a scene of annual herd migrations because of the changing, drier and warmer climate. These migrating herds on the other hand became a constant source of food to predators, but also carrion eaters. The evolutionary process also shifted toward larger scavengers, most of which happened not to be primates.

The emergence of new apex predators by hybrid speciation

Posted on March 20, 2022

The present paper discusses the possibility that rare animal interspecific hybrids may evolve into entirely new species and occupy the highest trophic level. Such hybrid speciation may have occurred in historical times and represents an evolutionary mechanism. The subject of the current study, however, is typical cases of anthropologic organisms, whose evolution was facilitated or even caused by human activity. These are typical examples of the way that human civilization changed ecological systems and affected biodiversity.