History Main / SpeculativeBiology

* '''[[OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious Cryptozoology]]:''' Some speculative works try to re-design mythical creatures from fantasy and folklore [[DoingInTheWizard to be more "realistic" and biologically plausible]]. Mer-people and dragons are among the two most popular candidates, exploring the development of sapient aquatic humanoids or the evolution of large flying reptiles, though other monster reconstructions such as [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Bigfoot]][[note]]for plausible reconstructions of large, bipedal apes[[/note]], [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angels]] and [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demons]] [[note]]Where do angels fall in the ecosystem and [[FallenAngel how did demons evolved from]], [[AscendedDemon or sometimes, into]] them?[[/note]], {{Unicorn}}s [[note]]A popular spec biology subject involving equines with a front facing horn on the top of their face.[[/note]], [[OurGiantsAreBigger Giants]][[note]]discussing what a HumanSubspecies would've looked like if it evolved to adapt to gigantism.[[/note]], [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]][[note]]Another HumanSubspecies or batlike creatures that has adapted for a liquivorous diet and nocturnality as well as flight.[[/note]], and [[OurFairiesAreDifferent Fairies]]/[[OurPixiesAreDifferent Pixies]] [[note]] What bugs or buglike creatures would've looked like if they had convergently evolved to look similar in appearance and intelligence as humans.[[/note]] are not unheard of in this subgenre.

** ''Literature/TheFutureIsWild'' was co-written by Dixon as a companion book to the TV miniseries of the same name. In contrast to ''After Man'', humans have simply left to live on another planet rather than went extinct. It has been criticized for containing [[ArtisticLicenseBiology animals that are implausible]], such as a giant land squid millions of years into a future where mammals have died out and other species fill their niches. Nonetheless, it has [[CultClassic a solid cult following]], and was popular enough to warrant a spin-off children's show courtesy of Creator/{{Nelvana}}, which is something one can't really say for most of the other Speculative Biology works on this page.

"Speculative biology" (also referred to as "speculative zoology", though it is by no means limited to animals) is a sub-genre of science fiction which combines SpeculativeFiction with creature design, and deals with evolution in the future, on other worlds, or in [[AlternateHistory alternate timelines]], the same way that many other sci-fi works discuss technology.

* ''[[https://alphynix.tumblr.com/post/622194519729930243/so-in-the-light-of-the-ridiculous-titan-dolphin The Delphinus Archipelago]]'', a Tumblr project about the evolution of land dolphins that started with a criticism of the ''hideously inaccurate'' Titan Dolphin from the cancelled ''The Future Is Wild'' virtual reality game by Tumblr user Alphynix and was expanded on by various others. It features the evolution of dolphins that become terrestrial, modifying their tails and foreflippers into three hoofed legs, and evolve into a wide variety of forms, ranging from mostly-conservative seal-like forms, to truly absurd forms such as giraffe-like browsers, furry squirrel-like rodent-analogues, and a unicorn-like apex predator that chops its prey apart with its horn (even having a scientific nomenclature named after [[/index]][[Film/GameraVsGuiron Guiron]]).[[index]]
** The project was later added upon by Alphynix, adding long-necked brontolphins and herbivorous dolphalopes, and a further installment introduced the beaked dolphins with bird-like bills, which included mole-like burrowers, azdarchid-like ground hunters and even a gliding arboreal species.
* PlayedForHorror with ''Literature/GreenAntarctica,'' a work that details a whole ecosystem evolved from penguins, marsupials, sloths, monkeys, and other Gondwanan animals. However, many of the details are informed by RuleOfScary, and/or are inspired by Creator/HPLovecraft.

* [[https://christopher-stoll.deviantart.com/ Chritopher Stoll]], a Deviantart-based artist, does this with his two series, ''A Natural History of the Fantastic'' (which cover mythical creatures) and ''[=PokeNatomy=]'' (which covers Pokemon).

* ''Film/Evolution2001'' depicts a whole series of ecosystems developing within the alien-infested cavern, as the rapidly-evolving life forms [[EvolutionaryLevels progress from pond scum to worms to bugs to herps to mammals]] over the course of just a few days.

* ''Series/FutureCat'' is a documentary discussing how big cats could evolve in the future. It's also briefly mentioned that smaller cat species could start going underground, similarly to foxes.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Planetcopia}}'' downplays the biology part in favor of focusing on general climate and geography of imagined worlds. These worlds include our own Earth if it got tilted in such ways as to reposition the poles, ice caps, and latitude distribution of the continents (one called Jaredia is inspired by Jared Diamond's ''Literature/GunsGermsAndSteel'' and tilts the world to give it the largest possible east-west continent extension); Mars and Venus after a thousand years of {{Terraforming}}; and more alien worlds with very un-Earthlike land/sea ratios and distributions. The actual biology consists of transplanted Earth creatures and/or straightforward {{Intelligent Gerbil}}s, since the focus is more on how Earthlike organisms would adapt to weirder environments.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Athyrmagaia}}'' by [[https://www.deviantart.com/batterymaster/gallery/83426693/athyrmagaia Batterymaster]] is an alien world dominated by the Athyrmatherians: a clade of typically hexapodal animals that resemble Earth animals at least visually, such as the bovine-like mock oxen, the wolf-like steppe fenrir and the lion-like emperor zouyu. But what makes these creatures truly unusual is the fact that each animal is actually formed from ''four separate animals'' that fuse together with their siblings to form a composite: with some species even having two separate adult forms: one where a single larva matures on its own, and one where four of them assemble to form a composite adult.

[[folder:Film -- Animation]][[index]]

* ''Literature/TheFutureIsWild'' is a SpiritualSuccessor to the speculative evolution book ''Literature/AfterManAZoologyOfTheFuture''. In contrast to ''After Man'', humans have simply left to live on another planet rather than went extinct. It has been criticized for containing [[ArtisticLicenseBiology animals that are implausible]], such as a giant land squid millions of years into a future where mammals have died out and other species fill their niches. Nonetheless, it has [[CultClassic a solid cult following]], and was popular enough to warrant a spin-off children's show courtesy of Creator/{{Nelvana}}, which is something one can't really say for most of the other Speculative Biology works on this page.

* ''Series/TheFutureIsWild'' is a 2002 Creator/AnimalPlanet documentary. It is a SpiritualSuccessor to the speculative evolution book ''Literature/AfterManAZoologyOfTheFuture''. In contrast to the book, the documentary says that humans simply left to live on another planet rather than went extinct. The documentary has been criticized for containing [[ArtisticLicenseBiology animals that are implausible]], such as a giant land squid millions of years into a future where mammals have died out and other species fill their niches. Nonetheless, the documentary has [[CultClassic a solid cult following]], and was popular enough to warrant a spin-off children's show courtesy of Creator/{{Nelvana}}, which is something one can't really say for most of the other Speculative Biology works on this page.

* Quite possibly the first instance of speculative biology ever was by none other than Charles Darwin himself. After watching bears fishing, he hypothesized in ''On The Origin Of Species'' that in the future, bears might become more adapted to aquatic life and evolve into whale-like creatures [[note]]We now know that something like this actually did happen in the past, since seals are descended from bear-like ancestors [[/note]].

Most of these stories tend to have [[NoAntagonist no defined villains]], or if there are, [[PlotIrrelevantVillain they're mostly just treated as an afterthought]] as the predators of the ecosystems portrayed in the story are enough of forces to provide conflict to these stories [[TruthInTelevision just like their past/earth counterparts]]. If an antagonistic force is prevalent in the story, it's often either in the form of EvilutionaryBiologist who wants to see how humans/certain animals would end up if they hasten their "evolution", an [[IntroducedSpeciesCalamity invasive species ravaging any ecosystem they weren't in before]], [[AlwaysChaoticEvil or from a sapient species or culture]] [[CruellaToAnimals that has little to no respect of their homeworld's ecosystem]]. Often, [[NoPlotNoProblem there is no real story to speak of]], with many works simply stating facts regarding their fictitious ecosystems and life-forms, [[SpeculativeDocumentary like a field guide or documentary]].

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' occasionally dabbles in this, mostly through [=PokeDex=] entries that detail the creatures' biology. The [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Alola]] [[VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon games]] specifically go into detail on the hunting habits of Pokémon. However, they're just as likely to go for RuleOfCool, and most of the "science" they contain is pure nonsense. [[MST3KMantra Then again, this is a universe where]] almost every animal has ElementalPowers, and "egg groups" completely invalidate the very definition of a species, so it's obvious realistic biology doesn't really apply in most cases.

Most of these stories tend to have [[NoAntagonist no defined villains]], or if there are, [[PlotIrrelevantVillain they're mostly just treated as an afterthought]] as the predators of the ecosystems portrayed in the story are enough of forces to provide conflict to these stories [[TruthInTelevision just like their past/earth counterparts]]. If an antagonistic force is prevalent in the story, it's often either in the form of EvilutionaryBiologist who wants to see how humans/certain animals would end up if they hasten their "evolution" or in the form of an [[IntroducedSpeciesCalamity invasive species ravaging any ecosystem they weren't in before.]] Often, [[NoPlotNoProblem there is no real story to speak of]], with many works simply stating facts regarding their fictitious ecosystems and life-forms, [[SpeculativeDocumentary like a field guide or documentary]].

Speculative biology is very popular online among amateur biologists and animal fans, especially on sites like Website/{{Deviantart}} and Website/{{Reddit}}. This sort of work is also common in fandoms that feature fantastical animals; artists will invoke realism in their works and try to revamp the characters in a way that makes more biological sense. However, it's also a topic that gets professionally discussed. Several books and a few documentaries have also been created on the topic of speculative biology. Most works of speculative biology at least ''try'' to obey real-world laws of science and are (in theory) generally harder science fictions, and if any sort of supernatural HandWave is involved, MagicAIsMagicA will be in full effect. Indeed, providing real-world explanations for fantastical and fictional creatures (just how ''do'' dragons breathe fire?) is another popular form of speculative biology.

That being said, many works of speculative biology are [[SturgeonsLaw not very biologically rigorous]]. Many artists end up coming up with [[ArtisticLicenseBiology inaccurate animals]] and circumstances that most likely couldn't occur. Every so often however, [[HilariousInHindsight years later]] a species ''is'' discovered that [[AccidentallyCorrectZoology resembles a previously fictional animal]]. It's also worth nothing that our ideas of what is biologically plausible and what isn't [[ScienceMarchesOn changes all the time]].[[note]]For instance, it was believed for a long time that BigCreepyCrawlies could only evolve in climates with high oxygen levels, until it was recently discovered that the famous giant arthropods of the Carboniferous persisted into the Permian, when the Earth's oxygen had lowered significantly, making it more likely they simply were able to evolve the way they did due to lack of competition with tetrapods.[[/note]]

%%* [=DeviantArt=] artist (and Troper) [=ElSquibbonator=] gives us [[https://www.deviantart.com/elsqiubbonator/gallery/30958708/the-neozoic The Neozoic]], a long-form project revolving around the evolution of life on Earth over the next 100 million years.

* [=DeviantArt=] artist (and Troper) [=ElSquibbonator=] gives us [[https://www.deviantart.com/elsqiubbonator/gallery/30958708/the-neozoic The Neozoic]], a long-form project revolving around the evolution of life on Earth over the next 100 million years.

* ''Film/KingKong2005'' got a companion book called ''The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island'', where the biology of the various monsters, from the dinosaurs through the giant bugs to Kong himself, got described in a semi-scientific way. Hundreds of life forms that didn't make it onto the big screen are also presented, many of them in full-color artwork and with proper biological nomenclature.

* ''Literature/TheSnoutersFormAndLifeOfTheRhinogrades'', by the German zoologist Gerolf Steiner in 1957, may be one of the earliest semi-serious examples, as the book documents the bizarre endemic inhabitants of a fictional island chain, cartoonish shrew-like creatures that have evolved to do every conceivable activity with their noses (walking, eating, jumping, swimming, reproducing etc.). Despite the absurdity of the subject, the snouters are treated with absolute seriousness and strict scientific rigour.[[/index]]

*

* ''Literature/TalesOfKaimere'' is a low-fantasy universe where prehistoric animals from different time periods come to coexist in a fantasy world. Derived theropod dinosaurs called megaraptorans take the role of "dragons", large derived giraffids are "unicorns", and a wide variety of other fauna, such as hyena-like entelodonts, flightless ape-like pterosaurs, and manatee-like aquatic dicynodonts, to name a few.

* TheWikiRule even applies here. [[http://speculativeevolution.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Speculative Evolution Wiki]] lists works about speculative biology, amongst other things.[[index]]

* The tumblr paleoartist [[https://alphynix.tumblr.com Alphynix]] has a month-long event in 2020 called "[[https://alphynix.tumblr.com/tagged/spectember-2020/chrono Spectember]]", dedicated to speculative evolution art (using ideas submitted by fans on Patreon) with weekly intermissions discussing the history of spec-evo as a genre. Several of their entries have included flying frilled lizards, carnivorous ceratopsians, and terrestrial cetaceans inspired by the below-mentioned Delphinus Archipelago, to name a few.

** ''WebOriginal/HamstersParadise'': Concerns a seeded world, where the colonist animal of choice is the Chinese dwarf hamster, introduced to a planet with BinarySuns and a habitable biosphere by human colonists who then abandon the planet and leave them to evolve for 500 million years. The project is ReferenceOverdosed, featuring creatures such as hopping kangaroo and wallaby-analogues called the [[Music/OingoBoingo boingo and the oingo]], a saber-toothed big-cat-like predator called the [[WesternAnimation/IceAge jeggo]], a diverse clade of flying rodents called [[WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs ratbirds]], two reptile-analogue "ratptiles" at different geological ages called the [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} fastoise and the baryzard]], and a sapient race of [[MockyMouse humanoid ape-like rodents]] called the [[Franchise/MickeyMouse mousey micks]].