History Literature / TheFutureIsWild

* FantasticFaunaCounterpart: Many creatures are expies of other animal species, both living and extinct, since they all fill similar ecological niches, and were subject to convergent evolution. For example, Shagrats are rodent musk oxen, Snow Stalkers are mustelid polar bears, Gannetwhales are avian walruses, Deathgleaners are mammalian vultures, Spinks are avian gophers, Babookaris are new world monkeys behaving like baboons, Carakillers are falcons acting like terror birds, Toratons are tortoise counterparts to sauropods, Flish are fish behaving like birds, Desert Hoppers are snails acting like kangaroos and Squibbons are squids acting like monkeys. The ocean phantom is basically a ''siphonophorae'' jellyfish writ large.

*** Special mention goes to the Deathgleaner, a ''diurnal'' predatory bat. In a scenario where birds are very much still around, it's unlikely for bats to fill this niche, being less efficient flyers than birds due to their solid bones and lack of air sacs, which greatly limits their size.

* {{Expy}}: A lot of creature ideas in the series are borrowed liberally from Dixon's other "speculative evolution"-type works. For instance, the gannetwhale is essentially an alternate route for the vortex, a penguin relative in ''After Man'' that took on the same niche as a baleen whale.

* {{Expy}}: A lot of creature ideas in the series are borrowed liberally from Dixon's other "speculative evolution"-type works. For instance, the gannetwhale is essentially an alternate route for the vortex, a penguin relative in ''Life After Man'' that took on the same niche as a baleen whale.

** The Titan Dolphin in the VR game is a completely ''absurd'' depiction of cetacean anatomy: it is terrestrial and walks on its forelimbs like a theropod dinosaur, ''meaning that its torso is entirely ribcage and it has no space for internal organs whatsoever.''

* GiantFlyer: The Great Blue Windrunner. The sources don't seem to agree on its size; some offer a realistic approach at 3 meters (about the same size as the largest modern flying birds), but the official site states a wingspan of 15 meters, which would make flight impossible given how thin the atmosphere is at the altitudes it flies at and how narrow its wings are (though it can increase the wing area by raising its legs, which have wing feathers).

** snow stalker and gryken = giant mustelids
** shag rat = [[RodentsOfUnusualSize giant marmot]] (but occupying the niche of a musk ox)
** deathgleaner = giant bat (bigger than modern flying foxes)
** ocean phantom = giant Portuguese man-of-war
** toraton = ''really'' [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment giant]], giant tortoise
** rainbow squid = [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment giant]] GiantSquid, or [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment colossal]] Colossal Squid

** rainbow squid = [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment giant GiantSquid, or colossal Colossal Squid]]

* VomitIndiscretionShot: Literally. The Gannetwhales regurgitate and spit their last meal at possible predators while they are incubating their eggs at the shore.

** Ocean Phantom: Basically ''siphonophorae'' jellyfish writ large.
* FantasticFaunaCounterpart: Many creatures are expies of other animal species, both living and extinct, since they all fill similar ecological niches, and were subject to convergent evolution. For example, Shagrats are rodent musk oxen, Snow Stalkers are mustelid polar bears, Gannetwhales are avian walruses, Deathgleaners are mammalian vultures, Spinks are avian gophers, Babookaris are new world monkeys behaving like baboons, Carakillers are falcons acting like terror birds, Toratons are tortoise counterparts to sauropods, Flish are fish behaving like birds, Desert Hoppers are snails acting like kangaroos and Squibbons are squids acting like monkeys.

** Ocean phantom: Basically ''siphonophorae'' jellyfish writ large.

** Squibbons are said to continue the trend of cephalopods evolving "bigger and better brains"...except there's one little problem: a cephalopod's brain is ''wrapped around their esophagus'', and a bigger brain would literally ''choke them to death''. This constraint is probably one reason why modern octopuses rely on a decentralized nervous system with accessory "mini-brains" in their arms to boost their intellectual abilities.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Some of the predictions are, to say the least, less than likely. For instance, it's quite unlikely for all mammals to be simply outcompeted into total extinction by other vertebrates in the way depicted in the show, and certainly quite impossible for arthropods and cephalopods to totally displace vertebrates in general in all large animal niches.

* CubCuesProtectiveParent: The Deathgleaners attempt to prey on a baby Rattleback, but are forced to retreat when its distress cries bring its much larger and ''angrier'' mother charging the bats.

** This causes some species to go extinct.

* CubCuesProtectiveParent: Although it's not necessarily the ''parent'', the killing of a toraton hatchling by the swampus makes a nearby ''adult'' toraton rather annoyed.

* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: The Swampus, Rainbow Squid, Megasquid and Squibbon.

''The Future is Wild'' is a franchise that speculates on the possibility of how life might evolve in the future, focusing entirely on three distinct eras: an Ice Age 5 million years into the future, a wetter, warmer era 100 million years from now, and a period 200 million years ahead in which all the continents have merged into one.

It began with a TV SpeculativeDocumentary miniseries produced by Britain and the United States that aired on Creator/AnimalPlanet and Creator/DiscoveryChannel in 2003. Each of the 13 episodes covered a different environment from one of the three time periods, as well as the animals that would inhabit such places. A companion book co-written by Creator/DougalDixon (who also wrote ''Literature/AfterManAZoologyOfTheFuture'') was released alongside the show. The series was a huge hit with viewers, spawning various pieces of merchandise and even theme park exhibitions in Japan and France.

Eventually, it became popular enough to spawn a CGI children's animated series made in Canada by Creator/{{Nelvana}}. Due to the lower budget and different tone, it lacked the detailed models of the miniseries and used more cartoonish designs. This AnimatedAdaptation starred a teenage girl from ten thousand years into the future named C.G. who explores the environments featured in the miniseries alongside a group of twenty-first century teens (Luis, Emily, and Ethan) - as well as a future squid - picked up by accident. It ran for 26 episodes on Creator/{{Teletoon}} and Creator/DiscoveryKids.

A documentary film version of the series was originally set to be picked up by Creator/WarnerBros, however, the series may be rebooted by Vanguard Animation and broadcasting at Creator/{{HBO}}. But time will tell if anything comes out of this. There are also plans for a Virtual Reality game based on the series by the studio CGARTIST in development.

''The Future is Wild'' is a franchise focused on the possibility of how life would evolve in the future, focusing entirely on three distinct eras: an Ice Age 5 million years into the future, a wetter, warmer era 100 million years from now, and a period 200 million years ahead in which all the continents have merged into one.

It began with a TV docufiction miniseries of the same name produced in Britain that aired on Creator/AnimalPlanet and Creator/DiscoveryChannel in 2002. Each of the 13 episodes covered a different environment from one of the three time periods, as well as the animals that would inhabit such places. A companion book co-written by Creator/DougalDixon (who also wrote ''Literature/AfterManAZoologyOfTheFuture'') was released alongside the show.

Eventually, it became popular enough to spawn a children's animated series made in Canada by Creator/{{Nelvana}}. Due to the lower budget and different, more cartoony tone, it lacked the detailed models of the miniseries and used more cartoonish designs. This AnimatedAdaptation instead starred a teenage girl from the distant future named Cassiopeia who explores the different environments featured in the miniseries alongside a group of teens from our time. It ran for 26 episodes.

A documentary film version of the series was originally set to be picked up by Creator/WarnerBros, however, the series may be rebooted by Vanguard Animation and broadcasting at Creator/{{HBO}}. But time will tell if anything comes out of this.

''The Future is Wild'' is a franchise focused on the possibility of how life would evolve in the future, focusing entirely on three distinct eras: an Ice Age 5 million years into the future, a wetter, warmer era 100 million years from now, and a period 200 million years ahead in which all the continents have merged into one. Starting as a book co-written by Creator/DougalDixon (who also wrote ''Literature/AfterManAZoologyOfTheFuture''), it was later made into a TV miniseries aired by Creator/AnimalPlanet, being a Canadian/European co-production. Eventually, it became popular enough to spawn a children's animated series; being made entirely in Canada, it lacked the detailed models of the miniseries and added cartoonish animal CGI models.

* {{Expy}}: There many species that take heavy inspiration from Dixon's earlier work, ''Literature/AfterManAZoologyOfTheFuture''.

* {{Expy}}: Many creatures are expies of other animal species, both living and extinct, since they all fill similar ecological niches, and were subject to convergent evolution. There are also a lot of expys from ''Literature/AfterManAZoologyOfTheFuture''.

* CarnivoreConfusion: Since every single animal is sentient, carnivores are portrayed as villains, ranging from genuine AffablyEvil examples into at least one full fledged evil monster without a mind of its own.
** This is despite this being averted in the documentary-style minieseries, however, where many carnivores are portrayed sympathetically.