>The snake lunges at the air filtering bird. They are in a high speed chase. The snake has low usuals of energy, but the bird is fluttering in many beats.

At the end Holocene, the Ural was flooded with mud, creating dense, nutrient wood. In this era, plants have consumed the area. Greenwood ferns are giant gymnosperms which has overgrown the muddy landscape. leaping on the branches, you will find a peculiar sight. A snake, with arms. How did THIS thing evolve. Here’s how.

The slender monkey (Tegiserpens Paridoxicus) is a medium pythomorph which lived in the mid Calderan and went extinct in the Frigicene, although its descendants lived far into the Thermocene. They live in the Ural Mountains’ bog, Siberia (Tegiserpens Paradoxicus Siberiensis) and parts of Canada (Tegiserpens Americanus), basically in the northern hemisphere. They have long claws, prehensile tail and a strange joint.

Tegi has a strange anatomy. They evolved legs from pelvic spurs. If you do not know what these are — the Python Regis (royal python) has reminence of hind legs. They are not connected to the main skeleton, and this is how they evolved the strange joint. It can turn nearly 480 degrees to grab onto higher branches and swing like a monkey (hence the name of slender monkey and its Latin name meaning ‘strange, swinging serpent). Another very strange thing is that they are warm blooded. Most of these traits are derived from its broader class known as ‘snakes with legs’, there are many different ways snakes have used the spurs, from being like stegosaurus or being praying mantise, these are a diverse group of snakes.

In the Victoria Interior Sea, there aren’t much fish. It is very isolated and... alien. This world is the end of most endotherms as the average temperature of the world is 32c, and these seas are sometimes over 60 degrees. Horrible, noxious gasses accumulate in large ammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmounts. Fish dont like dis.

Biology

Slish are large types of seaslugs, descendants of sea hares. They first evolved in the Holocene extinction where they could feast on mass carrion left by fallen birds and mammals. They evolved the large teeth to chew the thick, dense meat. Slugs already have teeth, in fact thousands, so it is plausible they merge together. After the extinction they branched into a few groups. The Kelp Cutters had massive non-protrudable jaws which they use to clamp on species on big leaf kelp. This group diverged into shell crushers which use their jaw to track open bivalves. There are a few species of ambush predators that have a long tongue like thingy which ends in four teeth (see gupgops from Serina). Then finally there are these predatory slugs.

Most swordfins have four fins to dart around prey. Their agility is surprising. They sit in the middle of the food chain. Eating large fish but getting eaten by even bigger fish.

Surprise! this is not a fish! next one is going to be something else entirely…