C.O.W. - #016: Evolutionary Dead End

[Fozzybar]

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/cow/cow.jpg


Round #016

Topic:
Evolutionary Dead End

Deadline:
Sunday, 05 June 2005




- for any questions or help go here:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=37512

note: The deadline won't be EXACTLY after a week...it can last up to 24 hours more, i am human and have to work also, you know ;)

Post your creature for this week!

[Fozzybar]

Red Rook picked the topic:

"Evolutionary Dead End - a creature that evolved too specifically and died out"

Of course the reason for its extinction should be apparent in the concept/image...

[Uziel]

Can it also be evolving in a bad way?
Something like this:
Fainting Goats (http://www.rfaintingfarm.com/faintshots.htm)
http://www.faintinggoat.com/

Can the extinction be caused indirectly by an alien influence or by another creature?
Otherwise extinction is quite difficult, it just would fall back in it's previous stage of evolution, except if the evolution goes at high speed

[PHATandy]

Wow.. this is pretty funny topic, kinda hard to think about. Very wide range of things to do aswell..

So i take this creature has to be extinct, as it evolved toooo much..... ?

[palal]

okay:) Im'm going to try:) I don't have big chances, but COW is for fun, isnt't it?
What about, a creature which died with glasses and a photoshop tutorial in it's hand?

[nightfend]

Oooh, this one is tricky. The good thing about it is we should have a lot of different concepts this time around as the the category is fairly general. Hopefully I'll have time this weekend to work on a concept.

[Fozzybar]

Wow.. this is pretty funny topic, kinda hard to think about. Very wide range of things to do aswell..

So i take this creature has to be extinct, as it evolved toooo much..... ?

Not evolved toooo much...just specialized into something, so it was depend on that - maybe a single species, which was its only food source...

[Danilo]

Can we draw human? It will be right dead end.

[0kelvin]

Hehehe, nice topic Rook.

I missed the last two weeks of COWs, as I've been rather unmotivated, but as soon as I saw the topic my mind started buzzing with possibilities. I'll definitely have something this week.

Should be a good week!



0kelvin

[Fozzybar]

Can we draw human? It will be right dead end.

HAHAHA! :}

[Craig Houghton]

careful.. eventually the fainting goats will rise up. it's a pretty effective trait.

I love open-ended fun topics like this. Great pick, Red

-Craig

[possessed]

WIP
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/5647ef7602.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

[palal]

@possesed-> seems, like it's going to be really good:)
Mine WIP-
I think I'm the winner oh the dumbest description EVER on COW:)
siadamahakavikiki turtle ("b- class movie/ mr. radar from the moon vs godzilla" style description
The siadamahakavikiki tutrles are very fragile animals in the first days of there life. they used to be eaten, by the bigger ines or mecha godzillas. There only way to survive, was to attack their opponents whith their horrible destructive voice(hdv)[ths is just so stupid:D]. Unfortunatelly the hdv of small siadamahakavikiki turtles was to weak to destroy big mecha- turtles. they could only destroy them by working in pairs. [br carefull- the best moment] So the formal leader of the turtles- Kasadahikuhiku- asked one of the gods, if he could fast forward the evolution. And so it happened- the siadamahakavikiki turtels gained two more heads instead of legs. Now, in their early years, their weak hdv was 3 times stronger. When the siadamahakavikiki got older, he was better in making the hdv, and didn't need his 2 brothers. Because they are used as legs, the die when they are about 3 years old. [this is getting more godzilla style the ever :) ]. The god while evolving the siadamahakavikiki turtles gived every head 1/3 of there old brain, so after leg- heads die, do dies 2/3 of the brain and the head-head gest really stupid (almost as stupid as this story). Usually it makes some syupid decision in his life and dies shortly, after the death of his 2 brothers.
END:)
Omg, this doesen;t have any sense at all!

http://69.56.199.195/prace/download/178302.jpg

[Carnifex]

haha,i actually once saw something about a turtle on tv once who had two heads-though it wasn't using the second one as foot. and other than two heads it lived completely normal,don't ask me how.

[AndrewLey]

Yes two headed turtles are actually quite common. They are used quite a bit in biology research.

http://texasreptiles.com/freaks/two_headed_turtle.jpg

[Uziel]

They are so cool.
http://www.reptilesalonica.com/Twoheaded_reptiles/Pseudemys_concinna_hierogly02.jpg
Idem with snakes.
http://wildthailandphotos.com/0050.jpg.
http://www.reptilesalonica.com/Twoheaded_reptiles/twohead-Thamnophis_sirtalis.jpg
Next topic Fozzy -> multi headed creature... :p

[Carnifex]

wow,didn't know that there were so many of them! how do the decide which is the main feeding unit?

[young paddy1]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/youngpaddy1/thunderbird.jpg

'Pennepotenti Procella Ire'

The Lightning Hawk as it was originally known by the gasminers of Accido used three specially modified groups of muscles to create giant static discharges, these were the birdlike creatures main means of catching prey. Thhe world of Accido is bisected around its equator by a ridge of extremely high mountains which completely separate the methan rich atmosphere of the south from the oxygen rich north, every year the Thunderbirds (as someone far more into suermarrionation than ancient Native American culture renamed them) would travel south to the ridge to dig nesting burrows into the ridge. Just before summer 2502 E.S. a skymine's fusion plant failed and crashed into the ridge smashing away the weakened top along a line of burrows. The methane and oxygen mixture was ignited two days later by a Thunderbird arriving early for mating season, the atmosphere ignited, killing all life on the planet as well as 400 gasminers in the resultant inferno.

[hallo]

Not quite happy with the way it turned out, may give it another overhaul.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y295/fbar/EvoDeadEnd.jpg

Sarssar

The Sarssars lived during the period of the Great Glacial Age, when the vast plains of their home planet were covered by a thick (up to 30ft.) layer of snow.

Spending most of their time below the snowy surface, they developed special gills through which they could suck in the adjacent snow and filter out the oxygen from the melting product. With their short but strong legs, and feet featuring a thick membrane between the fingers they could easily dig tunnels into the snow.

To hunt down prey, a Sarssar would lie right beneath the snow surface. Its headplate and turtle-like back, looking like some moss-covered rocks, lured small animals in search for food. As soon as its victim was close enough, a quick movement of the neck was all it took the Sarssar to bite and kill the unsuspecting animal.

400-years of constant heating-up of the their home planet caused the snowfields to melt away and led to the Sarssars' extinction.

[Banned_User]

http://sketchforums.com/uploads/post-11-1117613478.jpg
Bottom Feeders
These creatures have no known defesive mechanism as their bone structure has become so weak. Thier forearms are actually bending and curving over time as they become older since the weight of thier bodies is too much for thier malnutritioned structures. They only feed off of the ground since they are too slow to chase prey and lack any teeth other than a short suction-like mouth. They move about as quick as your average sloth and often can be found with toxic bulb spice ( a meat feeding plant) stuck to thier bodies. The bottom feeders will sometimes spend a day or two in one spot filtering through sand and loose dirt for nutrients, the problem is that they dont obtain enough food between thier size and the fact that the bulb spice suck the blood from thier sickly bodies similar to leeches. Thier eyes have evolved to face downward since most of thier time they spend looking at the ground through which thier filtering for food. This had made thier eye site Very poor.
Bottom feeders future: They evolve to become the slowest mammal every known, so slow that they cant even perform sex, thus their species dies out. :nohope:

[OSU_Samurai]

They evolve to become the slowest mammal every known, so slow that they cant even perform sex, thus their species dies out. :nohope:


how sad!

Nice concept there Mike.

[scott]

[Red_Rook]

haha, excellent im glad you all like it :) sorry ive been in spain for a week :P *is tanned a bit* ;)

ok now i gotta desperately thing of somthing cool to do.

[croovman]

I won't be participating, but nice topic.

[Fozzybar]

youngpaddy1
A monkey? An ordinary monkey? Is this really your entry?

[Genital Eclipse]

Is that really your comment Fozzy?

[young paddy1]

no, no





stupid message too short thing

[shadoman]

Hallo - That is nice. It looks like ETs head on a turtle. I think if you are going to work on it more, I would define the shoulders more, make the head stand out more (it kind of gets lost in the shoulder area), and add some definition to the sky and sun to show depth.

MikeCorriero - Good work as usual. The story was both well thought out and sad... My concept has the lack of sexual reproduction as well but due to inability to smell, but I am sticking with it.

[hallo]

Hallo - That is nice. It looks like ETs head on a turtle. I think if you are going to work on it more, I would define the shoulders more, make the head stand out more (it kind of gets lost in the shoulder area), and add some definition to the sky and sun to show depth.


Ack, now that you mention it, I can see it too - it does resemble ET indeed. Actually, the creature's head is meant to be turned left (respectively to the right for the viewer), kinda looking up to sun over its shoulder.

Guess I'll have to define the Sarssars mouth a bit more, too.

Thank you very much for the helpful crit.

[AndrewLey]

The Fortress Bull’s amazing armour configuration was the result of an evolutionary arms race between the local herbivores and carnivores. Practically invincible, it became the most successful mammal in the area and reproduced in great numbers.

However, as its habitat shifted towards a warmer climate the watering holes began to dry up. The bull’s heavy armour made it impossible travel the distance, to seek out new places to drink. Slowly but surly the Fortress Bull was wiped out.

http://img161.echo.cx/img161/6498/fortressbull1or.jpg

[shadoman]

Nice one there AndrewLey!

[Fozzybar]

Is that really your comment Fozzy?

It is and it means "What's the purpose of participating with this idea?"...

Now a comment which is not really mine: "I won't be participating, but nice topic."

[DaRobertz]

Well, here it is, my first ever C.O.W entry (and my first attempt at painting digitally). The concept story is a bit on the long side and may contain some grammatical errors (I'm dutch so englisch isn't flawless) but i hope you enjoy.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y253/DaRobertz/Nose-Feeder.jpg

Concept: The Nose Feeder.

Once upon a time, somewhere in the universe, a small planet called Colab existed. Thanks to it's favourable position close by a near sun, a rich an beautifull Flora and Fauna existed on Colab. In other words, Colab was a nice place to stay. Until, one day, small volcano like structure began appearing all over Colab. These structures woulld produce a stench zo horrible, that smelling this stench would mean an instant dead. Thanks to these structures, the complete Flora and Fauna dissapeared from Colab's surface, except for species. The Disgustus Monkus, which own stench was as horrible as the stench created by the structures, that they counterreacted with each other creating a small, invisible sphere around the Disgustus Monkus filled with breathable air. But since the Disgustus Monkus normally fed itself with fruits of the Baraka-tree, wich also went extinct, the Disgustus Monkus had find another way of feeding itself.

A couple of years later, we find out the Disgustus Monkus did find a way to survive. The Disgustus Monkus, now known as "the Nose Feeder", spends its life standing completly still on the bold surface of Colab, only moving for 2 things, mating and picking it's gigantic nostril with it's tongue. The Nose Feeder has survived this desolated planet by feeding itself the snot it picks out of his nose. Useless bodyparts such as arms, eyes, ears etc. have made place for the gigantic nostril the "the Nose Feeder" is famous about. Once a year the Nose Feeder will chance it's normal dayjob of picking it's nose into wandering around the planet hoping to bump into a Nose Feeder of the opposite sex.

The Nose Feeder tragically went extinct because the impact of a giant meteor moved the planet Colab closed to the sun. Because of this, standing all day in the same place gave the Nose Feeders a terrible Sunburn, wich resulted in a dryed up Nose. In a desperate attempt to pick it's nose, they would go to deep inside and accidentally eat there own brains.

[fanboy]

It's far from done, but I would like to see what you guys think of it before I continue to work on it. I’m going to try to participate on the C.O.W., as well as the industrial one to better my drawing skills.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v441/Timberwolf393/Omastar.jpg
This creature is called the Omastar. The shell is composed of Iron and Nickel, as well as calcium and the usual shell stuff. It used the magnetic field the metallic shell generated to sense the electrical signals generated by muscle contractions to sense prey and foes. The three factors that spelled the end is
1. Fluctuations in the planets magnetic field caused some major problems. They could have been over come except...
2. The shell was just too damn heavy. As you can see, it used claws on the main tentacles to drag itself. However, this requires a lot of energy, and they couldn’t live just on the rocks used for the shell alone. This too might have been over come if not for...
3. Sea monkeys that are smarter than monkeys using the shells for cool stuff. Mmmm... Subject for the next week’s C.O.W.?
After the multi-headed creature one though. That will be an interesting week.

I will have it colored by Friday, just how is the current question. Any advice on how to make the shell look metallic, or with the concept in general, or any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Fozzybar]

palal
Your creature actually is not something which is developed by evolution...it's more a mutation, which has no function and would never lead to a species which could specialze itself...
What for should the 2 necks are used for? How could this mutation compete with it's original species?

I think you need to think more about a specialisation, currently it's just a mutation with no advantage for the creature...thus it's not an evoutionary dead end of a creature.

[palal]

palal
Your creature actually is not something which is developed by evolution...it's more a mutation, which has no function and would never lead to a species which could specialze itself...
What for should the 2 necks are used for? How could this mutation compete with it's original species?

I think you need to think more about a specialisation, currently it's just a mutation with no advantage for the creature...thus it's not an evoutionary dead end of a creature.

Yes, now when I think of it your'e right, will it get disqualified? I spend lot of time making it:/ I'll think of it, maybe I'll just change this concept a little bit, so it fits more to the topic.

[Fozzybar]

well, i will take it to the poll, since you worked quite on it ;)

But i think the point is clear :)

[BlueMech]

Whoever named their concept Omastar, that's the name of a Pokemon. It's a fossil-type one with a spiky shell.
http://www.math.miami.edu/~jam/azure/pokedex/species/looky/mugshots/139.gif


And now here's my entry. I made it the New Mexican Road Snake b/c it's stupid creature, and New Mexico is stupid. I need to work on making it scaly and I think I shoulda inked it or at least cleaned up the skecth. :/ Ah, well.
http://www.gameforest.com/images/2005/evodeadend_concept.jpg

[Tetsuo]

I hope its pretty apparent why this one would die of in the darwinian tree of life pretty quickly....

Well ok. It's basically a worm like creature that instead of reproducing asexually it digests itself slowly and then back again.

I hope this doesn't break rules...and if it does at least I hope its good for a laugh.

http://www.tetsuosdream.com/COW-1.jpg

[ChaoticKnight]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v625/ChaoticKnight/wolffinal.jpg
The armored wolf became extinct because of one of its greatest assets. The bone growth that gave it its armored appearance was harder than most bone, became a luxury to the high class of the 1700s in Europe, and were hunted and poached to extinction. These amazing creatures were never recorded in documentation. The creature could not hope to protect itself against human weapons such as guns, which echo too much and distressed its hearing.

[bluefooted]

Owen's gazelle (Gazelli oweni), also called the 'crown of thorns' gazelle is sadly now extinct. The elaborate horns of the male, apparently the target of female choice during mating displays, are a well-known example of a 'runaway' process of sexual selection gone awry. Male horns were grown continuously throughout the adult's life, often leading to severe limitations in the animal's ability to feed, bend the neck, and escape from predators. Researchers speculate that it was a combination of predation and premature death of males caused by excessive horn material that led to a precipitous population decline and, ultimately, extinction.

http://www.angelfire.com/art2/bluefooted/images/antelope.jpg

[fanboy]

This is my final entry. Done in Photoshop. 25 minutes for the sketch, 2 hours for the rest, done in tune to “System of a Down” ‘s new album “Mezmerize”. It didn’t turn out as well as I thought, but it’s still neat. Right now, Photoshop is to time consuming since I have barely worked with it until now. I think I’ll stick with traditional media (colored pencils) until I can get a better feel for it. Anyhoo, any critiques, criticism, or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v441/Timberwolf393/AtlanticIronshell.jpg
This creature is called the Atlantic Ironshell. The shell is composed of Iron and Nickel, as well as calcium and the usual shell stuff. It used the magnetic field the metallic shell generated to sense the electrical signals generated by muscle contractions to sense prey and foes. The two factors that spelled the end for this fascinating creature are
1. Fluctuations in the planets magnetic field caused some major problems. They could have been over come except...
2. The shell was just too damn heavy. As you can see, it used claws on the main tentacles to drag itself. However, this requires a lot of energy, and they couldn’t live just on the rocks used for the shell alone.

[shadoman]

Crannossa Skelpta

The Crannossa Skelpta is a reptilian-like creature that walked the earth thousands and thousands of years ago. An adult male stood about 12 feet tall when fully extended. It was almost completely blind, so it needed to use its excellent sense of smell to find its only source of food—the berries of the kurja shrubs. After it caught wind of a freshly bloomed shrub, it used its 4 arms to tear at the berries—2 held the branches, while the other two ripped the berries into it's mouth.

The one thing about this rare plant was its defense mechanism, which was completely unknown to the Crannossa Skelpta. The kurja flowers omit an odorless gas when plucked. This gas is extremely acidic and when inhaled can cause tissue to burn and die.

Over thousands of years of the Crannossa Skelpta nipping at their food the vapors eventually hardened the nasal passages of the creature to withstand the fumes. But over time this had an adverse effect as it continued to limit their keen sense of smell and finally blocked their scent glands all together. With their almost non-existent eyesight, they were unable to find food and shortly fell into extinction due to starvation.

The last remaining Crannossa Skelpta fossils have been dated back to roughly 8328 B.C. somewhere in the desert lands of Utah.

http://www.shawnadomanis.com/images/cow/COW16.jpg

[leckronium]

http://home.comcast.net/~leckronium/onlinestorage/treecreature2.jpg

Tree Sprouts are thought to be a near extinct species that live deep in forests and jungle type areas. Hard to spot, these creatures have evolved over time and adapted to life by growing plant material throughout their bodies. At first, it was used as camouflage but later became dependent on the plant, often being the Black Loodig Forest Vine, feeding from the nutrients it produced.

Once man evolved and started to clear forests, the tree sprout began to lose its cover. Spending more time out in the open exposed the vine to an abundance of sun which caused the vine to wither and eventually die. The Black Loodig Vine requires shade to be able to grow properly. With the death of its camouflage and lack of habitat, the tree sprouts have been rapidly dying off. The few that remain are considered prized trophies for skilled hunters who still believe they exist. Sightings have been reported but often debunked when it is realized what was seen was just a log. :^^:

[Sapphire]

Wish I would have had time for this one, I would have had a blast. Alas, finals are upon me. Next week I'll enter something.

That road snake cracked me up.

[Carnifex]

yeah,guess i'll have to skip again aswell. no time,sorry.

edit:although,if the deadline is today night(monday) i might make it.

[Digisaur]

Rutilisolis africanus "Savannah Sunbird"
http://digisaur.net/forum/goldbird.jpg
Likely the last of an ancient line of flightless birds, possibly related to the Dodo of Mauritius. This species was native to the savannahs and scrub of Africa. The “Sunbird” got its name from one of the most spectacular mating displays in the animal kingdom. Once it reached maturity the male’s feathers took on the color and sheen of solid gold. When trying to attract a mate, it pranced about in a small clearing among the dull dried grasses. This usually took place in the midday sun, dazzling the females with a brilliant lightshow. The native peoples were equally amazed and considered it a sign of good fortune. Unfortunately for the Sunbird, its display was like a beacon to every curious land and air predator for miles in every direction. They were not terribly smart or fast on their feet, so most did not survive their first dance.

[deschamps]

Papiomyrmecophaga tridactyla :)

Known as the Masters of Magnetism or the Papiots.

The Papiots would fish for organisms in murky cavern waterways using their specialized eye to bounce magnetic waves off the riverbed. Propped up on all four arms with their head in the river, they would comb their serrated snout along the bottom to catch their meals. These creatures originally boasted a balanced diet of many different river organisms. One plentiful plankton-like organism was their favorite seeing that they were magnetically charged making them extremely easy to spot and catch. Eventually they began to focus their attention solely on these magnetically charged organisms as they discovered a hearty diet of these organisms tremendously boosted their control over magnetic waves throughout their bodies. Their snout evolved to accommodate fishing for these organisms and lost the ability to feed on other organisms. This led to their demise.

I also did a quick illo of a papiot fishing... I'll put this as a link since it doesn't count... http://www.ericdeschamps.com/ill/imgs/COW/Papiot_feed.jpg

http://www.ericdeschamps.com/ill/imgs/COW/COW-magnetismMaster.jpg

[possessed]

Great entries everyone espec. AndrewLey , Love it!
unfortunately I had zero time this week to work on my sketch so I'll just be there for the next round.

[Carnifex]

hmm not too happy with the outcome...
http://www.renderosity.com/photos/ArtistArticle11878.jpg
The bone horse
This particular species of hourse carried the camouflage idea of zebras further and developed one to look like a dead horse. During evolution it's legs devolved from not running away though, so if discovered as alive(which happened rather often due to scavengers) it couldn't get away. Some extreme examples also note the legs simply getting too weak to carry the body and as the bone horse lives in rather dry grassland it simply died from the heat. These days it's extinct due to those circumstances.