The Future Is Wild/Characters

This is a list of species in The Future Is Wild and the tropes they go with.

== 5 Million Years == Earth has entered another Ice Age 5 million years into the future. Many of the animals familiar to us have gone extinct (Including Human Beings). In their place, other creatures fulfill the roles they used to play in the ecosystem.

Ice Age Arctic

Snowstalker

The Apex predator of the Arctic. The Snowstalker is a mustelid and descended from the modern-day Wolverine. It hunts for prey while camouflaged against the snow.

Exactly What It Says on the Tin: It stalks its prey in the snow.
Expy: Of the sabertooth tiger.
- X Meets Y: Sabertooth Tiger meets Polar Bear meets Komodo Dragon.
Killer Rabbit
Stock Sound Effect: Their young make bear cries.
Super-Persistent Predator: Its preferred hunting method is to wound the prey in a quick attack and then follow it till it collapses of blood loss.

Shagrat

These herbivores descended from Marmots, and much like modern-day Musk ox, they live in herds and migrate with the seasons. They are preyed on by the Snowstalker.

Expy: Of the musk ox.
Rodents of Unusual Size: Hard to believe, but they're rodents.

Gannet Whale

The impact of humans on sea mammals was too great. Most of them have gone extinct by this time. In their place, sea birds have filled in. However, they can't really cut their ties to the land completely since they need dry land to lay their eggs.

Exactly What It Says on the Tin: They are descended from gannets, and they fill the niche of whales.
Expy: Of the seal.
Feathered Fiend

Mediterranean Salt Flats

Due to the extreme climate changes of the Ice Age, the Mediterranean Sea has dried up, leaving the largest salt pan on the planet. Very few things can live on the salt itself, but a few creatures manage to eek out a living on the former Greek islands.

Cryptile

A lizard that mainly subsists on brine flies. It catches flies by using its sticky frill and then licking it with its tongue.

Expy: Of the frilled lizard.

Scrofa

A miniature descendant of the Wild Boar. The Scrofa is a very small pig with long legs and hooves that are modified to tip-toe on the uneven rocky ground. It is mostly herbivorous, but it won't turn down Cryptile eggs.

Messy Pig: Averted, since they aren't that messy.

Gryken

Another mustelid, its ancestor was the Pine Martin, but it evolved to live and hunt on the ground when the forests disappeared. It hunts Scrofa.

Killer Rabbit

Amazonian Grassland

What was once tropical rainforests have now given way to a dry savanna-like environment. The creatures here have adapted or perished. A similar event happened in Africa some 10 million years in the past which eventually gave rise to Human Beings.

Babookari

One of the few New-world monkeys have have not gone extinct from the shrinking of the forests. The Babookari descended from The Ukari, one of the few monkeys that was generalist enough to survive. It is clever enough to weave a net to trap fish.

Expy: Of the baboon.
Portmanteau/Punny Name: Baboon + Ukari.

Carakiller

A predatory flightless bird that inhabits the grasslands. South America used to have something similar in the distant past.

Expy: Of the terror bird.
Feathered Fiend
Names to Run Away From Really Fast
Portmanteau/Punny Name: Caracara + Killer.

Rattleback

A creature that resembles a pangolin. It isn't fast, but its armor protects it from predators. There are two species. A smaller one that lives in the Amazonian Grasslands, and a larger one that lives in the North American Desert.

Exactly What It Says on the Tin: They have rattles on their backs.
Expy: Of the pangolin.

North American Desert

The continent of North America has become a very cold and very dry desert environment, only the most hardy and specialized of creatures can live here.

Spink

A bird that has taken up an extremely unusual lifestyle. It is flightless, but it uses its wings for digging rather then flying. They live in groups that are lead by a queen that is capable of determining the sex of the eggs. It has rather poor eyesight and relies on clicking to echo-locate. Descended from Quails.

Expy: Of the naked mole rat.

Deathgleaner

A very large bat. Unlike today's bats, the Deathgleaner is completely diurnal and take on the role of vultures or hawks. They either feed on carrion or hunt for live prey like the Spink.

== 100 Million Years == 95 million years have past since the 5 million year mark. Earth has become a very different place. The continents have moved to very different locations and there is far more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which is the result of extended volcanic activity. As a result, the climate is far hotter then it is today. There is also more oxygen in the atmosphere, and much less ice in the polar regions, leading to lush jungles and warm shallow seas.

Bengal Swamps

Swampus

Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods
Portmanteau/Punny Name: Swamp + Octopus.

Toraton

Expy: Of the sauropod.
Portmanteau/Punny Name: Tortoise + Ton
Wham! Line: It's first introduced as an elephant-sized creature, which a swampuss soon kills. Then comes along an "Adult toraton".

Lurkfish