Metazoica back-up

I have created a video with instructions on how to now access and use the Meet The Mammals section of the Metazoica website. This may be the first in a series as the site undergoes some improvements in the future. Anyways, enjoy this stroll through the new site.

Well, this week's family of the week is the family Caromuridae. That is, the predatory rats. Metalraptor suggested that instead of having regular rats as the ancestoral form of this family, that perhaps dormice would be a better fit. I used to raise dormice (back when they were a legally kept species) and I couldn't agree more. One of the things I was told when I bought my first breeding couple was to feed them crickets every now and then. So I did. You would not believe the ferocity these animals displayed when attacking those crickets!! It was astronomical!! Imagine that species evolved into a super predator of tomorrow. At least of it's time. The most notable feature of this family are the incisors, which have retained their rodent-like characteristics, but with the added feature of growing into canine-like points. The shape of the points depends largely on what kind of prey they consume. For instance, Vulpemys preys on small, soft-bodied animals, so their incisors have...

As you all may know by now, the new Meet The Mammals section is up. All the bugs haven't been worked out yet, but it is up now. I'm fiddling around with the new features. My web designer is still trying to make it perfect. He promises it will be done today. I can only hope! I haven't been back this morning, but I will periodically add new species to the list. Even I cannot wait to see what it will look like. This time, each family counts as a category. The categories can be found on the right sidebar. I can no longer have the species listed as "large grazers", "small grazers" or "pentadactyls", etc. Now, the families just show up on the side individually. Hope you all like the new feature! I am still thinking of putting up a "members only" area. But you have to donate to set up an account. That will be the area that has the best features though. Such as short films about some of the animals (I will not be putting these films on YouT...

Back again with a new family of the week. This week it's the marsupial monkeys, the Thylapithecidae. Though this family was originally thought up by Dixon, I've taken them and tweaked them around a little. There are only 2 varieties in this family. There is Thylopithecus and Carnophilus . Though I have pretty much kept Thylopithecus much the same as presented in After Man, with a few minor changes, I made Carnophilus quite different. I made it more like a marsupial baboon type creature. Though it is the largest member of this family, and the more carnivorous species, it is alot like it's closest kin. It lives in trees and has a long, prehensile tail. But the head is very doglike, naked and the teeth are long and sharp. Much like a modern baboon. The eyes are wider apart than in true monkeys, and used mostly to spot prey and pounce with accuracy. Though they resemble monkeys, they are actually descendants of the possum, like the brushtail possum. Though Carnophilus is ...