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Spec World (Website)

 Spec World (Website)
type
TVTItem
 Spec World (Website)
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Spec World (Website)
 Spec World (Website)
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SpecWorld
 Spec World (Website)
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Spec World, or the Speculative Dinosaur Project, is a massive, massive world-building work in progress. It's basically an attempt to imagine how the world would be if the K/Pg Extinction Event hadn't happened 65 million years ago as seen from the perspective of dimension-hopping explorers and scientists from our world ("Home-Earth").The best thing you can do is just start reading.note The project has been jumping around for the better part of a decade, to put it mildly. You may see the original incarnation here, but use it only for nostalgic purposes, as a lot has changed. The current version can be found on the Speculative Evolution Wiki.The project has stalled out since 2008 (mostly due to unexpected discoveries in paleontology that made many of the concepts outdated) and there are many lost illustrations and broken links. But the imagination, wonderful creature designs, good biology (for the time, anyway) and offbeat humor more than make up for it.The project isn't entirely dead, as DA pictures from the staff like this suggest that, once the main site is updated, things will get very interesting... (A summary including some of the new ideas can be found here.)
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2023-05-18T16:59:34Z
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Dropped link to BarneyAndFriends: Not a Feature - ITEM
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Dropped link to CthulhuMythos: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
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Dropped link to MobyDick: Not a Feature - ITEM
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Dropped link to Pokemon: Not a Feature - ITEM
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CthulhuMythos
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DBTropes
 Spec World (Website) / int_166c3e6f
type
Speculative Biology
 Spec World (Website) / int_166c3e6f
comment
Speculative Biology: A whole site dedicated to what the world would look like if the Cretaceous extinction never occurred.
 Spec World (Website) / int_166c3e6f
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1.0
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_1e1825ba
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Mokele-Mbembe
 Spec World (Website) / int_1e1825ba
comment
Mokele-Mbembe: The mokeles are a clade of sauropods adapted to an aquatic lifestyle. Their adaptations to this lifestyle have also led to them becoming very physically distinct from their terrestrial kind, and as a result are very crocodile-like in appearance.
 Spec World (Website) / int_1e1825ba
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1.0
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Toothy Bird
 Spec World (Website) / int_22b3deaf
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Toothy Bird: Certainly, as several varieties of toothed birds have survived on Spec.
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1.0
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_330ef176
type
Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious
 Spec World (Website) / int_330ef176
comment
Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious: Because Spec is an alternate timeline where dinosaurs still exist, it has to designate its "cryptids" differently. "Cryptids" in Spec are alleged, undiscovered species of dinosaurs and other creatures whose only reports are eyewitness accounts and unconfirmed sightings, and their existence is usually the topic of much discussion. Fittingly enough, most of them are expies of several alleged cryptids from our world.
 Spec World (Website) / int_330ef176
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 Spec World (Website) / int_3848c28a
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Name of Cain
 Spec World (Website) / int_3848c28a
comment
Name of Cain: A noasaurid, and fastest predator of Madagascar. It kills and eviscerates its prey entirely with its hands. On an unrelated note it has a symbiotic relationship with a spider that protects it from parasites.
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1.0
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1.0
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Spec World (Website) / int_3848c28a
 Spec World (Website) / int_41dd77d
type
Zerg Rush
 Spec World (Website) / int_41dd77d
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Zerg Rush: Cityfinches do this. One account notes how an injured molok (a species of abelisaur) accidentally fell on one of their nests and after an hour its mutilated carcass was found to be stuffed with dead cityfinches through every orifice.
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type
Never Smile at a Crocodile
 Spec World (Website) / int_59a9605d
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Never Smile at a Crocodile: Crocodilians are the top predators of Madagascar and parallel species grow on average larger than on our world, while there are quite a few other types such as... The cuttercrocs; basically identical to "normal" crocodilans except that they have slicing teeth that leave much bloodier wounds. The crunchercrocs: hyenas if they were crocodilans, the carcass of a full-grown titanosaur will not exist after 3 days when a group of crunchcrocs find it. The croctiger and the croclion, huge, saber-toothed top predators of Madagascar.
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_60fa92ac
type
Names to Run Away from Really Fast
 Spec World (Website) / int_60fa92ac
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Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Lots, examples include the imperial sabre-tyrant, the white ninja, the horned molok, the giant psycho-killer penguin of DEATH!!!, the king kronoshark, and the cockatrice. Among plants there's the Tree of Pain (ironically, animals don't actually feel pain when stung by this tree, they die before that).
 Spec World (Website) / int_60fa92ac
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Spec World (Website) / int_60fa92ac
 Spec World (Website) / int_63557923
type
Death World
 Spec World (Website) / int_63557923
comment
Death World: Many of Spec's lifeforms are overly dangerous (ex. there's a species of raptor that likes cutting people's heads off for no reason and penguin-piranhas that are so aggressive they'll even attack the moon) and a lot of animals and plants that want to either kill you or ruin your day. There's a type of venomous tree!
 Spec World (Website) / int_63557923
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Spec World (Website) / int_63557923
 Spec World (Website) / int_63cad64b
type
Threatening Shark
 Spec World (Website) / int_63cad64b
comment
Threatening Shark: The king kronoshark.
 Spec World (Website) / int_63cad64b
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_6820e212
type
Giant Squid
 Spec World (Website) / int_6820e212
comment
Giant Squid: The Baleen Squids, which fill the niche of baleen whales in Spec's oceans. They actually aren't squid at all, but descendants of Mesozoic creatures called belemnites.
 Spec World (Website) / int_6820e212
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1.0
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1.0
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Spec World (Website) / int_6820e212
 Spec World (Website) / int_695efde3
type
Raptor Attack
 Spec World (Website) / int_695efde3
comment
Raptor Attack: Averted. While raptors are abundant, they are all correctly depicted with feathers, and most (though not all) of them are not pack hunters. The Cain, Madagascar's top predator, does look the part of a Hollywood-style scaly "raptor", but it is a noasaur rather than a dromaeosaur. Many of the illustrations are rather outdated though: they aren't nearly feathered enough.
 Spec World (Website) / int_695efde3
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Spec World (Website) / int_695efde3
 Spec World (Website) / int_70d8269d
type
Excuse Plot
 Spec World (Website) / int_70d8269d
comment
Excuse Plot: The bit about scientists crossing from Home-Earth to Specworld. How they did it isn't important, just that they got there.
 Spec World (Website) / int_70d8269d
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1.0
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1.0
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Spec World (Website) / int_70d8269d
 Spec World (Website) / int_80b5924
type
Left Hanging
 Spec World (Website) / int_80b5924
comment
Left Hanging: There are still several incomplete pages, incomplete descriptions and illustrations, and dead links that haven't been fixed.
 Spec World (Website) / int_80b5924
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1.0
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Spec World (Website) / int_80b5924
 Spec World (Website) / int_94e4b975
type
Vomit Indiscretion Shot
 Spec World (Website) / int_94e4b975
comment
Vomit Indiscretion Shot: The Nerd-of-Paradise is a bird that uses its own vomit to subdue prey and fend off predators. It cannot be poisoned because it vomits out any toxins in its body.
 Spec World (Website) / int_94e4b975
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Spec World (Website) / int_94e4b975
 Spec World (Website) / int_99d5e61f
type
Speculative Documentary
 Spec World (Website) / int_99d5e61f
comment
Speculative Documentary: Err, website.
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 Spec World (Website) / int_a04eb363
type
Lizard Folk
 Spec World (Website) / int_a04eb363
comment
This is also the reason why you won't find anything even remotely similar to a sapient creature on Spec; it's a silent protest against the idea of Dinosauroids (to the point where the group of dinosaurs to whom Dale Russel's absurdly humanlike Dinosauroid belonged is almost extinct!)
 Spec World (Website) / int_a04eb363
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1.0
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Spec World (Website) / int_a04eb363
 Spec World (Website) / int_a2624ce5
type
Aquatic Sauropods
 Spec World (Website) / int_a2624ce5
comment
Aquatic Sauropods: The mokeles are a group of semi-aquatic titanosaurs, which are the most speciose group of living sauropods due to their ability to swim across the ocean and colonize remote islands. The project of course does its research, the mokeles are descended from terrestrial animals and are now extremely derived to suit their swimming habits, such as nostrils placed on top of their head, a duckbill-like mouth, comparatively dense bones to keep from bobbing at the surface, and thick armour to protect them from crocodilians.
 Spec World (Website) / int_a2624ce5
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 Spec World (Website) / int_a86069f
type
Alternate History
 Spec World (Website) / int_a86069f
comment
Alternate History: More like alternate prehistory, but the principle is the same. Specworld is what the Earth might have been like if the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs never hit.
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_ad363f77
type
Dead Fic
 Spec World (Website) / int_ad363f77
comment
Dead Fic: Updates stalled out around 2008 as scientific knowledge of dinosaurs continuously made a lot of content outdated. An archive of the project is currently maintained on the Speculative Biology Wiki.
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_afc52a86
type
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot
 Spec World (Website) / int_afc52a86
comment
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot and Rule of Cool: The Spec ecosystem seems to run on these tropes. The thing is, it's still believable.
 Spec World (Website) / int_afc52a86
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_b1033d4a
type
Maniac Monkeys
 Spec World (Website) / int_b1033d4a
comment
Maniac Monkeys: Primates on Specworld evolved from lemur-like stock into small cat- or fox-like predators.
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1.0
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hasFeature
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 Spec World (Website) / int_b151c937
type
The Mockbuster
 Spec World (Website) / int_b151c937
comment
The Mockbuster: Not of the site itself, but still worth mentioning. In 2017, a Thai mockbuster of Dinosaur King was released called "Dinosaur Duel Master", which used the K'z'k Tuskhorn as one of the dinosaurs, apparently under the impression it was a real animal.
 Spec World (Website) / int_b151c937
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hasFeature
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 Spec World (Website) / int_b42e16fb
type
Feathered Fiend
 Spec World (Website) / int_b42e16fb
comment
Feathered Fiend: Any of the predatory or aggressive coelurosaurs, particularly the penguins of death!!!, the cityfinches and the nerds-of-paradise (also known as the chunderbird).
 Spec World (Website) / int_b42e16fb
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1.0
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1.0
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hasFeature
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 Spec World (Website) / int_b53077b3
type
Take That!
 Spec World (Website) / int_b53077b3
comment
Take That!: Not on the main website, but in the spinoff The Saga of the Caripoo, Brian Choo mentions that he'd "rather watch Highlander II than meet another caripoo." This is also the reason why you won't find anything even remotely similar to a sapient creature on Spec; it's a silent protest against the idea of Dinosauroids (to the point where the group of dinosaurs to whom Dale Russel's absurdly humanlike Dinosauroid belonged is almost extinct!) The Orang-B'narni. Enough said.
 Spec World (Website) / int_b53077b3
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1.0
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_c107768e
type
Alternate-History Dinosaur Survival
 Spec World (Website) / int_c107768e
comment
Alternate-History Dinosaur Survival: The entire premise is a in-depth look at how dinosaurs and other organisms (but mostly dinosaurs) might have evolved had the K-Pg extinction event not occurred. In this case, a Framing Device of a parallel universe is used showing human scientists exploring the alternate Earth.
 Spec World (Website) / int_c107768e
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_c36a80d8
type
Armless Biped
 Spec World (Website) / int_c36a80d8
comment
Armless Biped: The terror-bird-like gobblers have only a few tiny bones remaining of their wings.
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1.0
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 Spec World (Website) / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: There are many pop culture references intermingled in the creature names and descriptions: Most obviously, to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (there's a bird literally called the Alfred's hitchcock). There are a group of mammals called pokemuses, native to Spec-Japan. Two species are called the pikachilla and the raichilla. Also, a giant whale-like platypus relative, called the Moby Duck. One species of caripoo is known as the Annelk, noted for its frequent and obnoxiously loud coughing noises. There's a group of baleen squids known as cthulumorphs, with one semi-cryptid deep sea species known as the great ktulu, a smaller related species called the ktulu spawn, and a mosasaur predator that hunts them called the Nodens.
 Spec World (Website) / int_c75df49a
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 Spec World (Website) / int_c8bb9f15
type
Temper-Ceratops
 Spec World (Website) / int_c8bb9f15
comment
Temper-Ceratops: The K'z'k Tuskhorn is an incredibly vicious ceratopsian from South America, said to be responsible for more human deaths than all of the continent's predators.
 Spec World (Website) / int_c8bb9f15
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1.0
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_d243518d
type
In Spite of a Nail
 Spec World (Website) / int_d243518d
comment
In Spite of a Nail: In the Spec Earth, there are numerous taxa which would not have existed during the Late Cretaceous, but still evolved during the Cenozoic and survived to the present day down familiar lines in spite of the massive difference in global ecology, designated as parallel species (or just P-, for short). This may vary from order level (primates, several bird groups) all the way down to parallel species (such as P-Crocodylus niloticus, the Nile crocodile).
 Spec World (Website) / int_d243518d
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 Spec World (Website) / int_d442f9d1
type
ToiletHumor
 Spec World (Website) / int_d442f9d1
comment
Toilet Humor: A fair bit, most of it courtesy of contributor Brian Choo, such as the self-explanatory rectal probe bird and the dino faeces-eating caripoo.
 Spec World (Website) / int_d442f9d1
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_d5a84e45
type
Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit"
 Spec World (Website) / int_d5a84e45
comment
Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": Species are named after Earth animals, fictional Earth animals, fictional characters... Justified, as scientists from our world are doing the naming.
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1.0
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 Spec World (Website) / int_e5421161
type
Expy
 Spec World (Website) / int_e5421161
comment
Expy: Some animals are analogues of Real Life modern ones. Semi-justified that similar niches would probably be held by animals similar in appearance (i.e. the ciraf is an African high-browser like the giraffe - but the coloration is very unoriginal and it has a close relative that is very similar to the okapi).
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 Spec World (Website) / int_f5eda11
type
Mix-and-Match Critters
 Spec World (Website) / int_f5eda11
comment
Mix-and-Match Critters: Many creatures resemble these. Scowls, basically owls with raptor faces, are among the cuter examples. Other notable examples include the puffindingo (a small grassland theropod with puffin-colored faces) and the Moby Duck (a whale-sized platypus relative), as well as many of the other spec monotremes, which are essentially platypuses crossed with beavers, weasels, badgers, skunks and other small-to-medium sized mammals.
 Spec World (Website) / int_f5eda11
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 Spec World (Website) / int_fd1f1a63
type
Ridiculously Cute Critter
 Spec World (Website) / int_fd1f1a63
comment
Ridiculously Cute Critter: Specworld is not without these despite being a Death World. For example, the marsupial known as the sugar cat◊ is every bit as cute as its name implies.
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Spec World (Website)

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Accidentally Correct Zoology / int_3a9a9db2
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Alternate-History Dinosaur Survival / int_3a9a9db2
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Aquatic Sauropods / int_3a9a9db2
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit" / int_3a9a9db2
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Chupacabra / int_3a9a9db2
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Death World / int_3a9a9db2
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Everything's Better with Platypi / int_3a9a9db2
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
In Spite of a Nail / int_3c5d8dd2
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Mokele-Mbembe / int_3a9a9db2
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Perilous Prehistoric Seas / int_3a9a9db2
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Raptor Attack / int_3a9a9db2
 Spec World
seeAlso
Spec World (Website)
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Speculative Biology / int_3a9a9db2
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Speculative Documentary / int_3c5d8dd2
 Spec World (Website)
hasFeature
Whale Egg / int_3a9a9db2
 Specworld
sameAs
Spec World (Website)