Alligatoris sapiens are the dominant intelligent species on the planet Levarianqueva. They are descended from a group of American alligators which were imported from Earth (which was renamed to Terra in 2071) following the collision of a starship belonging to the Immortal Scientists with the planet (which was then called Rdaqtva B). As of the current year (2354 AC), there are an estimated 1 billion Alligatoris sapiens living on the planet.
Anatomically-modern Alligatoris sapiens evolved around 210 thousand years ago in the Prorinian peninsula. Over the next one hundred thousand years, these anatomically-modern Alligatoris sapiens had managed to garner more intelligence and develop traits like the capability to form emotions, strong social connections, and languages (although the males evolved language first and the females evolved it later). From there, they spread into Qlurdak and the surrounding islands, causing the extinction of the non-Prorinian megafauna and the basal Qlurdakian gators, the latter of which interbred extensively with the Alligatoris sapiens and seriously impacted the gene pool; today, the highest amount of basal Qlurdakian admixture comes from gators from eastern portions of the Qlurdakian supercontinent and Meyāni (especially in higher castes, where basal Qlurdakian admixture is over half of the entire gene pool of most individuals), and the lowest amount of basal Qlurdakian admixture comes from those native to Tioroska and Yaksōn.
Before c. 10,000 BC, all Alligatoris sapiens lived as hunter gatherers. However, around c. 10,000 BC, agriculture was independently invented in many areas around the planet, including the Yaksōnian plains, Tioroska, and the southwestern parts of Qlurdak. Not too long after, the gators started to found their own sedentary villages, small cities, and eventually, large civilizations. Agriculture brought on a surplus, reducing the amount of individuals needed to gather food and allowing for more scientific, technological, and magical breakthroughs. This surplus also allowed for the creation of governments, philosophies, and religions.
Alligatoris sapiens are omnivores and are generally capable of consuming pretty much any food source, and also have the capacity to use fire to cook their food since about 300,000 years ago. They are capable of surviving without food for over half a decade due to their well developed kidneys and their ability to reabsorb water through the gut. This minimizes the amount of water excreted and allows them to survive solely on the water from food, never needing to drink at all, like Terran kangaroo rats and addaxes. They are generally nocturnal, sleeping during the day and being active at night, and are also capable of dreaming. Both the mother and the father work together to care for the offspring, a trait that is more common than in humans.
Alligatoris sapiens are highly intelligent and have a large, well-developed prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for higher cognition. They are also highly curious and have all of the features present in sapient life: the ability to categorize things, the ability to remember and learn from previous experiences, the ability to recognize themselves and distinguish themselves from the environment and other individuals of the same species, the ability to distinguish different quantities, the ability to interpret symbols and abstractions, the ability to attribute mental states to other individuals, the ability to use tools, and the ability to communicate, and pass down information using complex language.
Biology[]
Similarities with humans[]
Although the ancestors of humans and Alligatoris sapiens diverged around 328 million years ago, they still share some characteristics due to convergent evolution.
For one, Alligatoris sapiens and humans share the overall humanoid body plan. This evolved in the ancestors of the Alligatoris sapiens around 8 million years ago as a by-product of an arms race with a species of cactus. Bipedal locomotion evolved a way to reach taller cacti by increasing their height while minimizing surface area. The lineage that evolved into the Alligatoris sapiens had also evolved opposable thumbs around 6 million years ago in order to use tools, which was possibly triggered by the formation of the supercontinent Qlurdak. The formation of Qlurdak caused ocean temperatures throughout the planet to increase just enough to trigger the formation of tropical cyclones that are stronger than any recorded hurricanes on Terra, causing the deserts to retreat inland and allowing for an increase of prey diversity along the coastline.
Both Alligatoris sapiens and humans have sexual dimorphism, meaning that the two sexes are different physically. In the Alligatoris sapiens, this mainly manifests as height differences between the two sexes. Like in humans, males are taller than females, but these height differences are greatly exaggerated in the Alligatoris sapiens. For males, the average height is 4.76 meters, while the average height of females is 2.54 meters. There are also more markers of sexual dimorphism in the Alligatoris sapiens, including the males having more body feathers and the females having larger abdomens.
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Intelligence[]
Alligatoris sapiens, like humans, are very intelligent.
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Differences with humans[]
Senses[]
Alligatoris sapiens possess different senses than humans.
Alligatoris sapiens are worse at color vision than non-colorblind humans due to having two types of cone cells as opposed to three, causing them to see in shades of yellow and blue like cats, dogs, and humans with deuteranopia. In contrast, Alligatoris sapiens are great at night vision due to having more rods in their eyes in addition to having evolved a tapetum lucidum, coming at the cost of color vision as rods can't detect color as good as cones do. In addition, Alligatoris sapiens have a membrane on their eyes called a nictitating membrane which humans don't have, which protects the eyes from dust, ultraviolet radiation, and (vestigially) water.
Alligatoris sapiens have better senses of hearing and smell than humans. Their ears are located behind their eyes and are very sensitive to the frequencies of their vocalizations, which is very similar to the frequencies of human speech, allowing them to communicate with each other. The Alligatoris sapiens' good sense of hearing evolved as a consequence of a nocturnal lifestyle, while their good sense of smell evolved to help their desert-dwelling ancestors detect carcasses in low-light conditions. In addition, their bioluminescent feathers, which helps them communicate emotional states visually, also release chemicals which helps them communicate their emotional state in low-light conditions.
Alligatoris sapiens also retain their tails to help them maintain balance, although they are becoming increasingly vestigial.
Reproduction[]
Alligatoris sapiens, like all reptiles, reproduce by laying eggs, but lay eggs on carcasses and dead bodies rather than in nests. Carcasses, which decompose in a time frame as short as three Terran weeks (around 23 Levarianquevan days), serve as a first meal upon hatching, pressuring the Alligatoris sapiens to evolve shorter incubation periods in order for the eggs to hatch before the carcass turns into bone. Thus, while American alligators had an incubation period of around 63 to 68 Terran days (around 70 to 76 Levarianquevan days), the Alligatoris sapiens have an incubation period of just around 5 Terran days (around 6 Levarianquevan days). Due to this, the young are highly altricial, requiring the care of both parents after the carcass finishes decomposing. To ensure that the young eats as much carcass as possible before entering the care of both parents, females will often choose to lay their eggs on carcasses that are at least around 2/3rds preserved, or around one third of the way done being decomposed.
After the female Alligatoris sapiens lays her eggs, she will abandon them almost immediately. As the eggs are now vulnerable to predation from scavengers and ovivores out in the open, the egg shells will start to produce toxins immediately after being laid, injecting venom into the blood stream of animals that attempt to eat the eggs, killing them. To compliment its toxicity, the egg shell will turn into a bright red color, serving to visually warn ovivores that the eggs are toxic to them. After around 5 Levarianquevan days, the female's brain will activate a neural response telling her that her eggs are about to hatch, causing her to walk back to the carcass to check if her young are okay, and after arriving at the carcass, she will stay there until the carcass finishes decomposing. Once decomposition is finished, the young will immediately enter the care of their parents.
Unlike most reptiles, which lay their eggs and determine the sex of the resulting offspring via temperature, Alligatoris sapiens lay their eggs and determine the sex of the resulting offspring via chromosomes, which is more like the sex-determination systems of mammals and birds.
Society and Culture[]
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