I remember reading a book in school during my primary school years which was basically about what kind of animals will exist on Earth in the incredibly DISTANT future. The book contained some really AWESOME speculative illustrations on what the appearance of these creatures could be and also names for them. It was quite an imaginative book but based mainly on well-known biological facts, so the contents of this book weren't JUST the product of someone's imagination but also at least a fairly accurate guess of what animals could look like and also BE like many years from now. I'm not sure how far into the future this book went into, but I'm pretty sure it was AT LEAST 10 million years into the future, if not over a billion. I absolutely LOVED that book yet unfortunately I wasn't been able to read it again or even come across ANYTHING similar to it for a VERY long time. Until about a year ago, that is. That's when I discovered a site that also delves on speculation in regard to what our planet's animals will have evolved into far into the future. Unfortunately, that particular site no longer exists, but I managed to make some screenshots of what I saw on that site. The creatures mentioned on that site were placed into 3 different categories based on 3 different periods of time (which are 5 million years, 100 million years and 200 million years and with a variety of animals in each of these particular categories). An assumption is also made on this site that humankind has departed from Earth before the end of the 21st century to colonise other planets so that their seemingly inevitable extinction can be avoided. Here are screenshots of the different animals depicted on that site along with some information about each of them under the images of them:
5 Million Years Into The Future
Shagrat
Snowstalker
Gannetwhale
Spink
Deathgleaner
Rattleback
Carakilla
Babookari
100 Million Years Into The Future
Reef Glider
Ocean Phantom
Lurkfish
Toraton
I wish I could post screenshots of animals in the '200 Million Years Into The Future' category, but when I originally planned to do it, the site in question suddenly decided to inconveniently stop existing. 
Anyway, there was a picture of an animal in that category called a 'flish'... which is basically a fish with wings! I KNEW THEY'D EVENTUALLY EVOLVE TO HAVE WINGS!!!!!! I KNEW IT, DAMMIT!!!!!!!!! That was my most FAVOURITE animal out of ALL the animals that were featured on that site. 
Which is YOUR favourite animal out of the ones I've just posted?
Anyway, I'll post more pics in this thread of hypothetical 'future' animals later! 
which is basically a fish with wings! I KNEW THEY'D EVENTUALLY EVOLVE TO HAVE WINGS!!!!!! I KNEW IT, DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!
Well, it is implied in the Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker that the Zoras became the Ritos. =P
Here's a lovely image of some forest flishes:
ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY FLISHES!!!!! 
THEY'RE FLYING CHEEP-CHEEP, DANGIT! D:< ~Shot~
THEY'RE FLYING CHEEP-CHEEP, DANGIT! D:< ~Shot~
*pulls finger away from his gun's trigger* Now, where was I? Oh yeah, here are the names and pictures of all of the hypothetical species mentioned in the series called The Future Is Wild:
5 Million Years Into The Future
Spink
Rattleback
Deathgleaner
Gryken
Cryptile
Scrofa
Carakiller
Babookari
Shagrat
Snowstalker
Gannetwhale
100 Million Years Into The Future
Great Blue Windrunner
Silver Spider
Poggle
Swampus
Toraton
Lurkfish
Roachcutter
Spitfire Bird
Falconfly
Spitfire Beetle
Ocean Phantom
Reef Glider
Spindletrooper
200 Million Years Into The Future
Terabyte
Gloomworm
Slickribbon
Garden Worm
Bumble Beetle
Grimworm
Desert Hopper
Deathbottle
Squibbon
Megasquid
Forest Flish
Slithersucker
Rainbow Squid
Ocean Flish
Sharkopath
Silverswimmer
And finally, here's another picture of an Ocean Flish simply because they're an INSANELY AWESOME species!
My, someone certainly has a wild imagination.
I'm talking about the names especially. "Grimworm" and "Megasquid" and "Deathgleaner" all sound like Dungeons and Dragons Monstrous Manual names. I'm almost certain that a random name generator was behind some of the inspiration here.
Whoever named these critters gave 'em VERY badass names. I mean, seriously... Ocean Phantom? Toraton? Squibbon? Deathgleaner? Megasquid? Flish? That be TIGHT, y'all! 
I hear Poggle has a 1/64 chance of dropping a Poggle Tail.
But you only have a 1/32 chance of running into one. D:
I'm having a hard time accepting this is a serious topic.
I though we already settled this "Animals of the future" a decade ago?
... Their called "Pokemon."
Lol, I� watch a Kid`s TV show version of this called "The Future Is Wild". It comes on everyday at around 6:30.
I'm having a hard time accepting this is a serious topic.
Oh, it's a serious topic alright! 
FUTURISTIC ANIMALS ARE SERIOUS BUSINESS
FUTURISTIC ANIMALS ARE SERIOUS BUSINESS
As is Pokemon. Coincidence? I think not.
EDIT: Double posts are also, serious business, it would seem. 
Friggin computer.
I like how the Snowstalkers look like, because of how they look like flattened-out versions of Polar Bears.
I like how the Snowstalkers look like, because of how they look like flattened-out versions of Polar Bears.
Yup, the Snowstalkers are badass.
Yeah the Snowstalkers definitely are Rishi, in a cutesily aggressive, but so incredibly cool-looking while being so kind of way.
Isit just me or do the Gannetwhales look like FRIGGIN SEAGULLS?
They remind me of Horkers.
*Wonders if they're still making New episodes for the kid`s show*
Here are some more pics of evolved future animal species from various artists:
Rat Evolution
Night Stalker
Imperial Baleen Squid
Sharkodile
Furahan Tubesharks
Ok, seriously, someone went a little crazy with the Spore creature creator.
~Tobe
None of these so-called "animals of the future" make any sense from an evolutionary standpoint.
What possible reason could a rat have to evolve into some freaky kangaroo/naked mole rat hybrid?
And why would a crocodile, who's done just fine without much evolution for the past 200 million years or so, need flippers and a finned tail when he's already one of the best swimmers in the animal kingdom?
Lol, I� watch a Kid`s TV show version of this called "The Future Is Wild". It comes on everyday at around 6:30.
I actually remember seeing a non-cartoon version of this (either on Animal Planet or Discovery, don't remember which). I think I only ended up catching one or two episodes, though I thought the concept and show were pretty neat, even if some of the animals seemed sorta odd^^;
Also, found a wiki article and Future is Wild site that details the animals from Rishi's first few posts:
(wiki) http://en.wikipedia.org/w...he_Future_Is_Wild_species
(FiW) http://www.thefutureiswil...d=3&level2id=6&level3id=1
Yeah, I recall a special about future animals airing months back. The "Babookari" is the creature I remember very clearly from that show.
...
Seriously though, we've got a pretty good beastiary going for Legend of Generic Console RPG III.
None of these so-called "animals of the future" make any sense from an evolutionary standpoint.
What possible reason could a rat have to evolve into some freaky kangaroo/naked mole rat hybrid?
And why would a crocodile, who's done just fine without much evolution for the past 200 million years or so, need flippers and a finned tail when he's already one of the best swimmers in the animal kingdom?
Those are a sort of... "fan-art".
The OFFICIAL animals are on the first page.
My case still stands that none of them makes any sense.
My case still stands that none of them makes any sense.
To you. None of us (and I mean NONE of us) know for CERTAIN what animals will look like in the future, let alone the distant future. It's all speculation, though some speculation is less informed and some is more informed.
...Kayla... are you saying that none of the fanart make sense or that none of the official animals or the fanart make sense?
H.G. Wells thought there'd be giant enemy crabs in the future.
...Kayla... are you saying that none of the fanart make sense or that none of the official animals or the fanart make sense?
Both. Perhaps if I had more information on what the official animals evolved from and why they evolved the way they did, I might change my opinion.
This looks like creature-creator-like stuff, that's like Spore, and other stuff like Spore, gone very crazy.
That explains what they evolved from, but not why. Nothing evolves without reason, be it because of climate change or increasing survival rate. What is it about these evolutions that make them so much better than their modern day equivalents?
Well apparently there are going to be random climate changes... and the continents are going to drift again... and a whole bunch of stuff's going to change in the future.
And as it changes, so must they with it.
Though I don't know quite why...
So no one really knows, and they're just making stuff up, correct?
there's this link, which should have more info about stuff like climate and whatnot (in addition to info about the animals), if that helps o.o
http://www.thefutureiswil...asp?level1id=3&level2id=6
(Edit: Just wanted to note that I'm not trying to say anything in partcular/change opinions or anything like that, in case my post came across that way. Just wanted to post the link again (with a slightly better description of the info it contains) in case anyone did want to read more about it^^; )
As I've already said, no-one really knows for sure. It's all just guess-work, though some guesses are more 'educated' (so to speak) than others. So let your mind roam free!
Spore+Pokemon=
MUDKIPZ!!
...but liek, I'm sure you herd
I dunno, Kayla... >_<
