Avishraa Reloaded

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====== Takmids ======
===== Evolutionary history =====
Several [[species:clade:takmoid]] lineages resulted in species that made their living further afield from the wetlands that had appeared circa 1.7 million cycles ago. The ancestors of the takmids were among these, arising in what are now the [[geography:sekhaa:region:Sea of Grass]]. Relatively small, social predators, they transitioned slowly from hunting solely on the water margins like their relatives to roaming the grasslands in search of more terrestrial prey.

This flexibility served them well when the wetlands began to dry out about 200,000 cycles years ago. Although the terrestrial lineages still required water for keeping their scales moist, they were not as dependent on water bodies for their livelihood as their evolutionary cousins. So it was that by 91,000 cycles, the takmids had fully diverged from their fellows, and thrived in their environment.

The early takmids were characterized, in comparison with the other terrestrial takmoids, most obviously by their size; most species were relatively small, often less than a meter in total length, but the early takmids were as much as 1.5-2 meters long. With their increased size and weight came a lower reliance on flight; although they were still capable of flying and did so when traveling, walking and swimming became their primary means of locomotion. Nonetheless, the combination of the ability to fly and added bulk allowed some takmids to spread across [[geography:sekhaa:start|Sekhaa]] north of the [[geography:sekhaa:region:spine_of_sirdanth]] into what is now the [[geography:sekhaa:region:brightness]], but which was, then, a grassland only somewhat drier than the Sea of Grass.

As takmid lineages continued to evolve and diversify, increases in size and weight continued. The first incidences of bipedalism began to appear approximately 78,000 cycles ago, although it took different forms. Some, such as the ancestors of the [[species:clade:dvidalin|dvidalins]], transitioned to an almost entirely bipedal mode of existence, only resorting to all fours when running; but the ancestors of the [[species:clade:takmin|takmins]], developing in what would becoming the Brightness, continued to spend most of their time on four legs, allowing them to creep more easily through the shorter grasses of the region, only standing on two legs for peering long distances and manipulating objects with their forepaws. By 74,000 cycles ago, the takmins, the ancestors of the [[takma:|takmar]] and the [[xtauh:]], had diverged sufficiently from the dvidalins (such as the [[orghysh:]]) to form their own clade.

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