Ais: Survivors of the Sixth Extinction: Emydidae (pond + marsh + box turtles)

What is Ais?

The Ais project speculates on a far-future scenario where Homo sapiens is mysteriously absent, yet its influence is still apparent. After the largest metropolises have been relegated to buried artifacts and disrupted natural processes have been normalized, the biogeography of the planet remains permanently and radically altered. The Sixth Extinction, second only to the End Permian in intensity, caused numerous major groups to become either extinct or degraded to relicts. The transport of other species by H. sapiens, both willing and not, resulted in the Great Global Interchange, where species became established in regions they had little chance of reaching otherwise. This is a world where continents can have a handful of amphibians species, where Asia appears to only have turtles descended from the Red-Eared Slider, and where cichlids and loricariid catfishes often dominate local waterways worldwide.

As for Ais itself, it is the name of an island, archipelago, and surrounding mainland region which was subjected to particularly extreme human introductions - the now-inundated peninsular Florida. With its near-tropical latitude and newly-rerouted cold ocean currents, it offers almost unparalleled biodiversity and biomass. The numerous small islands and influx of species to and from the mainland make this a 'natural laboratory' comparable to the Galápagos or Trinidad.

The purpose of this project, aside from speculation, is to give commentary on the changes our species has caused. Additionally, many of our creations will not have completely made-up morphology, but emphasize just how strange they already are. Truly, one cannot invent things stranger then reality when one looks closely. This website is a collection of concepts which may not represent our final thoughts on some subjects, which we hope to some day have in book form.