LITTLE-KNOWN HISTORY OF KERGUELEN Part Three

Last time we were up to around 300,000,000 BC. But I think I will skip ahead a few hundred million years, if you don't mind. So, here is the third installment of Kerguelen history, from http://www.jmooneyham.com/lost-civilization-kerguelen.html#section49 :

295,000,000 BC- 34,000,000+ BC: A Reptilian PrologueTo see the possible reptilian history leading to the development of this civilization please refer to Dinosaurs, Dragons, Loch Ness, and Reptile People. Where does fact end and fiction begin?

Approximately 34,000,000 BC+:
Primitives of two different but both advanced pseudo-primate species exist in Kerguelen (Kerguelen is a continent at this point in time.)



They have evolved over 11 million years independently of the earlier Asian proto-primatesChanges in climate and other matters, as well as intense competition with other species, forced the ancestors of both proto-primate species and other originally Antarctic animals to migrate to nearby Kerguelen in past eons, as Antarctica grew colder and less hospitable. The relatives left behind in Antarctica are doomed to extinction. A considerable portion of this period spent by species moving between continents involves time spent near coastlines, both on land and in the water, as well as within swamps and marshlands. Both pseudo-primate species lose much of their hair along the way, as well as undergo other changes. The environmental changes are accelerating evolution in the two species. Both species start out pretty small. But overcoming millions of years they will both become considerably larger-- though one much more so than the other. Eventually one will reach a size similar to that of a short human being on average, while the other will usually become no larger than around one to one and half feet tall while standing upright. Neither species ever possesses a prehensile tail.

The increasingly isolated Kerguelen continent is developing its own unique lines of pseudo-primate forms, relative to the rest of the world. 21st century human observers would note several significant differences between the pseudo-primates of Kerguelen and the proto-primates of other continents.

Approximately 34,000,000 BC- 33,000,000 BC: Antarctica's massive ice sheets begin to form

Is much of the Antarctic environment today something like the tundra of 20th century Alaska, or still warmer and more lush than that? Antarctica boasted tropical rainforests during some periods-- is this one of them? Or perhaps Antarctica possesses some regions of temperate environment, including deciduous forests similar to those USAmerica will display during the 20th century? In any event, note that the ice sheets are beginning to form now-- they do not yet dominate the continent. And so perhaps much of Antarctica at this time resembles North America prior to the Ice Age glaciers moving in.

Approximately 33,000,000 BC- 28,000,000 BC: The reptile progenitors and provocatuers of Kerguelen change the course of evolution on the continentPast events have led to the emergence of a unique species of reptile in the region. These reptiles enjoy chameleon-like natural camouflage, as well as shape-changing capabilities similar to a cobra's hood or bird's wings.

Indeed, they began as brothers to prototype birds, utilizing their crude wings as devices to increase running speed, allow longer jumps and falls without injury, and even glide short distances.

Their unique feathers, balancing tail, and physical technique make them among the fastest two-legged runners in the animal kingdom-- at least over short distances. They may cover longer distances in a loping, half-gliding practice, but at slower speeds. Somewhat flat and open terrain offers the running reptiles their best speeds-- which makes much of the Kerguelen continent ideal for them.

The repiles may travel on all fours but often stand erect, on two legs, with a balancing tail. This frees up their forward limbs for uses similar to later human hands and arms, and over time their forelimbs develop in such a manner.

But as birds travel the road into the sky, these reptiles go the other way-- into the ground. At least in daytime. Their tendency to seek refuge underground stems from the evolutionary advantage such habits bring in surviving the periodic tsumanis suffered by their great island, and the maintenance of their long-time nocturnal hunting and scavenging practices. The animals are larger and heavier than most successful flight-worthy birds will ever be. Though their greater size robs them of future flight capabilities, it also allows them a bigger brain than their future bird relatives.

They maintain their natural geomagnetic navigational sense from earlier migratory movements, as well as the avian ultra-violet visual perception. Both these help them become masters of subterranean places.

Their nocturnal nature also allows them to roam and prey upon the surface during the night.
They are omnivorous, capable of feeding on plants or fungi and mushrooms in a pinch, but preferring large insects, fish, or small animals.

The reptiles may spit irritants, which causes a burning sensation on exposed flesh, and can temporarily blind and disorient prey, making capture and kills easier.

They somewhat resemble Komodo dragons with longer, more slender tails and hind legs, standing erect, with feathery folds draping their arms or forelimbs, and trimming their tail. Two striking differences with 21st century Komodos however will be their frequent erect two legged walking stance, and their more bird-like in appearance head and neck, as opposed to reptilian look. Their eyes are also proportionately larger to their face than a Komodo's, and their brain case considerably larger. Large dual ridges or crests run down the upper sides of their heads and necks. These features are larger in males than females, and thus perhaps partly sexual decoration. But they also help enhance the animal's hearing and sense of smell, both directionally and distance-wise (in an unusual design, these reptiles have two sets of scent detection nerves in their skulls; the largest branches off their ear canals, while the smaller pair operates in the more expected region of the head-- the 'nose').

Erect, these creatures stand four to six feet tall through their youth. If they get beyond the age of 15-16 years, they may grow much larger. However, competition prevents most of the reptiles from getting that old.

The reptiles grow ever smarter as they get older, but they also grow larger and slower, and often become so large they become stuck in their underground hiding places, and either starve to death, to be eaten by other lucky reptiles who find their carcass (sometimes this is their own young), or become sufficiently weak from hunger in their trap that they may be easily killed and consumed by other, smaller reptiles.

The reptiles can swim, but it is not their preferred mode of travel in their early days.
These smart reptiles are not social beasts, but highly individualistic, which limits how far any related society might advance. It also puts restrictions on reproduction.

One of the reptile's favorite foods is fresh pseudo-primate meat. Something with a taste and smell somewhat similar to that of later human beings.

The relationship between the reptiles and Kerguelen pseudo-primates first begins with the pseudo-primates being a natural prey animal. In their early history in Antarctica, the pseudo-primates rarely grew larger than an average 20th century housecat-- but such a size range made them offer almost ideal-sized meals for the reptiles. Over time however the primary Kerguelen pseudo-primates grew bigger and stronger and smarter, making it harder for the young reptiles to catch them (older and bigger reptiles could outsmart and trap them on occasion, but were too slow to capture them via speed). As this struggle between the reptiles and pseudo-primates escalated, the intelligence and capacities of both appreciated in response-- eventually leading to semi-sentience in both species.

The older, smarter reptiles gradually began to maintain their own trapped families of pseudo-monkeys near or within their den, breeding them as foodstock. This was much easier than tracking and capturing them in the wild, as well as reduced the need to compete directly with other reptiles. Female reptiles especially liked a snack of pseudo-primates meat before sex, too.
Some of the older, smarter reptiles eventually begin to realize they may lengthen their own lives and increase their sexual success through judicious use of domesticated pseudo-primates. The pseudo-primates can act as sentinals against attacks from other reptiles, gather fungi and plant food, and act upon the surface in daylight when the reptiles prefer not. They may also help maintain and gradually enlarge the reptile's burrow to prevent entrapment, and seek out new and larger burrows if necessary. They can be bait to trap other reptiles, and even help kill other reptiles at times. Plus, they offer a ready supply of meat too, as desired. Suitably trained pseudo-primates will actually help capture and deliver one of their own to feed their reptile master. To the reptile, this training is simply discipline; to the monkeys, it becomes something akin to a crude religious offering or sacrificial ritual.

Eventually the wisest and most powerful reptiles have amassed small armies of personal pseudo-primate slaves. These slaves tend to harass and watch the slaves of other reptiles, often orchestrating assaults upon same, leading to the capture of enemy pseudo-primates. Some of the captured pseudo-primates are eaten by the master reptile. But many become slaves of the reptile's own pseudo-primates, thereby setting up a multiple level hierarchy in the burrow and surrounding lands. In some cases the pseudo-primates eat their slaves, in emulation of their master reptile. However, such cannibalism is usually only ritualistic, as the pseudo-primates prefer certain forms of vegetation as food.

The health and obedience of the pseudo-primates in the burrows is partly maintained by weaker, less promising monkeys (or injured, sick, or less obedient ones) being eaten by the master reptile on a regular basis.

The great master reptiles take little notice when a new, tiny pseudo-primate species begins to interact with the reptile's near human-sized pseudo-primate servants. The servants are delighted with the creatures, quickly adopting them as pseudo-children, and giving them preferential treatment much beyond that offered the captured slaves of their own species.
The master reptile can barely detect the presence of the tiny pseudo-primates, and has no interest in them as food-- they are too small, with far too much bone for what little meat they provide.

The playful, experimental nature of the servants' interaction with the tiny psuedo-primates, plus the real functional complements the tiny beings offer to the servants' own abilities, as well as the increasing complexity of the society developing inside and around the reptile burrows over centuries, then millennia, then longer, eventually lead to breakthroughes in the servant pseudo-primates' understanding of the world and themselves.

Which does not bode well for the master reptiles.

The reptiles and pseudo-primate people go their separate ways
Eventually the pseudo-primate servants become smart enough to cast off their masters, killing many of them in their burrows, before they (the pseudo-primates) leave the burrows behind forever. However, the feudal system impressed upon them by their master reptiles sticks, forming the basis for the pseudo-primates' own new society-- one of a few elite families, each commanding hordes of slaves. The pseudo-primates have effectively been genetically engineered to feel comfortable with such a social hierarchy during the time spent in thrall to the reptiles. The tiny, secondary pseudo-primate companions which helped trigger this new evolutionary stage also stay with the larger pseudo-primates, spreading throughout both the elite and slave populations.

As for the reptiles, their populations tended to expand somewhat at the height of their pseudo-primate enslavement era, but in the aftermath of the pseudo-primates gaining their liberty as well as slaughtering many of their former masters, the reptile population suffers a substantial decline.

The premise: An evolutionary development somewhat similar to apes-to-human occurs many millions of years before the rise of humanity. And rather than involving apes, this consists of a couple species from an independently evolved primate family (highly distinct from humanity's own primate ancestors)-- or pseudo-primate-- evolving into something else: something where one symbiont possesses a smallish humanoid shape and likeness, and human-like intelligence-- but is still a decidedly different species from 21st century humanity. The second species is something like a much smaller and less intelligent version than the first, which serves to complement the larger, smarter species. This symbiotic pair of species might live and thrive millions of years before humanity emerges on Earth. If such a civilization developed upon the Kerguelen continent (and rarely ventured beyond it), then about a million years afterwards all signs of the culture would have vanished as the entire continent sank beneath the seas. 20 million years of wear and tear since would mop up any remaining obvious clues, leaving 21st century humanity unsuspecting that such a people ever existed. Or that they might still survive today.

Stay tuned!