The Lore of Prima 13:
Xiahwenite Evolution

Welcome back to the Lore of Prima series! It has been quite some time hasn't it? Mystrial is out for the day and has asked me, Reginald James Middleton the XXIV, paleontologist extraordinaire and personal friend, to talk to you people today about the evolution of the Xiahwenites! There is so much to talk about that I don't know where to even begin!

Fantastic, isn't it?! But let's begin the discussion, shall we?!

Now we have evidence to suggest that the Xiahwenites were in fact made from a divine source. However, this source did not just sprout them out of the ground. Xiahwen, their goddess, had created something called the Vita Seed (Xiculoso in Osuei). From this is where the animals of Prima came to be. All except for the dinosaurs of Prima, who are said to have been made by Avrolan, the king of the dragons.

The Vita Seed is the source of life on Prima, and is the reason their evolution took off. With this new knowledge, it is believed that humanity may have evolved from the Vita Seed or something similar. But we still are not sure.

Xiahwenites are without a doubt a fantastic species of creature whose ancestry dates back even further than our own! Modern Xiahwenites have been around longer than modern humans by almost 50,000 years! The bipedal mammalian alien race shares many surprising features with humanity: high intelligence, opposable thumbs, high abstract thinking. They even share DNA so similar to our own, they actually can breed with us! Their DNA is 99.98% identical to our own! And no one is entirely sure why. They also share similar chromosomes and proteins that further help their similarity to humanity!

We believe that this was a result of their rather unique ability to heavily adapt to a new environment, even on the genetic level. Given enough time, the Xiahwenite species can acclimate itself into all but the most extreme environments. If a Xiahwenite was faced with the situation of needing to be in the ocean for extended periods of time then, in a few generations, it's descendants will be capable of either holding their breath for long periods of time like whales or just breathe underwater altogether. They would also grow webbed hands and feet to allow for faster swimming as well. This ability seems to either slow down or stop after a certain amount of change has occured however.

Moving back on to the interbreeding segment, it is thought that this ability to interbreed with humanity is brand new. Possibly only in the last hundred years (humanity made first contact with Xiahwenites about 170 years ago back in the year 3820 AD).

But enough about what modern Xiahwenites can do! Let's discuss ancestry!

As one may have guessed, Xiahwenites are descendants of a carnivorous ancestor. Just take a look at a Xiahwenite and you can still see signs of this: retractable claws, large canines, binocular vision, etc.

But Xiahwenites nowadays are omnivorous. Why they have adapted to be able to eat things like fruit and vegetables alongside meat is still a mystery but it's likely they may have had to adapt to a new diet to survive.

Back on track, their ancestors were slightly larger than the Xiahwenites of today. We call these ancestors the Protoxiahwenite venandi (the original hunter Xiahwenite), or the protos or even proto venandi for short.

Protoxiahwenite venandi was a slightly hunched carnivore that most likely walked on four limbs but had already shown signs of evolving to walk on two. It's believed that they could probably walk a signficant distance on two legs if they needed to but while their legs were powerful enough to support their body on their own, they were still better designed for four legged mobility.

While not at the top of the food chain due to the larger carnivorous dinosaurs that they lived alongside, protoxiahwenite venandi was well designed for its mountain and forest environment. On a side note, it is believed that the fur patterns on proto venandi was just as various as modern Xiahwenites, taking many colors depending on the individual.

They had fixed claws on their hands and feet, powerful limbs, very long and sharp canine teeth, thick fur all over their body, and excellent vision and smell. Think of an intelligent werewolf basically.

Protoxiahwenite venandi was considered to be a very fast creature, capable of reaching speeds of 35mph (about 56 km/h). They would use this speed to run down their preferred prey, cervus magna (the great deer), with their spears.

Yes. Spears. You heard that correctly. With their opposable thumbs, protoxiahwenite venandi utilized and created tools for several uses. Mainly for hunting. Cervus magna was thought to have skin too thick for the protos to be able to severely injure with their teeth and claws, and the antlers of the great deer would be a lethal weapon against them. Thus, they did two things to bring them down: they hunted in packs and they made weapons that could pierce the thick deer skin. One felled cervus magna, which weighed in excess of 1200lbs (544kg), was enough food to feed the group of protos for at least a couple of days.

This brings us to another interesting point about them: pack behavior. Protoxiahwenite venandi was a social animal and had packs estimated to be at least twenty to as high as thirty members. They had a limited ability to shape their environment into homes, manipulating the leaves of trees to shelter themselves from rain or other things. Their communities have been mostly found in trees as well, showing them to be active climbers and very good ones at that. Truly fantastic creatures!

Alongside being social, it is believed that they were smart enough to form complex attack patterns to confuse and trick prey into falling into things such as an ambush or other type of trap. There is plenty of evidence of simple traps such as vines being used as a type of tripwire and pitfalls with sharpened bone at the bottom. If protoxiahwenite venandi wanted to hunt us humans, that would likely have been a terrifying encounter as they would probably trick even us into running into one of their cunning traps.

Indeed, the protos were not stupid. But somewhere along the line, protoxiahwenite venandi was faced with a severe problem. It is believed that they had actually overhunted their preferred prey and had then faced a lack of food source. But it also seems that their natural predators had moved on.

We have evidence of some proto venandi communities that were entirely on the ground, showing that they had begun moving away from the safety of the trees. If this is true, then this would explain why Xiahwenites now don't live in trees either. Surrounded by fruits and vegetation, it is believed that this is where protoxiahwenite venandi finally evolved into the modern, omnivorous Xiahwenite after reigning over Prima for more than 1.1 million years.

BUT WAIT! There is yet another ancestor that dates back further than protoxiahwenite venandi! I introduce you to, drum roll please!

...Protoxiahwenite ferox (the wild primal Xiahwenite)!

Protoxiahwenite ferox, or proto ferox for short, was a four legged, thick furred, medium sized, fox like animal that also hunted in small packs and existed almost 3.5 million years ago. They had extremely large ears, giving them a really cute appearance and extremely good hearing. But don't let that fool you! These creatures were well designed for hunting and killing their prey! And yes, we believe their fur patterns were just as varied as modern Xiahwenites as well.

These creatures had a peculiar feature on their forelimbs, however: their front paws had protofingers! They had already been evolving to the hands that the Xiahwenites would have today! Their fingers would have been little use for them aside from the inch long claws they had at their ends.

These animals would hunt big game like their descendants after them, also preferring a large deer or similar animal. With their two inch long canines and quick reflexes, proto ferox would make quick work of their victims but would have to consume them quickly to avoid a larger predator coming to steal it from them.

Proto ferox was thought to be massively intelligent as well, at least as smart as a chimpanzee. Their large skull would have housed a large brain, which further shows proof of their intellect. It is unsure as to why they would evolve into the species of proto venandi. Its possible that they were constantly hunted by larger predators such as the allosaurus or deinonychus, as fossils of these creatures have been found in the area where many bones of proto ferox were discovered.

The theory is that they had to move to higher ground and climb up trees and other high surfaces to avoid being eaten by these creatures. Deinonychus and allosaurus could outrun proto ferox, despite proto ferox being estimated to run at 40mph (64 km/h).

Overtime, they may have began evolving their forearms into more agile limbs with more dexterous fingers that they could use to scale trees and move from tree to tree easier, avoiding contact with their natural predators. This would explain why proto venandi was such an active climber. It would also explain why they began leaving the four legged movement in favor of two legged mobilty.

There does seem to be a large difference between venandi and ferox though... so much so that there must have been another species that existed in between these two. But we have not found any fossils of this mysterious creature. Perhaps it is just a matter of time, however! Why, maybe I will be the one that discovers their fossil remains. I am intending to take a look at what is known as the Badlands, where protoxiahwenite ferox had initially lived. Perhaps the answer lies in that blastedly dangerous place! Just waiting on my permits for the expedition! I'll also have to hire some extra security... it's not called the Badlands for it's peaceful society after all! HAHAHA!

Oh my goodness! Look at the time! My show is about to come on! This concludes our lore segment for today! I'm Reginald James Middleton the XXIV, paleontologist extraordinaire, and I hope to have another fun day chatting with you people again! As Mystrial would say: CIAO!