100,000,000 Years Hence - The Antarctica Rainforest.


We were walking through a dense rainforest.

Lori: What kind of rainforest is this?

Me: Believe it or not guys. This was once the frozen continent of Antarctica.

Everyone gasped.

Lola: This whole rainforest is Antarctica!?

Laney: But how did it become a massive rainforest?

Me: Continental Drift carried it all the way to the Tropic of Capricorn and it's now in the tropics. It resulted in it becoming a dense rainforest in 100 Million Years. This is the year 100,000,000 A.D.

Lincoln: Oh wow! This is so cool!

Aylene: This is incredible. It's hard to imagine that this is gonna happen in the future.

Me: Well nobody know's what's gonna happen in the future. It's completely unpredictable. We can't even predict the weather.

Lisa: That's correct 2nd elder brother. But these plants and trees are all magnificent specimens.

Lana: They sure are. But they look like the trees and plants in the Amazon Rainforests in South America.

Me: They do don't they.

Lori: (Sniffs the air) And the Humidity is very high.

Lisa: (Sniffs the air) The Oxygen levels are stronger than what we know in 2018.

Me: That's because we believe that in 100,000,000 years, the oxygen levels will rise to 35% and the Earth will be like what it was back in the Carboniferous Period back 350,000,000 years ago in our time.

Laney: This is amazing.

Something flew by us. It was a small sparrow size bird with purple feathers and a petrol beak.

Lana: What a pretty bird.

Me: That is a hypothetical bird called the Roachcutter. It's descended from Albatross birds.

Lori: What!? That little bird is literally descended from an Albatross!?

Me: It's strange yes. But that's right. Here's a map of the world in 100,000,000 years.

I use my powers and formed a holographic map of the world and it was much different than anything we know. North and South America were further west and South America is starting to drift west and a portion of southeastern Africa was broken away from the mainland of Africa and merged with central Asia. Antarctica was further northward in the Tropics and Australia was now bridging North America and Asia.

Lori: Wow! The world is literally different from what we know in 2018!

Laney: It sure is. And most of the world is now underwater because of the sea levels.

Me: That's right. Carbon Dioxide from volcanoes erupting all over the world melted the polar ice caps because of a massive greenhouse effect. Which resulted in the ocean levels rising.

Nico: That is incredible.

May: This is amazing.

Me: Yeah. Lets take a walk around.

We walk around the Antarctica Rainforest and saw that it was much denser than the entirety of the rainforests in Borneo and the Amazon Rainforest put together. The temperatures were at 75 Degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity levels were at 100% all the time.

Lana saw an orange bird drinking nectar from a fiery color flower.

Lana: Hey look at that bird.

We saw a bird with orange, yellow and red feathers sipping nectar from a red, orange and yellow flower on a tree.

Me: That's my favorite bird here. The Spitfire Bird.

Laney: It's a beautiful bird.

Me: Yeah but it has a deadly weapon. (I hear something buzzing) Watch.

The bird dodged to the side and it squirted a deadly chemical mixture from its nose at a huge insect and it burned it.

Lola: Whoa!

Lisa: Fascinating. It released a deadly chemical concoction at a huge insect from its nostrils.

Me: That's right Lisa. That's not the sweet honey nectar that comes from the flower it drinks from. It's the chemicals it needs to defend itself.

Lana smelled the flower and she gagged at the stench.

Lana: That is disgusting!

Lisa: Fascinating. The chemicals in this flower are very noxious.

Lola: That's weird. Normally some flowers smell very sweet. But this one doesn't.

Lori: Is the Spitfire Bird also descended from Petrols?

Me: Yes. It is a Petrol bird. But there's a creature in our time that has a similar tactic: The Bombardier Beetle. It's a black and orange beetle that squirts a nasty foul-smelling liquid from its abdomen and it drives away its enemies.

Lori: That is disgusting but very interesting.

Lincoln: It sure is.

Lisa: But how can a flower like this one house the chemicals it needs for its defense?

Me: That's the kicker. It's chemicals it needs do come from the Spitfire Flower but the flowers can't house them in the same flower or they'll explode. So the flower is divided into Male and Female Flowers.

Lisa: Oh. That's understandable.

Nico: And these birds are very similar to insects like butterflies.

Me: That's right Nico. Like butterflies, those bright colors on it warn other creatures that they're poisonous or they will fight back.

Laney: That is a very interesting defense system.

Me: It is.

We walked on and on a tree we saw a huge insect.

Lori: Look at the size of that dragonfly!

Lana: That is a huge bug!

Me: That is a Falconfly and believe it or not guys it eats birds.

Laney: An insect that eats birds!? That's weird.

Me: It is. Leni would not like this but there are really spiders in our time that eat birds. But in 100,000,000 years the Falconfly is the supreme predator here in the Antarctica Rainforest.

Lisa: Very fascinating specimen.

Me: Yes. It's ancestor is the Sand Wasp. It's a type of wasp usually found in parts of southern South America.

Laney: That is amazing. But how did it become such a big insect?

Me: That's an easy one. The size of insects is determined by the richness of oxygen in the atmosphere. A prominent example of that was back during the Carboniferous Period 350,000,000 years ago. The Coal Swamps back then raised the oxygen levels to 30% and the insects were huge. There were millipedes as long as snakes, scorpions as big as rats and dragonflies were as big as birds of prey.

Lincoln: That is really crazy!

Lana: That's terrifying.

Laney: So in this world Insects and Birds are in a war for supremacy.

Me: That's right Laney. Insects have been on Earth much longer than birds. Insects have been on this planet for 400,000,000 years where birds have lived on this planet for 122 million years.

Lincoln: So not even half that length of time.

Me: Exactly. But let me show you something wicked.

We go around a tree and saw in a nest a huge 6-inch long Falconfly Maggot.

Lola: That is a huge bug!

Me: Yes. That's a Falconfly Larva. It's six inches long and it needs a lot of meat. That's why Falconflies kill birds. It has to feed its young.

Nico: That's incredible. But how does it kill them?

I form a hologram of the Falconfly.

Me: It has front legs that form into a harpoon that can spear birds in flight and it has powerful jaws that can butcher its prey.

It showed its features.

Lana: That is cool!

Laney: That sounds like a scary creature.

Lisa: It does but that's what makes it a very fascinating specimen.

Me: Yes. But Falconflies have many nests like this one scattered all over the forest and it has to memorize where they are.

May: How does it do that?

Me: It has to memorize where they are by finding landmarks like sticks, twigs, rocks, anything they can use to mark them.

Lori: That's a very useful skill.

Eddy: It sure is. What do you think Ed?

Ed was bashing his face on the ground repeatedly.

Ed: I'm a woodpecker. (Resumes bashing and stops after 3 times) 'Cept with dirt.

Eddy: Shut up Ed.

Me: Let me show you all something really interesting.

We go to a nearby tree and we saw four red, orange and yellow beetles come together and form into what looked like a Spitfire Flower.

Me: These little guys are Spitfire Beetles. They are descended from Blister Beetles.

Lisa: Very fascinating specimens.

Me: Yes and they use collective mimicry to form themselves into a Spitfire Flower. (Hears Flapping) Watch.

A Spitfire Bird flies toward the fake Spitfire Flower and as it was close to the beetles they jumped onto the bird and took it down. Everyone gasped.

Lori: Did you guys literally see that!?

Lana: I sure did. That was so cool!

Laney: They used teamwork to take down a Spitfire Bird.

Me: That's right. They have a similar method that the Orchid Mantis uses in our time. But instead of camouflaging themselves, they form into a flower and wait for their prey to come. And they pounce on it.

Lincoln: That is so cool!

Lisa: Indeed. It's an amazing feat that these insects of the future have.

We walked around the forest and saw its magnificent beauty. Lana beamed some Spitfire Birds, Spitfire Trees and Flowers and Roachcutters into her greenhouse. We went to our next destination in the future.


Continues in Part 3