NOTE: I don’t own the game “Flap to the Future”, the design for the “Future Bird” on “Flap to the Future”, nor the background designs for the certain bird levels on “Flap to the Future” except for the stickfigure I made. All rights, content, and works in “Flap to the Future” game goes to Cornell Lab of Ornithology! The screenshot of the background from the game in the Stick Nodes background image is not used commercially and is only used to visualize the level of the “Future Bird” in “Flap to the Future”

About the Future Bird level in the game:

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In the final level of Flap to the Future players explore life as a bird from the deep future. It is hard to envision what birds will be like 100 million years from now. But because evolution builds on the features that each generation inherits from its genetic relatives, we can predict that if flapping flight continues to benefit birds, it will stick around—and if not, it won't. In this level of the game, players control the strength of each of the adaptations introduced in the previous levels. This encourages players to investigate the benefits and costs of each adaptation—a process that mirrors what happens over evolutionary time.

Future Bird's Ecosystem from the game

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In this version of the future, a marsh hosts a riot of fascinating plants in the shadow of a receding glacier. Among them are a carnivorous plant with sticky tentacles, a towering vine in full flower, and an extraordinary plant that has evolved parasol-like pods to help it spread its seeds. The radioactive waters would have been toxic to modern day species, but some organisms have adapted to thrive there including the horsetail and a crowd of small insects. Rocks and crystals dominate the geologic landscape. A descendant of modern-day apes swings in the treetops and a descendant of the mongoose that has evolved a drill-like horn searches for eggs to eat. The technology to manufacture viable eggs is maintained by a species of culturally advanced bird descendants.


#CornellLab #Bird #Evolution