The human garbage dump is a place you can find anything. It was also (to me) surprisingly popular with 90 species submitted.
Name
Carrion
Leaves
Grass
Seeds
Detritus
Coconuts
Algae
Lichen
Human Garbage Dump
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
In each of our previous biomes, there was one primary source of forage. This is our first biome with many different viable options to forage. However, individually, none of them are very large. Even if there’s no predators, the diverse primary production should ensure a little more biodiversity among foragers.
Generations 0-1
We start with Anti Predator Flak. It’s just like just like the Ocean’s First Round Predator Distractor except it was created by Multicore.
Goes Extinct in Generation
Species
1
Anti Predator Flak
Generations 1-10
Most of the initial populations crash, as usual.
The Seed Beetle is exactly what it sounds like: a tiny organism with the ability to digest seeds and nothing else.
Goes Extinct in Generation
Species
6
Goo
6
Beauconut
8
Gelatinous Cube
8
Ivem
10
Chittering Harvester
10
Boot Nipper
10
Dump Leaf Blight
Generations 10-100
The Seed Beetle Population explodes. I think what’s going on is something Multicore pointed out at the game launch. The Seed Beetle is so small that it provides inadequate nutrition to large carnivores. At first, predators eat the Seed Beetle, then the carnivores starve. The Seed Beetle is thus left without predators.
The Mutant Two-Headed Speed Snail is a Grass forager with Speed 2. The Beauprey forages for Seeds and Lichen and has Speed 1.
Goes Extinct in Generation
Species
11
Trash Lobster
11
Carrion Condor
11
Roaches
11
Trash Panda2
11
Muk1
12
Small CocoCrab
12
The Fart Brigade
12
Thread-Nibbler
12
Dump Aphid
12
Slime Mold
12
mediocre 2-2-s2
12
Muk2
13
Olchi
13
TrashMonster3-2
14
Sentient Bio Reactor
14
BottomFeeder
14
SpeedDemon
14
mediocre 2-2-g
14
TrashMonster2-2
15
TrashMonster3-4
15
TrashMonster4-3
16
Big CocoCrab
16
Unpalatable Coconut Crab
16
TrashMonster4-2
17
Rabbit
17
Lazy Stationary Glutton
17
sc511
17
trashSeeds
18
Grease Monkey
19
Garbage Dump Shai-Hulud
19
Trolley
20
Coconut Crabs (tiny)
20
TrashMonster3-3
21
Robot
21
Rat
21
CP445957
22
mediocre 2-2-s1
23
Frogger
23
Coconut Cruncher
23
Yonge_Dump
23
TrashMonster4-4
24
All-eating Leviathan
24
Inquisition
25
Bleh
25
Robber Crab
27
Hyper fly
28
Coconut crab
28
Slow Moving Nuclear Waste
29
Garbage Disposal
32
Blitz Leech
32
2-8-0 A algae-carrion-coconut-detritus-lichen
32
Jibbers Crabst
33
Snail-Eating Snail
34
Micro Swamp Dragon
37
Mecha giraffe
37
Twangoola
38
25kg Racing Snake
38
Redneck
40
weaponized human
44
Garbovorous Mirages
45
Dirge Bat
47
AI Lawnmower
48
Trash Locust+
50
gumbler
50
Cubic Carrion Crawlers
56
Trash Dino
56
CarrionSpeedTank
75
COCONUT511
89
Lary
89
Gigantic Cockroach
99
Roomba
Generations 100-200
Species die out more slowly but there are no dramatic shifts in population.
Goes Extinct in Generation
Species
105
hoover
105
Living Garbage Can
107
Ironshell Crab
109
Zigzagoon
157
Adventurous Giraffe
Generations 200-500
Nothing to see here.
Goes Extinct in Generation
Species
330
Timblewinks
Generations 500-1000
Nothing to…wait what?
Let’s take a closer look at what’s going on.
There are nine species of consequence.
Name
Venom?
Weapons
Armor
Speed
Forage?
Creator
Seed Beetle
Neither
0
0
0
Seeds
DaemonicSigil
Mutant Two-Headed Speed Snail
Neither
0
0
2
Grass
DaemonicSigil
Nuclear Waste
Antivenom only
0
10
0
Carrion
Henny
Brown Bear
Neither
3
0
6
elspood
Beauprey
Neither
0
0
1
Seeds;Lichen
Luke
Trash Slime
Antivenom only
0
10
0
Detritus
Yull-Rete
Forest Finch
Neither
0
0
3
Leaves
MA
Snark
Neither
0
0
10
Leaves
Vanessa
Hopsplitter
Neither
0
0
10
Grass;Seeds
Nem
We have four invincible foragers: Nuclear Waste consumes Carrion. Trash Slime consumes Detritus. Snarks consume Leaves. Hopsplitters consume Grass and Seeds.
The Forest Finch competes for leaves with the Snark.
The Hopsplitters compete for seeds with the Seed Beetles and the Beaupreys. The Seed Beetle is a tiny organism optimized to consume seeds. The Beauprey is less efficeint at eating seeds than the Seed Beetle but makes up for it by also being able to digest Lichen.
The Mutant Two-Headed Speed Snail eats grass, where it competes with the Hopsplitter.
The Brown Bear is a pure predator. It cannot eat the invincible foragers but it can eat the Seed Beetles, Snails, Hopsplitters, Forest Finghes and Forest Finches.
Putting this all together, we have two kinds of foragers: small foragers that can be eaten by bears and invincible foragers those that cannot. If the bear population increases the small forager population decreases which increases the invincible forager population which decreases the bear population. This cycle works in reverse too. We have a stable ecosystem.
But if it’s stable then what happened around generation 690?
The Seed Beetle population decreased because the Beauprey population increased. The Beauprey Population increased because there was lots of Lichen available. The Beauprey is the only species which can eat Lichen. Around generations 550 to 650 there were very few Beaupreys. The Lichen accumulated. The Beauprey’s growth around population 680 ate that accumulated Lichen. After the Lichen was consumed, the Beauprey population decreased to something stable.
Generations 1000-9000
The dynamic equilibrium is maintained until generation 8101 when the Beaupreys suddenly go extinct.
Goes Extinct in Generation
Species
8101
Beauprey
Let’s zoom in.
What happened is the Brown Bear population randomly rose for long enough to extinguish the Beaupreys, which were already in a precarious position due to competition from the Seed Beetles..
But that’s not all. I just counted the common species. There are a few rare species hiding on the bottom edge of our graph, like Snarks. The Snark is a 10-speed Leaf eater by Vanessa. The Beauprey, having Speed 1, comes back from time to time too.
2021 Darwin Game—Human Garbage Dump
The human garbage dump is a place you can find anything. It was also (to me) surprisingly popular with 90 species submitted.
In each of our previous biomes, there was one primary source of forage. This is our first biome with many different viable options to forage. However, individually, none of them are very large. Even if there’s no predators, the diverse primary production should ensure a little more biodiversity among foragers.
Generations 0-1
We start with Anti Predator Flak. It’s just like just like the Ocean’s First Round Predator Distractor except it was created by Multicore.
Generations 1-10
Most of the initial populations crash, as usual.
The Seed Beetle is exactly what it sounds like: a tiny organism with the ability to digest seeds and nothing else.
Generations 10-100
The Seed Beetle Population explodes. I think what’s going on is something Multicore pointed out at the game launch. The Seed Beetle is so small that it provides inadequate nutrition to large carnivores. At first, predators eat the Seed Beetle, then the carnivores starve. The Seed Beetle is thus left without predators.
The Mutant Two-Headed Speed Snail is a Grass forager with Speed 2. The Beauprey forages for Seeds and Lichen and has Speed 1.
Generations 100-200
Species die out more slowly but there are no dramatic shifts in population.
Generations 200-500
Nothing to see here.
Generations 500-1000
Nothing to…wait what?
Let’s take a closer look at what’s going on.
There are nine species of consequence.
We have four invincible foragers: Nuclear Waste consumes Carrion. Trash Slime consumes Detritus. Snarks consume Leaves. Hopsplitters consume Grass and Seeds.
The Forest Finch competes for leaves with the Snark.
The Hopsplitters compete for seeds with the Seed Beetles and the Beaupreys. The Seed Beetle is a tiny organism optimized to consume seeds. The Beauprey is less efficeint at eating seeds than the Seed Beetle but makes up for it by also being able to digest Lichen.
The Mutant Two-Headed Speed Snail eats grass, where it competes with the Hopsplitter.
The Brown Bear is a pure predator. It cannot eat the invincible foragers but it can eat the Seed Beetles, Snails, Hopsplitters, Forest Finghes and Forest Finches.
Putting this all together, we have two kinds of foragers: small foragers that can be eaten by bears and invincible foragers those that cannot. If the bear population increases the small forager population decreases which increases the invincible forager population which decreases the bear population. This cycle works in reverse too. We have a stable ecosystem.
But if it’s stable then what happened around generation 690?
The Seed Beetle population decreased because the Beauprey population increased. The Beauprey Population increased because there was lots of Lichen available. The Beauprey is the only species which can eat Lichen. Around generations 550 to 650 there were very few Beaupreys. The Lichen accumulated. The Beauprey’s growth around population 680 ate that accumulated Lichen. After the Lichen was consumed, the Beauprey population decreased to something stable.
Generations 1000-9000
The dynamic equilibrium is maintained until generation 8101 when the Beaupreys suddenly go extinct.
Let’s zoom in.
What happened is the Brown Bear population randomly rose for long enough to extinguish the Beaupreys, which were already in a precarious position due to competition from the Seed Beetles..
But that’s not all. I just counted the common species. There are a few rare species hiding on the bottom edge of our graph, like Snarks. The Snark is a 10-speed Leaf eater by Vanessa. The Beauprey, having Speed 1, comes back from time to time too.
Winners