🦅 The Thermal Aeronauts: Speculative Fauna of the Messinian Abyss
🦅 The Thermal Aeronauts: Speculative Fauna of the Messinian Abyss Welcome back to The Worldsee. In our previous #IFGeography posts, we sealed the Strait of Gibraltar and dried up the Mediterranean Sea, recreating the apocalyptic Messinian Abyss . We mapped a 5-kilometer-deep canyon baked at 75°C (165°F), suffocated by 1.5 atmospheres of heavy air, and lined with blinding salt flats. We also discovered its stubborn flora: salt-armored glassworts, deeply buried bulbs, and pressure-fed air-moss. Today, we bring this oven to life. At 75°C, mammalian life on the canyon floor is physically impossible; proteins denature, and mammals cannot sweat fast enough to prevent lethal heatstroke. To survive the deepest, hottest trench on Earth, animals must completely avoid the ground, weaponize the extreme atmospheric pressure, or evolve absolute thermal reflection. Let’s explore the bizarre, heat-defying fauna of the Messinian Abyss. 1. The Thermal Scavenger: The Abyssal Griffon (Avian) The 7...