Building Biomes - Savannas | Worldbuilding

Episode 11: Ecology Part 2 - Savannas
In this video we discuss worldbuilding the warm horizon-stretching savannas, where savannas can be found across an earth-like planet, and how to create the unique flora and migratory herds that can be found within their ecosystems.
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WORLDBUILDING CORNER: www.worldbuildingcorner.com
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All music, images, and other media used in this video are available for commercial use with Creative Commons licensing, found on www.pixabay.com and www.pexels.com, or are individually credited below under the following license: creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Callidus original images credit: Fred Wierum and Emily Willoughby

[@Ninjaananas]

Good video, but I think you left some important things out. It is important to know that savannas are transition from desert to tropical rainforest. As such, the vegetation of the savanna changes drastically the further it goes towards the equator, namely that it gets wetter with more trees and lusher plant coverage. The savanna near to deserts are dominated by thorny shrubs and patches of grass. The savannas near to the equator are much lusher with dense grass coverage and increasingly more trees. The thorny shrubs savanna is basicly a semi-desert, as far as I know. I also thing you should have explained how savannas are created by the tradewinds, which are the reason why tropical rainforests, subtropical deserts and the different types of savannas are where they are. This is also the reason why I think your equatorial isles should not have savannas unless your intertropical convergence zone shifts that much away from them. Their tradewinds come across the ocean and thus are much wetter. The tradewinds in savannas come from deserts and are thus much drier. They collect the water from the desert and gradually bring it towards the equator. That's why it gets wetter the more you go from the horse latitudes to the equator. The tradewinds take it from the deserts and drier savannas and bring it to the tropical rainforests and the wetter savannas. I think you have not concidered the shifting of the ITCZ during winter and summer. Your eastern continent has more surface in the south, thus in southern summer, I would say the ITCZ shifts conciderable towards south, which brings more rainfall there, thus the savanna would expand more southwards because of the monsoon. Similar with your western continent. It is huge in the north, thus the ITCZ in northern summer would drastically shift towards north like it does on Earth in Asia. That would cause more savanna climate in the north. And I think, that continent would have something like the Siberian high, but that is not important now. That could make the northern isles in the west rather snowy in winter like it does with northern Japan, if I am not mistaken. This all is of course ignoring possible mountains, though. Those work as fantastic climate barriers. But maybe I am completly wrong. I am not am expert. And a little fun fact: Some savanna forests shed their leaves during dry season.

[@BlockyBookworm]

bro wrote a GCSE Geography essay in the KZbin comments section skull emoji

[@effiegandy3637]

@@BlockyBookworm yeah and it was incredibly useful to learn- this is what we´ve come to this channel for

[@BlockyBookworm]

@@effiegandy3637 I'm not a hater I'm an appreciator But you have to acknowledge the absurdity Find familiarity in the strange and strangeness in the familiar Or I do, anyway

[@quakxy_dukx]

The saltus made me laugh way more than it should’ve. I mean sure kangaroos are like weird Australian deer but you didn’t have to go ahead and combine the two

[@asmaran9262]

The cooperative nature of the Callidus species is absolutely terrifying, when you consider sapient settlements might suddenly experience a surge of hundreds of nearly apex predators rushing them, but with tactical thought

[@worldforger0]

I recently found your channel and was excited to see another upload! I love these deeper looks into each individual climate.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Thank you! I am aiming to upload weekly, so stay tuned for more! Welcome, and I'm glad you are enjoying the content :)

[@BanValsimot]

This guy is a king. What an imagination. I love it

[@katherinegarlock2249]

For everyone making their own world at home, there are two things to consider when figuring out where your biomes are. The first is to keep in mind where your mountains are. Mountains can either prevent rain from going in-land, like the Rockies and the Southwest in the US, or keep rain from going away, like the Andes do with the Amazon. The second thing to consider is how large a land mass is, specifically from east to west. It might seem obvious, but the farther rain has to travel inland, the less rain there is to fall. An example of this would be the interior of the Eurasian continent. One of the reasons that Ukraine and Russia are able to be the "bread basket of the world" is because wheat thrives in the rather dry climate they have.

[@ewanlee6337]

An interesting thing about kangaroos and other hoping creatures is that it is much more efficient at high speeds so their sustained speed should be only a little below their sprint. This is because of the spring like action of their tendons while jumping at high speeds which doesn’t really work much at low speeds.

[@Rei_geDo]

I really appreciate how you explain each topic in your videos, as they're always entertaining to watch and listen to, even the subjects I'm already familiar with. Also, the ecology you've created up until now has been fascinating as well, especially the concept of plants using fire in their favor. Great video as always, eagerly waiting the next upload. 👏

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Thanks for the positive feedback! Glad I'm able to make familiar topics interesting :) There are lots of real life examples of plants utilising fire that I drew inspiration from, if you're interested in them! Eucalyptus trees for example are even responsible for starting fires. Makes droughts here in Australia a very spicy time!

[@cerberaodollam]

"either fast or burrowing" humans being neither, while still a savannah species: huh?

[@starrmont4981]

Bruh what? Humans are pretty damn fast. Also, we are endurance hunters and could chase down our prey over the course of days or weeks if we had to. I think this ties in nicely with what he said about savanna animals being migratory. This explains why we have good spatial and navigational memory. In my fantasy setting, I have savanna dwarves who went the other way and thus developed burrowing behavior, which eventually becomes deep mining.

[@JimWeaving-ty6tr]

I loooove your savanna animals! Drop bears! Just as mobile and 'intelligent' as the koala on which the legend is based!😄😄Lazy roos with antlers - so cool! I'm very inspired.

[@starrmont4981]

Worldbuilding aside, what you said about savanna species being both fast and migratory matches what we know about early human evolution. We are tropical apes, after all!

[@commandereclipse5373]

17:10 That's a funny lookin Perilux. :V For real though, this entire series has been enthralling. It's will watching ecosystems and eventually civilizations come about from a few base rules. Honestly starting to wish I'd started off with Top-Down worldbuilding like this haha.

[@Glimmlampe1982]

I noticed just now that I think u have the same set of books about mystical creatures like you, except in German. Never seen them anywhere else. Really cool

[@DavidGlenn]

Thanks for this. It really helps. I've been trying to worldbuild in a savanna biome, and am constantly second guessing myself. I did include several dinosaur species that I think need to be faster than they look to deal with wildfires. Right now I'm just trying to work on the smaller animals. I also like how you explain where biomes are located. That's been giving me a bit of a headache.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Thanks for the positive feedback! In lieu of speed, creatures can also burrow to avoid wildfire. Works especially well for smaller creatures that biomechanically can't reach high speeds. Or perhaps they have developed migratory patterns such that they are only in the savanna in the wet season, which is a very common real life adaptation. Good luck with your worldbuilding project!

[@DavidGlenn]

@@WorldbuildingCorner You're welcome. Oh, that's right. I was trying to have that a majority of species in my setting are migratory. Silly me. Thanks for reminding me. Thanks. I'm just trying to fill some niches on a smaller level (insectivores, and birds and lizards), and then I think I'm going to call my ecosystem done. I'm trying to keep it simple while also making it seem diverse and viable.

[@LittleCrowYT]

Impes and Callidus are so cool and such neat ideas. Especially the Callidus.

[@LordDany]

Amazing

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Thank you!

[@andresmarrero8666]

So the fire flowers from the jungle would be able to live if not thrive without forests of miracle trees as the opposing uses of synthesis and severance forms an equilibrium. A civilization could even use the two to create localized artificial wind currents.

[@Gyashonav]

Vell Grass seems like it'll make a GREAT invasive species :)

[@rzrx1337]

Nice kitty

[@danielkover7157]

Stagaroo! ❤

[@LeeCarlson]

For some reason whenever you gesture to where the card ought to be for previous videos, nothing is there.

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

Callidus is highly intelligent. Still gets owned by hyperdumb wolf dropbears.

[@geswut3144]

The bonobo koala leopards pleased me

[@TrueWolves]

Bonobo koala Leopards. xD Great description.

[@soubigo]

love how at 7:37 when he says gazell its showing a north american pronghorn XD

[@nrm224]

Looks like antlers, not horns. Antlers fall off naturally.

[@juanayala863]

Quick little corrections at 7:35. You say gazelle but the animals shown is a pronghorn, which is closer to the giraffe that gazelles and antelopes.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

You are correct, and TIL! I find the distribution of Ungulates fascinating, and so many that appear closely related are actually more distant relatives than those who seem further apart.

[@juanayala863]

@@WorldbuildingCorner Whales are great examples of that. They’re members of the even toed ungulate family, meaning animals like cows are closer to whales than they are too horses.

[@farleyhavelock7755]

How would savanna climate be suitable for human agriculture? Would civilizations be successful in savanna biome? And how would they compare to civilizations of more temperate climates?

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Great questions! Savanna climates tend to produce hardy grains which can make for good crops for agriculture. Their downside compared to temperate crops is that they tend to also be perennial rather than annual, so if a crop fails it means years of failure rather than a single growing season. Civilisation could (and has) absolutely developed and been successful across the savannah. Fire is easily established and so would push intelligent creatures towards it's discovery. Resources and biodiversity tend to be high, which is also helpful. It is however far more likely for civilisations to develop first in temperate regions and then colonise savannah climates rather than the other way around. The lack of clear seasonality and risk of drought means there's a strong push for civilisations to establish on the edges of the savannah climate where water is more accessible, rather than deep within the tropical grasslands. Hope this is helpful!

[@farleyhavelock7755]

@@WorldbuildingCorner Would annual crops imported from more temperate climates do well in savanna climate? And how would productivity be compared to more temperate climates. If Mediterranean climate also experiences fires, would the savanna climate be similar enough to produce similar levels of agricultural productivity?

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

@@farleyhavelock7755 Generally speaking (but certainly not always), crops do not do well when taken out of their usual temperature range. Most are okay with moving to other climates within their band, such as a Humid Subtropical crop moving to an Oceanic climate, but don't fare as well if you move them out of the temperate band entirely. This is however by no means a rule, and there are absolutely real life examples of this happening, even deliberately in order to cultivate specific traits within a crop, such as drought tolerance. Productivity is really hard to gauge, because there are many other factors at play. Looking at climate as an isolated factor though, we generally see temperate zones have higher productivity than tropical ones. I have not researched enough to comment on why, but this is the visible trend. I know a couple of factors are reduced incidences of natural disasters and more predictable (and less harsh) weather patterns. The prevalence of wildfire isn't a primary driver of productivity or crop yield, though it certainly plays a role. Perhaps more specifically, crops that do well in Mediterranean climates are more likely to adapt well to Savannah climates than crops from say, Oceanic regions. The flora (and to a degree fauna) of both Savannah and Mediterranean climates tend to have a lot of similarities, and here on earth we do see a lot of similarities in the species that live in both climates.

[@farleyhavelock7755]

@@WorldbuildingCorner Thanks for the reply, in terms of crops from temperate climates in savanna climates I think India/south east Asia might be a good example. I've had a look at the koppen climate map and much of India and South east Asia is of the savanna climate type and seem to have a high agricultural output for much of history. Are savanna climates more unpredictable/variable when it comes to seasons? I've always assumed the cycle of dry season and wet season were very reliable from year to year seeing how sailors in the Indian Ocean relied on the predictable change of wind direction. And the Nile River has it's sources in savanna regions further downstream in Africa, and the river seems to flood very predictably. I was just wondering with adequate irrigation and foresight it should be possible to negate some of the disadvantages of the savanna climate.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

@@farleyhavelock7755 It's not that the seasons in terms of dry/wet are unpredictable, but more that the length and severity of each season can vary heavily. Crops might do really well during an extended wet season, and then a decade long drought obliterates them. Even if said drought is predicted, it would be challenging especially for early civilisations to manage that. We still in the 21st century struggle with extended droughts like that. However, these dangers absolutely can be mitigated, both through natural means (like the Nile flooding regularly) and deliberate development (such as irrigation and other similar techniques). It is important to note however that the Nile and Indus Valley areas are quite unique among savanna climates due to external factors (like positioning of glacial rivers and monsoonal activity), providing conditions that are truly exceptional for savannas.

[@derskalde4973]

I'm highly amused of your impes, cause they sound similar to the scylla in my world. They are enormous creatures, that can be found on every ocean and are remarkably stupid, and just as aggressive, so much so that this worlds scholars are amazed how this creature is not yet extinct, but actually seem to thrive all across the globe.

[@delmerputnam1679]

I have a savanna environment in my world that, at least in the central regions away from the rivers, becomes a hot desert during the dry season: The process for this is a Lae Line, basically a localized concentration of magic, which in this world is energy that either attracts or repels depending on the charge. Lae lines can have different effects on the environment depending on how they interact with it. In this case, during the dry season the Lae Line becomes negatively charge and repels water, even splitting water in the soil into hydrogen and oxygen, although this effect is weaker closer to the rivers, to the point where within a kilometer of the river the dry season is a typical of an earthly savanna. This naturally favors animals that can migrate to the rivers during the dry season, although one species of antelope, the addax, have such efficient kidneys and other desert adaptations that they can remain in the center year round. Fires are also common here, to the point where most plants require the ashes from brushfires to nourish their seeds.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Very cool setting! I love how the Lae Line's charge affects the water flow. How do plants seed for the wet season after the area was desert in the dry season?

[@delmerputnam1679]

@@WorldbuildingCorner well, most plants are surrounded by Nbundo grass, the dominant grass species in this region. This grass, during the dry season, is known to catch fire but the seeds are resistant to the flames, allowing them to use the ashes of the previous generation of grass to germinate

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

@@delmerputnam1679 Very cool! Grasses, even in non-fiction settings, are truly amazing. Some of the hardiest organisms on the planet.

[@kingsteel2972]

More dirty elephants cleaning please

[@bouncingbeebles]

Savanna rhymes with Hanna

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

A thing about worldbuilding civilisation: rain patterns in Savanah climates can be unpredictable, and these lands are exeptially poor for agriculture, and any cultures, if the world-wide level is pre-industrial, would not be sedentary unless they found a good enough patch of regular moisture that can sustain agriculture. Also, human homo-sapients are not meant for a triglotyde life style, and we need vitamin D for healthy bones and heart function. In terms of digestive system, we require a certain quantity of fat to properly abosorb many types of nutriants, as many vitamins are fat soluable, and digesting lean proteine on the long term is for homo sapient...So, even if a savannah culture has wide underground networks with suitable moisture...Building a society based on tryglotide agriculture is not sustainable for humans. Quite a challenge. So underground agriculte...Just does not work. All of this encourages more nomadic live styles, and may be one of the features that made Africa so poor. Also, the flat plains of a savannah are difficult to fortify, and the amount of burrowing spots are...limited. Their closeness to the equator and lack of covering heavily encourage dark skin as protection against a merciless sun, the darker the better, and thus the native inhabitants of a savannah, human ones at least, would have dark skin and kinky hair.