This is just a small rant on something that bugs me which is how Draenor and Azeroth share so much of the same wildlife and that since WoD there has been less of a case of convergent evolution with the boars, hydras, and raptors and just straight use of the same models. There’s no difference between a draenor boar and a draenor hydra when there ought to be (I cringe every time I see the four-legged hydras on Azeroth instead of the two-legged ones).
I know I’m thinking way too much into it because I’m a biology nut IRL but we have the following (non-exhaustive) list of animals that appear in both worlds:
Wolves (Used to be a difference between them but that has been forgotten)
Hydras (Used to be a difference but now Azeroth hydras have four legs suddenly)
Frogs
Lizards
Raptors (Used to be a difference but now there isn’t)
Cats
Rats
Spiders
Scorpids
Moths
Axebeaks
Condors
Eels
Whale Sharks
Rockworms
Snakes
Snails
Crabs
Chipmunks
Bats
Rabbits
Fireflies
Seals
Seagulls
It just feels off, and I wanted to see if I was alone in this pet peeve.
The forgetting of which Wolf is Draenor and which Wolf is Azerothian was in BfA… One Expansion after the distinction was made…
Uniqueness does not exist…
Of course Draenor’s Lifeforms outside the Ravens seem to have originated from Grond the Titanforged Giant… Azeroth’s beasts came from the Titan Azeroth’s own Blood…
The Titan Argus has Sea Serpents and Moths… Bonich has Frogs, Nether Rays, Stags and Dryads resembling the Crystal Dryads…
Well perhaps it has to do with the fact the Titans designed (or at least meddled in) the development of most worlds.
Perhaps Eonar is not particularly inventive often and during planetary ordering sets every world up with the same basic genetic layout as they redesign it. Cosmic copy pasta as it were.
You can make an argument for convergent evolution to some extent too.
Not to mention all the similar plant life around. The only fair exceptions I see are the Botani and boglings/sporelings.
But yeah, as someone mentioned, WoW doesn’t really follow natural patterns of speciation, as most life was either seeded by the Titans or modified by them to reach their contemporary forms. Nearly every playable race is humanoid too, with mostly upright features and similar usage of limbs/eyes/mouth etc. which ties in to the other thread where someone asked if tauren are ruminators. I do find it hilarious that races with hooves have distinct forelimbs that are exactly like human hands.
Seems really pedantic. Its a fantasy world. Cattle don’t stand upright either. I’m sure there’s an easy way to rationalize it to your liking in your own headcannon.
I remember loving the Flayer creatures in Outland, only to be bitterly confused and disappointed when I found the exact same creatures in Deepholm… What I thought was a wonderfully unique alien species was just another titan construct, which didn’t make sense as you hardly see them on Draenor…
It is just a way to lazily re-use models over and over no matter what strange and supposedly alien world we visit.
If you want an in-universe answer it could be that due to the inherently magical way life springs forth from spirit energy that the universe just has a few set designs it is naturally inclined toward repeating.