Sentinels are a bipedal primate mammal species related to humans by biological and behavioral similarities. Biologically, they are classified as Homo sentus (sentus being from Latin "sent[tire]" feel + "tus" suffix denoting the verb form), and belong to the family of great apes, along with humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans. Sentinels are outwardly indistinguishable from humans, however there is a significant physiological difference. Compared to humans, Sentinels possessed extraordinary sensory capabilities. A biped is an animal that travels across surfaces supported by two legs. ... Families 13, See classification A primate is any member of the biological order Primates (Latin primus first), the group that contains all lemurs, monkeys, apes, and humans. ... Orders Subclass Monotremata Monotremata Subclass Marsupialia Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Subclass Placentalia Xenarthra Dermoptera Desmostylia Scandentia Primates Rodentia Lagomorpha Insectivora Chiroptera Pholidota Carnivora Perissodactyla Artiodactyla Cetacea Afrosoricida Macroscelidea Tubulidentata Hyracoidea Proboscidea Sirenia The mammals are the class of vertebrate animals primarily characterized by the presence of mammary... In biology, a species is a kind of organism. ... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu (extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Human beings define themselves in biological, social, and spiritual terms. ... Latin is the language that was originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Genera Subfamily Ponginae Pongo - Orangutans Gigantopithecus (extinct) Sivapithecus (extinct) Subfamily Homininae Gorilla - Gorillas Pan - Chimpanzees Homo - Humans Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) Pierolapithecus (extinct) (tentative) The Hominids (Hominidae) are a biological family which includes humans, extinct species of humanlike creatures and the other great apes... Species Pan troglodytes Pan paniscus Chimpanzee, often abbreviated to chimp, is the common name for two species in the genus Pan. ... Binomial name Pan paniscus Schwarz, 1929 The Bonobo (Pan paniscus), sometimes called the Pygmy Chimpanzee, is one of the two species comprising the genus Pan; both members of that genus are technically chimpanzees, though the term is frequently used to refer only to the other member of the genus, Pan... Species Gorilla gorilla Gorilla beringei The gorilla, the largest of the primates, is a ground-dwelling herbivore that inhabits the forests of central Africa. ... Species Pongo pygmaeus Pongo abelii Orangutans (also spelled orang utan, orang-utan, sometimes incorrectly orangutang) are two species of great apes with long arms and reddish, sometimes brown, hair native to Malaysia and Indonesia. ...

Until recently, knowledge of the existence of Sentinels had become lost. Only with modern technology would we even be able to tell humans from Sentinels. As a result, many people considered not sane due to chemical imbalances or even unknown causes, may actually be Sentinels. In fact, the genetic differences in the species may also account for adverse reactions to medicines, chemicals, or situations that would not affect humans the same way. Since humans are the more numerous, a decidedly human prejudice exists with regards to the properties and usage of such medicines or chemicals. Medical knowledge, too, assumes that all patients are human, and treats everyone the same way only until a problem develops with that treatment, at which time, the treatment is modified accordingly - but still without considering the possibility that a patient may not even be human. Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... Medicine is a branch of health science concerned with maintaining health and restoring it by treating disease. ...

Overview

Origin

Like humans, Sentinels also evolved from the bipedal arboreals, but then went a slightly different route. There is plenty of fossil evidence which proves that several species of hominids existed, some of them side-by-side. Not all of those "sister species" died out. One of them evolved into Sentinels. Even though humans and Sentinels are different species that diverged many millions of years ago, they still look the same on the outside, and still are of the genus Homo. Sentinels came from other hominid branches that we have not yet traced in unbroken line to their ultimate beginnings. This article is about the biological organisms known as trees. ... FOSSIL is a standard for allowing serial communication for telecommunications programs under DOS. FOSSIL stands for Fido Opus Seadog Standard Interface Layer and was made by a group of Fidonet sysops to make their software work on different machines. ... Genera Subfamily Ponginae Pongo - Orangutans Gigantopithecus (extinct) Sivapithecus (extinct) Subfamily Homininae Gorilla - Gorillas Pan - Chimpanzees Homo - Humans Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) Pierolapithecus (extinct) (tentative) The Hominids (Hominidae) are a biological family which includes humans, extinct species of humanlike creatures and the other great apes... Species Homo antecessor (extinct) Homo cepranensis (extinct) Homo erectus (extinct) Homo ergaster (extinct) Homo floresiensis (extinct) Homo georgicus (extinct) Homo habilis (extinct) Homo heidelbergensis (extinct) Homo neanderthalensis (extinct) Homo rhodesiensis (extinct) Homo rudolfensis (extinct) Homo sapiens Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives. ...

Evolution

It is theorized that Sentinels came from a bipedal arboreal that did not develop pair-bonding, but instead remained solitary, we may have the following developments in behavior. If this is true, then the solitary nature of Sentinels co-existed (and still does) with their territorial nature. Each creature would have staked a claim to a specific region, and would have restricted it's hunting to this area. That being the case, there would have been no competition for food among themselves, but there probably would have been between the Sentinels' arboreal ancestors, and humans'. This, combined with the low birth rate and lack of mutual protection inherent in multi-member groups, might have been what led to the beginnings of the hyper-acute senses Sentinels are known for. These senses would have been useful in finding food, and in detecting danger. It would also account for why Sentinels tend to be stronger, faster, and able to resist disease and heal from wounds better than most humans. All of these things would have combined to raise a Sentinel's chances of survival. Senses are the physiological methods of perception. ...

Because both kinds of creatures overlapped in territory, and because the ancestors of humans were gregarious beings, they may have not only recognized, but also decided to take advantage of, these heightened senses. Quite possibly, somewhere along the line, a bargain may have been struck between humans and Sentinels, wherein the Sentinels provided services such as location of game animals and early warning of danger, in exchange for protection and shelter. The fact that Sentinels are both solitary and territorial probably would not have proven a problem, as humans tend to band together in groups that are more or less tightly-knit while at the same time separating themselves one group from another. Thus, one Sentinel would have agreed to provide the above-mentioned services to one group or "tribe" in one area, while another Sentinel would have allied with a group in another region, and "never the twain shall meet". The result was that everyone's needs would have been satisfied. ǎ This article is on the social structure. ...

Prehistorical Civilization

At this point, it is speculated that Sentinels probably show as much diversity among their species as humans do. Some Sentinels would have shown one or more senses to be stronger than others, for example, and some Sentinels may be generally more powerful, and able to sense things from greater distances or with better precision than others. Therefore, stronger Sentinels were almost certainly capable of holding a larger territory, with a greater population of Humans living therein. It is possible that one Sentinel may have been strong enough to attempt to enlarge his or her territory by forcibly taking territory from another. Given both the solitary nature and the territoriality of Sentinels, the result may well have been a fight to the death, with the winner both annexing the territory, and agreeing to provide services for the Humans within that new area. This would have been especially true if Sentinels had by this time developed the strong protective instinct we see today. (In fact, this instinct may actually be part of the instinct to protect the young, Humans being weaker than Sentinels, and, therefore, the Sentinels may equate this weakness with the vulnerability seen in children.)

There is also the possibility that, in addition to the Sentinels' actions when annexing new territory and agreeing to protect all tribes within that area, humans may have reacted as much to the presence of the stronger Sentinel as to their own gregariousness, by joining together the different groups into one larger one, thus making it easier for the Sentinel to provide the agreed-upon services. This, along with a growing population that spread out to occupy available territory, therefore reducing the amount of territory available, may actually have been the beginnings of the human predilection for living in larger and larger groups. These larger groups led to villages, then towns, and so on, all protected by any Sentinel strong enough to do so. It may even, though no study has been done, result in continued evolution by Sentinels into stronger and stronger individuals; this evolution taking place through the time-tested "survival of the fittest" method: the stronger the Sentinel, the better the chance of survival and, therefore, procreation, resulting in the passing on of this ever-increasing strength.

Modern History

The Victorian era explorer Sir Richard Burton was the first person to study Sentinels. Burton first discovered Sentinels among certain tribes of South America. He studied them for many years and wrote a monograph called "The Sentinels of Paraguay." He described a Sentinel as "a person, in pre-civilized cultures, who patrolled the border, with senses sharper than normal humans, honed by time spent in isolation." For more than a hundred years his work was widely regarded as a flight of fantasy. It was only in the 1990s that Sentinels were noted in the modern world. Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Accession to the Throne, June 20, 1837) gave her name to the historic era. ... Sir is an honorary title. ... Richard Burton, portrait by Frederic Leighton, National Portrait Gallery, London Sir Richard Francis Burton (March 19, 1821 - October 19, 1890), British consul, explorer, translator, and Orientalist, was born at Barham House, Hertfordshire, England, the son of an officer in the army. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Events and trends Technology The World Wide Web was born at CERN Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other technology Reduction in size and cost of mobile phones leads to a massive surge in their popularity Year 2000 problem (commonly known as Y2K) Microsoft...

The existence of Sentinels was met with some disquiet; their enhanced senses seemed to pose a possible threat to those not so gifted in areas as mundane as athletic competition and as sensitive as privacy rights. Further controversy arose when it was discovered by geneticists that Sentinels are a separate species. A gradual and uneasy public acceptance of Sentinels turned to wild enthusiasm during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Many Sentinels participated in the rescue operations. Enhanced senses found victims in the rubble of the World Trade Center and The Pentagon. Today Sentinels are encouraged to find work in military and paramilitary organizations such as police and search and rescue; arenas where enhanced senses could serve the public. The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks carried out in the United States on September 11, 2001. ... For the World Trade Center complex in New York City, see World Trade Center. ... The Pentagon, looking east with the Potomac River and Washington Monument in the distance. ...

Ramifications

The existence of two different species with the Homo genus may account for what we now assume is simply an enormous variation in "human norms." This wide variety is rarely seen in any other "natural" species. In other words, species that have not been interfered with the way humans have interfered with, for example, dogs, or cats, or horses, by deliberately creating different breeds for different uses. For example, there is little variation from member to member among zebras - they are all equines of similar height, build, and stripe pattern. They do not, for instance, vary by as much as two feet in height, nor do any of them boast spots instead of stripes. Even foxes, which have dozens of different subspecies worldwide, do not vary that much from member to member among a single subspecies. Perhaps, as with most species of animals, the variation from member to member within the human species is not so broad as we believe. What exists instead may be the variation from species to species between humans and Sentinels. Trinomial name Canis lupus familiaris The dog is a canine carnivorous mammal that has been domesticated for at least 14,000 years and perhaps for as long as 150,000 years based on recent evidence. ... Trinomial name Felis silvestris catus Schreber, 1775 The cat (also called domestic cat or house cat) is a small feline carnivorous mammal. ... Binomial name Equus caballus The Horse (Equus caballus) is a large ungulate mammal, one of the seven modern species of the genus Equus. ... A breed is a domesticated subspecies or infrasubspecies of an animal. ... Species Equus zebra Equus quagga Equus grevyi See Equus for other species. ... horse, see Horse (disambiguation). ... A red fox The foxes comprise 23 species of omnivorous canids, found worldwide. ... In taxonomy, a subspecies is the taxon immediately subordinate to a species. ...

Inter-species pairing is not unknown. There is, however, no possibility of offspring. This, combined with the fact that, because, until recently, we didn't even know humans and Sentinels were different species, has probably resulted in many inadvertent inter-species pairings which have not resulted in the birth of children. It is also very possible, therefore, that many such couples who are infertile, and for which no clear reason for this infertility can be found except the vague "genetic incompatibility", may unknowingly be a Sentinel/Human couple.