| ||||||||||||
| [Source] | ||||||||||||
- "Acorns, beautiful spark of the gods, Nuts of Elysium,
We enter, drunk with acorns, your heavenly sanctuary!
Your magic powers join again what nature strictly divided;
Rodents become brothers where your bushy tail rests!" - ―A poem dedicated to Scratlantis[src]
Scratlantis was an island populated by intelligent saber-tooth squirrels.
History
Inhabitants
An immense island shaped like an acorn, Scratlantis was inhabited by a number of saber-tooth squirrels that had long since accepted the bounty of acorns that grew so plentifully on the island. This grew to the point of no saber-tooth squirrel pursuing the nuts as fervently as they often did and taking the plentiful nuts in stride. The saber-tooth squirrels in Scratlantis soon developed the traits of sapient life, from the power of speech over time to thumbs on their three-fingered hands, attributed to their renouncing the animalistic pursuit of acorns.
The saber-tooth squirrels took to an advanced lifestyle, dedicating much of their culture to the acorn, dressing in togas and creating monuments, cities and elaborate works of art, all a tribute to the acorn. From vast temples adorned with pillars, columns and tile work and ornate sculptures to writing music and plotting star charts that depicted acorns, the saber-tooth squirrel population flourished, with a wizened male squirrel known as Ariscratle as their leader.
Though the island and its inhabitants flourished well, Scratlantis was at the mercy of one large acorn in the middle of its structure: this acorn topped a large plug that kept the ocean waters out of Scratlantis, allowing the island to stay aloft of the seas.
The society and culture of Scratlantis resembles very close to Greco-Roman culture.
Downfall
The whereabouts of Scratlantis were sketched out on a map drawn on the hollowed-out shell of an acorn, previously used by one deceased saber-tooth squirrel, who had died in the pursuit of the island and remained trapped on a small desert cay. One saber-tooth squirrel named Scrat had found the remains of this deceased squirrel and used the map that the dead squirrel had once attempted to use to find Scratlantis. Upon reaching Scratlantis, Scrat was greeted by Ariscratle himself, who welcomed Scrat like a brother and showed Scrat the wonders of the island. Scrat, however, overpowered with the obsession of acorns, began collecting as many of the acorns as he could find, hoarding them all in a pile and taking anything acorn-themed as well, from the acorn-shaped pin that held one squirrel's tunic up to the giant acorns that held the temple columns in place. Scrat ran about, looting as many of the acorns as he could until he reached one giant acorn embedded in the tiled floor.
Before Scrat could pull the acorn out, however, Ariscratle called out for Scrat to stop, pleading to the squirrel to let go of his base animal desires for acorns. Scrat, giving in to the desire for more acorns, yanked the giant acorn out, releasing a single plug that brought in tons of seawater, sinking the island into the oceans and draining the oceans themselves, revealing him to be stranded in the dry Death Valley and a hapless Scrat with nothing to show for his trouble.
Appearances
- Ice Age: Continental Drift (First appearance)
Behind the Scenes
Scratlantis is based off the mythical lost continent of Atlantis as a parody, from the Greco-Roman styles of its architecture to the advanced abilities of its inhabitants, mirroring the old tales that Atlanteans were humans of great intelligence.
A number of famous artworks were parodied in the scenery of Scratlantis, from the Greek statue Discobolus, the statue The Thinker, and a parody of the "Alas Poor Yorick" monologue of Shakespeare's Hamlet as acted by one saber-tooth squirrel holding an acorn.
The musical theme of Scratlantis was based off Beethoven's Ode to Joy, with some elements of Lakme's Flower Duet and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.