Saturday Pachyderm Blogging
In Thursday’s post I mentioned that my first big Olduvai entry would be a visual history of Proboscideans in North America. In looking over what I was getting myself into, I of course discovered that there was no way I could draw and “colorize” (at least – more if you subdivide Gomphotherium at all) 15 different genera spanning 14+ million years of elephantness. Next time I review and research first, open mouth later.
There’s a whole bunch of things I know just enough about to be dangerous, but I’ve drawn lots of fossil proboscideans and I really can’t plead ignorance here. I’ve been lucky enough to get up-close and personal with both species of elephants alive today (in captivity) and I absolutely love them. I extend that love to mammoths and beyond because it seems I’m incapable of looking at extinct creatures as anything else but the living, breathing, animated marvels that they once were.
So on or about the 21st, I’ll post the proboscideans of the last couple North American Land Mammal Ages. Land Mammal Ages (LMAs from now on) are how paleontologists divide up the Cenozoic. Each has its distinctive faunal assemblages. The Rancholabrean(1) LMA began about 500,000 and ended only 10,000 years ago. It’s predecessor, the Irvingtonian(2) LMA, began about 1.9 million years ago. Both are within the Pleistocene epoch, so it’s not really going back that far, but it’s a start. We’ll worry about the earlier tuskers in the future and get around to explaining the correlations between the geologic epochs and the land mammal ages as we go. I hate it, but I’m going to have to do a chart. It’ll help keep things straight as I tend to bounce all over the place with my critters of interest.
There’s a considerable amount of wrinkled skin and hair to paint, so I’d better get busy. The post will feature all new artwork, but as a preview of sorts, here’s one of the animals to be included. This acrylic painting of Rhynchotherium (and child) is from a piece I did 6 or 7 years ago. I say from, because there was lot more background in the original image, but the animal itself was not painted much larger than you see in the linked close-up.
For a larger, more detailed image click here
Rhynchotherium (beak or snout beast) descended from earlier Gomphotheres that had entered North America in (Barstovian LMA) Miocene times (yes, definitely need a chart). Some of these animals eventually moved as far south as Central and South America, and evidence suggests that Rhynchotheres evolved there, dispersing back to the north, and lasting just long enough for me to have to include them in the coming post.
So many wrinkles…so little time.
1: The Rancholabrean LMA was named after the wonderful LaBrea site (the tar pits) in Los Angeles.
2: The Irvingtonian LMA was based on a quarried fossil site consisting of mammoths and other large grazers near Fremont, in the southeastern Bay Area of California. Highway 680 now covers it.
December 11th, 2005 at 2:48 am
Beautiful! I really like that you include the sketches also.
December 11th, 2005 at 3:14 am
Georgeous Rhynchotheres! Glad to see this underrepresented probiscidean get such skilled treatment. Can’t wait to see the next installment.
December 11th, 2005 at 4:08 am
“I’m incapable of looking at extinct creatures as anything else but the living, breathing, animated marvels that they once were.” — That really comes through in your art, with long-dead animals looking like they walk our planet today and migth be seen at the zoo or on a bit of eco-tourism.
December 11th, 2005 at 7:41 am
Both modern representatives? Oh, the poor African Forest Elephant, ovorlooked yet again. The Rodney Dangerfield of loxodonts, don’t get no respect.
BTW, Michael Blowhard sent me.
December 11th, 2005 at 9:20 am
Alan: You are of course, absolutely correct. The really terrible part is that just last year I painted a comparison for a zoo project. The forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) and the bush elephant (L africana) apparently have been genetically isolated for 2 and a half million years.
One of the wonderful things about doing this “3rd graders dream job” that I have is that every drawing is still a learning experience. Please don’t be bashful about pointing out my inevitable miscues.
December 11th, 2005 at 11:43 am
I mentioned this in my email reply, but thought I’d bring it up here. There might be a third loxodont. The pygmy elephant. Supposed to be half the size of Loxodont cyclotis and living in swampy areas. An animal that, according to the stories, has actually been exhibited in American zoos.
But, Africa is not as well known as some think it is. It’s not that densely populated overall, and most of the people are concentrated along the Nile Valley, in southern Africa, and the Republic of Nigeria. It’s still possible to go for days without see anybody in parts. And even when we have specimens for study mistakes still get made.
Take the onza. A long legged cousin of the cougar. Identified through its genes as a sub-species of cougar. But, it was only one test, that test has never been verified by an outside party, and the man currently in possession of the one specimen’s remains (who did the testing) has, last I heard, refused to allow testing of those remains by outside parties.
Much the same thing very nearly happened with Flores Man, but pressure forced the release of those remains.
Politics and obstinancy make zoology and paleozoology much more diffifult than they really need to be.
That aside, continue with the good work, and I hope you get more visitors and commentors.
December 11th, 2005 at 11:23 pm
Thanks ever so much for starting this blog. Among other things, I write critters for roleplaying games, and am always looking for inspiration. Unlike some writers in the field, who specialize in it’ll-eat-your-head type critters, I construct food chain diagrams, and then work on filling in empty niches. Your work is very inspiring, and has already provided a number of pointers to an admitted dilettante in the field. Now I have to go learn about the LMAs.
December 14th, 2005 at 12:49 am
Wow, Carl, you’re even inspiring the creation of virtual worlds now!
Another great post. I just wanted to second DarkSyde’s comment. Please continue to included the sketches when you can. I find them equally as exciting as the paintings and, as a fellow artist, I like to see the work.
December 16th, 2005 at 6:43 am
Ahh, your art breathes life into them. I know I’m going to enjoy the work your going to be doing on Ice Age mammals/animals. Promise to do Dire Wolves sometime, we never see those anywhere, in painting or sketch form! (If you’re capable, I feel that Ice Age giant birds are also heavily under-represented as well.)
Finally, don’t forget to paint yourself in, to give us all an idea of how large these critters are. That’s another thing that’s not given often. Best wishes!
May 5th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
We just uncovered the complete skull and skeletal remains of a Rhynchotherium in the San Simon river basin in eastern Arizona. It will (once they figure out how to move the 1200 pound skul) be on display at the Mesa Arizona Southwest Museum.
Most of the rhychotherium’s bones have already made the trip to Mesa and are on temporary display in the museum’s “Paradise Lost: Arizona South of the Ice” exhibit.
Thanks for the painting, now I know what the heck they dug up out here!
April 16th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Great post. I really enjoyed it. I will have to bookmark this site for later.