Oceans of Kansas
For a larger more detailed image click here
I know this is before the time frame of my site, but a while back I did this Tylosaurus* for Oregon Public Broadcasting. After they had used it on a program about evolution, I sent it to Mike Everhart. Mike is Adjunct Curator of Paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University, Kansas, and the creator of the “Oceans of Kansas” website. If you’ve never stopped by this incredible site, please do so. For a great part of prehistory, what is now Kansas lay beneath a shallow sea. Mike is an expert on marine reptiles, and has gifted the curious with the best resource imaginable about these remarkable animals and their place and time in the deep past. I am simply in awe of the prodigious amount of work involved. There are hundreds of photos of exquisite fossils, and the writing is vivid and accessible to both the professional scientist and interested layperson. Mike flattered me by using the Tylosaurus as the header on of one of his articles.
And if that weren’t enough, my friend Dan Varner has his magnificent paintings of the inhabitants of this watery world on display to illustrate the vibrant and savage web of life beneath the waves.
* This painting has had a life of its own. Of all the things I’ve ever done, this is the piece for which I’ve received the most requests for use. It illustrates fossil exhibits in small museums and decorates the title page of dissertations and articles, and apparently, one roadside sign. People from 9 countries and 11 states have asked permission to use it. I had no idea.
December 21st, 2005 at 3:03 pm
Good lord, Carl, that thing is BEAUTIFUL!
And real enough to keep me from swimming in the Kansas Ocean ever again.
December 21st, 2005 at 7:53 pm
Wow Carl! This is a great illustration and it also brings back memories of excavations I was involved with on the west side of the Valley in California. Our department discovered over 30 Mosasaurs and a Hadrosaur (my personal discovery!) in the Moreno Formation during the 1980’s. Most are now at Berkeley. Fortunately, our ocean went the same way as the Kansas ocean. Bad time to be an ammonite!
December 21st, 2005 at 7:55 pm
And real enough to keep sensible folk from going into the water even after they’ve overcome the fear induced by Jaws!
I had looked away at something else while it was loading and it took me by surprise when I turned to it. Quite startling the way it is coming out of the distance.
December 21st, 2005 at 8:22 pm
Probably the reason you get so many requests Carl, is that this animal is absolutely beautifully portrayed. I’m in awe. And learning a lot!
December 21st, 2005 at 8:34 pm
No wonder I don’t catch anything when I go fishing in the Kansas Ocean. That thing is eating all of the fish! I sure would love having that mounted on my wall though!
December 21st, 2005 at 8:57 pm
Douglas, that Tylosaurus is 30 feet long! If you’ve got a wall it’ll fit on, I wanna get some financial tips from you!
December 21st, 2005 at 11:30 pm
Marvelous.
This site does well by your paintings, Carl — like them, it opens doors to marvels.
On another note: Maybe that’s what’s the matter with Kansas!
December 22nd, 2005 at 1:21 am
I came here from Ursula Vernon’s site. Your blog is absolutely fascinating. I look forward to reading it (and admiring) it for a very long time. Kudos!
December 22nd, 2005 at 5:32 pm
Funny, others look at that thing and worry about being eaten; I look at it and start to think about recipes for Mosasaur Chili.
Thanks for the link to Varner’s paintings as well. I’d seen them before, but it’s a pleasure to see them again. Personally, I prefer your tighter style; but preference is all that is, and it shouldn’t be read as dissing Varner’s gifts.
December 23rd, 2005 at 5:03 am
One awesome thing about the Kansas (and other inland) seas is that they (inadvertantly) gave us the theory of Punctuated Equilibrium! By shrinking and expanding again, and being repopulated by evolved relatives, they give the appearance of sudden evolution. However, the locations of the remaining inland seas (smaller and geographically-isolated) during these shrinkages provide all thr evidence of the transitional species. Hence, PunqEq!
December 23rd, 2005 at 11:48 pm
Douglas C,
That thing would be your wall.
December 25th, 2005 at 9:33 am
A time when things that looked like salamanders were VERY VERY large……
July 31st, 2006 at 1:01 pm
That is a fantastic illustration of Tylosaurus. Very realistic take on it… I can almost feel that sucker in the ocean by me now. Ouch!