updating you now, I have just come up with this comp for the creodont that is about 80% finished. I think I will give them some “flair” in the form of stripes or facial coloration or leopard stripes…any suggestions?
This is a preliminary sketch for a painting I am working on. It is a Paleo-reconstruction of a scene from the Cenozoic which will focus on predation among a few common mammals of that time.
This crazy creature is actually an ancestral female tapir attempting to shield her young from marauding carnivores. (Tapirs are alive today and are so cool to check out at a zoo!) Surrounding her curiously and opportunistically will be a few Creodonts. Note: there are no creodonts at zoos, nor on our planet, and you should be gratefu
l. They were the dominant predator in North America for many millions of years; they might have hunted in packs and behaved much like the cooperative hyenas of today, but might not have. One interesting thing that we do know is that Creodonts didn’t have much in the way of stereo vision, so that would have affected their hunting style and approach…hmmm, how should I translate that into this depiction?
Each of these have left fossilized tracks in stone in Whatcom county, in Washington state, and this painting will be for a display for Western Washington University. I am still deciding on the coat for the Creodonts, so any suggestions are welcome!
Recently, I had the oportunity to meet these fantastic animals: during the month of july, Rio de Janeiro`s Zoo open their doors to nigth visits guided tours, so we can visit the tapirs and even feed them. We (me, wife and kids, Manuela-7 yrs, and Felipe- 5yrs old) were all thrilled with the experience.
Also on july, we all visited the “Pantanal Matogrossese” , you probably know it, it is the world largest wetland, with a complex dynmaic process of dry and wet seasons, and stretching over Brazil mid west, adn n reaching some neighbor contries like Bolivia, Paraguai and small part of Argentina. We stayed on hotel by the Cuiaba river, near town called Poconé.
During a tour guide to watch the sunrise (we woke up 4:00 in the mornig and left by 5:00 H!), we saw a huge tapir swimming and diving to reach the dry land just by our side. It was amazing to see the animal completely on nature. Do you want to see the pictures?
bye
joao
This creature in the picture,she is a mother that want to protect her/his creature child.For those who want to hurt to them,i’ll gonna tell you stop bothering this creature because they god creature not only human.
Yes, for those evildoers who would hurt such cute chicks…they must be stopped at all costs! All we need to do is to create a time machine to go back in time and stop them!!
Nice photos! Female tapir attempting to shield her young from marauding carnivores. It was so sweet protecting her baby. 🙂
Woooo..What kind of animals is that its kind weird.Its my first time to see that kind of animals.
they are my depictions of tapirs and creodonts back in time…subject to change as evidence and fossil findings update current research