Tusk, tusk!

Indian Elephant
Elephas maximus indicus

An African elephant skull.

I am the...

Walrus
(Odobenus rosmarus)

What's in a name?

Slender-tailed Cloud Rat
(Phloeomys pallidus)



With a name like that, I couldn't resist. And for being "rats," they're actually kind of cute.


That is, if you don't think about their teeth...

Wild swine!

Peccary, or Javelina

Mystery #12 - Silky Anteater

Mammal. Arboreal. Nocturnal. And this guy isn't eating plants, either.

Cuban Hutia

The Black-tailed Hutia
(Mesocapromys melanurus)

Mystery #11 - Cuvier's Beaked Whale

It's a mammal...

Brain pan

Okay, so this was an experiment! I picked up some coloured, 100% recycled card stock on impulse (and clearance!) at Michael's last Friday night. And the jury is still out on whether I like the results or not. It took the coloured pencil like warm toast takes butter, and that was fun. But, the scan makes this colour appear much lighter than it really is, so actually seeing the graphite pencil on it was a wee bit of a challenge. Of the 5 colours in the package, there are still 2 more I want to try, so be warned!

Bird of prey

Red-tailed Hawk
(Buteo jamaicensis)

Ribbit, XXL

Goliath Frog
Conraua goliath

Lurking above it all

Lappet-faced Vulture
Aegypius tracheliotus

Something about the word "vulture" always brings to mind, for me, the variety from Disney or Looney Tunes or The Far Side cartoons. I'd have to say my favourite is Snoopy's vulture imitation:


(By the wonderful Charles Schulz, of course.)

Wee skull

My wife found me this awesome little rubber stamp yesterday! I used it today on some small notecards to use when trading Moo card and ATCs. I also managed to find some "kraft" cardstock (not already folded into notecards) that I can use for ATCs, so I may be making some more of those soon.

Mystery #10 - a Red Kangaroo

Six feet tall. Nearly 300 degrees of vision, compared to 180 for humans. Largest of its species. Able to move up to 44mph (70kph). Yet it would probably topple over if it tried to back up. Know what it is?

Mystery #9 - a Guinea Pig

Can you imagine keeping something like this as a pet?! Any guesses?

Mystery #8 - Siberian Tiger

No clues this time - let's see how close you can get without them!

Phineas' Bad Day

On September 13, 1848, Phineas Gage was working as a foreman on the construction of a railroad track in Vermont. Using a 3' (1 m) long tamping iron (weighing 13.5lbs - 6.12 kg), he was filling blast holes with gunpowder, adding the fuses, and then adding and tamping down sand. Except he forgot to pour the sand into one of the holes. Instead, the tamping iron sparked against the rock, ignited the gunpowder, and blew the tamping iron right through Gage's head. It entered his skull below his left cheek bone and exited through the top (after passing through the frontal lobes) with so much force that it supposedly landed some 30 yards (27 meters) behind the poor man.

He survived.

According to some witnesses, he was conscious within minutes, able to speak, and able to endure a 45-minute cart ride back to his boarding house. When the doctor met him there, he was still conscious, and had a normal, steady pulse, but he was getting weakening from the substantial blood loss.

While his physical recovery (aside from the loss of vision in one eye, some facial paralysis, and facial disfigurement) unquestionably occurred, there is some debate over the after-effects on his brain. The most common end to the story is that Mr. Gage went from a hard-working, likable, friendly guy to an unemployable, foul-mouthed, pugilistic bully. However, it's notable that this radical difference seems to have first been reported by his doctor, 20 years after the accident and a full 8 years after Gage's death. (In 1860, Gage started suffering from epileptic seizures; in May of that year, he died.) Very few changes were noted in the reports written in 1848 and 1850.

Mystery #7 - Tuatara

This amniote come from only one country, and it is related to lizards and snakes, though it mostly resembles a lizard. It can get up to 80cm (34") long and grows for the first 35 years of its life, which averages about 60 years, but they can live past 100. What you can't see in this view is that they have a double row of upper teeth that come down on either side of the lower teeth when thei jaws close. I loved drawing this skull! It was like a puzzle, especially with that hole, on the top, that looks suspiciously like... an eye socket...?

What a migraine looks like?

Peruvian female
example of cranial binding

Cranial binding is the shaping of the skull using binding alter growth, much the same as foot binding. In a baby, the skull is malleable, so restricting the growth of the skull and by putting selective pressure on it by strapping it against a board, the effect can be a markedly elongated skull. It was believed that elongating the skull would identify the person as a member of royalty and/or increase brain growth. (Aside from potential damage caused by the actual binding, there is no evidence that this practice altered brain function in any way.)

Mystery #6

So, these guys are small: just 15 kg (33 lb) on average, only 43 cm (17") at the shoulder. They are little enough to be preyed upon by eagles and snakes, as well as larger carnivores. They can be found in forest and dense bush, mostly in the southeastern portion of Africa, and are known to have a loud, throaty cry why they spot danger, before diving away into the brush.

Solution: it's a Red Duiker

Scaphocephaly

Scaphocephaly is "the premature closure of the sagittal suture" - that's the long "seam" that runs from front to back on the top of the head; the result is a long, narrow skull. Premature fusion of the sagittal suture occurs approximately 1 in every 4,200 births. It's usually not associated with syndromes and occurs frequently in premature infants. It can now be surgically corrected.