Scientific Illustration

biomedicalephemera:

“Happy Dreams”: A Sleeping Crocodile

Nile Crocodile - Crocodylus niloticus

Nile crocodiles are the largest crocodilian (and reptile) in Africa, and are second in size only to saltwater crocodiles (Steve Irwin’s salties!), which are native to Australia and its surrounding seas.

However, saltwater crocodiles, while aggressive, don’t have the tendency to turn out “man hunters” like the Nile crocodiles do. This is largely because the Australian coastline is protected enough that native prey is still available at a level where predatory animals can survive. Nile crocodiles, however, do not have this advantage; the majority of the Nile crocodile range (aside from central Africa) has a high degree of overfishing and pollution of the freshwater rivers, to the point that some Nile crocs have turned to humans as a source of food.

One of these “man-eaters” is named Gustave - believed to be between 40 to 60 years old, he weighs about one ton (2000 lbs or ~900 kg), and is known to have eaten at least 300 humans in his lifetime. If sources with uncertain credibility are taken into account, he may have eaten upwards of 800 humans, including over 200 able-bodied adult males. Gustave’s home range is a section of the Ruzizi river near the border of Burundi and Rwanda, where several other “man-eating” crocodiles are known to live. Due to the ongoing civil wars that have been taking place in that region, people have been driven to the rivers as a sole source of food (as crop farms were frequently raided and/or burned), and the local terrestrial fauna has also been greatly reduced. Gustave’s attacks are only known to have begun around 30 years ago, though he would have been large enough to easily kill a human around 4-5 years of age. This puts his consumption of people as a direct result of the changing dietary habits of civilians, during the times of civil unrest.

The Uganda Protectorate. Sir Harry Johnston, 1902.

(via mudwerks)

heffydoodle:

Wilhelm Eigener’s “Reptiles and Amphibians of the World”, 1958

SET III: Crocodilians

1. American Alligator
2. Chinese Alligator
3. Black Caiman, Spectacled Caiman
4. Indian Gharial
5. West African Dwarf Crocodile
6. American Crocodile
7. Saltwater Crocodile
8. Nile Crocodile, Slender-snouted Crocodile

Finally have time to resume scanning this beautiful book! Eigener’s crocs and gators are especially gorgeous.

paleoillustration:

Kaprosuchus by Álvaro

paleoillustration:

Amargasurus |Sarcosuchus attacking a group of Iguanodon. By Víctor Zubeldía:

“My main goal is to create atmospheres in my illustrations, my skills allowed me to paint scenes the way I like them to be, always trying to take to a different place than the usual and more strict paleo-llustration. I want to portrait a more imperfect and realistic world, where dinosaurs are dirty, or sick; where their color is more opaque, where there is beauty around them too.”

Read more about Víctor Zubeldía’s process: HOW I CREATE A PALEO ILLUSTRATION. Very interesting.

A conceptual illustration of a subspecies of Crocodile skull from New Guinea in colored pencil, watercolor and pencil by Zel Stoltzfus

stephanieayres:

Saltwater crocodile & Nicobar Pigeon

New 20-foot extinct species of crocodile discovered in Colombian coal mine

This illustration shows how Acherontisuchus guajiraensis, a 60-million-year-old ancestor of crocodiles, would have looked in its natural setting. Titanoboa, the world’s largest snake, is pictured in the background. Illustration by Danielle Byerley

paleoillustration:

Rutiodon and Hesperosuchus by Douglas Henderson

“Phytosaurs were long-snouted and heavily armoured, bearing a remarkable resemblance to modern crocodiles in size, appearance, and lifestyle, as an example of convergence or parallel evolution.” Wikipedia.

Feel free to DELETE THIS MINI-RANT if you reblog:

I tag animals like Rutiodon as “crocodile” just to make things easier for the tumblr-people, because I know that when most of them search for the tag crocodile, they expect to see the entire Crocodylomorpha and anything that might look similar. When my tags are inaccurate it’s not always because I’m stupid or neglectful, I just try to keep the clutter to an informal but useful minimum, it works better for most readers.

paleoillustration:

Boar, rat, pancake, duck and dog crocs by Todd Marshall

heaveninawildflower:

Illustration of a Spectacled Caiman and a False Coral Snake (1701 -1705) by Maria Sibylla Merian ( 1647 -1717).

Hand coloured copper engraving.

Wikimedia.