Lank!
Originally uploaded by Babbletrish
Pencil and watercolor. Click the picture to see the larger version.
Just a bit of fun inspired by my archive binge of the wonderful Tetrapod Zoology blog. The Lank is an animal featured in Dougal Dixon's The New Dinosaurs. It a "speculative biology" text (for those who don't read enough sci-fi: yes, that is an actual sci-fi subgenre) that, conceptually, *does* look rather silly today (the similarly-themed Specworld pretty much owns it). But the illustrations are very nice and it's one of the books that got me interested in science fiction illustration back in Middle School.
That said, I haven't read it in a while. As I recall, the Lank is the second most anatomically improbable animal in the book. Your challenge now is to guess what extinct group of animals the Lank is descended from.
I'll give you a hint: look closely at her forelimbs.
Had kind of an interesting visit to the Harvard Museum of Natural History the other day. I went with my cousin, who is an architect. We wound up seeing the entire museum. I never realised the Peabody museum was so huge. MCZ has a very nice temporary exhibit about color in nature, and the glass sea creatures are still on display for another month (I think). Even though we had a whirlwind tour, I was able to do a few quick sketches.
About the only disappointment was this: the second floor of the hall of birds and mammals was closed. No bird studies for me.
