No issues with paleoartists depicting sick animals, but when you've got an entire environment populated by them, it sure looks like a Mesozoic plague is happening!
Update:
Christoph was kind enough to point me to some photos of healthy crocodiles from the same Philippine farm. These are Mindoro, or Philippine Crocodiles, and Christoph notes that our poor, sick, friend above may be the same.
Photo by Roberto Verzo, via Flickr.
Quite a dramatic difference, and a powerful example of how far we've come in allowing our prehistoric subjects to bear the muscle, flesh, and fat they would have surely had.
Is that poor creature really still alive?
ReplyDeleteHe says that at the time of the photo, it was alive, in isolation so as not to infect the other crocodiles.
DeleteOh, my. Poor creature indeed.
ReplyDeleteCrikey.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for the croc, but this is (as you say) an excellent photo to show 'shrink wrapping in reality'. Worth comparing with a healthy saltwater crocodile, especially areas like the neck.
ReplyDeleteAh, I should have included a comparison photo. Will edit when I get a few minutes.
DeleteThe poor thing should be euthanized. It is below our human dignity to allow an animal in our care to suffer so.
ReplyDeleteShrink wrapping method is same for all products irrespective of size and brittleness. The process is so simple that it can be easily done in DIY (do it yourself) procedure. Some artists do shrink wrapping to protect their paintings from dust and also to give it a professional look.
ReplyDeleteShrink-wrapping, in this case, refers to the practice of drawing dinosaurs with what seems to be only skin and essential muscles over the bones.
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