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Osmatar — Starstruck: Ypotryll, the American camel

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Published: 2022-01-22 15:18:26 +0000 UTC; Views: 14211; Favourites: 131; Downloads: 0
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Description The Ypotryll is the only surviving camelid in the North American continent of Starstruck. While in European heraldry the ypotryll is usually represented as a strange hybrid beast with a boar's head, a two-humped camel's body and a snake's tail, its real life counterpart is nowhere near as outlandish. Its single hump on top of the withers, a moose-like trunked muzzle, hairless tail tip and enormous tusks that poke out past the lips in adult males nonetheless make it instantly recognizable. In the southern USA, where the animal is currently most common thanks to conservation efforts, it is known as the native camel or the American camel, and the name ypotryll is practically unknown. In the 18th and 19th century it was also sometimes referred to an ass-camel when it was used as a beast of burden.

While more closely related to Eurasian camels than South American camelids, the ypotryll is separated from them by about 6-7 million years of evolution. It is thought to have evolved from the North American Paracamelus that also gave rise to Eurasian camels, though genetic evidence also shows signs of hybridization with a different cameline lineage, possibly Camelops.

Ypotrylls were originally found in all of the North American deserts from the Great Basin to the Chihuahuan desert, but their numbers greatly diminished due to European influence, leading to local extinctions and separation of the current North American population from the two extant Mexican ones. Genetic studies show that the entire species had once dwindled to less than 100 individuals following the end of the Ice Age before bouncing back. There is historical and archeological evidence of at least two Native American cultures using ypotrylls as beasts of burden before European contact, though by the late 17th century all of the original domestic forms had gone extinct. However in a recent study all modern ypotryll populations have been shown to be hybrids of wild and domestic animals.

3D sculpt created in Sculptris and painted and rendered in ZBrush
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sinchuelmagnifico [2022-01-31 15:32:23 +0000 UTC]

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