HOME | DD
NashD1 β Terror Bird Besties Sepia
by-nc-nd
#phorusrhacid #andalgalornis #terrorbirds
Published: 2015-09-04 05:44:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 1052; Favourites: 18; Downloads: 2
Redirect to original
Description
Andalgalaornis steulleti from my new post outlining a radical new and alarming feeding method highlighting their devout apex predatory status congruence with both Mesozoic ziphodont theropods and modern carcass rendering birds. Terror Birds Cometh: A New Theory Unlocking Phorusrhacid Feeding Dynamics and EcologyRelated content
Comments: 7
One of your most evocative drawings I've seen so far. This phorusrhacid is a fucking skeksis.
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks had to remind myself what a skeksis is lol. I saw that movie in the movie theatres when I was like 4 or something. It could have left an imprint on my brain.
π: 0 β©: 1
And I haven't even seen it at all - I just once had to google the term once it was brought up in a discussion.
I found this drawing really intriguing from a more conceptual view. Anatomically competent paleoart very rarely tries to depict its subjects - at least not tetrapods, as few phobias relate to its subclades - as scary or terrifying. I've actually seen someone - alas, I've forgotten the artist's name - apply such an approach to dromaeosaurids, and just a few days ago, I began sketching Achillobator as a big, bad, gnarly, frightening killer ground bird. In hindsight, it feels strange never to have thought about it. Maybe because, as we're busy trying to aim for "realism" as well as informed speculation, we have begun associating this with exploitation flicks or "raptorz r awesum" dudebro types.
I really like the way you combined a terrifying appearance with solid anatomical data and informed speculation, and it'd be actually very cool to see more of it - even if it might not have been your initial thought when you drew it. Everything works great: the choanal papillae and huge serrated tongue you inferred look very alien to our eyes - extant birds simply don't look like that. This "weirdness" factor does a stunning job here. It's probably the first piece of paleoart for a very long time that actually made me think.
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks. Well a ground hornbill probably seems big, gnarly, and alien to the small critters it destroys. Eventually I want to make a Dakotaraptor drawing completely opposite from what 99% of people are rendering aka the "ground hawk" motif.
π: 0 β©: 0
Again a really interesting post. I never knew that serrated tongues and papillae could be so dangerous and effective. Its probably because they're so small and easy overlooked by some one who doesn't know much about it that I never thought about it.Β
About your drawing: the tongue looks very oversized to me. Could it really be this big or are there other nowaday's birds that have such a large tongue?
π: 0 β©: 1
The bird is jutting it's tongue out a bit. Normally I imagine it would be nestled in the lower jaw. On the post you can see a gif of an andean condor moving its tongue back and forth like this as it prepares to feed. Almost like a Hannibal Lecter kind alook, Β just the stimuli of a potential feed gets the bird ratcheting its tongue back and forth.
π: 0 β©: 1