I Heart the MCZ Week (day 3): Skeletons

My great appreciation for anatomy starts from the inside out - under all that hide, scale, or fur; bearing ounces, pounds, or tonnes of flesh; and protecting vital organs and precious brains - the supporting architecture for all vertebrates is the magnificent skeleton. As an animal artist, I can't epress how useful it is to understand these structures in order to accurately render a creature: every pose starts with a mapping of anatomy, and a knowledge of bones and articulation provides critical insight into limbs that may be obscured, or in motion. Plus, bones are simply some of the most breathtakingly beautiful forms in the natural world, exhibiting the most fascinatingly graceful strength and efficiency. My eyes happily glaze over staring at taxidermy... skeletons, on the other hand, require intense and limitless investigation. After a wander this morning through the paleontology rooms, I did find myself back in the great mammal hall, though my subject was not - as promised - an ungulate. Today I found a much more curious muse - the skeleton of a Giant Anteater...


*And if you're wondering - the middle right photo in the block of images above is of Right Whale baleen!! Craaaazy amazing stuff, the edges of which more closely resemble splinters than soft "hair". Also known as whalebone, this strong but flexible keratin-based material was used for centuries where we might use plastics today: hoop skirt supports, corset stays, bone folders, ladel handles, and the like. I personally think it looks much better inside the mouth of a whale, where a row of between 130 and 360 plates descends from the upper gumline on each side of the mouth, creating a sieve-like mat used to filter krill from ginormous mouthfulls of seawater... cetaceans are just cool like that.