[followthebluebell]

i’m spending today thinking about how saber toothed cats ALSO probably had a potato form.  how they also had a stage where they were fat little babies with very triangle tails and tiny squeaky voices.  how they also probably play wrestled and failed badly at calculating jumps.

i’m going to fistfight god for killing them off before i could personally see fat potato saber kittens

[the-art-cave]

Like this?

[the-lions-art-cave]

cold spring morning

[fangtalksdragons]

In a monumental discovery for paleontology and the first of its kind "Mummy of a juvenile sabre-toothed cat Homotherium latidens from the Upper Pleistocene of Siberia"

Abstract The frozen mummy of the large felid cub was found in the Upper Pleistocene permafrost on the Badyarikha River (Indigirka River basin) in the northeast of Yakutia, Russia. The study of the specimen appearance showed its significant differences from a modern lion cub of similar age (three weeks) in the unusual shape of the muzzle with a large mouth opening and small ears, the very massive neck region, the elongated forelimbs, and the dark coat color. Tomographic analysis of the mummy skull revealed the features characteristic of Machairodontinae and of the genus Homotherium. For the first time in the history of paleontology, the appearance of an extinct mammal that has no analogues in the modern fauna has been studied. For more read here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-79546-1

[velvetw0rmz]

Homotherium cub based on the incredible newly discovered mummy!

[the-art-cave]

😔💔

[badtutmind-deactivated20230806]

Reblog if you want Asks/Messages from your followers in your inbox

[kitab00m101]

Why not :) I love chatting with yall

[the-art-cave]

I have a theory that the majority of popular dragon designs nowadays are based off of the general shape and flow of an ungulate. Or more specifically, a horse.

[the-art-cave]

I mapped out the basic flow of a horse's head shape, and then applied it to a random set of popular dragon designs in media and it matches up pretty much the same, just with the proportions changed.

Sorry if I sound like a nerd but I think about this every now and then and it annoys me that no one else sees it 😭

[maxximonstre]

may I remind you of @iguanamouth's great dragon slider

[the-art-cave]

You know I was actually thinking about that! It was the closest I had ever seen someone come to the same realization. I just didn't know where to find it 😭

[the-art-cave]

I have a theory that the majority of popular dragon designs nowadays are based off of the general shape and flow of an ungulate. Or more specifically, a horse.

[the-art-cave]

I mapped out the basic flow of a horse's head shape, and then applied it to a random set of popular dragon designs in media and it matches up pretty much the same, just with the proportions changed.

Sorry if I sound like a nerd but I think about this every now and then and it annoys me that no one else sees it 😭

[the-art-cave]

Holy. Shit.

[followthebluebell]

i’m spending today thinking about how saber toothed cats ALSO probably had a potato form.  how they also had a stage where they were fat little babies with very triangle tails and tiny squeaky voices.  how they also probably play wrestled and failed badly at calculating jumps.

i’m going to fistfight god for killing them off before i could personally see fat potato saber kittens

[the-art-cave]

Like this?

[the-art-cave]

UPDATE: We finally got the see the potatoes

[the-art-cave]

I have a theory that the majority of popular dragon designs nowadays are based off of the general shape and flow of an ungulate. Or more specifically, a horse.

[the-art-cave]

I mapped out the basic flow of a horse's head shape, and then applied it to a random set of popular dragon designs in media and it matches up pretty much the same, just with the proportions changed.

Sorry if I sound like a nerd but I think about this every now and then and it annoys me that no one else sees it 😭

[the-art-cave]

I have a theory that the majority of popular dragon designs nowadays are based off of the general shape and flow of an ungulate. Or more specifically, a horse.

[shadyufo]

Is it true that the larger the ridge on the back of an animal's skull, the stronger the jaws?

Typically, yes. The temporalis muscle, one of the main muscles responsible for chewing, attaches to the sides of the skull. The bigger that muscle is, the more space it needs to attach and a large sagittal crest is a good indicator of an animal with exceptional mastication muscles. But there are other factors to consider when trying to determine the strength of an animal’s bite.

Animals like opossums

and fishers

have especially large sagittal crests and very strong jaws to go with them but they don’t necessarily have a bite force that translates to being the strongest for their size in the animal kingdom. I read one study recently that said that fishers have a very similar bite force to that of red foxes and lynx, even with that enormous crest.

Gorillas, hippos, hyenas, and bears have some of the strongest jaws for mammals and I believe salt water crocodiles have the most powerful of all. But look at hyena and bear 

skulls. They do have noticeable sagittal crests (kodiak, polar, and grizzly bears even more so than this black bear) but they also have large, strong teeth, thick zygomatic arches which are also where jaw muscles attach, an overall very dense bone structure, and massive neck muscles. All of that adds up to a devastating, bone-crushing bite. 

What I like most about sagittal crests is how helpful they can be in identifying the sex of an animal. Male fishers like the one above can get huge crests, as do male sea lions, male gorillas, and males of many other species. Generally, the males of most species are larger and stronger than the females. Their bodies produce testosterone, a hormone that encourages the growth of larger muscles and with those larger muscles, like the temporalis, they’ll need bigger bone structures, like sagittal crests, to support them. How else are they gonna show off how fit and fiiine they are for the ladies (and the competition!)? 

Below are a couple of examples.

Female raccoons (and subadult males but you can usually tell age by bone sutures) have smooth craniums while males typically have small sagittal crests. The fellow on the right here has one of the largest crests I’ve come across on a raccoon. 

You can tell the gender of canid skulls similarly. Females can have smooth craniums but often they do have a fairly well-developed sagittal crest (dogs have very strong jaws) but it is never quite as pronounced as it is on male animals. 

Here’s a pair of very large domestic dog skulls. The top I know for certain is from a male Rottweiler but the lower one’s history is unknown. But, based on the shape of the skull (not as wide through the eyes, smaller sagittal crest), I would bet that it came from a female dog. 

These two skulls came from a male and female Carolina Dog. A friend of mine used to raise them and after these two passed he was kind enough to let me have their skulls.  

These skulls are very similar in appearance but again, pay attention to the shape of the skulls. The female has a slightly smaller sagittal crest than the male and the male’s skull is wider and more robust in appearance. 

Sexual dimorphism is apparent in the skull shape of many other species as well. The size of a sagittal crest is definitely one of the biggest giveaways on lots of carnivores and many omnivores. Not so much with herbivores but they often have handy-dandy tells like antlers and horns. 

So there you go, Anon. Way more information than I’m sure you wanted, but hopefully it was helpful! Thanks for the ask! 

[the-art-cave]

I was just feeling absolutely devastated about a month ago and couldn't do anything with myself because distractions wouldn't work, so I tried to draw the specific feeling I was experiencing at the time. It isn't even meant to be good or well thought out, it was just a "draw-whatever-I-can" sort of situation and this was the product. That is all

[staceythinx]

Diving swans captured by Viktor Lyagushkin 

[scurviesdisneyblog]

Art tutorials by Disney artists Griz and Norm Lemay

[the-art-cave]

I don't enjoy being a June baby anymore ☹

[the-art-cave]

Reblogging again for my 20th birthday because not even 1 hour into June 1st and people are already fighting on every platform 😁 BUT I'm a-okay because I actually got to kiss a girl for the first day of pride month. So it balances it out

[k-eke]

Little Gummygoo version 🐊💚💛

[volley-ball-101]

I remember the day I first heard of GummyGoo I had just finished skinning and dismembering a juvenile gator. I like gators, so I was real sad, but then I saw GummyGoo on twitter and was like "Oh boy a gator character! I should watch the new episode so I can see a living gator instead of a dead one, this can heal my soul."

My soul did not heal.