Extinción - Blog Posts

The last member of the Giraffe family and to my eyes the most beautiful! I must say that when I saw it at the zoo the first time, it didn't strike me as much as now when I draw it. Is clearly the head of a giraffe in the body of a prehistoric animal adorned with the stripes of a zebra running down its legs. If you think of it, is like coming from a fantasy book. Okapi It is a living fossil and contrary to its closest relative, the giraffe, which is mostly found in the savannas, the okapis live in the dense forests of the Congo. It is very elusive and timid making it a really hard specimen to study in the wild. Therefore little is known about it. The poster of the Giraffidae family is coming soon! ___________________________________ Photo Credits: Magda Ehlers ___________________________________

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Working on this one was a real challenge. There are just a few blurry photographs of this animal before its extinction in the 50s, so I had to recreate its features based on written descriptions and the Sumatran Tiger photographs which are its closest relative. I believe I did a great job and I can proudly say this is one of the best illustrations of the Bali Tiger you can find.

Bali Tiger This animal owes its extinction exclusively to humans. It was exterminated in order to make the land habitable for humans in the 1940s. Finally in the 1950s was declared extinct. This tiger form belongs to the second subspecies of tiger (sondaica, the one that lives in islands), along with the Javan Tiger which is also extinct, and the Sumatran Tiger, the only survivor. There is some hope that this animal might still survive in Bali because there are a lot of unexplored lands that haven't been studied. However, is already 70 years since its last sight. It is upsetting that an animal was brought to extinction on purpose. And a loved one. What concerns me the most is that if this can happen to an animal that we all love and care about, imagine those that we don't know or we don't care much about.

I care about animals and I want to do something to protect them. And I think of this project as a way to help. If we know the animals we share the world with more, we are more likely to feel about them and protect them. You can help too by sharing this project.

___________________________________ Credits: Bali Tiger __________________________________ Behind the scenes Store

This is the last of the Lowland Tapir subspecies. It was a real joy to draw this animal, and I love the result. I actually animate this animal. If you want to see it moving, check out my Instagram by clicking here

Tapirus terrestris terrestris

Tapirs are like living fossils. They haven't changed much in years because they are well-adapted to this world. That was until we came into the picture. We, humans, move in this world at a pace that is hard to follow for many animals, and Tapirs are one of them. Their habits are just the opposite. Its reproduction is slow, making it very hard for them to recover once is decimated in some areas. They wander vast distances which means they need space and we are not providing that to them. Kill roads, fragmentation of the environment, crops in jungles, etc.

I think we need to understand that we are at the top of this world. Whatever we do is going to have repercussions on everything that surrounds us. We decide where the world is going and how it does it. That means also, that we are responsible for all living beings. Now is not like before, when animals extinguish because they couldn't adapt to the environment. Now they extinguish basically because they couldn't adapt to us. We will be gone at some point, so What are we going to leave? _______________________________________ Credits: Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Book 2. Lynx Editions. Lowland Tapir Photo Credits: vladimircech _______________________________________ Thank you, guys. Likes reblog, and follows are very much appreciated. Please spread the word. And check out my store, new items with a very different style of illustration.

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Western Sumatran Rhinoceros

The first time I knew about the existence of this animal, I was 9 years old. It wasn't a photograph but an illustration and I was completely astonished that an animal that resembles prehistoric times was still among us. I finally saw a photograph when I was about 15. There wasn't any internet at that time so access to things was entirely through books. One of my wishes in life is to see one of these ones in person but knowing its precarious situation, the hope to see one fades a little every day. The Western Sumatran Rhinoceros is the most numerous of all the three subspecies with no more than 80 individuals. This subspecies was the last one to inhabit a zoo. The Cincinnati Zoo. The animal left the zoo in 2015 to return to Indonesia in order to start a reproduction program that has brought some success but nothing significant.

However, one female calf was born this year (2022), which brings some hope to the preservation of the species. ___________________________________________ References: Sumatran_rhinoceros Photo Credit: David Ellis.

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