Steller’s Sea Cow
This Steller’s Sea Cow reconstruction was the result of a model created for the Skin & Bones mobile project – where the model augments a 5m (13 ft) long skeleton – inserted onto the marine environment of the extinct animal. Steller’s Sea Cows (Hydrodamalis gigas) disappeared from overhunting only 27 years after European populations first encountered them in 1741, and there are no visual records, only written descriptions, of what they looked like. This reconstruction was based on the descriptions, on the appearance of closely related living species and in consultation with a specialist on the anatomy of this animal group.
The illustration featured at the Brazilian Science Illustration Meeting in Florianópolis (Brazil), at the Anatomy of an Illustration exhibition; and at the Beautiful Maryland exhibition.
Fossil turtle reconstruction of the species Ummulisani rutgersensis and line diagram of all views of the skull of Dirqadim schaefferi. These illustrations were included in the publication: Gaffney, E., Tong, H. & Meylan, P., “Evolution of the side-necked turtles: the families Bothremydidae, Euraxemydidae and Araripemydidae”, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, number 300, NY, 2006
Media: graphite on paper, digital
Client: American Museum of Natural History – Division of Paleontology