Tim Morris' Art and Project Blog

  Dracontology part 2 – The illumination of Dragon habits   Dragon-flight – An enduring anatomical mystery…solved   Anatomists and folklorists have puzzled over the skeleton and wings of the flying varieties of dragon. From comparing body-weight and wing surface, flight seemed improbable, and yet this is what they were often observed doing.   One feature that surely helps them fly is most kinds of flying dragon have a system of air-sacks and hollows within their bones and next to some organs, working much like those of a bird. These make the animal much lighter for its size, and because they are connected to the lungs and airways, make respiration much more efficient. In this way, they have a physique for flying, very much so.   But the problem remains; the largest noble dragons that can fly reach up to 1.5 tons, and have a wingspan of only 15-17 meters at most. This ratio of weight to wing-surface should be insufficient for flight, even with the...

 Here are the birds, Synapsids and mammals of this odd, seeded world. This is the final entry in this series, I am proud of these concepts, despite the failure of the overall project. - A beaver-like descendant of Kayentatherium, that clambers amongst kelp forests, feeding on the ever-present kelp. A giant, manatee-like descendant of Kayentatherium, which propels itself underwater with a laterally undulating tail. A seal-like descendant of Castorocauda. A sea-lion-like descendant of Castorocauda. A large platypus, that probes the sea-bed in search of worms and other small invertebrates. A streamlined, dugong-like descendant of Thalassocnus, which feeds on sea-grass in temperate waters. A giant, long-necked descendant of Thalassocnus, which swims using its broad flipper-like limbs. A pony-sized carnivorous Whippomorph, which scavenges and forages along coastlines, as well as in shallow near shore waters. A seal-shaped, limb-propelled Archaeocete swimmer. A giant, walrus-like descend...

 Here are the Amphibians and Reptiles, to use antiquated words, of this seeded planet. - A fair-sized, dolphin-like Trematosaur. A Trematosaur that uses its mechanoreceptor-lined snout to forage for prey on the sea-bed. A child-sized saltwater frog that lacks lungs and lives entirely on the seabed in shallow water, a lethargic ambush-predator. A large, streamlined leatherback-turtle, that can swim very fast by turtle standards. An eel-shaped, large descendant of Lialis lizards, which feeds mainly on eels and other elongated fish, in coral reefs. A giant, short-bodied Madstoiid snake that drifts passively in the open ocean, casting a shadow to attract fish and other prey. A mid-sized mosasaur that feeds by dredging the sea-bed, like a gray whale. A large open-water Thalattosaur, with a swordfish-like nose. An enormous, filter-feeding Hupehsuchian that takes the niche of baleen whales. A small Proterochampsian, that lives in coastal waters, swimming with its frog-like hindfeet. ...

 In this next part, I will show you the fishes, for want of a better term, of this seeded ill-concieved world. - A small lamprey, that chews with its mouth-disc and tongue, to burrow into the hide of large marine vertebrates, in order to feed. It eventually forms and lives inside a gall-like growth that develops on and under the skin. A giant, streamlined pelagic lamprey, whose mouth is adapted to prey upon small fish and squid. A 3-inch-long pelagic Conodont, that shoals in large swarms, filtering plankton as food with its array of spiny teeth. A large, short-bodied horn-shark, with large cranial horns made of dentine. A large, deep-sea shark that looks vaguely like a plesiosaur, due to its extended gill region. An eyeless, abyssal relative of the hammerhead sharks, that locates prey using its hypersensitive array of mechano-, electro- and chemoreceptors. A 10-meter-long deep sea shark, related to dogfish, that feeds entirely on marine invertebrates. A small wobbegong that mimics ...