Out Of All The Animals I've Studied And Illustrated, Dolphins Have Left The Strongest Impression On Me.

Now we are moving to a small but vey charismatic family: The hippos. I think this is an animals that is loved by the majority. Looking at its massive size combined with its features is understandable why. 

However don’t get mistaken. This animal is a fierce and the one to blame for the most fatalities in Africa. it is a very territorial animal that won’t hesitate to charge if threatened or feeling its territory invaded. The biggest problem with humans happens usually at nights, when the animal leaves the rivers to graze moving various kilometers away from river basins, encountering unaware humans. Running it’s the only option but not a sure escape since despite its weight, hippos can reach up to 50km/h. 

Hippos depends on rivers because it’s skin, which is actually pink, cannot resist the sunlight and will dry fast. And despite living its majority of time in water, they are unable to swim. 

5 subspecies have been named but just three are recognized nowadays and they are still subjected to changes. 

Male hippos fights are barbaric and they mostly happen to get the best spot in the river which will attract the most females. Once a male is dethrone, the new king won’t hesitate on killing the offspring of the old king in order to began leaving its own genes. 

Hippos in Colombia? Unfortunately, yes. Not because I don’t like them (I’m Colombian) but because they have become a threat to other endemic species of the country. Hippos were brought to Colombia illegally by narco’s most famous Pablo Escobar and were put in its private zoo. When he was killed, the zoo closed but the hippos and some other animals were left in the area. While some animals died, the hippos however, flourished. Today, they occupied a vast area of the country and they begin to clash with other animals such as the inoffensive manatees. 

While they yet don’t represent a threat to humans (some attacks have been registered) because they are not as territorial as in Africa. (It is believe because they have a larger area to develop) if the quantity keeps growing, they will become as dangerous as in Africa. For now, people greeted in towns because of its natural charm and can become touristic attraction. There are some possible solutions to this issue. One will be to sterilize all males, which is kind of unthinkable because of how expensive this could be. Other will be to send them to various zoos around the world, which is still not enough and  the last one will be to kill them all. I have an opinion about it but I would love to hear yours.

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New design, Better Illustrations! I was thinking for a while in a way to improve the layout of this blog and I feel that this way is much better. I think the layout should highlight the drawings so I decided to remove many other elements that somehow stole its attention. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Thanks again for your support, likes, reblog and follows, means a lot. If you like this content it will help me a lot if you follow my Tumblr or if you share it. Also, every comment is very welcome. I am not an expert in the topic so if you have something to add, or something you thinks is incorrect, I will be more than happy to discuss it with you. Thank you! 

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The last list of wild boar subspecies. As I mentioned in previous post, this is a large subspecies with 16 validated. Although, there are some debates since some other studies recognise up to 32 subspecies.

Ussuri boar, Korean Boar, Amur Boar, Manchurian Boar It is the largest subspecies of all. Can be found in Eastern China, Ussuri and Amur bay.

Formosan Wild boar, Taiwan Wild Boar When winter comes the Formosan wild boar migrates into lower elevetaion areas. They don’t posses sweat glands therefore roll themselves into muddy wetlands to keep them cool and get rid of parasites. It’s population remain stable.

Trans-Baikal boar, Siberian Wild Boar Can be found in the Lake Baikal region, Transbaikalia, northern and northeastern Mongolia.

Ryukyu boar Can be found in the Ryukyu Islands, in Japan.

Northern Chinese boar, Chinese boar It’s have been found significant variations within this subspecies, which make possible that there are actually four subspecies involved: 

- North Vietnamese wild pigs are raised in Ba Vi , Hanoi - Phu Yen boar is raised at the rare animal farm in Hoa Khanh and Khanh Hoa - Cat Tien  boars are raised on farms in Can Giuoc , Long An and Dong Nai - Binh Phuoc wild boar in the Southeast region

Banded Pig, Indonesian Wild Boar It is the most basal subspecies having the smallest relative brain size, more primitive dentition, and unspecialised cranial structure.Recently, in the context of the taxonomic revision of the Sus scrofa species , some scholars have questioned its alleged close relationship with the wild boar, to the point of considering its classification as a separate species within the genus Sus ( Sus vittatus ) more correct.

Japanese Boar, White-moustached Pig, Inoshishi, Yama Kujira In Japanese culture it is widely seen as a fearsome and reckless animal. Several words in Japanese referring to recklessness include references to boars. Among hunters in Japan, the boar is a source of admiration, and rural people commonly name their sons after the animal.

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Southern Black Rhinoceros It's a subspecies of the Black Rhino that is extinct by 1850. This was due to excessive hunting. Inhabited the south of Africa and according to some skulls and some other remains of the animal, this subspecies is supposed to be the largest.

Incredibly, there was not a single photograph of the animal. Some scientists believed that this subspecies is not extinct and is considered a population that exists in the North of Namibia. New design. What do you think?

References: Southern Black Rhino Photo Reference: William Fortescue ________________________

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The poster of the Camelidae family. What I like from this work is that I can see the improvement of my illustration. From the time that I began to now, I have put more attention to detail an accuracy keeping in mind that subspecies differences are often very small. I love what I am doing and I love to share it with all of you.

If you want to have this nice piece hanging in your wall, just follow the link below. They come in different sizes, prices and mediums. It will help me a lot. Also a like would be nice. Thank you all for your support. PD. On my instagram I will post the animals but as well part of the illustration process.

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East African Hippopotamus

I appreciate this illustration because it was the second one I did in a hyperrealistic way a few years back. It was essential because it set the tone of the illustrations I wanted to make for this project. I am happy to revisit and work on the information sheet about this charismatic subspecies.

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Now is the turn of the Equidae Family. Not a huge fan of this family but I most say that it was very interesting to study them. Some of the members of this family are sadly extinct, while many others are on the brink of extinction. This animal has a beauty that is hard to express with words. I guess that is why appear in so many paintings through history.

Feral Horse: The feral horse is a free animal that was once domesticated. Somehow, escaped and become feral. The most famous ones might be the mustangs in North America. However the biggest population is found in Australia with more that 400.000 individuals. In Australia they are called Brumby. They can be found mostly everywhere and it’s name change depending on where is found and what type of breed used to be. Life always will find its way to survive.

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A new addition to the club is the newly recognized species, the Australian Snubfin Dolphin. Check out the infographic on my Instagram here:

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This is a family I wanted to do for a long time but for many reasons I just never started. It is not easy to find a good image for reference of marine mammals because the photographs underwater aren't that sharp and also because the majority of the images never show the full body of the animal. Nonetheless, I have to use more than one picture to complete the whole animal, which is fun. Let's begin with a very beloved family that I'm sure we will be surprised by how little we might know about them.

Commerson's Dolphin

Is one of the smallest members of the Delphinidae family with no more than 1.5m lengths. It has a very striking and particular color pattern. The genus has two subspecies. The one in the illustration, C. c .commersonii, can be found on the coasts of South Argentina. The C. c .kerguelensis, is found in the Indian Ocean.

it has been displayed in a few aquariums and this subspecies used to be killed and used as bait to catch crabs in Chile and Argentina. This method however is nowadays been curtailed.

___________________________________________________ Credits: Commerson's Dolphin Ballenas, delfines y marsopas. Guía visual de todos los cetáceos del mundo. Mark Carwardine

Photo Reference: Doug Perrine

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Fraser's Dolphin Lagenodelphis hosei Family: Delphinidae Genus: Lagenodelphis Status and Conservation: Least Concern This dolphin species was first identified in 1895 when a skull was discovered on a Borneo beach. The skull was later donated to the British Museum, where Scottish zoologist Francis Fraser determined that...

Join the club here. ____________________________________ Very nice dolphin to draw as all dolphins. I am enjoying working on the cetacea order. There are many animals here that are new to me. How about you? See you next week with more animals!

Vietnam warty pig, Heude’s pig, Indochinese warty pig

This pig was described from two skulls collected in southern Vietnam in 1892, near to Ho Chi Minh City. Another specimen (an incomplete but apparently fresh skull of a juvenile male) has been reported from Ban Ni Giang in the Annamite Mountains.

Despite studies being done in the last century is still unclear if this was a new different species, a subspecies of the Wild boars from Indochina or even the same animal. This is just a reminder of how much is needed to be known about species in order to classified them correctly and see if somehow, we are able to understand them better.

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