For the past two years, I've been illustrating every mammal on our planet. I've completed over 200 animals and now plan to create a book. In the book, I researched interesting facts about each animal, (Where they live, conservation status, evolutive paths, curiosities, etc).
To fund this project, I've established a monthly club offering various ways for people to support my work. One option is receiving monthly book updates in PDF format. This month's feature, for example, is the White Rhinoceros, and the book uniquely covers its subspecies, setting it apart from others.
There are more things than the book updates (There are actually a lot of things). If you feel that this speaks to you check out the club options by clicking here
Giving a like and sharing this post is also very helpful. Thanks all for the attention and see you soon.
Western Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis longipes)
(Photo from Save the Rhino International)
Extinction Date- 2011
Habitat- Western and central Africa
Size (Weight/Length)- 1,400 kg; 3.75 m
Diet- Leaves; Branches; Shrubs; Grasses
Cool Facts- The western black rhinoceros was specially adapted to the dry shrubland of western Africa. Their upper lip was prehensile and allowed for careful manipulation of thorny bushes to eat the leaves. Their dark skin was highly susceptible for sunburn, often resulting in mud stained rhinos. Protection was originally strong for the western black rhinoceros, leading to an increased population in the 1930s. As these protections loosened, poachers killed the rhinos in their thousands for their horns that were, and still are, falsely believed to have medicinal purposes. By 2000, only 10 rhinos survived and the last one was spotted in 2006. Today, African rhinos are the second most poached animal in the world. National parks with armed guards are working to protect the remaining black and white rhinoceros that still roam savannahs today.
Rating- 13/10 (Their horns could measure 1.5 meters long.)
White rhino! The second largest land animal after the elephant, at up to 5000lbs! White and black rhinos are both grey-ish, but can be distinguished by their lips - white rhinos have a squarish upper lip while black rhinos have a distinctively pointed upper lip.
[ID: an illustration of a rhine facing left, with its head dipped low. It is on a simple grassland background with mountains in the background. End.]
White rhino calves tend to move ahead of mom so she can keep a blurry eye on them (vision is relatively poor) and deliver that horn to a theat if needed. White rhinos have a reputation for belligerence, but they will avoid humans at virtually any cost and escape unless they are cornered.
Aaand done! This one was a bit trickier, but fun. I learned many a thing about making materials in Blender, and that my graphics card (GTX 960M) is not to be trusted. Maybe back to drawing for a while though, I'm pretty tired from all this lol
I've been creating all these animal illustrations for my upcoming book centered around the fascinating world of mammals. I've launched an exclusive club that offers three different membership tiers, each with awesome rewards.
Click here to see more.
Thank you, guys! Love you all and have a nice week. More animals to come soon.
Northern White Rhinoceros
Only two of these animals remain. The last male, named Sudan, passed away in 2018 due to age-related complications. With Sudan's death, this species is functionally extinct and now relies on various assisted reproductive techniques facilitated by humans.