Re: Permian Park (S. Spielberg)

[Pieter.Depuydt@rug.ac.be]

>         [BTW in all the posts about dino art the sculptors and model
>         makers
> seem to dominate. Little mention of painters like Hallett & Doug
> Henderson, who IMHO are the Carl Brenders and Robert Bateman of the
> Mesozoic. I don't know if anyone on this list is into wildlife art
> of the holocene, but trust me this is a GOOD thing.]

I am very glad with the extreme wealth of dinosaur art nowadays by 
very talented artists, some of which are on this list (I mean what I 
say).
But what I'd like to see more is therapsid artwork, there's 
relatively very little of it. Of course, in the mentioned 'Dinosaurs, 
a global view' there is some beautiful paintwork by Mike Hallett, 
Doug Henderson and John Sibbick, and I know a marvellous Karoo scene 
by Gregory Paul, but there it ends AFAIK.
Of course, therapsids have not the appeal of dinosaurs, they haven't 
their face with, they are more primitive tetrapods after all...

>         One thing that got me going on this cynodont thing was last weekend
> I was browsing my local Barnes & Noble when I ran into a book called "Dino-
> saurs: A Global View" - big coffee table thing; if its still there this week
> I'll probably buy it. In one of the early chapters is a painting by Mark 
> Hallett of a trio of hairy, tiger striped Cynognathus tearing into the carcass
> of another therapsid with the "naked, glandular skin" described in one of
> Pieter's earlier posts.

Yes, this is an impressive painting. The beaten therapsid on the 
foreground is Kannemeyeria, a huge dicynodont of middle Triassic 
times (just by the way, we do know nothing about dicynodont skin, but 
I would set my pennies on a nude, more or less leathery skin).

>         The cynogs lack the elegant ferocity of Velociraptor or the visceral
> awe and terror of Tyranosaurus, in fact they are kind of squat and ugly. In 
> spite of the furry covering, they look, well, reptilian. In spite of this, or
> maybe because of it, they are far creepier than any dinosaur. Maybe its the 
> combination of the familiar and the primitavely alien.

I could not have said it better myself. Looking at therapsids gives a 
sense of alienation, and hence perhaps slight horror but more 
fascination. They are animals that look at first glance quite 
familiar, doglike or piglike or hippopotamuslike, but at second looks 
they're not like anything we know.
 
>         It got me to thinking - the Permian would be a great place to visit
> at Halloween. The whole period is like that. If the Jurassic has the feel of
> an old Tarzan movie and the Cretaceous is like the wild west, then the terres-
> rial vertebrate fauna of the Permian is like something created by Stephen
> King. Pieter Depuydt's description of therapsid skin as smooth,
> hairless,with many glands only adds to this image. 
>         I guess in my dreams the Villafranchian is home, the Jurassic and 
> Cretaceous are places of adventure, and the Permian is where I meet my
> nightmare ancestors. 

And since we have already had some postings about monster movies on 
this list, what about a real 'Permian Park', Mr Spielberg?
Featuring: the mighty, horrible Anteosaurus, a malignant, merciless 
bunch of gorgonopsians, a sick Moschops, and a venomous 
Euchambersia. Boy this would be creepy.    
And no tropical paradise as scenery, but a monotonous floodplain landscape 
covered with Glossopteris seedferns and vast stretches of Schizoneura 
horsetails...

Pieter Depuydt