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Inktober 2017 - 29
Inktober 2017 - 31
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Interlude.

The Earwing, Otopteryx volitans, is one of a number of now-extinct mammals native to the Hy-yi-yi Archipelago in the Pacific.  Isolated since the Late Cretaceous, the Hi-yi-yi Islands developed a number of endemic mammals that evolved very strange noses.  Of these "Snouters", the Rhinogrades were amongst the oddest.  Many species had evolved their noses into one or more "legs", their traditional hind legs often atrophying and their forelegs turning to grooming and grasping instead of locomotion.

One of these strange creatures was the earwing, a Snouter capable of limited flight using its ears once it had launched itself into the air with its nose.  Their fur was very colorful, coming in a variety of colors.  Because they tend to jump and fly hindquarters first, this one is fleeing away from the viewer.

Alas, the Hi-yi-yi Islands sank beneath the waves thanks to distant nuclear testing, accidentally wiping out this weird branch of the mammal family tree.

Art © 10/2017 Marvin E. Fuller
Snouters — Gerolf Steiner

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Type: Picture/Pinup
Published: 6 years, 5 months ago
Rating: General

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EmmetEarwax
6 years, 5 months ago
Rhinogradentia - 4 suborders
1 - one nose. Limbs normal.
2 - 4 noses
3 - 6 noses
4 - 38 noses.

A surprising number of people were convinced that the snouters were real, and made protests about the nuclear testing .

In my fan-fics, Wendy sees a nasobame in Dr,Ottermoel's zoo at Domdaniel. She also comes upon even weirder animals.
Upcoming.
CyberCornEntropic
6 years, 4 months ago
Even today, it's still uncertain how many scientists are genuinely taking it seriously and how many are just perpetuating the joke. :p  Even in 2012, new species have been "discovered" (perhaps, as the backstory probably goes, because it was an unlabeled specimen that had been lying forgotten in museum storage after having been collected way back when).  Unveiled on April 1st, the 2012 "discovery" was Nasoperferator, allegedly a small, wood-eating snouter with a rotating nose for boring into wood.
EmmetEarwax
6 years, 5 months ago
Christian Morgenstern wrote about the Nasobame in his poetry long before the book was published by the NY museum of Natural History.

"Along on its noses
There walks the nasobame
accompanied by its young one"
CyberCornEntropic
6 years, 4 months ago
That poem was one of Steiner's inspirations, yes.
" Striding on its noses
there comes the Nasobame,
with its young in tow.
It isn't yet in Brehm's
It isn't yet in Meyer's
And neither in Brockhaus'
It trotted out of my lyre
when it came first to light.
Striding on its noses
thereon (as I've said above),
with its young in tow,
there goes the nasobame.

In my opinion, much better than the sopping melancholy many young poets churn out.
EmmetEarwax
6 years, 5 months ago
One of my mutant characters is named Earwing,(real name Elwy ,just Elwy as Lepids do not have last names.).
CyberCornEntropic
6 years, 4 months ago
Better than getting named "Dumbo", I imagine. :o
NyotaMwuaji
6 years, 4 months ago
this looks like something from Spore.
CyberCornEntropic
6 years, 4 months ago
That's word for word what someone else commented on Weasyl. :p  As I told him/her, Snouters have been around long before Spore.  Gerolf Steiner published his book under the pseudonym Harald Stümpke back in 1961.  His main goal was to illustrate how evolution affected species on island habitats.
NyotaMwuaji
6 years, 4 months ago
I didn't say they hadn't, I was just saying it looks like something from Spore.
CyberCornEntropic
6 years, 4 months ago
Understood.  I was just adding information about the timing of their creation.  To be honest, I've never played Spore.
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