A colored-pencil illustration of an oak savanna scene, taking place during the day in southeastern Minnesota during the early Holocene. A sandy well-worn path cuts across the piece from the foreground in the lower right corner to the background on the left side, curving around a bison-wallowing-pit dug into the sandy soil. Two large oak trees line the edge of the path, with many more scattered on the hill in the background. On that hill are two bison fighting and an elk observing them, while in the midground a mastodon skeleton lies scattered at the base of a tree. In the foreground, the details of small flowers and grasses are visible along with many snakes, a toad, a nesting turtle, a skink, and a bobcat.
A black-and-white version of the same Holocene-oak-savanna piece, but with a number in a small white circle next to each animal. Number one is the Elk/Wapiti just behind the hill, number two is a Timber Rattlesnake halfway in the bison-wallowing-pit, number three is the plains hognose on the edge of the same pit in the foreground, number four is an Eastern Meadowlark perched on the tip of a mastodon tusk, number five is a Bullsnake slithering through the same Mastodon skeleton and looking up at the meadowlark, number six is the American Mastodon skeleton itself, number seven is an American Toad very close in the foreground and staring straight at the viewer, number eight is a Western Fox Snake, number nine is the Bobcat approaching that fox snake, number ten is the pair of American Bison butting heads on top of the hill, number eleven is a Painted Turtle digging a nest at the base of the closest oak tree, and number twelve is a Prairie Skink climbing up the trunk of that same oak.
A showcase of the oak savannas of Minnesota during the early Holocene, with emphasis on the herps. I drew this within four days to give to Ed and Emily of Snake Discovery, when they came down to the Atlanta reptile-expo in August. #holocene #paleoart #sciart #reptiles #amphibians #snakediscovery
