Ole Zant

Insgelijks!

A new diplodocid skeleton was unveiled today at the Provincial House of the Dutch Province of North Brabant!

It will be on display there for the rest of the month, until it returns to the Oertijdmuseum, which is where we originally prepared the skeleton.
#dinosaurs

It is 👀
One I'm getting to co-author even!

Thanks! There's more to come

I haven't been posting much. But that doesn't mean I haven't been drawing any dinosaurs. 👀

New diplodocine sauropod A new diplodocine sauropod from the Morrison Formation, Wyoming, USA

Two articles have already been published and like the rest are freely accessible to everyone.

The first two articles both feature art by me, including a skeletal and life reconstruction of Ardetosaurus viator, a new species first published in this volume.
palaeo-electronica.org/content/2024...

A new giant project on diplodocoids!
When finished, it will provide a look into the anatomy, diversity and phylogeny of these long necked dinosaurs.

They just started a crowd funding campain, so if you want to see this project realized consider donating.

experiment.com/projects/rea...

Paul Sereno (left) and Ole Zant (right) in the Fossil Lab. With a Spinosaurus aegyptiacus skull in the back.

I wrapped up a summer full of dinosaurs at Paul Sereno's Fossil Lab earlier this week. I had the privilege of working with a lot of great minds, on a lot of great projects.

The vegetation still looks insanely good! 🌿 I can't imagine how long that took to draw though...

Thanks! Those patterns were mostly inspired by leopards and genets. But also by monitor lizards.

Thank you!

Hello #PortfolioDay!
I illustrate extinct animals and their environments.

Eerst eens kijken welk onderzoek ik volgende keer zou willen presenteren. Wie weet

Haha dat niet helaas. Maar er waren dan ook veel goede posters

Dankjewel! Was leuk

Presented a poster today on my research on mammals from a new Lancian microsite.
The poster is in Dutch but don't worry, I'm almost done with the paper which will feature significantly more material anyway.

Solar eclipse at the museum today

Thanks! I hope I did them justice.

Thank you! :)

Thank you! The clouds took a lot of work but were definitely fun to do!

Here are the original sketches I made last year. At the time I didn't have the intention of turning them into a full illustration but here we are.

The bone core of completer crests were recently discovered in Niger and have not yet been described. This reconstruction is not based on those specimens (in which case I would have made them even taller, especially as they were likely covered by a keratinous sheath).

Reconstruction by Tyler Keillor, Lauren Conroy, Erin Fitzgerald, Paul Sereno.

In case people are wondering about the crest: it is known that Spinosaurus had one, as the base of some have been found. Unfortunately no complete crests have been described, but seeing the extent of displays like the sail and tail, I find it likely the crest was quite prominent.

When it comes to the presence or absence of lips there are valid arguments for both sides. I usually reconstruct them with lips but chose not to this time. Reasons include: interlocking teeth, teeth angling out labially, and tight skin covering on much of the snout.

Figure featuring cervical skin of Carnotaurus by Christophe Hendrickx and Phil Bell. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104994 Jacob Baardse claims to have sculpted the model, but I'm pretty sure he just 3D scanned a dead Carnotaurus found somewhere.

Concavenator (this figure and the following two figures) was described by Fransisco Ortega and collegues. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09181

Caudal scales of Concavenator.

Scalation is based on other theropods. Wrinkly neck as in Carnotaurus. Larger scales on the feet and square scales in rows on the tail, as in Concavenator. Despite some filaments being preserved on the mostly scaly Juravenator, my Spinosaurus is mostly bald (except for one spot).

The skin around the snout sits quite tightly on the bone. As seen in vascular grooves, as well as bumps on the anterior portion of the maxilla which you can also see in my reconstruction.

Reconstruction from paper by Sereno and collegues. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.80092

The fragmentary nature of the specimens makes many aspects of Spinosaurus difficult to reconstruct. Depending on how the sail is reconstructed it may be M-shaped, or relatively round. The sail in my recontruction is mainly based on the reconstruction by Sereno and collegues.

Reconstruction of the cervical series of Spinosaurus based on isolated vertebrae. By Robert Smyth, Nizar Ibrahim and David Martill. Preserved bones in white. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104520

Many isolated Spinosaurus bones were also found in Morocco. These revealed that Spinosaurus possessed a long flexible neck and a snout with a large notch to ensnare prey such as large fish.

Skeletal reconstruction by Marco Auditore. Preserved bones in orange. For specimen see: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1258750 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2190-3

A century later a similar partial skeleton was uncovered in Morocco. Work on this specimen is still ongoing but it expanded our understanding of the animal in that it preserved very short hindlimbs and a tall (and very long) tail.

Per usual I'll post the fossils and reasoning behind my reconstruction in this thread.

Starting off with the history of discovery, the first Spinosaurus specimen was discovered during a German expedition in Egypt. The skeleton was eventually destroyed during a bombing in WWII.