Bones, Ungulates and Others

Another sketch dump, consisting of some skull studies, pronghorn and other miscellaneous creatures.

Here's a drawing of the extinct american cheetah (Miracinonyx) chasing down an extant pronghorn. Size comparison is probably not exact. The american cheetah is named such primarily due to morphological similarities between it and the contemporary cheetah, owed to a theorized case of convergent evolution. In actuality it's more closely related and similar in size to the modern puma/cougar.

The pronghorn is also interesting for similar reasons. Neither a deer nor an antelope, it's the sole surviving member of the family Antilocapridae and evolved separately from true antelope. It's closest living relatives are the giraffe and okapi. Their horns are also built more like a giraffe's knobs than anything else, composed of an inner bony core and a skin covering that hardens into a keratinous sheath and is annually shed. Both males and females have horns although the female's are smaller.

A walrus, hippopotamus, manatee hybrid.