Ole Zant
Scientific illustrator / Paleoartist.
Museum fossil preparator and researcher.
Admirer of theropods and Cretaceous Saharan Africa.
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- And it has some good paleoart right next to it!
- NEW ARTWORK TO START 2026 Here's "Deep Blue Buffet," commissioned by The Etches Collection. Featured, from the Late #Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay, are #SeaRex #Hybodus #Hypsocormus #Metriorhynchus #Aspidorhynchus & #Allothrissops #SciArt #PaleoArt #MarineReptiles #Pliosaurs #Pliosaurus #JurassicWorld
- This looks incredible!
- Last summers spoils arrived at the Oertijdmuseum today. Lots and lots of dinosaur bones, and even an articulated Edmontosaurus skeleton! #dinosaurs #paleontology #Edmontosaurus
- Aurora, a Morrison sauropod composite skeleton. It was recently added to the dinosaur parade at the Oertijdmuseum and is our second diplodocid mount.
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- Ah alright. Thanks
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- Do you happen to know if the scales on the head of that model were based on any preserved soft tissues? They look really weird.
- Diplodocid bones galore and aplenty at the Oertijdmuseum. Here some photos from a while ago of the construction of Aurora (a composite of two specimens). The skeleton was on display elsewhere for a month and is now being mounted in the Oertijdmuseum. Photos of that coming soon.
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- Looks amazing!
- I realize I never really posted my work on the Triassic phytosaur skull at the Oertijdmuseum on here. So here (and in the posts below) are some photos. I finished it recently when I cleaned more of the mandible. #FossilFriday #Phytosaur #paleontology
- Here are some progress photos of the skull. Don't ever put plaster on the bone or I'll make you a dubious taxon.
- Also I did prepare the only Metoposaurus skull with teeth. Which is from the same site.
- Sketched this little guy eating a mammal earlier this year, although I didn't actually know what to call it then. I guess we do now. Welcome back Nanotyrannus!
- Two new Edmontosaurus skeletons with preserved skin just got published by Paul Sereno and collegues. They had a fleshy scaly crest over their back and hoofed feet! I was lucky enough to see the specimens last summer. The publication is open access: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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- Definitely true. Though it seems to me these animals would have looked more wrinkly from afar than what small scaly patches might seem to make apparent.
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- Overall the integument in PP is really well done. But honestly the more time goes by, the more I appreciate the dinosaurs from Dinosaur (2000). Which have meticulously textured scaly wrinkly skin that matches known specimens quite well (at least for the time).
- 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
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- Insgelijks!
- I haven't been posting much. But that doesn't mean I haven't been drawing any dinosaurs. 👀
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- It is 👀 One I'm getting to co-author even!
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- Thanks! There's more to come
- 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...
- 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...
- 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.
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- The vegetation still looks insanely good! 🌿 I can't imagine how long that took to draw though...
- Hello #PortfolioDay! I illustrate extinct animals and their environments.
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- Thanks! Those patterns were mostly inspired by leopards and genets. But also by monitor lizards.
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- Thank you!
- 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.
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- Eerst eens kijken welk onderzoek ik volgende keer zou willen presenteren. Wie weet
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- Haha dat niet helaas. Maar er waren dan ook veel goede posters
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- Dankjewel! Was leuk
- Solar eclipse at the museum today
- Spinosaurus aegyptiacus An animal difficult to do justice with an illustration.
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- Thanks! I hope I did them justice.
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- Thank you! :)
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- Thank you! The clouds took a lot of work but were definitely fun to do!
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Here are isolated versions of the Spinosaurus reconstruction, as well as some close-ups.
- Finally finished my Spinosaurus reconstruction today. Just have to write the thread now. I'll be posting it on sunday. In the meantime, have some titanosaurs.
- AND HERE IT IS! It was really hard to not tell everyone because I knew for more than 2 years now. Please welcome Tameryraptor, a new name for Stromers carcharodontosaurid. Based on Stromers descriptions, drawings and newly found photographs the authors conclude... #paleoart #sciart #scicomm
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- Stromer's specimen was never the holotype. And Sereno's specimen matches the original holotype (teeth, now lost). So Sereno's Carcharodontosaurus saharicus neotype is still valid. Stromer's specimen is a different carcharodontosaurid. Spino is more of a mess though.
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- Data driven research is important but anatomy (&taxonomy &geo) are the hard facts and thus most important and worth our time imo. Our main goals should still be to describe material in detail and compare them with other taxa. None of this "we did an analysis to group theropods by toe length" stuff.
