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Description
It’s 38 million years ago in what will become the Jebel Qatrani Formation in Egypt. Sound familiar? Probably cuz I’ve been drawing this formation’s wildlife for 3 uploads in a row already. Bored of it? I’m not, you bet your life I’ll draw more of it in the future still.

So anyways in this drawing an Albertwoodemys testudinum, a side-necked turtle in the Podocnemididae, came ashore from the river to bask. And what bad timing, for a Cleopatrodon ayeshae happened to be near and the mammal decides that turtle soup without the soup will be a good meal. As the afrothere bites down on the shell, it suddenly receives competition in the form of a sea eagle who also wants to eat turtle, and the 2 have engaged in a fight over it. The confused reptile just stands there wondering what he did to deserve this.

Cleopatrodon is an afrothere mammal within the Ptolemaiidae, a strange group of extinct mammals whose classification has been a mystery. Their diet is also unknown but judging from the fangs they seem to be carnivores or omnivores. For Cleopatrodon, its teeth seem adapted to crushing shells or something, perhaps eating snails or, as shown here, turtles. Known only from parts of the skull, the animal seems to have been around 90 centimetres long, and the whole skull was probably 15 to 20 centimetres long.

And about the bird of prey here. There are known remains of some bird of prey from the Jebel Qatrani Formation that are similar to those of modern sea eagles in the genus Haliaeetus, suggesting this may be one of the oldest existing genuses of birds. These birds live near water and hunt fish, though just about any animal will do as food. This one decided it’s worth fighting a badger-sized mammal for a turtle. I based its colours on the African fish eagle, a modern day sea eagle from Africa like this one. Source for the Jebel Qatrani eagle: repository.si.edu/bitstream/ha… Cut to page 5, it talks about it there.

Albertwoodemys is having a bad time. Also, Ptolemaiida are cool.

And, first Albertwoodemys and Cleopatrodon on DA!

Description
It’s 38 million years ago in what will become the Jebel Qatrani Formation in Egypt. Sound familiar? Probably cuz I’ve been drawing this formation’s wildlife for 3 uploads in a row already. Bored of it? I’m not, you bet your life I’ll draw more of it in the future still.

So anyways in this drawing an Albertwoodemys testudinum, a side-necked turtle in the Podocnemididae, came ashore from the river to bask. And what bad timing, for a Cleopatrodon ayeshae happened to be near and the mammal decides that turtle soup without the soup will be a good meal. As the afrothere bites down on the shell, it suddenly receives competition in the form of a sea eagle who also wants to eat turtle, and the 2 have engaged in a fight over it. The confused reptile just stands there wondering what he did to deserve this.

Cleopatrodon is an afrothere mammal within the Ptolemaiidae, a strange group of extinct mammals whose classification has been a mystery. Their diet is also unknown but judging from the fangs they seem to be carnivores or omnivores. For Cleopatrodon, its teeth seem adapted to crushing shells or something, perhaps eating snails or, as shown here, turtles. Known only from parts of the skull, the animal seems to have been around 90 centimetres long, and the whole skull was probably 15 to 20 centimetres long.

And about the bird of prey here. There are known remains of some bird of prey from the Jebel Qatrani Formation that are similar to those of modern sea eagles in the genus Haliaeetus, suggesting this may be one of the oldest existing genuses of birds. These birds live near water and hunt fish, though just about any animal will do as food. This one decided it’s worth fighting a badger-sized mammal for a turtle. I based its colours on the African fish eagle, a modern day sea eagle from Africa like this one. Source for the Jebel Qatrani eagle: repository.si.edu/bitstream/ha… Cut to page 5, it talks about it there.

Albertwoodemys is having a bad time. Also, Ptolemaiida are cool.

And, first Albertwoodemys and Cleopatrodon on DA!