Tag: Quaternary

Thaleroceros radiciformis, Lower – Middle Pleistocene, East Africa

This antelope is probably a member of the reedbuck-relatives (Reduncini). This is supposed on account of the direction of the horns and the presence of a second pair of horns. This feature is sometimes visible in modern reedbucks. According to Prof. Dr. Hans Reck (1886-1937), who described the fossil, this second pair of horns were not covered by keratin. Because of the scarce remains, which show not much more than the impressive horns, its systematic position remains unclear.

Coloured pencil, 2020

32 x 24 cm

Summary of all fossil Alcelaphini-genera with selected species

Coloured pencil drawings, digitally composed; 2018

The reconstructions were made with kindly support by paleontologist Dr. Faysal Bibi from the Museum for Natural History Berlin.

Menelikia lyrocera (Bovidae), Pliocene – Pleistocene, East Africa

This medium-sized antelope had horns with transverse ridges and was possibly similar to today’s Nile lechwe / Mrs Gray’s lechwe (Kobus megaceros) in its ecology.

Pencil, 2019

29,5 x 21 cm

The picture was drawn from two exhibits at the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) in Paris.

Numidocapra crassicornis (Bovidae), Early Pleistocene, North- and East Africa

Fossils of this widespread species were found in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Algeria. Temporary it was placed in Caprinae. A special feature are the horns that curve foreward in side view. The name means “goat from Numidia”, an ancient kingdom in North Africa.

Coloured pencil, 2018

30 x 24 cm

Parmularius maasaicus (Bovidae); Pleistocene, East Africa

A medium-sized alcelaphine which was only found at Olduvai Gorge. I could be an ancestor of the extant hartebeests (Alcelaphus). It was named in honor of the Maasai people who live in the Olduvai Gorge area.

Coloured pencil, 2018

30 x 24 cm

Megalotragus kattwinkeli (Bovidae), Pleistocene, East Africa

M. kattwinkeli is with expected 250 kg one of the biggest alcelaphines and closely related to the modern wildebeest. The horn cores vary a lot in this species, from a more compressed type with their tips curving inwards in smaller specimens to a more elongated type in bigger individuals. There is also a tendency to a domed skull with hollows, but not as distinct like that in Megalotragus atopocranion. The locality of M. kattwinkeli is the famous Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania. Here it occured with Paranthropus boisei, Homo habilis and Homo erectus. It was named after the German paleontologist and neurologist Wilhelm Kattwinkel (1866 – 1935).

Coloured pencil, 2018

30 x 24 cm

Megalotragus atopocranion (Bovidae), Late Pleistocene, East Africa

This is the most popular of fossil alcelaphines because of a unique feature in mammals: a domed skull with hollows and air passages, which probably were used for infrasonic communication with fellows. M. atopocranion was a grazer, which was possibly hunted by modern man (Homo sapiens). It is better known under its synonym Rusingoryx atopocranion, named after its location Rusinga Island at Lake Victoria.

Coloured pencil, 2018

30 x 24 cm

Megatherium americanum (Folivora), a giant ground sloth depicted without fur because in theory with such a coat these animals would have been overheated in their relative warm environment. Nevertheless this reconstruction is speculative because there is no preserved skin of these animals.

Oil paint on paper, 2018

32 x 24 cm

American lions (Panthera atrox) & steppe bison (Bos priscus), Late Pleistocene, North America

Ink, 2017

42 x 29,5 cm

homotherium_palaeon_marcus_burkhardt

Homotherium latidens (Machairodontinae), Pleistocene, Eurasia

Enhanced incisor

Polyester resin, painted with acrylic

ca. 90 cm

Remittance work for the special exhibition „Die Eiszeit-Jägerin | Säbelzahnkatzen – die tödliche Gefahr“ paläon – Forschungs- und Erlebniszentrum Schöninger Speere