The Daily Mammal!

SuperForester Steve sent us this link to The Daily Mammal, which is the site of artist Jennifer Rae Atkins. She is trying to draw every mammal on earth. One per day.

Like this sweet little fella here!:

Laotian Rock Rat (Laonastes aenigmamus)


"The coelacanth of rodents," this Laotian rat is a member of a family scientists thought had been extinct for 11 million years. So those scientists must have been surprised when they found some for sale in a food market in 1996!

Actually scientists initially thought the rat was a member of a brand-new family and described it as such. Other scientists who excitedly read the 2005 paper that described the new family recognized its resemblance to the Diatomys fossils they studied, and released their own paper in 2006 making the claim that the Laotian rock rat is actually what's called a "Lazarus" mammal. (Like yesterday, I don't have the fortitude to decipher the scientific articles to figure out whether this claim still stands or not.) There is only one other mammal species known to have that long a gap in its fossil history.

This drawing is approximately 6"x9". It's done in layers of marker, pen, and colored pencil on tracing paper, giving it a translucent and vivid beauty. Your drawing comes with a 9"x12" black mat with a backing board, as well as a dark-gray sheet of art paper that makes the colors pop. I'll pack it safely before I ship it to you.

Shipping within the U.S. costs $6. Shipping everywhere else costs $15. I use USPS priority mail.

Five dollars of every purchase goes to an animal-related charity."

So every day she draws a mammal, the drawings go on her Etsy page, and part of the proceeds from the sales go to helping animal charities.

Nicey nice nice!

(Isn't it funny the way science has a knack for thinking things are extinct and then finding someone somewhere who's selling the extinct thing for dinner? Seems like it happens all the time.)

Why not cruise over to Etsy and get yourself a nice mammal?
Like this Gray-Faced Giant Elephant-Shrew?



Thanks to Steve for the intel, and thanks to Jennifer Rae for the inspirato.

Love to All,

Team SF