#antelope
The addax is a critically endangered antelope that is common in captivity but very rare in its natural environment, the Sahara desert. Less than 500 individuals are thought to exist in the wild today. Addax have white coats that help reflect the sun’s rays and they get most of their moisture from the grasses they eat and the dew that condense on the leaves.
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The bontebok was once considered to be the rarest antelope in the world, with only 17 left in the wild in the early 19th century. They were hunted by the thousands for their meat and skins, and were nearly brought to the brink of extinction.
In 1837, farmer Alexander van der Bijl built a fence to hold his sheep, but it wound up saving the last 17 bontebok on the planet. Almost any other African ungulate like the eland, springbok, or kudu would have gracefully jumped out of this simple sheep enclosure, but the bontebok lack the athleticism to jump. Lucky for them, or they surely would have met their end.
After the tiny population of bontebok were relocated to other parks, they began to reproduce and thrive. Their numbers hovered in the low hundreds for many years. In the 1930s, a national park was declared specifically to conserve them, which helped them flourish. Careful conservation efforts have helped their numbers increase to around 3,500 today.
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Pause your scroll for a baby dik-dik, San Diego Zoo
Rock art is one of South Africa’s oldest artistic traditions.It was first made by the ancestors of San|Bushmen and Khoekhoen, South Africa’s first peoples, at least 30,000 years ago.This rock painting depicts San|Bushmen running between eland, a type of antelope that is spiritually important. Hunter-gatherer rock paintings such as this are understood to relate to a ritual practice named ‘the great healing’ or ‘trance dance’, which continues today in the Kalahari outside of South Africa.
See this amazing piece in our special exhibition on South Africa: the art of a nation, which tells a story stretching back 100,000 years. Exhibition runs 27 October 2016 – 26 February 2017.
Exhibition sponsored by Betsy and Jack Ryan
Logistics partner IAG Cargo
The Zaamenkomst Panel. Detail of rock art depicting San|Bushmen running between eland. Made before 1900. On loan from Iziko Museums of South Africa, Social History Collections and SARADA. Photo: Neil Rusch.
Beautifully-observed & realistic figure of a sleeping Antelope incised on rock up to 10,000 years ago at Tin Taghirt, Tassili n'Ajjer in Algeria, one of the largest & most important groupings of prehistoric cave art in the world.
ph: Linus Wolf
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Hey hey hey! I’m not dead! :D
This guy (these guys?) just took a while to complete because I got busy with a new job, and was in the middle of trying something totally different from before.
I picked up sculpting in Blender and started messing around in Substance Painter, and went for a more realistic look to see how far I can take it. Pretty satisfied with how it turned out! Here’s the artstation page for more screenshots and stuff.
Saigas are so dorky, just look at them. Awww.
Next thing I’m working on is definitely back to something more stylized!
