Tasmanian Devil and Wombat

Wombat in Shrubland

The Wambat is a small marsupial mammal that lives in forested and heathland (shrubland) parts of Australia.  It is an herbivore.  There are two speices of Wombat but there are 5 subspecies within the two species.  Wombats are about 1 meter long or 40 inches long.  They weigh between 25 and 40 kg.  That is the weight of the common Wombat.  The Hairy-Nosed Wombat is slightly smaller.  Wombats are the world's largest burrowing mammal. 

Wombats eat practically anything.  Roots, leaves of herbs and trees, grass, sedges and even tree bark.  They are an animal with a very slow digestion  They take around 14 days to digest their food.  They are generally slow walking but they can run fast for a minute and a half at up to 40 kph or 25 mph. 
They probalby mostly run like that when they are fleeing a predator, like the Tasmanian Devil or the Dingo.

Wambats will flee to their hole or den or burrow and stick their butt blocking the tunnel.  Their bum skin is very tough and hard to bite through.  So a pursuing predator has little chance of biting through.  The Wombat will also kick at the predator and can sometimes crush the predator's head into the wall of the tunnel.  Remember that Womabts would only be fleeing from a Tasmanian Devil if they were the Wambats that lived in Tasmania.  There ARE Wombats in Tasmania. 

Tasmanian Devil

Speaking of Tasmania.  .  .  The Tasmanian Devil once lived in Australia.  It now lives only on the nearby island of Tasmania.  They have the most powerful bite for their size of any animal on Earth.  They are carnivores and hunt wallabies and other small animals.  Their closest relative is the now exticnt Marsupial Lion.  So now Tasmanian Devils are the biggest carnivorous marsupial.

Tasmanian Devils live basically solitary lives, but they will sometimes share a kill but it is a grumpy sharing with the different individuals snapping at each other etc.  Tasmanian Devils can also make a sort of cross between a scream and a roar.  It sounds really scary.  It makes me think of a young cougar.

Tasmanian Devils have a pouch because they are marsupials.  The young are called Joeys or the more clever...imps.  A breeding mother Tasmanian Devil can produce around 50 babies that are very tiny.  In fact, at birth, the imps are only about the size of a grain of rice.  Only 4 imps ever manage to make it to the teats to begin to suckle.  The other 46 babies die and since they are devils I guess they go to hell.  (That was a joke.)

Bunnyip or Diprotodon?

Bunyip

The Australian Aborigines have a legend of a huge river or billabong dwelling animal that attacks people.  It is called the Bunyip.  Its discription includes various and sometimes conflicting characteristics.  But it has flippers or webbed feet.  It is huge.  It has large saber fangs or tusks.  It has a face shaped something like a crocodile or a huge dog.  It has fur.  It has a horse-like tail. 

Some anthropologists think that the idea for this animal may come from paleontology.  A huge marsupial lived in Australia and went extinct about 45,000 years ago.  It was most closely related to the present day wombat.  But A wombat is small,  This animal, which you could call a giant wombat, was huge.  It is called Diprotodon.  The name means two forward teeth.  It was 3 meters or 9.8 feet long.  It weighed around 2,790 kg. or 6,150 lbs.  It was 2 meters or 6 feet 7 inches tall.  This makes Diprotodon the biggest marsupial ever to have lived on Earth.   The below drawing is of a female or Diprotodon Mother carrying her young.  The young is referred to as a joey...like a young kangaroo.
Notice the joey in the pouch.

Diprotodon Mother

Diprotodon with Joey
(NOTE:  This drawing is probably more accurate since the closest relative
to a Diprotodon is a wambat and wambat pouches face backwards.  Notice the
little joey sticking his or her nose out of the pouch below the tail.)

It was a peaceful plant eater.  It may have been preyed upon by the marsupial lion.  It probaly could outclass the marsupial lion if it was fully grown but certainly its young would have been vulnerable.  The Diprotodon was an herbivore and lived in herds.  There was sexual dimophism which means the males were a bit different from the females.  In this case the males were larger.  So the males might have fought each other to compete for females or fore dominance in the herd.

Diprotodon skeletons have been found all over Australia so it was very successful for many years.  The fossils date from 1.6 million years ago to 45,000 years ago.  Since Australia started to dry up starting 350,000 years ago there is some thought that Diprotodon went exticnt because change of climate and the disappearnce of the vegetation type they preferered.  Now Australia is the dryest continent on Earth.  The of hunting by early Man may have been a contributing factor as well.  Man is thought to have come into Australia 50,000 years ago.  ONE Diprotodon would have feed an entire tribe for a week.

By the way, if you thought that date for the Aborigines coming to Australia was a typo, it was not.  The Australian Aborigine culture is the longest existing intact culture on Earth.  The Aborigines have referred to fossils of Diprotodon as Bunyip.  So maybe the more recent Aborigines have seen the fossils and come up with the idea of Bunyips.  But there is also a possibility that the idea of Bunyips comes from an ancient memory of Diprotodon that was passed down over the millenia.   And of course, maybe someday we will confirm the existence of a large . . . previously unknown to science. .... predator species living in billabongs and rivers of Australia.  Then we will know that Bunyips are real.  For now there is no scientific proof of Bunyips.

By the way, a billabong is a lake or pond.  .   .   . not just a brand of clothing.

One more interesting fact.  Some Aborigines identify a type of animal on very ancient cave paintings as a Binyup.  Since their culture has been around at least 50,000 years, they can DO that.  I think that is truly amazing!

NOTE:  The printable versions of these new drawings are found by clicking the buttons up top.  Specifically the All Printables button and the Paleontology Button... and the Fantasy Myths and Circus button.   New drawings are at the bottom of the lists.

Zaglossus hacketti the Large Spiny Anteater

Zaglossus 

Zaglossus hacketti was a large monotreme.  Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs like the platyplus.  The Zaglossus hacketii is now extinct.  It was endemic to Australia.  That means it was from that place only.  it was about a meter long. . . that is just over a yard.  It weighed about 30 kg or 66 lbs.  It was 60 cm tall.  That is around 24 inches tall.  So about 2 feet tall and three feet long.  As far as we know it was the largerst monotreme ever to live on Earth.  

The more well known platypus is much smaller at only about 20 inches or 50 cm.  I think I will draw a duck bill platypus next. 

The Zaglossus was a type of echidnas.  Echidnas still live on Earth, in New Guinea, but the three species of living echidnas are much smaller than Zaglossus hacketti.  The living echidnas are also called spiny anteaters.  So like its non extinct relatives, Zaglossus fed on ants and termites.  The termite mounds in Australia can be huge.   Some of the smaller termite mounds are depicted in my drawing.  Zaglossus lived in what is now Western  Australia.  Echidnas have a long mouth or snout that is both nose and mouth.  They have a long sticky tongue they use for catching termines and ants.  

One more unusual fact.  The living echidnas have the second lowest body temperature of any mammal at 33 degrees Celsius or 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit.  

NOTE:  The printable version is available by clicking on either the All Printables button ....or the Animals button ... or the Paleontology button... up at the top of this blog page.  Scroll down because new drawings are at the bottom of the lists.  This is an extinct animals but it looks so much like the modern Spiny Anteaters that I put it on both the Paleontolgy and Aniamls page.  

Marsupial Lion of Australia

Marsupial Lion

Marsupial Lion Thylacoleo carnifex 

-Marsupial Lion lived in forests and was a very successful predator for almost 2 million years

-Don’t let the name fool you.  It was a marsupial and not related to lions. 

-It was more closely related to possums, kangaroos, koalas, wombats, etc.

-It was between the size of a female lion and a leopard.  

-Only animal in Order: Diprotodontia that was a pure carnivore.  Most animals in the order are herbivores.  

-350,000 years ago Australian climate started to dry up

-The forests started to disappear

-Marsupial Lion was an ambush predator that hunted in thick jungles 

-It could not adapt to hunting in open areas

-It was once thought to have been hunted starting 60,000 years ago when early Man cane to Australia.  

-Marsupial Lions went extinct around 35-45 thousand years ago. 

-New research indicates it probably went extinct due to climate change and the resulting disappearance of most of Australia’s forests.  .  .  NOT by being hunted by Man.  

-The research analyzed fossils chemically and found that the Marsupial Lion ate forest dwelling animals.

-Notice That this animal lacks canine teeth.  It had big killing incisors instead, and a bite 80% as strong as a lion’s.  

-So it could tear the flesh of its prey and chomp the leftover bones as well. 

-The research was done by The University of New South Wales Sydney, University of Queensland,  & Vanderbilt University in Tennessee USA.  

-The flora is indicative of ancient Australian forests.  It includes:

    *Cycad Tree (a conifer that looks like a palm 

       tree.  It makes its seeds in cones.  

    *. Wollemi Pine Tree

    * Ferns 

    * Flowering Shrubs

    * Grasses

    * Other broadleaf trees such as gum tree

       (a type of Eucalyptus Tree)

-The flowering bush is from Australia.  It is called a Crimson Red Botllebrush Bush.

-The pine trees are also from Australia.  They are Wollemi Pines. 

NOTE:  Printable versions of the drawing are found by clicking the correct button up top:  Either click on Paleontology or All Printables.  Then scroll down.  Newer drawings like this are at the bottom of the correct list.  However, the Marsupial Lion drawing will be at the bottom of the first sub-list on the Paleontology Page.  This sub-list is titled Animals of the Cenozoic. 

Daniel en la guarida del león

Daniel fue uno de los hijos cautivos de Israel. Fue siervo de los medos. Por supuesto que no estaba llenando ollas de agua o algo así. Probablemente fue uno de los Nobles en Israel y fue llevado cautivo a ser un líder del pueblo. Era un buen hombre temeroso de Dios y oraba todos los días a Dios o a Jehová. Los otros líderes estaban celosos de él. Así convencieron al rey. . . Rey Darío, para decretar que solo podías rezarle al rey.

Daniel, por supuesto, no obedeció esta nueva ley, por lo que fue arrojado a la Guarida del León. Este fue probablemente un orgullo de los leones capturados alimentados alimentando a los prisioneros condenados a ellos. Darius era el amigo de Daniel y NO quería que lo ejecutaran. Daniel probablemente tenía unos 80 años cuando sucedió esto.

Daniel fue arrojado a la guarida por la noche. En la mañana, el rey Darío se acercó a la entrada de la guarida y probablemente gritó a través de la abertura para preguntar si el dios de Daniel lo había salvado. El rey Darío probablemente no esperaba otra respuesta que los rugidos de león. Pero Daniel respondió que Dios había enviado a su ángel para cerrar la boca del león. Por supuesto, un león también podría matar con garras. Obviamente, el ángel de Dios había impedido que los leones mataran y se comieran a Daniel.

Daniel fue dejado salir. . . probablemente a través de una cuerda ... y el rey Darío hizo que los hombres malvados que lo habían engañado, sus esposas y sus hijos fueran arrojados a la guarida del león. La Biblia dice que los leones rompieron todos sus huesos. Ese es probablemente un eufmismo por decir que los leones mataron y comieron a los hombres malvados y sus familias.

Es importante tener en cuenta que Dios no siempre salva a los justos de los impíos. Pero a veces lo hace. A veces, a los malvados se les permite hacer su maldad para que los juicios que vienen sobre ellos sean justos. Las personas justas que son martirizadas por los malvados están en el Paraíso. También lo llamamos el mundo espiritual. Es difícil pensar de esta manera como mortal, pero la perspectiva eterna es diferente de la perspectiva mortal. Desde la perspectiva eterna, los que mueren en el Señor están bien.

Cuando morimos nuestros espíritus abandonan nuestros cuerpos. Nosotros, como espíritus, podemos recordar toda nuestra vida mortal y posiblemente también nuestra vida premortal. El mundo espiritual está organizado por familias, de modo que cuando mueras, probablemente serás recibido por seres queridos de tu familia cuando ingreses al mundo espiritual. Hay un juicio temporal en el que estamos asignados a una prisión paradisíaca o espiritual. Las personas malvadas que mueren tienen que ir a una parte del Mundo de los espíritus llamada Spirit Prison o Hell para pagar el precio eterno por sus malas acciones mientras eran mortales.

Eventualmente todos resucitarán con cuerpos impecables. Luego nos enfrentamos con el juicio final y nos envían a uno de los tres reinos de gloria. Los justos irán a vivir con el Padre Celestial y la Madre Celestial y su primer hijo Jesucristo. Esto será en lo que se llama el Reino Celestial. Creemos que el hombre y la esposa casados, que están sellados por el tiempo y toda la eternidad en uno de los templos de Dios, podrán permanecer casados ​​para siempre y vivir como marido y mujer en el Reino Celestial. También parece que podrán vivir con sus hijos justos. El Reino Celestial también debe ser organizado por familias. Así que la familia es muy importante.

 Las personas que eran buenas pero no aceptaron todo el Evangelio de Jesucristo irán al Reino Terrestre. Se habrán quedado cortos de su potencial, pero creo que serán felices allí. Jesús debe vivir en el Reino Celestial, pero debe visitar el Reino Telestial porque él preside allí.

Las personas que fueron malvadas en la Tierra como mortales serán enviadas al Reino Telestial. Estaban muy lejos de su potencial, pero su terrible sufrimiento en el infierno habrá terminado. El Espíritu Santo preside el Reino Telestial.

Para su información, esto es toda la doctrina de la vida después de que la muerte es de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. Somos miembros de esta iglesia. Creemos que es una restauración de la iglesia original de Cristo junto con la autoridad para llevar a cabo ordenanzas salvadoras. Tanto mi esposa como yo servimos en misiones para enseñar esto. Serví en Nuevo México, EE. UU. Y ella sirvió en Arizona, EE. UU. En mi misión hablé español. Nosotros cumplimos esas misiones cuando éramos jóvenes.

Daniel in the Lion's Den

Daniel & Angel in the Lion's Den

Daniel was one of the captive Children of Israel.  He was a servant of the Medes.  Of course he was not filling water pots or something.  He was probably one of the Nobility in Israel and he was carreid away captive to be a leader of the people.  He was a good God fearing man and prayed every day to God or Jehovah.  The other leaders were jealous of him.  So they convinced the king. . . King Darius, to make a decree that you could only pray to the king.  

Daniel, of course, did not obey this new law so he was thrown into the Lion's Den.  This was probably a pride of captured lions kept fed by feeding condemned prisoners to them.  Darius was Daniel's friend and he did NOT want to have him excecuted.  Daniel was probably in his 80s at the time this happened.  

Daniel was thrown into the den in the evening.  Notice the hole in the ceiling of the den.  In the morning King Darius approached the entrance to the den and probably shouted through the opening to ask if Daniel's god had saved him.  King Darius probably did not expect an answer other than lion's roars.  But Daniel answered that God had sent his angel to shut the lion's mouths.  Of course a lion could kill with claws as well.  Obviously the angel of God had stopped the lions from killing and eating Daniel.  

Daniel was let out. . . probably via a rope... and King Darius had the wicked men who had tricked him, their wives, and their children thrown into the lion's den.  The Bible says that the lions broke all their bones.  That is probably a euphmism for saying that the wicked men and their families were killed and eaten by the lions.  

It is important to note that God does not always save the righteous from the wicked.  But sometimes he does.  Sometimes the wicked are allowed to do their wickedness so that the judgements that come upon them are just.  Righteous people who are martyred by the wicked are in Paradise.  We also call that the Spirit World.  It is hard to think this way as a mortal, but the eternal perspective is different than the mortal perspective.  From the eterrnal perspective those who die in the Lord are fine.  

When we die our spirits leave our bodies.  We, as spirits, are able to remember all of our mortal life and possibly much of our premortal life as well.  The Spirit World is organized by families so when you die you probably will be greeted by loved ones from your family as you enter the Spirit World.  There is a temporary judgement where we are assigned to either paradise or spirit prison.  Wicked people who die have to go to a part of the Spirit World called Spirit Prison or Hell to pay the eternal price for their wicked deeds while they were mortal.  

Eventually everyone will be resurrected with flawless bodies.  Then we are faced with final judgement and we are sent to one of three kingdoms of glory.   The very righteous will go to dwell with Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother and their first born son Jesus Christ.  This will be in what is called the Celestial Kingdom.  We beleive that married man and wife, who are sealed for time and all eternity in one of God's Temples, will be able to stay married forever and live as husband and wife in the Celestial Kingdom.  It also appears that they will be able to live with their righteous children.  The Celestial Kingdom also must be organized by families.  So Family is very important.  

The people who were good but did not accept all of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will go to the Terrestrial Kingdom.  They will have fallen short of their potential but I think that they will be happy there.  Jesus  must live in the Celestial Kingdom, but he must visit the Telestial Kingdom because he presides there.  

The people who were wicked on Earth as mortals will be sent to the Telestial Kingdom.  They fell way short of their potential but their terrible suffering in hell will be over.  The Holy Ghost presides over the Telestial Kingdom.

FYI this is all doctrine of life after death is from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We are members of this church.   We believe it is a restoration of Christ's original church along with the authority to perform saving ordinances.  Both my wife and I served missions to teach this.  I served in New Mexico, USA and she served in Arizona, USA.  On my mission I spoke Spanish.  WE served those missions when we were young.   

Night Fairy with Fireflies

Night Fairy in Grass

Night Fairies are not neccessarily evil.  Many are just a type of Fairy that is active at night.  You might also be interested to know that some of them have moth-like wings.  Night Fairies take care of the forest or desert, or wherever they live.  But of course, they take care of it at night.  Since some of these Fairies live in places with fireflies, the Night Fairies often have friendships or partnerships with fireflies.  Fireflies are also called lightning bugs.  

A male firefly flashes his light and the female responds with her own flashes.  There are several species of fireflies.  Some will actually mimmic the flash patterns of another species.  I am not sure why they would do that.  

Fireflies have what is called bioluminescence which is a living thing that can light up the dark.  Some deep sea animals have this ability.  There is even bioluminescent algae.  Of course those algae live near the surface since they need sunlight.  

Shannon the Fairy with a Unicorn Foal

Fairy Shannon with Unicorn Foal

The Fairies are often friends with animals.  So it stands to reason, since Fairies are magical creatures themselves, that they would be particularly friendly with Unicorns.  After all, Unicorns are magical creatues as well.  This beautiful Fairy is caring for a young Unicorn foal.  

The female Fairy is drawn from the photo of my neighbor and her dog . . . She is the owner of Marley from the post  yesterday.  The Fairy is wearing an outfit made from leaves.  Or the outfit is made to look like leaves.  The Fairies have far more advanced technology than most mortal humans realize.  In fact, Fairies are generally only about 5 or so inches tall.  That would be 12.7 cm or so.  

Fairies have technology (that would look like magic to us) that allows them to change to mortal human size.  This Fairy is obviously not 5 inches tall.  She is basically babysitting the young unicorn foal. . . as a favor to the foal's parents.  In order to be able to babysit the Unicorn Foal successfully the Fairy changed to human mortal size.  

Unicorns are not just horses with horns.  They are actually sentient beings with a high human level of intelligence.  Fairies and Unicorns often live in the same areas and they are often on a first name basis.  

Bowerbirds

Bowerbirds

Bowerbirds are a unique family of birds from Australia and New Guinea.  The family of birds has 8 species in Australia and 10 species in New Guinea and 2 species live in both places.  The most striking characteristic is their courtship rituals.  The male Bowerbird makes a fancy bower to attaract a mate.  We were watching a show about urban wildlife and it showed a male Bowerbird building a bower to attract a mate.  Because he lived in an urban area. . . that means in a city. . . the male collected various colorful things.  This included a toy car and other manmade colorful things.  He decorated the front of his bower to attract a mate.  In the show...what he thought was a female showed up but it turned out to be an immature male.  And the interloper stole one of his bright objects.  

Notice the crest for display on the head of the mature adult male Bowerbird.  When a female shows up he picks up colorful things from the display and struts around to win over the female.  Here he has not yet picked up an item, but he IS displaying his colorful crest.  Different species of Bowerbirds have different colors of feathers and different kinds of crests.

NOTE:  This is another one of the Australian animals drawings I am doing in anticipation of our trip to Australia this summer.   Remember that printable versions of my drawings are found by clicking on the correct button up top.  Click on All Printables or on Animals and scroll down.  New drawings are at the bottom of the lists.  The photos before are from the TV show I mentioned.  I'd give it credit and name the show, but I don't remember the name of the documentary.  

Male Australian Bowerbird displaying Crest

Young male Bowerbird acting like a female

Marley the Borderdoodle Dog

Marley the Borderpoodle Dog

Marley is a Standard Poodle and Border Collie mix or Bordoodle.  One of his owners is here with him.  Her name is Shannon.  The dog has a sweet personality and is very enthusiastic about life.  He and his family live next door to us. 

The Bordoodle is also known as the Borpoo, Border Poodle, and Border Poo.  The designer breed is known for being intelligent, affectionate, and protective.  I have seen photos of Borderdoodles that are all white and black and white mixture.  I think it is probable that one of Marley's parents was a black standard poodle.  Marley is a dark gray or black color.  The other parent would have been a Border Collie.  Both breeds are very intelligent dogs.  In fact, Border Collies are often considered the most intelligent dog.  So, Borderdoodles must be very smart doggies. 

NOTE:  For a printable version go to Animals or All Printables button up top and scroll down.  New drawings are always at the end of the lists.  Click on the description of the drawing you want to color and prnt it.  Then I hope you or your kids enjoy coloring the drawing.  Thanks to Shannon for letting me photograph her and Marley and draw them.  

Koala in Gum Tree

Koala in Gum Tree

Koalas are an interesting animal that is from Australia.  They are one of few animals that can eat eucalyptus leaves as the majority of their diet.  A gum tree is a type of eucalyptus tree.  The leaves have a toxin in them.  But the koala has a slow metabolism and enzymes in its digestive system that break down the toxins.  Because their metabolism is so slow the eucalyptus leaves stay in there a long time and have time for the enzymes to break up the toxins.  Koalas are thought to live between 13 and 18 years.  The young are preyed upon by dingoes, owls, eagles and pythons.  The males generally do not have any natural predator except perhaps a dingo, IF the adult koala were caught on the ground.  

Koalas sleep most of the time.  In fact, they sleep like 22 hours a day.  The sleep up in the trees.  A adult male koala weighs around 26 lbs or 11.8 kg in the southern region.  They are smaller in the north.  .   . at 14.3 lbs or 6.8 kg.  The koalas in the south are more heavily furred.  The baby koalas are only .5 grams or about 1/58 of an oz. when they are born.  The newborn baby koala is about the size of a bee.  After they are born they crawl around to mommy's pouch to continue to develop.  One more stat is that adults are between 2 and 3 feet long or 60 to 85 cm long.  

 Artist's Note:  If you want this animal to look realistic look it up online.  But I will also tell you that the nose and eyes should be colored black. . . IF you want it realistic.  Also, remember that printable vesions of the drawing are found by clicking the correct buttons up top.  .  . either click on the Animals button or All Printables.  The new drawings are found down at the bottom of the list.  I am drawing several Australian animals over the next few weeks.  We are coming there this summer on an Outback Tour.   We are very exctied to come see Australia! 

20,000 Hits!

20,000 HITS!

Today, or perhaps a day or two ago. . . this blog reached 20,000 hits from countries all over the world!  This is very exciting to me.  Thank you to all of you who have visited this free coloring pages blog.  I hope many children and adults, all over the world, are enjoying coloring my drawings.  

Doing this blog is not always easy.  I am rathe severely handicapped with a tracheotomy T-Tube stent, embedded mesh that cuts my trachea nearly constantly, and a very bad heart.  I am grateful that so many people are visiting my blog.  It helps give me more meaning to my life since my health stopped me from continuing to teach Science.  So I will be posting today several of my past drawings that I think were some of my best.  I hope you enjoy coloring them.  Remember that the printable versions of drawings on found by clicking on the buttons up top.  The older drawings are further up the list and the newer ones are at the bottom of the lists.  The All Printables button should have all the drawings.  I will start by reposting the drawing I did today of a mother wallaby and her Joey.  

Wallaby and Joey

3 Cat Humanoids

African Elephant on the Serengeti

Tyrannosaurus rex vs Triceratops horridus

Fairy Laurentia with Box Elder Beetle

Bald Eagle flying over Southeast Alaska

Buckskin Horse with realistic eyes

Jesus in the Americas

Joseph Smith near Nauvoo Temple

Brontomerus defending her Young

Jesus went up into a Mountain

Dilong

Chloe Kim snowboarding Trick

Coelophysis at Oasis

Wallaby and Joey

Hello everyone. . . sorry for not posting or reposting Saint Patrick's Day drawings. . . but I have been really sick.  Its just a cold, but it is a bad one.
For those of you who are reading this from Australia. . . WE ARE COMING TO VISIT!  We just  booked our airline tickets today!   We are going to do an Outback Bus Tour from Adilaide to Darwin.   We are coming this summer!  We are also going to visit Sydney.  We would really love to go see the Irwin's zoo but we probably can't manage to do that.  We are very excited to come see your wonderful country! 

In honor of this I drew a wallaby today.   The wallaby (for anyone who does not know) is a close relative to kangaroos.  The wallaby is smaller.  There are several species of wallaby.  The smallest is the Dwarf Wallaby.  They are only 46 cm from nose to tail and mass in at around 1.6 kg.  So they measure at around 18 inches long and weigh only 3.5 lbs.

The bigger wallaby species can grow to 1.8 meters long or up to 6 feet long.  There are perhaps 30 different species incluing two species that are called hare wallabies. All wallaby species are smaller than any of the kangaroo species. 

The wallaby are hunted for both fur and meat.  Two species are actually endangered.  The wallaby in this drawing is from a photo of a mommy taking a break and sitting down as her joey peaks out of the pouch.  Did you know that when the joey is born it is tiny, pink, and hairless.  After it is born the tiny newborn crawls and crawls over and through mommy's fur over to the pouch and continues to develop there.   Anmals that have pouches like this are called marsupials.

Wallaby with Joey

Fairy Couple Meet

Fairy Couple Meets

When a female Fairy meets a Male Fairy she puts her hand on his chest.  If he is a friend he will take her arm or hand in his.  This is a way of saying hello.  As I have said before, Fairies can turn full mortal size. . . or human size.  These two are mortal size when they met.  We don't know a lot about it, but Fairies are often telepathic with each other so while we might see this greeting, we do not know what is being said to each other telepathically.  

By the way, Faires exist in most countries.  They are often of the same race as the local mortals or humans.  They do not always stay in one place though.  Fairies can travel through magical portals to other Fairy villages anywhere in the world.  Because of this, some Fairies live in Montana who may have been born in Africa.  Other Fairies life in Africa who were born in Upstate New York.

Because of this emmigration and immigration the Fairy population has a lot of intermarrying.  A male Fairy from Mexico may marry a female Fairy from Spain or Italy.  This kind of intermarrying also occurs from time to time with mortals.  But a mortal who marries a fairy gets some of the Fairy characteristics.  For example, I know of a male mortal who married a female Fairy and he soon could communicate with her telepathically.  Fairy society understands genetics and so they encourage intermarriage between Fairies from different places and with mortals.  This prevents a stagnant gene pool.

 Fairy population is far less in numbers than mortal population so a stagnant gene pool could easily become a problem.  Many Fairy children come from these marriages of parents from different countries.  One advantage is that the young Fairies are often raised multi-lingual.  They know Latin, the original Fairy language, and the languages of both their parents. 

As far a Fairy dress, some, like both of these, prefer natural clothing that mimmics the environment.  Other Fairies wear less traditional clothing.  They have the technology to make many kinds of fabric.  

Galleonosaurus and Aussiedraco coloring page Both ancient animals from Australia

Galleonosaurus and Aussiedraco

Galleonosaurus was an ornithopod dinosaur from the early Cretaceous Period.  It lived on the supercontinent called Gondwanna in what is now Australia.  At the time the supercontinent was rifting or splitting apart.  So there was a rift valley between what is now Antarctica and Australia.  So perhaps it lived between Australia and Antarctica but also on both continents.   This dinosaur was a herbivore.  It ate plants.  It was about 6 feet or 1.8 meters long and roughly the size of a wallaby.  That would be between 9 and 12 lbs. . . or 4 to 5.4 kg.  The unusual name is because the piece of jaw that was found looked like an old galleon ship from thousands of years ago.  

The Pterosaur was also from the early Cretaceous of Australia.  It has a cool name.  It is called Aussiedraco.  It had a wingspan of 11 feet or 3.35 meters.  

Samson brings down the Philistine Temple of Dagon

Samson brings down the Temple of Dagon

Samson was one of the Judges in Israel, before the reign of kings started.  The Judge named Samson was a Nazerine so he never cut his hair and was blessed with incredible strength.  He slew many of the Children of Israel's enemies, the Philistines.  

After 20 years of being a judge, Samson hooked up with a treacherous Philistine woman, named Delilah   Delilah got Samson to give away the secret of his hair never being cut.  So when he was asleep she had Philistine men cut his hair.  Samson lost his strength.  

The Pilistines took him captive and put his eyes out.  They made him grind grain in prison.  He was in prison for a while and his hair grew back.  The Philistine leaders decided to have a great celebration and had Samson brought in to make sport of him.  But they put him between the pillars.   

Then Samson prayed to God.  I think Samson had repented of his sins while in prison.  When he prayed, while standing between the pillars, Samson said,  "O LOrd God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once,O God, that I may be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.  

Then Samson took hold of both pillars and said, "Let me die with the Philistines!"  And he pulled or pushed the pillars over.  They were the main supports for the roof and the Temple of  Dagon collapsed and killed 3,000 of the Philistines, including many of their rulers.  

Artist Note:  There was once some Archaelogical thought that Dagon was a Philistine God of Fish.  He was portrayed sometimes, anyway, as a merman.  Hence the wall carving of Dagon as a merman in my drawing.  More recent interpretation by modern archaeologists infer that Dagon may not have been a fish god.  I based my coloring page drawing on a painting of Samson I found on the Internet, however, I do not know the name of the painter.  I researched the idea of Dagon as a fish god, so that part I added myself.  One final note. . . I just noticed that the wall sculpture of Dagon looks like he is trying to stop the pillar from falling.  If he is trying to keep Samson from knocking his temple down, he's going to fail.  

Batalla de Velociraptor y Protoceratops

Velociraptor vs Prortoceratops

Uno de los hallazgos de fósiles más famosos de todos los tiempos se encontró en el desierto de Gobi. También fue un desierto en el Cretácico. El hallazgo fue de una especie de presa llamada Protoceratops en batalla con la especie depredadora Velociraptor. Finalmente, durante su lucha, debieron haberse topado con una duna de arena húmeda y se derrumbó sobre ellos. Los dinosaurios fueron suficientes y murieron en la mitad de la batalla. De hecho, Protoceratops está mordiendo el antebrazo de Velociraptor y parece que Velociraptor ha estado arañando la parte inferior de Protoceratops.

Con el tiempo la carne se pudrió pero los huesos fueron reemplazados con minerales. . . y la duna de arena solidificada y cementada para formar arenisca. Los huesos fosilizados son una instantánea de una antigua batalla entre dinosaurios que vivían en el desierto. El desierto probablemente recibió lluvias monzónicas que empaparon la duna de arena y las dunas de arena húmeda son muy inestables. Así que cuando los dinos chocaron con ella, la duna colapsó. En mi dibujo puedes ver que la parte superior de la duna de arena se está volviendo inestable. Hay lluvia y nubes oscuras en la distancia para mostrar que las lluvias monzónicas estaban ocurriendo en el momento de esta batalla. . . o tal vez ya había llovido y la duna era muy inestable.

Velociraptor vs Protoceratops

Velociraptor vs Protoceratops

(New drawing so printable version is at the bottom of the correct list.)

One of the most famous fossil finds of all time was found in the Gobi Desert.  It was a desert in the Cretaceous Period too.  The find was of a prey species called Protoceratops in battle with the predator species Velociraptor.  Eventually, during their fight , they must have bumped into a wet sand dune and it collapsed on them.  The dinosaurs were sufficated and died in mid battle.  In fact, Protoceratops is biting the forearm of Velociraptor and Velociraptor appears to have been clawing the underside of the Protoceratops.  

Over time tthe flesh rotted but the bones were replaced with minerals. . . and the sand dune solidified and cemented to form sandstone.  The fossilized bones are a snapshot of an anciet battle between to dinosaurs who lived in the desert.  The desert probably got monsoon rains that soaked that sand dune and wet sand dunes are very unstable.  So when dinos bumped into it, the dune collapsed.  In my drawing you can see that the top of the sand dune is becoming unstable.  There is rain and dark clouds in the distance to show that monsoon rains were happening at the time of this battle.  .   . or maybe the rain had already happened and made the dune very unstable.  

Velociraptor in the Desert

(This is an older drwing so it is in printable form further up the list.  

The lists are found under the buttons at the top of the page.)

Velociraptor was about the size of a modern domesticated.  It was about 3 feet tall and around 6 feet long.  In metrics, that is about 1 meter tall and 1.8 meters long.  Velociraptor weighed about 33 lbs.   . . . or around 15 kg.  If you liked the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies then you know that their Velociraptor was way too big.  However, when the first Jurassic Park movie was being filmed in California and other places. . . out in Utah REAL paleontologists found a much larger raptor dinos that was named Utahraptor.  Utahraptor IS the correct size for the movie raptors.  One other thing,  more recente evidence. . . than when the first Jurassic Park movie was made.... indicates that Velociraptor and all the Cretaceous raptors were almost certainly feathered.  So Velociraptor was the size of a turkey and looked a bit like a roadrunner. 

Protoceratops

(This is also an older drawing so it will be at the bottom of the Mesozoic Era 

part of the Paleontology list.  It will also be further up on the All Printables list.

By the way. . . I think my drawing skills have improved a lot over the last couple of years.)

Protoceratops was and early species of Ceratoposian dinosaur.  It was about the size of a sheep.  It wieghed around 390 lbs or 180 kg...and was only about 6 feet or 1.8 meters long.  My guess is that the battle scene that was captured in sandstone was of an adult Velociraptor and a sub-adult Protoceratops.  

The fossil can be seen at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, USA.

Velociraptor in the Gobi Desert

A Salute to Dinotopia Human kids with a baby Tricertops

Triceratops Calf and Kids. . . an Homage to Dinotopia

Dinotopia was a book and a movie or / and TV show about a place that had dinosaurs living with people.  Many species of dinosaurs were tame and harnessed to work, kind of like modern Asian elephants.  

At the Museum of Anicient Life in Lehi, Utah, USA there is a statue of a baby Triceratops that my grandkids were playing on last week.  I took a few photos and this drawing was inspired by those photos, alothough my grandkids are much cuter than these kids in the drawing.  In my drawing, I placed the kids and the baby Triceratops in an outdoor setting.   The real stature is located inside the museum.  In fact, it is in the Cretaceous Room with a couple of T. rex fighing over a kill.  Those two T. rex are actually looming over the statue of the Triceratops calf.  

The printable version of this drawing will be under the Paleontology button and of course the All Printables button.  The buttons are at the top of the page.  The new drawings, like this drawing, are found on the bottom of the correct list.  

Austroposeidon o maior dinossauro do Brasi

Austroposeidon

O Austroposeidon foi um dos Titanossauros. Mas não foi da Argentina como muitos dos outros titanossauros sul-americanos. Vivia no que hoje é o Brasil. Estima-se que tenha 82 pés ou 25 metros de comprimento. Ele provavelmente pesava entre 28 e 58 toneladas métricas. Isso é 31 a 64 toneladas curtas.

Este dinossauro era menor que os outros gigantescos saurópodes sul-americanos conhecidos. Ainda. . . era enorme. Era muito maior do que qualquer animal terrestre conhecido hoje. Para comparação, o Patagotitan foi possivelmente de 69 toneladas métricas ou 76 toneladas curtas. 76 toneladas curtas seriam 152.000 libras ou 68.946 kg.

O argentinossauro era possivelmente menor que o patagotitano.

A árvore cycad que está prestes a ser comida, no desenho acima, teria que ser muito alta. . . isso, ou o dinossauro é um adolescente. Mais uma coisa, o pterossauro no desenho acima também é da América do Sul e também do período cretáceo. É chamado de Aerotitan.

Os desenhos abaixo são desenhos mais antigos, então eles estão mais acima nas listas de printables. A propósito, o botão Paleontologia   (Paleontology) e o botão Todos os Imprimíveis  (All Printables)   lhe fornecerão as versões imprimíveis dos desenhos

Patagotitan mayorum the Biggest Dinosaur

                                               (Patagotitan mayorum o maior dinossauro)

Argentinosaurus at Nesting Site

                                                  (Argentinosaurus no local de nidificação)

Hada del desierto y hada del árbol

hada del desierto

Las hadas del desierto viven en el desierto. Tienen magia que puede hacer un túnel en una casa de roca sólida.

hada del árbol 

Las hadas de los árboles también se llaman dríadas. Protegen su árbol o todo el bosque.

Creo que la belleza viene en todos los tamaños, formas y razas.