A reconstruction of the biotope of Sansan (Miocene, Gers, France)

[archeo]

Let's try to reconstruct the heads of some Chalicotheres.

 

The skull of Anisodon grande is not well known, but the back is like that of a Tapir and the front is like that of a Horse.

 

Let's deform the front to match the proportion of the skull.

 

Anisodon grande must have looked like that

 

 

Anisodon macedonicum is best known (Bonis, 1995).

The front of the

 

skull seems deformed, let's put the upper teeth parallel to the lower teeth

 

deform Anisodon grande to adapt it to the skull of Anisodon macedonicum

 

 

 

We can do that again with Moropus elatus

 

The 3 very diferent heads of Chalicotherins

 

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by archeo

[archeo]

The différent ways to reconstruct the hand of Anisodon (here the left hand).

A- Plantigrade (Filhol, 1891), when walking the claws could be raised (see gutters of the second phalanx joints) so as not to wear them out.

B- Digitigrade (Holland & Peterson, 1913), on the Moropus model, problem: the metatarsals are not of the same length and all the fingers are not resting on the ground.

C- Knuckle-walking, great ape style (illustration by Zapfe, 1976)

D- Knuckle-walking on the outside of the hand, anteater style (illustration in Tito & Iuliis, 2003, after Zapte, 1979), compatible with the fact that the hand makes a 45° angle with the forearm as in many Xenarthres (Tito & Iuliis, 2003).

 

NNehring / Getty Images

Edited June 21, 2023 by archeo

[archeo]

The reconstuction of Anisodon is on hold, I await to receive the complete description of Zapte.
In the meantime here is the current state of the reconstructions

[archeo]

The "Surfaçus platform" of the MNHN of Paris was kind enough to let me access the surface scans files of Archaeobelodon of the paleontological gallery. So I was able to make some corrections on my 3D model. First of all it is obvious that the skull is very deformed at the level of the nostrils (A, B C). So I  applied a retrodeformation to correct it (D). The defenses of the lower jaw were incorrectly inserted into the bone during the reconstruction. We can clearly see the limit of the root (E). Their length, in this way, was greatly exaggerated. After these corrections (F) we obtain a slightly different animal with in particular smaller feet (G, H).

 

[archeo]

That's it, I received it, the illustrations are wonderful, as we don't do anymore. Bones are drawn in all planes. I started with a preparatory work of reconstruction of the skeleton. There are still uncertainties about the width of the rib cage.

 

[Mahnmut]

That looks quite promising!

You seem to have locyted much better references than I did.

I made my Chalicotherium using one skeletal drawing and some museum fotographs for the feet.

Using those, I lattice-deformed horse and rhino bone scans in blender, building the claws from scratch.

Interestingly, the width of the ribcage is the aspect of my version that I doubt the most (not surprising as I mainly used a profile view).

So I understand not even Zapfe gives a top-down view of the ribcage?

Can you use drawings of single ribs to construct the ribcage?

Best Regards,

J

[archeo]

No Zapfe does not give a front view of the rib cage (we only know it in the state of isolated ribs). There are many copies on the Paris specimen, I used their curves to estimate the dimensions of the cage seen from the front. For the pelvis it was easier: Zapfe gives a front view of the pelvis and the Paris specimen has a complete pelvis.

[archeo]

Using surface scan of the fossil in Paris Museum, I have extracted the hind limb zone (on right) and I have reconstructed them (on left).

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by archeo

[archeo]

Finally I reconstructed the whole skeleton and added the muscles, for these there are still modifications to be made.

 

[archeo]

The 3D model with scale (scale bars 2 m)

 

[archeo]

Finally I added bones and hair on top of the muscles