Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week

Darren Naish, the silent third partner in SV-POW!, alerted me to this piece by palaeoartist Steve White:

In his own words, this piece is “Not what I set to do but was an interesting excercise”.

I for one am glad it came out the way it did!

I’m loving the gnarliness of the necks. Yes, it’s overdone — but it’s a much-needed corrective to the long-established habit of artists depicting sauropod necks as tubes.

(For more on the palaeobiological hypothesis that Steve’s artwork is illustrating, see the BRONTOSMASH! index.)