vondell-swain:

like you see a whale evolution timeline and you’re like oh cool, but when you actually take time to think about it it’s so CRAZY

this is the first lil guy on that chart, Indohyus

a lil furry raccoon-sized thing that lived mostly in the water but was in all other respects a relatively normal mammal

after 48 million years its descendants ended up as the modern whales we have right now

which is

nuts

i love it

the thing that’s really interesting to me is, like

it didn’t take the whole 48 million years to end up at something recognizably cetacean

it only took like ten million years

evolution is slow but it can be so FAST

exquisitebeast:

Number 9. The beast is getting taller, and its flap/fin things are larger and extend like a canopy. Both the mid legs and the back false-legs split into separate limbs now. So far the trend has been almost entirely towards increasing complexity, which is getting to be a little ridiculous and unsustainable, from a design perspective! We’re both curious about what directions we can take this to keep it going…

Some cool new drawings of evolutions out of our previous beasts: here, here, and here.

My favorite evolutionary step of the exquisite beast so far.