evolved to wonder

I’m smitten by the central concept of Yuko Ota and Evan Dahm’s speculative evolution project, The Exquisite Beast.  Starting with one of Evan’s creations, the two are taking turns envisioning the next phase of the creature along a single line of evolutionary development.  Yuko has encouraged others to start their own Beast projects (which I’m totally up for!), but for now I’ve whipped up my own successor to Beast #6.

I liked the idea of the Beast moving towards something arboreal, but it seemed too clumsy and bulky to be found swinging about in the treetops, so I went half way and considered a feeding strategy similar to an elephant — using its weight and prehensile forelimbs to bend down branches or pull down small trees.  It’s too much of a leap for the forelimbs to have acquired a skeletal structure already, but I did make them more muscular and defined (more limb-like than tentacle-like), with an inner cartilaginous structure supporting the underside of the ‘forearm’ up to the claws.  Its vegetarian diet necessitated a better-defined lower jaw for chewing, and the stalk eyes have receded further toward the skull.