#Speculative Biology

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

All the dragons from the HTTYD stream. Detailed images below.

The designs from the original movie are basically perfect, which is why I didn't really dare to touch them... until a certain trailer dropped recently.

I'm a spiteful creature.

Anyway. Some ground rules. I tried to make these creatures overall a little bit more realistic and grounded without robbing them of the inherent whimsy that the originals had. All of them are tetrapods, so only 4 limbs max.

Nightfury

These guys have no more functional limbs to move on the ground. They are living stealth bombers. Silent fast fliers.

On the ground they flop around similar to seals, forming small colonies on top of tall cliffs.

Red Death

At a certain size it becomes unfeasible to fly for even a dragon. The Red Death stays on the ground using it's heavy armor and enormous size when raiding other dragon nesting colonies. it'as wings are more like spurs, to injure rivals in combat.

Gronkle

The original had a hummingbird style in flying , something that doesn't work for an animal of this size. My compromise is to make the wings rather stout and being able to be folded a lot.

Nadder

Easiest design, take a unfeathered theropod and combine it with a bearded dragon.

Shellfire

This was the last one I made on stream, it is one of the (in my eyes) worst designs from the shows, so a nice challenge to make it work a little better.

This guy is now a filter feeder, using its large horns to funnel water into its mouth.

Zippleback

Multi-headed dragons are really tricky. In my design I made one of the heads a parasitic male, similar to angler fish, that hitches a ride on the back of the larger female.

Monstrous Nightmare

One of the most classic dragons from the original movie. Lots of crocodilian influence here. The osteoderms on its back have pores from which it produces flammable secretions.

Razorwhip

A fast an agile dragon, but the original doesn't really show that in the head shape and all these spines don't help. I put some tapejarid influence into it.

Rumblehorn

The massive neck of this dragon doesn't work well in terms of aerodynamics, unless it's an inflatable display structure ;)

Whispering Death

The giant maw of this dragon is an even greater challenge, but when you give it the gular pouch of a pelican eel and turn these eyes into eye-spots, it works quite well.

And of course the Terrible Terror!

As you can see it's in my case a close relative of the nadder.

[t34-mt]

alcoholic disco guy as a maanul kyhuine kim

when i like a media a lot i will draw altuyur versions

drawing in rebelle 7

[iguanodont]

Are there albino birgies?

A complete lack of pigmentation does sometimes occur in Birgs, yes!

Sentiments on complete albinism vary by culture; in kakroum clans, a pure white Birg is thought to occur when a cold draft allows a winter spirit to infect a larva. With a snow-ghost in their blood, they attract other spirits and may be agents of misfortune. Southern clans view them in a more positive light, embracing them as born interpreters of weather omens carried on the wind.

Heartland Twowi find them somewhat less uncanny, as large white patches are already a common phenotype in the region. Folk wisdom based on a centuries old practice of fate reading in spots would suggest that they are blank slates, their futures uncertain because the gods didn’t bother to mark them at all.

[styllwaters]

Finished full scene commission for @brothermanwill depicting a Wyvara parent and their child on a seaside foraging trip. ___

Ko-fi

[bedrockfactory]

Using some references of real animals skulls, I have finally figured out how would a Tharr skull look like! They have a very strong bite force, around 1100 psi, which is comparable to a hyena's bite.

[paleo-yappology]

Today’s Spec art part 2

[radiotheradio]

…. If you are a scared PREY ANIMAL, however… yeah killing everything in the fucking vicinity when there’s no where to run or hide might make sense, depending on species.

speculative biology/fantasy/fictionalized large predators that kill indiscriminately and don't eat what they kill drive me up the fucking wall. it is so, so dangerous and exhausting to be a large predator. you don't want to get into a fight, you don't want to exert too much energy, because if you fuck up you can die. and once you manage to kill something, you eat it. you don't go and kill the rest of the herd, you scare off the rest of the herd and eat the thing you killed until something scares you off.

did you know tigers only have a 10% success rate as hunters? TIGERS.

[bazookaboi]

Background practice, featuring two Ivilitium aerius.

Probably somewhere in Colorado.

I didn’t give this much thought or time because the weird-ass artblock variant that I have had for… 2 months or so now isn’t letting my mind advance.

I could definitely do better. I must do better! The background only took me 2 hours and 40 minutes.

[grox-empire]

A Scarlithian having a nice stroll on a hot desert day.

Scarlithians are owned by Scarbine on Bluesky! Go check her stuff out

[wanderingokali]

Okalivember day 25, swamp dwellers!

The stout floodplain nudel lives in areas that see seasonal flooding. They take advantage of the ephemeral pools of water, free of fish or other large predators, to lay their eggs.

The motamiro, while most closely related to typical meadow flowers, has evolved to grow underwater, in the murky pools of swamps. It only blooms very rarely, when its pollinator, a type of biting insect, reaches a peak in population density.

The pale four-spotted evpili is a very specialized flower, only growing in bogs meeting its very particular soil requirements. That said, when those conditions are met, they thrive and bloom for almost the whole year.

[yee-qi]

not if the catfish continues its trademark gluttony! i bet they’d chase after slimes to pick up the passengers after they’re dropped off with their great sense of smell/taste, or use their spines to drain the slime….

commensalism between slime monsters and certain varieties of fish

[t34-mt]

kimhuine, kim as a kyhuine alcoholic maanul here

[kaijuthespacemaniraptorian]

Talioth Skeleton

my very first monster hunter skeleton, it was quite the challenge but im happy with how it turns out, i started it 3 day ago and i used multiple parave skeletons for references as i think Talioth is a basal parave wyvern, not sure who its closely related to but i think its a basal wyvern!

[t00thpasteface]

here's something stupid: the catcatfish

some quick facts:

they're nocturnal and tend to roam around while awake.

they have keen senses of smell and hearing, but terrible eyesight. despite this, they also have a tapetum lucidum, making their pupils "glow" in the dark.

their fur is short, dense, and oily to waterproof them.

they prefer a diet of mostly meat and are attracted to strong-smelling food like fish, cheese, and anything fermented.

the elongated dewclaw on each front paw is sharp, flexible, and nonretractable. it injects a venom that causes respiratory failure and cardiac arrest in prey and, in extreme doses, humans. veterenarians typically remove the dewclaw venom glands during the neuter/spay procedure.

they grow to an average of 1m and 23kg (3ft and 50lb) but can reach up to double that length and triple the weight!

[lylahammar]

My take on unicorns! I'd really love to make a mythical creature field guide someday, since the Spiderwick Field Guide is what inspired me to start drawing in the first place 🥰