55 million years old lizard that’ll eat you for breakfast! Crocodile Illustration

by Daniel Mackie December 05, 2011

Crocodiles are about 55 million years old, They live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. They are the survivors, the closest thing to a dinosaur you will see that is Alive! Sea turtles are an older spices, they have been around for about 150 Million years, but they don’t really have the same kind of threatening menace that a crocodile does. Crocodiles look like they belong in the primeval soup and given the chance they will drag you in there with them and have you for diner with a nice leg of wildebeest for desert.

The word crocodile comes from the Ancient Greek κροκόδιλος (crocodilos), “lizard,” used in the phrase ho krokódilos ho potamós, “the lizard of the (Nile) river.”

The American Crocodile is considered threatened Due to hide hunting, pollution, loss of habitat, and removal of adults for commercial farming, it is endangered in parts of its range. In 1972, Venezuela banned commercial crocodile skin harvesting for a decade, as a result of 1950s and 1960s overhunting.

The Siamese crocodile Classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List

The Crocodile is an Icon of how life can prevail. At the end of the Eocene period from which it is first recognised to have come from (56-35 Million years ago) there was a massive extinction event called Grande Coupure or the “Great Break”. It caused widespread extinctions and isolated may spices forcing them to evolve. The crocodile Came through unscathed.

This is the start of an illustration of a crocodile. I’ve nearly finished the drawing , soon on with the watercolour.
Drawing of a crocodile in progress
images © Daniel Mackie




Daniel Mackie
Daniel Mackie

Author



Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.


Also in News / Work in progress / Mythology

Kingfisher - Halcyon Days

by Daniel Mackie March 12, 2021

In Greek mythology, Halcyone and Ceyx were lovers who incurred the wrath of the god Zeus by mocking him and his wife. Angered, Zeus killed Ceyx.

Read More

Belling The Cat- Aesop's Fable

by Daniel Mackie December 30, 2020

Ideas are nothing, execution is everything.
Belling the Cat is a fable first recored in the 12th ceuntry. A group of mice debate plans to neutralise the threat of a marauding cat. One of them has an idea of placing a bell around its neck, so that they will be warned of its approach. The others applaud the plan, until one mouse asks who will volunteer to place the bell on the cat. All of them make excuses!

Read More

Tiger in Buckinghamsire!

by Daniel Mackie June 14, 2020

This is Mack's Tiger. It was part of a school project based on my work and a theme of animals in the natural habitat.  Mack created this on Procreate on his mums iPad

Read More