Jeremiah Drewel, a geology student at the University of Alaska writes, “This is my personal favorite Deinonychus!”
Carl: Deinonychus holds a special place in the history of paleontology. Its remains were first discovered in 1931 in Montana, but for decades they languished, unstudied, at the American Museum of Natural History. In the 1960s Yale paleontologist John Ostrom discovered a wealth of new fossils from the same species and began to contemplate what the animal was like in real life. At the time, dinosaurs were still widely considered to be sluggish scaly lumps. But Ostrom argued that Deinonychus was for more active, able to keep its stiffened tail straight out behind its body. He argued that they may have even been warm-blooded. Ostrom also noticed a number of similarities in Deinonychus’s skeleton and those of birds. He revived an old theory that birds are dinosaurs, and argued they were closely related to Deinonychus. It’s a connection now almost universally accepted by paleontologists.Deinonychus changed the way we see birds, but birds have also changed the way we see Deinonychus. Many relatives of Deinonychus–non-flying dinosaurs–show evidence of primitive feathers. Velociraptor, a close relative of Deinonychus, had what look like quill knobs on its bones. It’s plausible that Deinonychus itself was covered in feathers of some sort as well, which it might have used to attract mates. Depending on what paleontologists discover in years to come, Jeremiah may need to get re-inked.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
The quality of work is spectacular! It almost tempts me to get a tattoo. Almost.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
WOW! Where did you get this done?!?!
March 30th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
This is a truly excellent tattoo, and a subject close to my heart: Deinonychus was always one of my faves (that big toe claw!).
I was disappointed that Jurassic Park chose to spotlight Velociraptor instead…
Who is the tattoo artist?
April 8th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
amazing!!!!
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Incredible.
I am actually lost for words, having just been doing research for my next dinosauria tattoo and coming over this, made my day.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
This is one of the most gorgeous tattoos I have ever seen. You have one of the best artists in the world. That’s simply incredible.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Beautiful depiction of the sunlight coming through the trees! Gorgeous work.
May 19th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
That is just beautiful! What great craftmanship!
I just loooove black & grey tattoos!
September 7th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Please! Who is the artist and what shop are they based at? This is a phenomenal piece of art! I am looking for someone to do my next tattoo!
October 3rd, 2008 at 5:24 am
who in the name of jesus is the artist?
October 10th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Incredible artwork! So, who is the artist?
December 15th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Whoo did this tattoo , the name of the artist would be nice.
December 30th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
The artist is Reed Leslie at the Hole Look in Anchorage, AK
February 13th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Well done, Reed Leslie. I usually don’t like shading but this is amazing.
February 14th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
that is an amazing tat! honestly one of the best i have ever seen
February 18th, 2009 at 12:17 am
Check out the jungle scene sleeve he did.
February 23rd, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Holy smokes, that’s really beautiful. Thanks for sharing the artist’s name! Nicest piece of work I’ve seen in a loooooong time!
May 5th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
the most incredible tattoo and well done that I have ever seen! congratulations!