Critters 22: Thylocosmilus by @VioletWhirlwind (Violet Whirlwind)

Old stuff first.

Ok...so it USED to be real. It's still going in fantasy, because it's been Critter-ized, and it lives in my fantasy world (one of them anyway...:P)

Yes. This strange-looking thing really lived. And it's actually NOT a feline. It's actually a prehistoric sabre-toothed marsupial called Thylacosmilus. (dunno how to spell that, but it's a fun word anyway) I think...from what I read, though it may still be related to the thylacine, it actually lived in South America when it was still isolated from North America, and therefore had marsupials.

The inspiration for this came from both the actual creature that I remember reading about, and from a dream I had, where it was discovered alive or something. (actually, the dream started with me discovering a living thylacine, but then I realized, within the dream, Waitaminute...thylacines have stripes...this thing has SPOTS. Therefore, after waking up, I decided to draw this as a thylacosmilus. My brain is strange. :p Thos spots on it came DIRECTLY from the dream...alignment and all. {well, the main side ones anyway...}) And, yes, this creature really DID have those wacky bone sheaths for it's sabers, apparently...at least from my limited knowledge of it.

image (c) Violet Whirlwind