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gonna change my major to whatever gives me the best chance at landing a job as a screaming flaming skull that attacks people in dungeons

Dodo from Naturstudien Rudolfs II (collection of drawings by various artists employed by the Emperor, a.o. Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Jacopo Ligozzi, Joris Hoefnagel, Daniel Fröschl, Hans Verhagen et al. Praha, 16th century).

Source: Österreichisches National Bibliothek (Call No. Cod. Min. 42, online: http://data.onb.ac.at/rep/10009912)

this sketch is so interesting, because it matches the colouration of the Dodo in a painting by Mughal artist Ustad Mansur, circa 1625, in which he possibly referenced a live specimen

with the exception of the mysterious bottom-left ducks, the other birds pictured (Blue-crowned hanging parrot, Western tragopan, Painted sandgrouse) all have their complex colours/patterns accurately depicted, which lends credence to this being a reliable dodo depiction. 

there are also similarities to the famous Dodo painted by C. Edwards from a dead specimen in the late 1620′s - the dark bill with the blue underside, the white eyes, the black head and countershaded body, and the lighter wing feathers 

a very different colouration from what you typically see in museum reconstructions & pop culture, where dodos are show as grey/white with light faces

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Somewhere lost in the clouded annals of history lies a place that few have seen - a mysterious place called the Unknown, where long forgotten stories are revealed to those who travel through the wood.

OVER THE GARDEN WALL (2014)