Fanciful Creatures

[Chip]

My favorite sort of thread has a barely controlled randomness. That being whatever delightful thing pops into your head.

The focus, broad and perhaps fuzzy, is animals: actual, mythical, imaginary, allegorical, and so forth. . .

Three examples:

https://i.imgur.com/xueZpIT.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/7gyjVsk.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/3fMNiH1.jpg

[FredRydr]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/12/87/39/1287395cebf77046d0d4efb46b0773ab.jpg

[Chip]

I'll take a chronological approach, with a newly-discovered species of extinct felo-reptilian: the Kittysaurus.

https://i.imgur.com/BfmikxR.jpg

[FredRydr]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imrltd.tv%2Fpublic%2Ftitle-web-content-images%2F502%2FDINOTOPIA-NEW-HORIZONS-Banner_800x600.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

[Chip]

Happy Holidays!

https://i.imgur.com/S7B6hlE.jpg

[Chip]

https://i.imgur.com/Afw7Hym.jpg

When we visited Great Blasket Island, off the Dingle in Kerry, there were seals frolicking in the breaking waves. Kept my eye out for a wee selkie, but no luck.

https://i.imgur.com/ARdLAnZ.jpg

If you don't know what a selkie might be, here's a clue:

https://i.imgur.com/Mmr790N.jpg

[An old bloke]

https://i.imgur.com/Afw7Hym.jpg

When we visited Great Blasket Island, off the Dingle in Kerry, there were seals frolicking in the breaking waves. Kept my eye out for a wee selkie, but no luck.

https://i.imgur.com/ARdLAnZ.jpg

If you don't know what a selkie might be, here's a clue:

https://i.imgur.com/Mmr790N.jpg

There's a great Irish movie about the island and selkies. I can't remember the name of it, though.

[Chip]

There's a great Irish movie about the island and selkies. I can't remember the name of it, though.

Different island, Inishmore, but the film is wonderful.

https://i.imgur.com/l7qJtM7.jpg

There are quite a few traditional songs about selkies.

[An old bloke]

There's a great Irish movie about the island and selkies. I can't remember the name of it, though.

Different island, Inishmore, but the film is wonderful.

https://i.imgur.com/l7qJtM7.jpg

There are quite a few traditional songs about selkies.

Ah yes, that's the one. My late wife and I saw it not long after it first came out. That was too long ago to remember its name or the island's name.

[Pterodactylus]

There's a great Irish movie about the island and selkies. I can't remember the name of it, though.

Different island, Inishmore, but the film is wonderful.

https://i.imgur.com/l7qJtM7.jpg

There are quite a few traditional songs about selkies.

Ah yes, that's the one. My late wife and I saw it not long after it first came out. That was too long ago to remember its name or the island's name.

Good hint, do not know it yet.
Amazon Prime streams it, will take a look :)

[Chip]

Hope you like it. It's a sweet-natured film that treats a legend in a matter-of-fact way, free of hocus-pocus and CG awfulness.

Instead of thinking about Christmas, elves, reindeer, etc. I've been thinking about unicorns.

There are many images of the beast in artwork over the ages, leading up to the sparkly-pink kiddie verions of the present day.

One old story has it that the way to catch a unicorn is to take a virgin into the forest and have her wait, holding a mirror. When the unicorn approaches, it will be hypnotised by its mirror image.

https://i.imgur.com/pWyryL2.jpg

[christof]

https://live.staticflickr.com/7461/15780683818_94981583c5_b.jpg

my own interpretation of a therizinosaurus.

[Jon Szanto]

Lovely concept for the thread, Chip - thanks! Here's a drawing done by a friend of mine (with a fountain pen) when he found out I was happy with a new instrument:


https://scontent.fsan1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/241991766_4583173668372766_7227979045007235745_n.j pg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=ID-c6oii0VoAX-XNhhu&_nc_ht=scontent.fsan1-2.fna&oh=00_AT8Ax7GKIFd6v3kYxCdOg8wAnlGMsYOC7rFecOkJ1tkl yg&oe=61C53203

[An old bloke]

Lovely concept for the thread, Chip - thanks! Here's a drawing done by a friend of mine (with a fountain pen) when he found out I was happy with a new instrument:


https://scontent.fsan1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/241991766_4583173668372766_7227979045007235745_n.j pg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=ID-c6oii0VoAX-XNhhu&_nc_ht=scontent.fsan1-2.fna&oh=00_AT8Ax7GKIFd6v3kYxCdOg8wAnlGMsYOC7rFecOkJ1tkl yg&oe=61C53203

I smiled the instant I saw ths. It reminded me of my childhood and the great art that adorned children's books in the 1950s.

Your friend is truly a talent on the level of Beatrix Potter.

[Chip]

Jon– that is brilliant! Heaps of thanks.

[Chip]

Christof– Great drawing. Here's another phantasmagorical reptilian—

https://i.imgur.com/JBnxPML.jpg

[Chip]

More about the unicorn.

The Vikings sold and traded the tusks of the narwhal, an arctic sea mammal unknown in medieval Europe. The tusks were seen as proof of the existence of unicorns.

https://i.imgur.com/vjucb1u.jpg

"In all likelihood, the Vikings initially got the horn they traded from the Inuit, though they themselves would have hunted the whale for its horn as well. At one time, it is surmised that a Viking traded a horn with a European trader who assumed that it came from a unicorn, and thus the myth was born. As this whale lived only in the far north, the Vikings were able to exploit the legend of the unicorn and the belief that the narwhal’s horn held magical properties. By Medieval times, people firmly believed that unicorn horn had magical properties. It was said that a cup carved from unicorn horn would protect the person drinking from it; they could never be poisoned, as the cup neutralized any poison placed in it. The horn was also supposed to cure melancholia or depression."

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/03/21/the-vikings-sold-narwhal-tusks-as-unicorn-horns/

https://i.imgur.com/kQ12Rqu.jpg

[christof]

How about a Goldfink?

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51062689606_4196d92888_z.jpg

[christof]

...or the Groucho fish?

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49123472816_1c30ff1207_z.jpg

[Chip]

A favorite illustrator, Chiara Bautista, has done a series of imaginative unicorn drawings.

I make up stories to go with her drawings. Feel free—

https://i.imgur.com/3SEIjSx.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/5Hojp5s.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/2o0jJTs.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/sNJFSaS.jpg

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Couldn't find a picture of one but, apparently, men who listen to women are pretty fanciful (if not mythical). :)

[Chip]

Readers of Irish literature will be acquainted with M'asal Beag Dubh (My Little Black Ass) Tales by Padraic O'Conaire.

https://i.imgur.com/LkEsDZ3.jpg

So as not to give offence, I'll specify that in Ireland, an ass is a creature, while an arse is the hindpart of one.

I love the stories and was struck by a photo of a favourite writer, Brendan Behan, a jackeen from the North Dublin slums, in Connemara with a wee ass and baskets of turf, seemingly fresh off the bog. If you know anything about Behan's attitude towards the dear ould west, you'll get the joke: only look at the face on the man. . .

https://i.imgur.com/RUyyMZq.jpg

In that vein, here's a picture of two brothers we met in the abandoned village on Great Blasket Island, off the Dingle, Kerry:

https://i.imgur.com/efErc55.jpg

I christened them: The Wise Ass and The Smart Ass.

[Chip]

Couldn't find a picture of one but, apparently, men who listen to women are pretty fanciful (if not mythical). :)

Odysseus, tied to the mast, listening to the Sirens.

https://i.imgur.com/bM4BLAp.jpg

[Chip]

Having lived in or near wolf country for most of my adult life, and watched them in the wild, I'm fascinated by the species. Which accounts for my collection of wolf stuff from many sources. My primitive ancestors in what is now Europe were not only well-acquainted with wolves, but likely understood them in a way few of us do today.

https://i.imgur.com/yhst7tf.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/rlAdzUZ.jpg

Here's a cave drawing from the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, dated 6000 BP.

https://i.imgur.com/lhJhbtJ.jpg

[Chip]

Rock art depicting wolves is rare, compared to that showing prey species, human hunters. etc. Here's one from Mongolia showing a wolf pouncing on a caribou.

https://i.imgur.com/wzHwRDa.jpg

Perhaps recognising the family structure of the wolf pack, there are quite a few stories of chldren being nursed or reared by wolves, such as this bronze of Romulus and Remus, legendary twins who founded the city of Rome.

https://i.imgur.com/rZD4c6Q.jpg

Medieval depictions of wolves often portrayed them as demonic figures, bent on destroying humans and their settlements.

https://i.imgur.com/GYbWxO0.jpg

Here is a fairly accurate image of a wolf, on a renaissance tile.

https://i.imgur.com/QzgqXqZ.jpg

Among many legends about St. Francis of Assisi is one in which he seeks out the wolf that's terrorised the village of Gubbio and makes peace with him, calling him Brother.

https://i.imgur.com/0qbagME.jpg

[Chip]

Norse myths tell of a giant wolf, Fenrir, a demigod, so huge he could swallow the moon, causing an eclipse. He was a patron deity to the Viking raiders, who carried effigies such as this one found in Dublin, dated 9th-11th century.

https://i.imgur.com/bdoiwmf.jpg

Here's a modern carving of Fenrir, in the style of a Viking figurehead.

https://i.imgur.com/JjEap1t.jpg

[FredRydr]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fvignette3.wikia.nocookie.net%2Fmon ster%2Fimages%2F9%2F95%2FScreen_Shot_2015-12-29_at_00.09.16.png%2Frevision%2Flatest%3Fcb%3D2016 0201152327&f=1&nofb=1

[Chip]

One of our friends, an experienced outdoorsman and wildlife researcher, is convinced that Bigfoot exists.

https://wyofile.com/john-mionczynski/

I've spent lots of time in the wild, and have never seen any evidence.

[Chip]

A break from wolves and Bigfoot to celebrate Lá an Dreolín, the Wren's Day, an ancient Irish feast that coincides with St. Stephen's Day and also Boxing Day, when servants and tradespeople were given boxes of gifts, often cast-offs or unwanted Christmas presents.

https://i.imgur.com/6UK3bpF.jpg

In Irish tradition, the tiny wren is the King of Birds, and also a sacrifice to begin the new year.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-IXsN0ZldQ

In the Gaeltacht, Lá an Dreolín is a full-blown holiday, with parades and a dram or two taken.

https://i.imgur.com/Vl36d5h.jpg

Much ado about a wee bird, and a grand day to yez!

https://i.imgur.com/e5zH7Gx.jpg

[Chip]

In a recent NYer essay, Calvin Trillin mentioned one of his favorite news ledes, from an article that appeared in The Advocate of Baton Rouge on September 23, 2019. If the function of a lede is to engage the reader, this one seems remarkably effective. Here it is:

A veterinarian prescribed antibiotics Monday for a camel that lives behind an Iberville Parish truck stop after a Florida woman told law officers she bit the 600 pound animal’s genitalia after it sat on her when she and her husband entered its enclosure to retrieve their deaf dog.

https://i.imgur.com/kpeGgsh.jpg

[Chip]

The idea of being brought up by wolves or partnering with them seems to be deeply embedded in our lore. Recent (as opposed to ancient) versions include Mowgli in Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book (as rendered by Disney).

https://i.imgur.com/1BtTXdE.jpg

Some humans have wolvish features, such as fangs, ears, and tails.

https://i.imgur.com/U7Yup1H.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/GFVn0Kt.jpg

Other versions show humans keeping company with wolves or even riding them.

https://i.imgur.com/TiHNww6.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/qMoVEVy.jpg

One well-known version is The Princess Mononoke, the anime by Hayao Miyazaki.

https://i.imgur.com/yYouyx8.jpg

[Chip]

More wolf stuff.

There are many tales of warriors disguising themselves with the pelts of wolves to sneak up on enemies.

https://i.imgur.com/wTrIMc5.jpg

The use of wolf pelts as headgear, capes, etc. to imply savagery and stealth was also pretty common.

https://i.imgur.com/IjTGlFo.jpg

The opposite sort of disguise, the wolf in sheep's clothing, is more a figure of speech than a possibility.

https://i.imgur.com/hMysrDt.jpg

Even so, the characterizing of wolves in human dress and roles seems to strike a chord.

https://i.imgur.com/JF9UtRW.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zpqnJfY.jpg

Here's looking at you, kid. . .

[Chip]

Australian researchers baffled as endangered purple-crowned fairy wrens breed outside season – again

Romancing in the dry season for a second year upends much of what the experts thought they knew about the bird

https://i.imgur.com/rbZkYOg.jpg
Royce Kurmelovs
Wed 5 Jan 2022

Researchers studying the purple-crowned fairy wren in far northern Western Australia have discovered the birds romancing outside the normal breeding season for the second year running.

The development is highly unusual in the 16-year program at the Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s (AWC) Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary, which closely monitors the birds and was identified in a three-week survey carried out during the dry season in October and November.

Ordinarily breeding takes place during the wet season between December to April when insects are plentiful. It is indicated by “brood patches” – bare patches on the belly – of female birds and bent tail feathers caused when they nest their eggs in cramped nests.

But Dr Niki Teunissen, a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash University who conducted the recent dry-season survey, said that when she caught female birds they showed all the telltale signs of a “busy season”.

“Some of those females already had fledglings, so they’d already successfully bred,” Teunissen said. “Then I caught them and found that they had brood patches, which means they already had a nest again. So it’s a busy season.

“We don’t really understand why it’s happening but we would love to find out.”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/06/australian-researchers-baffled-as-endangered-purple-crowned-fairy-wrens-breed-outside-season-again?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[Chip]

Time for lions. Unless one lives in Africa or works in a zoo or a circus, lions claim a larger share of our imagination than what's owed to experience.

The earliest depiction of lions are found in caves and rock shelters. A famous example is the cave of Chauvet in southern France where a large panel shows several lions and bears in profile. The renderings are accurate, obviously based on observation. At the time, c.33,000 BP, there were large, predatory cats in France.

https://i.imgur.com/1xKpghI.jpg

The artists of Egypt were familiar with lions and there are many examples in the archaeological record.

https://i.imgur.com/upB4Alf.jpg

This one appears to be wearing a harness, perhaps owing to a status as a royal pet. Mummified lions have been unearthed from royal tombs. Some sculptures are beautifully abstracted, such as this Old Kingdom example in granite.

https://i.imgur.com/iA3KonB.jpg

Perhaps the best-known leonine persona is the Sphinx, a woman's head on the body of a lion. Located among the Great Pyramids of Giza, the monument is said to be a guardian or an oracle.

https://i.imgur.com/4U6t8OK.jpg

Smaller renderings, some with the features of royalty (i.e. the headdress and decorated beard), are frequent in tombs.

https://i.imgur.com/w0hPUX8.jpg

[Chip]

The Greek sphinx had a lion's body and a woman's head, along with a pair of wings.

https://i.imgur.com/j7DMNTU.jpg

The creature was sought as an oracle and gatekeeper, often asking riddles (and sometimes devouring those who failed to solve them). The best-known appearance of the sphinx is in the play Oedipus Rex (429 BC) by Sophocles.

https://i.imgur.com/CCbLwIO.jpg

Lions are found in Greek art, such as this undersize example being slain by a hunter. Despite the size, the anatomy is fairly accurate. The Greeks were keen observers of natural detail.

https://i.imgur.com/1zqG8SI.jpg

Here, from about the same era, is another relatively accurate depiction, from a series made of glazed tiles that flank a famous gate at the Temple of Ishtar, Babylon.

https://i.imgur.com/TfXd0cI.jpg

[Chip]

During the so-called dark ages and early medieval times, the European imagination was untethered to mere facts, let alone observation. Artists drew images from myth and memory, yielding some fantastical beasts.

Here's a bronze from Moorish Spain, perhaps used as a waterspout, that evokes the lion's mighty roar.

https://i.imgur.com/T1EDkn6.jpg

Here's a rather jolly medieval lion I saw at the Chicago Institute of Art, neglecting to note the provenance.

https://i.imgur.com/nbulyV7.jpg

In imagination, a lion might fight with a dragon.

https://i.imgur.com/mU3EEMx.jpg

This mated pair with cubs is a bit nearer reality, but the artist didn't know that female lions lack a mane.

https://i.imgur.com/aAkJ29P.jpg

Lions were often given semi-human features, like this old grump.

https://i.imgur.com/HaJn7uL.jpg

Or this cross-eyed beast.

https://i.imgur.com/GWJGrmA.jpg

[Chip]

This fiddling lion, part of a beastly ensemble, is a favorite.

https://i.imgur.com/8YZqOTi.jpg

The lion, so-called king of beasts, was adopted as a symbol of royalty (Richard the Lionhearted) and featured in heraldic art.

https://i.imgur.com/NrrSBpo.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Q8IrqH2.jpg

The English coat-of-arms featured three lions.

https://i.imgur.com/LxMh3C3.jpg

And the later arms of Great Britain are flanked by a lion and a unicorn (although early versions show a lion and a dragon).

https://i.imgur.com/Bn83dJf.jpg

[eachan]

The Crest of Scotland features two unicorns so that may be where it comes from in the arms of Great Britain. The dragon is Welsh.

[Chip]

Doesn't the unicorn stand for Scotland? The blazon above has the three lions for England, a single lion for Scotland, and what looks like a harp, for Ireland.

Not sure what happened to the dragon. Didn't St. George kill it?

https://i.imgur.com/18ZzuZ2.jpg

Or p'raps it survived to reproduce and found a brewery.

https://i.imgur.com/9RPdIzA.jpg

[An old bloke]

Yes, St. George, Dragon killer and Patron Saint of England.

[eachan]

The Welsh dragon and the victim of St. George's brutality ain't the same beast.

[FredRydr]

A classic: The Jackalope (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackalope)

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP. Bg-q-f2UoFZBOg0hRpruNwHaEv%26pid%3DApi&f=1

[Chip]

That would be considered an atypical jackalope, having the antlers of a young mule deer.

Here's an anatomically correct specimen, with horns (rather than antlers) similar to the pronghorn antelope.

https://i.imgur.com/QT22cjy.jpg

[An old bloke]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the scourge of the Outback, the infamous Drop Bear. https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_a4jxDnqKPqg/SyhSXZdCKrI/AAAAAAAAAYk/xF_W5L-UX3A/s320/Dropbear.jpg The bloody thing gnawed off my leg!

[Chip]

Bloody Drop Bears! Only protection is to carry a sheet-steel umbrella.

Then there's the Chupacabra: Bloodsucker of the Borderland.

https://i.imgur.com/EK4Ed5F.jpg

[Chip]

Lions appear in a great many folk tales and fables, exemplars of savagery and power. One variation on the theme is a tale catalogued in the Aarne-Thompson index as ATU 156.

https://i.imgur.com/eRip2NE.jpg

"The earliest surviving account of the episode is found in Aulus Gellius's 2nd century Attic Nights.[2] The author relates there a story told by Apion in his lost work Aegyptiaca/Αἰγυπτιακά (Wonders of Egypt), the events of which Apion claimed to have personally witnessed in Rome. In this version, Androclus (going by the Latin variation of the name) is a runaway slave of a former Roman consul administering a part of Africa. He takes shelter in a cave, which turns out to be the den of a wounded lion, from whose paw he removes a large thorn. In gratitude, the lion becomes tame towards him and henceforward shares his catch with the slave.

After three years, Androclus craves a return to civilization but is soon imprisoned as a fugitive slave and sent to Rome. There he is condemned to be devoured by wild animals in the Circus Maximus in the presence of an emperor who is named in the account as Gaius Caesar, presumably Caligula.[3] The most imposing of the beasts turns out to be the same lion, which again displays its affection toward Androclus. After questioning him, the emperor pardons the slave in recognition of this testimony to the power of friendship, and he is left in possession of the lion. Apion, who claimed to have been a spectator on this occasion, is then quoted as relating:

Afterwards we used to see Androclus with the lion attached to a slender leash, making the rounds of the tabernae throughout the city; Androclus was given money, the lion was sprinkled with flowers, and everyone who met them anywhere exclaimed, "This is the lion, a man's friend; this is the man, a lion's doctor."[4]

The tale was widely adopted, one variant appearing in Aesop's Fables. Androcles has been characterized as a knight (whom the lion saves from an attacking serpent), a shepherd, a tailor, et many ceterae.

https://i.imgur.com/T2XyY5C.jpg

George Bernard Shaw's 1912 play has Androcles as a tailor and presents a skeptical view of the Christian interpretation. A 1938 production featured Dooley Wilson (the piano player from Casablanca) as Androcles.

https://i.imgur.com/iaFxWmP.jpg

There have also been several movies based on the tale.

[Chip]

The reason that stuffed jackalopes sold in tourist shops tend to have deer antlers is that deer shed them every spring, while pronghorn antelopes don't. Antelope horns are porous bony cores with cemented coverings. Antelope shed only the outer sheath, which deteriorates quickly or is eaten by rodents or scavengers. Deer antlers are bone, pretty durable.

[FredRydr]

The reason that stuffed jackalopes sold in tourist shops tend to have deer antlers is that deer shed them every spring, while pronghorn antelopes don't. Antelope horns are porous bony cores with cemented coverings. Antelope shed only the outer sheath, which deteriorates qucikly or is eaten by rodents or scavengers. Deer antlers are bone, pretty durable.
WTF? Jackalopes grow them as they age, though they tend to be gender-specific.

[Chip]

Might as well finish up with lions.

The oft-heard saying about the lion and the lamb is a misquote of a passage in the Christian Bible (Isaiah 65:25 says the "wolf and the lamb shall graze together") but the alliteration has planted it in popular memory, and art.

https://i.imgur.com/rz365r3.jpg

"Una and the Lion" by Briton Rivière exemplifies the vogue among the Royal Academy painters for images based on classical and early Renaissance works.

Lions are often seen in children's books and stories. The Cowardly Lion, from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) was brought to the screen by Bert Lahr in the 1939 film, one of the best known characters ever portrayed.

https://i.imgur.com/gDIXpJk.jpg

More recently, the Disney colossus had a hit film and musical with The Lion King, which I've so far managed to avoid.

https://i.imgur.com/6mkuXCm.jpg

To close, here's one of my favorite lion memes:

https://i.imgur.com/mHH8IKC.jpg

[An old bloke]

My grandmother had a book with the top picture in it. I remember seeing it as a pre-teen and thinking how beautiful the woman was.

I love the last picture for the caption and the look of satisfaction the lion has.

[Chip]

In 2018, lions in South Africa killed and ate a man who was suspected of poaching, leaving only the head.

A rifle and ammunition were found with the remains.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43035474

[Chip]

I'll give this a rest while I ponder what creature to feature next.

Here's an old map with some real beauties.

https://i.imgur.com/BiXT7jI.jpg

[eachan]

https://images44.fotki.com/v1657/photos/2/3815032/14358355/wyverns-vi.jpg (https://private.fotki.com/sempilch/private/wyverns.html)

Various images of the wyvern from the pen of that name. Wyvern pens were made in Leicester and the wyvern appears on the city's coat of arms. This wyvern doesn't appear especially fearsome but I suppose it might get snappy if backed into a corner.

[Chip]

I'd seen the term wyvern, but didn't have a clear idea of what it might be.

https://i.imgur.com/nfT8JIi.jpg

Makes more anatomical sense than a four-legged dragon.

[Robalone]

67601

(Acknowledging 9gag)

[Chip]

A coda to the lion posts: I love this photo.

https://i.imgur.com/ma9DwAM.jpg

[Chip]

William Wegman is an artist who became a pet photographer, composing witty pictures of his weimaraners over several generations.

https://i.imgur.com/B70Q8FY.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/cE9qoNf.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/TINu8CD.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/qvsmbyV.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/riSc5sz.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/Npgmvec.jpg

[Chip]

https://i.imgur.com/GXxgZwy.jpg

He also takes straight photos of the dogs:

https://i.imgur.com/hNzFHy1.jpg

The artist and his models:

https://i.imgur.com/9JmP55M.jpg

[Chip]

In the same vein as Wegman, there's work by Dutch artist Tein Lucasson. A difference is that he adds painted costumes to animal portraits rather than dressing the animals.

https://i.imgur.com/qltrqbX.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ReyQqMu.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/OWpfTUE.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/tWRUMNp.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/2Hw5ZBe.jpg

[Chip]

More by Lucasson:

https://i.imgur.com/TXlHJrA.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/foorJwR.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/P2FMXE1.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HaBoDZb.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/WKeVuYg.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/LcJfrjj.jpg