Evolution

This duck was created by Katy Davis.

My duck shows an evolutionary trail that extends over millions of years from dinosaurs all the way to Long Boi. Using a combination of fossil records and DNA analyses, researchers can work out when certain avian characteristics, common to Long Boi and other modern birds, might have evolved.

Long Boi’s very distant relatives include Oviraptorosaurs, otherwise known as “egg thieves”, Archaeopteryx (possibly the first flying dinosaurs with feathers) and Asteriornis, a fossil of which has been termed “the Wonder Chicken”.

To design my duck, I used a large combination of sources of dinosaur-related information, including the Natural History Museum’s Dino Directory and articles such as “The Origin and Diversification of Birds”.

First, I primed my duck with a layer of white acrylic paint, then drew the dinosaurs freehand and added colour to them using more acrylic paint. All the lettering was added freehand with a black pen.

This duck was inspired by the work of multiple research groups within the biology department, investigating wide-ranging aspects of evolution and ecology.

This includes the Mayhew Lab’s work on insect diversity and evolution, the Dasmahapatra Lab’s work investigating butterfly speciation and the Lichman Lab’s research towards understanding the evolution of enzymes involved in plant natural product biosynthesis.

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Didn't get the chance to attend the Art Trail Festival of Ideas workshop?

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