Picture of Zueglodon by Rod Ruth


 As a child, I was very familiar with the illustrations of Rod Ruth, both for the Album series of books, including Album of Dinosaurs, Album of Prehistoric Animals (which was actually a book on mammals) Album of Prehistoric Man, Album of Sharks, Album of Whales, Album of Astronomy, and Album of Birds. That last I never got because I mom told me I was too old when it came out. He also did the illustrations for the young adult anthologies Science Fiction Tales and More Science Fiction Tales, edited by Roger Elwood, (Black and White) and the more popular Baleful Beasts and Eerie Creatures (in full color).

The above illustration is from the introduction to Album of Whales, obviously. I thought of included it in the post on whale evolution, but I thought it deserved a post of its own where people can see it. It seemed back then, most children's book called the whale zueglodon, and it was only later that I saw basilosaurus as its official scientific name. The small illustration at the bottom of the page was hypothetical at the time, but it resembles durodon more than anything else recently discovered. I don't see any visible back legs. But then I don't see them on zueglodon, either, and we know now that it did possess very vistigial hindlimbs on its serpentine body. 


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