Mauricio Antón Ortuzar (born 1961 in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

) is a Spanish

paleoartist Paleoart (also spelled palaeoart, paleo-art, or paleo art) is any original artistic work that attempts to depict prehistoric life according to scientific evidence.#Anson, Ansón, Fernández & Ramos (2015) pp. 28–34. Works of paleoart may be r ...

, vertebrate paleontologist, and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

. As a paleontologist specialising in

carnivoran Carnivora ( ) is an order of placental mammals specialized primarily in eating flesh, whose members are formally referred to as carnivorans. The order Carnivora is the sixth largest order of mammals, comprising at least 279 species. Carnivor ...

mammals, he has written extensively about sabertooth cats, as well as other groups like

hyenas Hyenas or hyaenas ( ; from Ancient Greek , ) are feliformia, feliform carnivoran mammals belonging to the Family (biology), family Hyaenidae (). With just four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the orde ...

and amphicyonids. As a paleoartist and illustrator, he has created numerous illustrations of prehistoric life illustrating carnivorans as well as other animals (typically mammals), and

archaic humans ''Homo'' () is a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses only a single extant species, ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively calle ...

. Antón is one of the most widely known and influential contemporary paleoartists.

Life and career

Anton was born in

, Spain. His family moved to

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

in the 1970s. As a teenager in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, Antón became fascinated with the skeleton of the saber-tooth cat ''

Smilodon fatalis ''Smilodon'' is an extinct genus of felids. It is one of the best known saber-toothed predators and prehistoric mammals. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely related to the tiger or other modern cats, belon ...

'' on exhibition at the local museum. Ever since, he has been working and improving his techniques to bring

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

alive, being especially interested in

felids Felidae ( ) is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ). The 41 extant Felidae species exhibit the greatest diversity in fur patterns of all terrestria ...

hominids The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); '' Gorilla'' (the ...

and other

vertebrates Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

. As he puts it in one of his books (''El secreto de los fósiles'') “It is the responsibility of the scientific paleo-illustrator to make sure that his images rigorously transmit the knowledge that the paleontologists have gathered from specific

extinct species This page features lists of species and organisms that have become extinct. The reasons for extinction range from natural occurrences, such as shifts in the Earth's ecosystem or natural disasters, to human influences on nature by the overuse of n ...

.” To do this he gathers data from extant species, travelling the world extensively, working hands on with

, dissecting specimens donated by zoos, researching extinct species with specialists and using extant ecosystems as a basis for the reconstruction of past ones. He has been an advisor on

paleobiology Paleobiology (or palaeobiology) is an interdisciplinary field that combines the methods and findings found in both the earth sciences and the life sciences. An investigator in this field is known as a paleobiologist. Paleobiology is closely ...

biomechanics Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to Organ (anatomy), organs, Cell (biology), cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechani ...

animal locomotion In ethology, animal locomotion is any of a variety of methods that animals use to move from one place to another. Some modes of locomotion are (initially) self-propelled, e.g., running, swimming, jumping, flight, flying, hopping, soaring and gli ...

, and

habitats In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

of extinct

for various media (

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

, etc.). He has benefited from the influences of

paleoart Paleoart (also spelled palaeoart, paleo-art, or paleo art) is any original artistic work that attempts to depict prehistoric life according to scientific evidence. Ansón, Fernández & Ramos (2015) pp. 28–34. Works of paleoart may be represen ...

masters such as Charles R. Knight, Rudolph Zallinger, Zdenek Burian, Jay Matternes and others from whom he not only recognizes the technological advances but also the conceptual progress they made. Since the year 2004, he has been working in collaboration with "The Fly Factory"

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

studios in the application of

3D modeling In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based Computer representation of surfaces, representation of a surface of an object (inanimate or living) in Three-dimensional space, three dimensions vi ...

and

to the reconstruction of past life. In 2006, he won the

Lanzendorf Lanzendorf is a municipality in the district of Bruck an der Leitha in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It belonged to Wien-Umgebung District Bezirk Wien-Umgebung was a Districts of Austria, district of the States of Austria, state of Lower ...

PaleoArt Prize for the best scientific illustration from the SVP (

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) is a professional organization that was founded in the United States in 1940 to advance the science of vertebrate paleontology around the world. Mission and activities SVP has about 2,300 members inte ...

). In 2009, he was invited by the Chinese

Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology The Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP; ) of People's Republic of China, China is a research institution and collections repository for fossils, including many dinosaur and pterosaur specimens (many from the Yixian For ...

to visit their

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Museum and also the new Museum and

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

sites at Hezheng in central

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, where he made first-hand observations of undescribed

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...

. A museum he contributed major illustrations to in

Bolnisi Bolnisi ( ka, ბოლნისი) is a city in the country of Georgia (country), Georgia, located in the Kvemo Kartli region and capital of the Bolnisi district. It currently has an estimated 8,348 (January 1, 2024) inhabitants. History Boln ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, was nominated for the European Museum Awards in 2022. Between 2009-2010 he contributed to the "Extreme Mammals" expositionExtreme Mammals
/ref> of the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

, New York. In recent years, Antón is leading art safaris to Northern

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

under the title "Drawing the Big Cats", sharing first-hand sightings and his experience in studying the anatomy and evolution of felids with artists from all around the world.

Publications

Among his most well known books are: * ''Sabertooth'' Text and illustrations by Mauricio Anton. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2013. * ''La Gran Migración.'' Jordi Agustí y Mauricio Antón. Crítica, Barcelona, 2011. * ''Madrid antes del hombre.'' Mauricio Antón y Jorge Morales, Coordinadores. Comunidad de Madrid, 2009. * ''Dogs, their fossil relatives and evolutionary history.'' Xiaoming Wang, Richard Tedford and Mauricio Anton. Columbia University Press New York 2008. * Antón, Mauricio (2007) ''El secreto de los fósiles''. Aguilar. * Turner, Alan y Antón, Mauricio (2004) ''The National Geographic book of prehistoric mammals''. National Geographic. n español: ''Larousse de los mamíferos prehistóricos''. Spes-Larousse, 2007* Turner, Alan y Antón, Mauricio (2004) ''Evolving Eden. An illustrated guide to the evolution of the African large mammal fauna'', Columbia University Press. * Agustí, Jordi y Antón, Mauricio (2002) '' Mammoths, Sabertooths and Hominids. 65 million years of mammalian evolution in Europe''. Columbia University Press. *

Jordi Agustí Jordi Agustí is a Spanish paleontologist at the ''Instituto de Paleoecología Humana y Evolución Social'' at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili. His research is mainly focused on the evolution of mammal fossils in relation to changing climates i ...

y Antón, Mauricio (1997) ''Memoria de la Tierra. Vertebrados fósiles de la Península Ibérica''. Ediciones del Serbal. * Turner, Alan y Antón, Mauricio (1997) ''The big cats and their fossil relatives. An illustrated guide to their evolution and natural history''. Columbia University Press.

Notes

External links

*
Mauricio Antón blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anton, Mauricio Living people Paleoartists 1961 births Artists from Bilbao Scientific illustrators Artists from Caracas 20th-century Spanish illustrators 21st-century Spanish illustrators