The Extinction of the Specialist

2026

A fictional skeleton made up of various animals with specialized traits. The result is an anti-specialist, a Frankenstein of sorts. It reflects on the rapidly advancing state of technology and ecological changes that are making specialists (human and animal) rethink their way of life and adopt other skill sets to survive. (sometimes successfully, sometimes not).

Traits that influenced the piece:
Sternum: Albatross
Function: Albatrosses have a deep sternal keel adapted for long-duration soaring and powerful wing strokes.
Skull: Ganges River Dolphin
Function: The skull is heavily modified, with large, upright bony crests over the face that curve around the melon and project forward. This skull structure is a distinctive autapomorph of river dolphins.
Spine: Orca
Function: Their spine structure maximizes high speed propulsion, unlike the more flexible or fragile skeletal frames found in deep diving or filter feeding whales.
Body, Arms, Legs, and Feet: Monkeys!
I chose the monkey because of their close relationship to humans. ((I didn’t reference one specific monkey skeleton .))

Software used: Zbrush, Cinema4D, Redshift, Photoshop.