Patagonian Sloth Badger

Closely related to the Honey Badger, the PSB has neither the terrifying ferocity nor the endurance of its cousin, possibly resulting from regular ingestion of rocks and dirt while digging burrows with its tusk-like canines. It does, however, share a thick skull and loose hide, which provide it questionable benefit against its only predator, the Maned Iguanalope, a carrion feeder.

The Iguanalope also happens to serve as the PSB's chief food source (besides rocks), but due to the badger's glacial speed, height disadvantage and downward-facing incisors, it has devised an ingenious - but often fatal - hunting strategy.

Lying prostrate on its back, the PSB plays dead and waits for its prey to approach and become distracted with eating through the badger's tough belly skin. If the Iguanalope is a slow eater - the badger attacks!

The IUCN lists the Patagonian Sloth Badger as an endangered species.

Menagerie variations

3 variations on the same theme: an elephant, a bear, a rabbit and a young boy walking through the woods. 

Maned Iguanalope

First discovered by a stranded whaling vessel in the late 19th century, the Maned Iguanalope is endemic to a tiny rocky mesa at the southernmost tip of Patagonia. 

Averaging two to three feet in height, the creature feeds primarily on the carrion of the only other species native to this flat outcrop, the carnivorous Sloth Badger. According to eyewitness accounts, the Iguanalope's feeding strategy - provided it evades the sloth badger's clumsy ambush - is to simply run until its predator falls over and expires. 

Loosey Goosey

Stopped by Lake Merritt on my way home yesterday and knocked out a quick sketch of a plump member of our local flying cattle herd. This is actually a composite of a number of geese, as none of the buggers was prepared to sit still.

I should definitely do this more often.