My
illustration of the Queensland tiger aka the yarri, which I prepared as a
teenager back in the mid-/late1970s (© Dr Karl Shuker
Serendipity has played a big part in my
life, usually involving my looking for one thing and, while doing so, finding
something entirely different but equally worthwhile. And so it proved again
today.
As a teenager during the mid-/late 1970s,
I'd written a letter to Prof. Christopher Evans, a very notable Welsh scientist
and psychologist who at that time was also acting as scientific advisor for ITV's
hit British teenage-oriented sci fi TV show The
Tomorrow People. My letter concerned a biological subject touched upon not
only within one of this show's series but also, and this time in much more
detail, within an episode of the original, classic Star Trek TV show. I didn't really expect to receive a reply, as I
assumed that he must receive countless letters from fans of the show, so I was
both surprised and delighted when I did indeed receive one, in the form of a
charming, insightful letter from the man himself, which I greatly treasured –
and especially so when Prof. Evans tragically died not long afterwards, of cancer,
in 1979, aged only 48.
It occurred to me recently that I sought
to scan this precious letter from Prof. Evans and post it here on ShukerNature
with the background details leading up to it, thereby preserving it publicly
for posterity. So today I sought out the folder in which I always believed it
to have been placed by me long ago for safekeeping – only to realize to my
horror when searching for it that I no longer had any idea where said folder
was! After several hours, however, I finally uncovered it – only to discover
once again to my horror that it did not contain said letter! So now I have to
start searching all over again for it.
However, in that very same folder I did
find two other items that caught my attention, both of which I'd hitherto
entirely forgotten – a pair of colour illustrations of two mystery mammals that I'd prepared at
much the same time that I'd written my letter to Prof. Evans, meaning that they
are almost 50 years old and have never been seen outside that folder – until
now. For although I freely confess that my artistic attempts fall far short of
those wonderful artworks created by my various bona fide artist friends on
social media and elsewhere, as they nonetheless constitute one of my earliest
forays into creating cryptozoological output I felt that followers of my
Shukernature blog might like to see them, and also it means that they are now at
least for the present preserved online. So here they are.
My
copy of the hardback First Edition of On the
Track of Unknown Animals, by Dr Bernard Heuvelmans, featuring several line illustrations
by Monique Watteau on its dustjacket, including her rendition of the Queensland
tiger (© Dr Bernard Heuvelmans/Monique Watteau/Rupert Hart-Davis – reproduced here
on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)
The first one, opening this particular blog
post, is my colour illustration of Australia's elusive Queensland tiger or
yarri (documented by me here on ShukerNature), which was
inspired by a b/w line drawing prepared by French artist Monique Watteau that
appeared in veteran cryptozoologist Dr Bernard Heuvelmans's seminal tome On the Track of Unknown Animals (1958).
In addition, when I prepared my above illustration, I had never encountered a
full-colour image of the Queensland tiger anywhere, so mine may actually have
been the very first one prepared (but don't quote me on this, just in case!).
The second one, posted below, is of
Africa's enigmatic Congolese water elephant (documented by me here on ShukerNature), which I recall
being inspired by another original line drawing in a publication, but I haven't
been able to trace which one. I thought that it was another Watteau line
illustration from Heuvelmans's afore-mentioned book, but I cannot find any such
image in it.
Anyway, I hope that you enjoy viewing
them here. Meanwhile, my search for the lost letter from Prof. Evans continues…
My
illustration of the Congolese water elephant, which I prepared as a teenager
back in the 1970s (© Dr Karl Shuker