Giant sloth

Reproduced from http://www.myspace.com/GaddyBergmann

Saturday, December 01, 2007

I Got My Giant Sloth!

Current mood: excited

Category: Writing and Poetry

I'm so excited - I finally got my giant sloth today!

Let me explain. At the end of October, I attended the science fiction/fantasy convention, MileHiCon, here in Denver. I appeared on a couple panels, sold a few copies of my novel, Migration of the Kamishi, and met with several authors and fans. While I was there, I met fantasy artist, Jim Humble. I had seen his paintings and statues before, but this time I wanted to talk to him about commissioning a sculpture myself.

You see, the third novel in The Feral World is called Riders of the Mapinguari. What is a mapinguari? Well, strictly speaking, the mapinguari is a legendary beast in Amazonian folklore. Local people have, for centuries, described a creature that is at least as tall as a man and walks upright, has long, shaggy brown hair, and smells awful. They say the beast has long, fearsome claws, sharp teeth, a terrifying roar, and that it preys on other creatures, including humans. They also say that the creatures feet point backwards, that it has one eye in the middle of its head, and that it has a large mouth on its belly.

Now, other than the part about having one big eye and a mouth on the belly, the rest of this legend is highly suggestive of giant sloths.

Giant sloths, which originated in South America, were thought to be extinct ever sicne about 10,000 years ago. There were several types, the biggest of which were South America's Megatherium americanum and North America's Eremotherium laurillardi, both of which may have gotten to be as big as elephants - about 5 tons. The other ground sloths were not quite so huge, but very big nonetheless. One of these was Mylodon robustus, and the description of the mapinguari is suspiciously reminscent of this supposedly extinct mammal.

Ecologist David Oren has been looking for the mapinguari for years now, but he still hasn't found any. Although Oren has attracted the scorn of other scientists for this pursuit, he is still looking for a relict population of Mylodon. If he succeeds, he could win protection for large tracts of rainforest, and I, for one, really admire him for his guts and perseverence.

Paleontologist Richard Farina has made some interesting obsevations on the fossils of Mylodon's bigger cousin, Megatherium. The only sloths living today are tree sloths, which are much smaller - around ten pounds. Tree sloths may eat a few insects, lizards, or carrion (scavenged meat) every now and then, but they mostly eat leaves. The ancient giant sloths appeared to be just as herbivorous, but Farina thinks that Megatherium may have scavenged meat or even hunted its own prey from time to time. If Farina is right, then the image of giant sloths as gentle giants could be quite wrong. They could have been very dangerous animals.

For my novel, Riders of the Mapinguari, I borrowed the legend of the mapinguari, but substituted Megatherium for Mylodon. The Feral World takes place 3,000 years from now after an asteroid has destroyed our civilization. In this world, most people in North America live as nomadic hunter-gatherers, and have very little technological sophistication. Their survival and their enjoyment of life both rely on their resourcefulness and their cooperation with each other. These Riders, however, invade North America from South America. They are more technologically advanced, and they are bent on conquest, not peaceful coexistence, with the Bebelishi of the Warmland they are invading. Their secret weapon - an army of mapinguari trained to squash anyone who gets in their way.

Now, back to my sculpture. I had asked Jim to sculpt a statue of a Megatherium for me. Today, I went to Humble Studios to pick it up, and let me tell you, I was blown away by how awesome it looked.

Jim told me it might take him up to two months to complete the statue; he finished it in only one. Throughout November, he sent me photos via email, showing me the progress on the piece. He asked me if there was anything I wanted him to add or change. I gave him some input, but not much more than that; I didn't have to. He knew exactly how to make the mapinguari look aggressive, but not melodramatic. He made it look dynamic, yet still believable. The statue looked cool in the pictures, but the pictures didn't prepare me for how awesome it would look in person.

From the instant I saw that mapinguari, I just loved it. The thing is incredible; it's terrifying, but not in a horror sort of way. No, to me, it's much better than that. It looks like a big, scary beast, and I love it! The statue stands over one foot tall, and it's in a pose where it's about to slash at the viewer with the long claws of its left hand. The look in its eyes is both warm and intimidating at the same time. This thing is just wonderful.

I took some photos of it tonight after dark, but the flash photography just didn't do it justice. I'm going to take it outside tomorrow or as soon as it gets sunny and get some really nice shots of it. Then I'll share them with you.

I'm going to be bringing this mapinguari along with me when I do book signings and speaking engagements, and I know it's going to be a big hit. The mapinguari is here!

Gaddy Bergmann

http://www.GaddyBergmann.com