Woodcut of a "marine calf" from Des Monstres et prodiges by Ambroise Paré, 1573. Des Monstres is filled with unsubstantiated accounts of sea devils, marine sows, and monstrous animals with human faces. With its extensive discussion of reproduction and ill

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Woodcut of a "marine calf" from Des Monstres et prodiges by Ambroise Paré, 1573. Des Monstres is filled with unsubstantiated accounts of sea devils, marine sows, and monstrous animals with human faces. With its extensive discussion of reproduction and illustrations of birth defects, the book invited accusations of pornography. It has been suggested that this illustration is possibly a Pinniped, often generalized as seals, a widely distributed and diverse clade of fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walrus), Otariidae (the eared seals, sea lions, and fur seals), and Phocidae (the earless, or "true" seals). Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora and their closest living relatives are bears and musteloids.

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Size: 4200px × 2412px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1573, 16th, ambroise, animal, art, artwork, bw, calf, carnivora, carnivore, century, des, drawing, historic, historical, history, illustration, mammal, marine, marvels, monsters, monstres, pare, paré, pinniped, prodiges, prodigies, seal, semiaquatic, woodblock, woodcut