#missourium

From 1838 Albert Koch exhibited a skeleton across America and Europe he named the 'Missourium' which he'd assembled from several Mastodon specimens, bulked up with wood to make it appear even larger.

James Pedder, editor of The Farmer's Cabinet and American Herd Book, reinterpreted it as a giant tortoise and sent a letter and sketch to Petty Vaughan dated November 20, 1841 outlining his ideas:

"After minute investigation, and repeated opportunity for examination of the Skeleton of the Missourium, I have been led to conclude that the animal was a Monster of the Tortoise Tribe 32 feet long and correspondent width, with the power of with-drawing its head within its shell; the tusks then forming a mail of defense around its edge to ward off obstruction."

Sketch published in Simpson, G. G. 1936. Misconstructing a mastodon. Natural History, 37: 170-172.

Albert C. Koch – Scientist of the Daay

Albert C. Koch, a German/American naturalist, showman, and entrepreneur, was born May 10, 1804, near Leipzig, Germany.  

The Incognitum © Asher Elbein

[Commissioned by @wannabedemonlord. The Missourium is another gaffed skeletal mount by Albert Koch, this one incorporating multiple mastodon skeletons. A lot of inspiration came from the pamphlet Koch released promoting his skeleton, wherein he compares it to the Leviathan and calls it King of the Beasts.]

Missourium CR 12 NE Magical Beast This shaggy mountain of flesh is vaguely elephantine, but its fingers and toes are both webbed and clawed, and it possesses no trunk. Instead, its enormous tusks curve out and upwards from its head, and two smaller spikes grow downward from its large and muscular jaw. Nodules of bone are visible from underneath its long pelage.

Some call the missourium the true king of beasts. It is a foul tempered and violent carnivore that views animals as its vassals and commands them to its bidding. As such, it only preys upon them as a necessity, preferring the taste of humanoids and other sapient lifeforms. Regions where animals are unusually violent and territorial towards humans, or an upswing of predatory attacks by animals on humanoids may be signs of a missourium in a region. They prefer grassy environments, including marshes, where they hold court in a wallow frequented by animals of all types, even natural enemies.

A missourium is fearsome in combat. Its gaze illuminates and strips creatures of their invisibility, allowing its animal allies to attack them easily. It bolsters itself and its minions with magic before tearing into opponents with tooth, tusk and claw. It especially enjoys picking on creatures much smaller than it, charging through the front ranks of its enemies to assault their weak and vulnerable. Missouriums are wise enough to flee from a fight that is going poorly—a missourium not confident of its chances against a foe may save its blinding flash for a retreat, hoping to slow pursuit.

A missourium is about forty feet long and twenty feet at the shoulder. They walk on their knuckles, but rear up on their hind legs when battling. They are decent swimmers, but are large enough that they often simply walk along the bottom of rivers and lakes.

In 1840, fossil showman Albert Koch bought up all the mastodon bones in one Missouri farmer's field and built them into a fearsome, exaggerated specimen called a "Missourium". Again in 1845, he bought up bones of the prehistoric whale Basilosaurus cetoides. Bones of the whale were often turned up by slaves working the fields in the south and were sometimes used to make furniture or the foundations of houses.  He built parts of six different whales into a massive sea serpent he called "Hydrargos sillimani", or Hydrarchos, that was first exhibited in a New York salon.

Hi Kids,

Just submitted my Romer abstract. Fingers crossed. 

Drinking a Tricerahops. Everything is connected.

Have you seen Dude for Scale?

Later.