APRIL 2026
MONTHLY ART:
RADIANT PROTECTION - PYRENEAN IBEX
A species that first clambered about the higher altitudes of the Iberian Peninsula as early as 20,000 years ago, the Pyrenean Ibex has both a beautiful and a tragic history with humans.
It was there to watch early European humans develop their way of life and its curving horns, silhouetted against the sun, made their way into the beliefs and art of these early Europeans, symbolizing protection, fertility, abundance. But sadly human ego brought the Ibex down from sacred symbol of life, to a mere status symbol.
Once hunted just as a source of food, ibexes were hunted for their meat, impressive horns, and the perceived (and inaccurate) medicinal uses of a variety of their body parts. In more recent history, they became the target of mere trophy hunting in Europe, were even today tourists paying top dollar for a guaranteed kill of an ibex of remaining species. With its numbers depleted steadily up through the 19th century due to habitat loss, the Pyrenean ibex was unable to recover its numbers after being regionally hunted. A national park and imported ibexes to strengthen breeding populations both failed to help the species stabilize, and sadly, the ending (last living member) of the Pyrenean Ibex, a female named Celia, was found dead by park rangers in 2000.
But humans weren’t quite ready to give up the Pyrenean Ibex, and the scientific breakthroughs that followed Celia’s death resulted in the Pyrenean Ibex being the only species to extinct not once, but twice.
Read more about Pyrenean ibexes and their symbolic and scientific importance to humans over at www.patreon.com/beastieandbone
UPCOMING EVENTS:
100 & Under Show at Arrowmont Gallery, Knoxville, TN May 1st-30th
Retropolitan Craft Fair, The Mill & Mine, Knoxville, TN May 3rd
NATURAL HISTORY FACT:
Thanks to particularly nimble hooves, padded secondary digit dewclaws, and even calloused knees, ibexes are mindblowingly agile climbers. They are able to scale almost perfectly vertical rock faces in search of food and salt, an important mineral for their diets. In these mineral quests, ibexes in the Alps have been documented climbing the huge, steep structures of major river dams to lick up the salt that’s produced in the dams’ concrete over time by thermal and chemical stress and appears on its surface.
RECOMMENDED:
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us by Steve Brusatte, paleontologist
A comprehensive but approachable exploration of how mammals - including humans - came to be the dominant group of animals, from the aftermath of the dinosaur extinction, through the golden age of megafauna, and into present day. A major influence of the creation of the B+B North American Megafauna Project.
Learn more and get a copy at Steve Brusatte’s website
NEW IN:
These new items debuted both online and at in-person events like the Ijams Nature Center Mayapple Marketplace and the Dogwood Arts Festival, and available stock plus restocks of popular items and linocuts are now up for you all at BeastieandBone.com:
Appalachian Bouquet Fine Art Print
Herculean Gold Paper Art Originals Series
Direwolf and Dogwood Paper Art Original
LAST CHANCE:
These retired Patreon exclusive items are available publicly in the Beastie and Bone online shop only through the month of May!
New linocuts (small collectibles and limited edition series alike) based on the Hercules Beetles of the Herculean Gold series are coming soon, plus the paper art version of the Appalachiosaurus-starring From the Other Side of Time, to wrap up the southeastern-inspired B+B Spring 2026 Collection with an impressive finish.
DISCOUNT:
Monthly discounts are exclusive to those who receive the print version of The Beastie and Bone Snippet though the B+B Happy Mail Club or select tiers of the B+B Patreon.