Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Sahelanthropus tchadensis skull cast

Sahelanthropus tchadensis skull cast

Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes. Voting period ends on 15 Aug 2010 at 16:45:36 (UTC)

Original - Cast of the Sahelanthropus tchadensis holotype cranium TM 266-01-060-1, dubbed "Toumaï", in facio-lateral view. Sahelanthropus tchadensis is an extinct hominid species that is dated to about 7 million years ago. Other than Toumaï, the only Sahelanthropus remains to be discovered are five pieces of jaw and some teeth.

Reason

Massive resolution, very high quality, great lighting, huge EV, striking and very encyclopedic. The only thing that stops this being a perfect nomination, in my eyes, is the fact that it is a cast of the original, rather than the original itself. However, there's only one, so it's not the easiest thing to photograph. Equally, we have promoted scans of copies of noted photographs, and, on a similar note, biological illustrations. So, after some thought, I feel that this does deserve its place as a featured picture, as it already is on Commons, the German Wikipedia and Spanish Wikipedia. Caption copied from the image page.

Articles in which this image appears

Sahelanthropus

FP category for this image

Animals/Mammals

Creator

Didier Descouens

• Support as nominator --J Milburn (talk) 16:45, 6 August 2010 (UTC)
• Question ...is this real? It looks very glossy for a photograph of bones, and it says "cast of" in the caption. --I'ḏ♥One 17:19, 6 August 2010 (UTC)
  • No, it's a cast of the original, as I said in my nomination statement. J Milburn (talk) 17:21, 6 August 2010 (UTC)
    • Support then because not only is it scientifically significant, it's also well-done artistically, though I wonder how without possibly harming the original. Did they make the mold digitally perhaps? --I'ḏ♥One 20:31, 6 August 2010 (UTC)
• Support Very scientific. Good for a day on the Main Page of a place of learning. Greg L (talk) 18:56, 6 August 2010 (UTC)
• Support Even though a photo like this of the actual fossil would be far more EV, this one is about as good as it gets. In case you didn't know when you visit a museum, almost ALL the fossils and for the most part lots of other artifacts are actually replicas. Fossils like this are so valuable that they never leave the vaults. — raekyT 01:45, 7 August 2010 (UTC)
  • That's a valid point. J Milburn (talk) 11:47, 7 August 2010 (UTC)
• Support The subject area is interesting, the subject itself is visually arresting, and there's this slight reflection from the surface the cast rests on that gives the whole thing this unnatural aura. An excellent photo that should definitely be featured. --Lucas Brown 02:37, 8 August 2010 (UTC)
• Support -- George Chernilevsky ^talk 04:52, 11 August 2010 (UTC)
• Support. --Avenue (talk) 10:09, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Promoted File:Sahelanthropus tchadensis - TM 266-01-060-1.jpg --Makeemlighter (talk) 18:59, 15 August 2010 (UTC)