Japanese Illustrator Shows How Humans Would Look If We Had Various Animals' Bone Structures (14 Pics)

Japanese illustrator Kawasaki is best known for his detailed drawings of extinct, modern and futuristic animals. He deals with the topics of paleontology, and evolution, both actual and theoretical.

Bored Panda talked to Kawasaki to learn more about him and his work. Kawasaki said that he became a 'real' artist after starting his own homepage and blog. "I like to draw, so I've always wanted to do that," he said when asked whether he always knew he wanted to be an artist.

Kawasaki mentioned that he reads books and searches the internet to come up with various ideas for his illustrations. What's more, the artist said that each illustration takes a different amount of time to draw and that it all depends on the content and the context. Finally, Kawasaki added: "I have no choice but to continue drawing."

The artist has more than 12,700 followers on Twitter, which shows just how many people are wowed by his nature drawings, some of which have a comedic twist. And I agree that Kawasaki deserves his fame: his drawings have a certain je ne sais quoi that mesmerizes you and makes you look at the illustrations far longer than you would otherwise.

If you think that animal-human anatomy hybrids are the stuff of fantasy, think again. Scientists are already thinking about the idea of developing them, in order to grow valuable organs for transplants. Organ donor waiting lists are very long and not all people get the organs they need in time.

According to Medical Xpress, Japan “recently overturned its ban on the creation of human-animal hybrids and approved a request by researchers from the University of Tokyo to create a human-mouse hybrid.” Researchers are aiming to grow a human pancreas inside a mouse, which isn’t quite the same thing as merging mice with people; but science is getting closer and closer to making actual ‘chimeras.’

However, this kind of research leads to some very serious ethical questions, namely, whether what is being done can be considered to be good and moral or not. On the one hand, these organs could save many lives; on the other hand, this comes dangerously close to interfering with nature in ways that make us intuitively reject what’s being done.

What do you think of Kawasaki’s skeleton drawings, dear Pandas? Do you have any thoughts about scientists’ plans to grow human organs in animals? Don’t be shy, share your thoughts with us.