I did! And I had the thought also. It would be really neat on certain images.
I did this a while back:
I used crazybump, which is nowhere near as accurate as what you posted above but turned out well enough as a proof of concept. I actually have an artist lined up to paint the 3D engraved puzzles.
I was also thinking about it on one of the hikes today. One of the trees up here is a species of juniper called an Alligator Juniper, with a very alligator-like appearance to its bark.