Articles in the Animals | Pets Category
Here’s a cartoon from my friend Kurt Erichsen.
In the world of cartoons, Kurt has written and drawn the syndicated gay & lesbian comic strip Murphy’s Manor since 1982. His work has appeared in Gay Comics, and his wit brought Socially Redeeming Value to the One-Handed Meatmen cartoon books. Additionally, he has done freelance cartooning, including this illo for the Missouri State Teachers’ Association magazine. Kurt calls it “Frog Feast”. Yum.
Kurt first got involved in comics fandom through fanzines and apas, and continues as a regular contributor to zines including Reluctant Famulus and Challenger.
Driving through the Washtenaw wilds, working on my firefly project, I chanced upon these two deer in the road, who then ran into a nearby yard.
Update (31 July): I think I saw the same pair last night, same time about a half mile away, in a more open area.
I’ve been working on images of fireflies this summer, and I’ll post some soon. Right now the only ones I see are unlucky males, on a fruitless search for a mate.
Fireflies make a brief appearance in Hedgehog in the Fog, an excellent 1975 animation by the Russian artist Yuri Norstein.
“Dog buried in Sand” (1820-23).
One of Francisco Goya’s 14 ‘black paintings‘, among his last works, painted on the wall of his home, called Quinta del Sordo (“Deaf Man’s House”). The title is not Goya’s, and was assigned by others after his death.
Two Cats (1912) by Franz Marc.
Marc was killed in WWI, cutting short his search for “empathy with the throbbing and flowing of nature’s bloodstream“.
Just saw this today at the Heritage Auctions site, a great looking scorpion in amber, a little over half an inch long. With an estimate of $24,000 – $32,000, I’m not sure who will buy it, but I wish fossils like this could be seen by anyone interested, and not hidden away in a rich collector’s vault.
In the same Natural History Auction is the nice Pterosaurs fossil below, more than a foot long, with a wingspan close to 40 inches.
Half human, half animal, a detail from “Personaje“, a 1958 painting by Remedios Varo.
Saturday was the Royal Oak Nature Society’s 2008 Open House at Tenhave Woods and despite the cool and sometimes rainy conditions I managed to crawl on my belly like a reptile to find this ant traversing a serrated leaf edge.
Buy a print of this image.
I’ll be showcasing some of my favorite wildlife illustrators every once in a while.
Below is a color plate by W. Heath Robinson from a favorite of the illustrated books I own, The Song of the English (1909) by Rudyard Kipling.
Zooillogix mentions this great AFP story of a bottleneck dolphin leading two apparently confused pygmy sperm whales to safety after becoming stranded on a sandbar.
Said Conservation Department officer Malcolm Smith: “I was not aware dolphins could communicate with pygmy sperm whales, but something happened that allowed Moko to guide those two whales to safety.”
