[Art] Marsupial Mole as Animal Teacher

For the Unusuals deck.

Australian marsupial moles have always been fascinating to me. They're, for a start, a great example of convergent evolution. They're not related to any of the moles in the northern hemisphere, yet evolved to fit the niche of moles, and look like moles, with several exceptions - their golden, iridescent fur, and the fact that they don't make tunnels, but swim in sand, every place they go collapsing behind them as they swim in sand the way a turtle swims in the sea.

Most Australians will never see one. They're too rare, too unusual, too desert-bound. Rare and unusual even for the locals in this country.

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Marsupial Mole || Notoryctidae || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary




Keywords:

Diving below the surface. Sand wisdom. Using your senses wisely. Believing what you feel and not what you see. The heart of the desert. Wait for the rains to clear. Unusual situations. Confirmation of your beliefs. Let go of doubt, it is doing nothing for you. Faith.

Description:

The marsupial mole of Australia consists of two similar species of burrowing marsupial found in the deserts of Australia. They are a great example of convergent evolution, where despite not being related to the moles of the northern hemisphere, they evolved remarkably similar characteristics and lifestyles to fill that niche in Australia.

They are a beautiful cream-golden colour with an iridescent sheen, have vestigial eyes and no external ears. The marsupial mole’s nostrils are protected by a horny plate and its front paws have evolved two shovelling claws. Marsupial moles live underground and occasionally surface after rain. They consume insects such as ants and termites as well as seeds.

Due to often living in sandy environments their tunnels often collapse behind them, it often looks as though they locomote by swimming through the sand. They have evolved a backwards facing pouch so that it does not fill with sand. They are unique among marsupials, and not thought to be closely related to any other marsupials, they have been around for at least 50 million years. Marsupial moles are solitary and make squealing noises if disturbed.

( More images under the cut. )

[Art] Whale Shark as Animal Teacher

For the Unusuals deck.

I can't believe it's taken me so long to illustrate a whale shark! So much fun with this one. For some reason the connection was pretty immediate and pretty profound, I feel like this could be a good animal for me to personally work with.

There's an element of letting go of needing to know everything about every little thing with this teacher. It's okay to just sit with not knowing, after all, what we don't know vastly outweighs what we'll never know, so we'd best remember it's a fundamental truth of being.

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Whale Shark || Rhincodon typus || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary




Keywords:

A meeting of minds. Mutuality. Curiosity balanced with wariness. Deep thought. Avoid high stress situations. Speculation and philosophy. Elusive answers. Filtering what is useful from what is not. It’s okay that you don’t know. Spiritual grandparent. You are made of star stuff. Gentleness. Gentle warmth. Ocean wisdom.

Description:

The whale shark is the largest fish in the world, and the largest animal in the world after the whale family. It is a slow-moving pelagic carpet shark, that filter feeds like a baleen whale with its large mouth. They are extremely efficient filter feeders with unique filtration pads not found in other filter feeders. They primarily feed on plankton and small fish, as well as clouds of fish eggs, in coastal and oceanic habitats. It prefers tropical oceans. The females are larger than the males, with males averaging 8-9 metres in length, and females around 14.5 metres, though longer and larger whale sharks have been documented.

Whale sharks live between 80 and 130 years. They are marked upon their backs with a variety of white spots and stripes, and these are unique to each whale shark and can be used to help identify them. It’s likely that whale sharks have a significant healing capacity and can recover from significant wounds and regenerate portions of their fins. Whale sharks are migratory, and will seasonally aggregate at well-known coastal sites – such as the Yucatan Coast where over 400 whale sharks have gathered at one time – at varying times of year.

At the time of this writing, no one has observed a whale shark pupping, but mating has been witnessed twice, filmed for the first time in 2019 in Australia. It is thought that whale sharks give birth to live young, and may do so over a prolonged period, instead of giving birth all at once. They are not a threat to humans, being gentle and docile in nature (and playful while young), but conversely, human activity has impacted them, including habitat destruction, oil spill pollution and hunting. Ecotourism is popular, but currently at unsustainable levels.

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[Art] Arctic Woolly Bear Moth as Animal Teacher

For the Unusuals deck.

I really like when I start to memorise the taxonomic names for all of these animals. Some fall away like fog, but others stay. Mellisuga helenae is a pretty name, and so is Zunzuncito.

With the completion of this piece, I now actually only have two animals left before completing all 40 cards of this deck. So the next batch of three will see both decks completed re: the art, and then everything after that is formatting. There is...actually a chance that this could be published by the end of the year. But with health stuff, I am doubt.

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Bee Hummingbird || Mellisuga helenae || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary




Keywords:

Small but fierce. Gusto. Full steam ahead. Your power is underestimated, but you know your inner fire. Flashes of insight. Reach. Unique relationships. A fierce inner flame. Living life at a different speed to others. Rushing around. Close friends are better than many acquaintances. Flower essences and magic. Moving at speed. Fashion is a language.

Description:

The bee hummingbird (zunzuncito) – Mellisuga helenae – is the world’s smallest bird, and is endemic to Cuba. The iridescence on their feathers is not always noticeable, and depends greatly on the angle at which they’re viewed. Their long bills are perfectly adapted for reaching deeply into flowers for nectar, and they can only feed from approximately ten plants, being remarkably co-evolved. The pollen that deposits on its bill and head helps with pollination. They can consume half of their body weight in food per day.

Bee hummingbirds are strong, fast flyers despite their size, and in one day can visit 1,500 flowers, with wings that beat around 80 times per second. They will also eat spiders and insects. They are notably plump in appearance, unlike other small hummingbirds. Their eggs are the size of coffee beans or peas. It is speculated that they may have the second fastest animal heartbeat in the world, at 1,260 beats per minute.

Males court females with display dives, and making sounds with their tail feathers. During courting displays, males can beat their wings up to 200 times a second. Females make tiny cup-shaped nests, using cobwebs, lichen, and bark. They will line the inside of their nests with soft plant fibres. Offspring are cared for by their mother for nearly three weeks. Because of their small size they have a wide range of predators, like birds, mongoose, bees, wasps, frogs, spiders, and fish. However, the biggest impact to their survival is human activity.

( More images under the cut. )