[Art] Giant African Land Snail as Animal Teacher

For the Unusuals deck.

The first illustration I did of Snail as an animal teacher I hated. It's one of the only animal teacher illustrations I've thrown out. The second, I loved so much I kept it and refuse to list it for sale. It goes on my altar a couple of times a year. This one - well, I don't feel as much of a connection to the Giant African Land Snail, even though they're popular on Tumblr as 'slime puppies' - but I still really enjoy just how much detail I was able to get.

But Snail really helps with that kind of focus. I'm particularly pleased with the shell. :)

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Giant African Land Snail || Lissachatina fulica || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary




Keywords:

Invasion. Slow is fast. Initially underestimated. Religious offerings. Loved and hated. What are you giving back. Sensuality. Healing touch. Massage. Connection to sacred sexualities. Endurance. Relentlessness. Different connections to different people. You contain multitudes. Many-truths. Sticky situations. Check in on your health.

Description:

The Giant African land snail (sometimes confused with other giant African snails) – Lissachatina fulica (also Achatina fulica) – is a large species of nocturnal snail which, outside of its native range of eastern Africa, is a significant feral pest throughout the world. It is the most invasive species of snail. The Giant African land snail has a shell that varies between 50-10 centimetres, with a width of 10 centimetres at maturity. The body of the snail can sometimes extend up to 30 centimetres in length. Colour variations vary widely depending on what the snail consumes, though there are usually alternating bands of brown and tan.

In the Galapagos and eastern Africa, they prefer to live in high humidity warm tropical climates that are mild all year around. They are found in habitats such as wetlands, coastal regions, agricultural areas, natural and plantation forests, and many other places. During dry or cool weather, they will aestivate in loose soil or under rocks. Giant African land snails primarily herbivorous and eat decaying organic matter, such as fallen fruit, manure, paper, cardboard, even garbage. It has been known to take sand, small rocks, concrete and bones for calcium. Younger snails eat flowers and vegetables and will eat over 500 different species of plant. They will occasionally eat other snails.

As with many other land snails, the Giant African land snail has male and female sex organs, but cannot self-fertilise, so must mate with others. During mating they will pet each other, and press their bodies against each other, with courtship lasting around 30 minutes. They are sexually mature at six months. They can travel well over 100 metres a month, when conditions are favourable. They will also be moved by humans to new locations either by accident, or purposefully, due to the pet trade. Some new populations crop up due to the dumping of pets or their eggs. The Giant African land snail can live for 5-9 years, and may lay a total of 1000 eggs.

They are a disease vector for many different diseases, including those that can cause meningoencephalitis in humans. As a feral pest, it thrives in many different habitats and is a voracious feeder, while often distributing plant diseases, causing severe and catastrophic damage to both farms and native plants. It carries diseases that can harm pets, like rat lungworm, which has been reported to kill dogs who have consumed it. It also competes with native snail species. It is one of the top 100 invasive species in the world. In its native habitat, however, the shells are offered up to the gods in religious rites and festivals.

( More images under the cut. )

[Art] Common Eastern Firefly as Animal Teacher

The last illustration for the Unusuals Deck (I think).

I've always been fascinated by fireflies. We don't have them here in Western Australia, but they're so significant in so many cultures. I've always loved lights in nature, and bioluminescence, and phosphorescence.

Firefly was elusive to me at first. And I realised that he was trying to convey a sense of atmosphere rather than centralising himself as many of the animal teachers do. So we ended up with a strange composition, him signalling in the corner (even though he would normally be flying, let's forgive him for taking a rest), and many fireflies in the distance. A sense of community, and collective.

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Common Eastern Firefly || Photinus pyralis || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary




Keywords:

Flashes of insight. The light within. There’s always more than one answer, more than one idea. Forest inspiration. Night forests. Communication with the light and colour spectrum. Healing light. Nostalgia. The passage of time. Bittersweet. Speaking in code. Having your own special language with loved ones. Beware of burnout. Beware of people stealing your energy. Attracted to danger.

Description:

The common eastern firefly (big dipper firefly) – Photinus pyralis – is found in North America. It is a flying beetle that produces light from an organ in its abdomen. Males have larger light organs than the females. They are most noticeable around twilight, and hover close to the ground. Adult fireflies have short lifespans, spending most of their life in larval form.

As larvae, common eastern fireflies are carnivores, and prefer to eat soft-bodied insects like slugs, snails, worms or other larvae. However, they have been known to eat jumping spiders to take in their venom. They do not feed as adults. Other fireflies (from the Photuris family) will sometimes lure male common eastern fireflies by mimicking the light flashes of females, in order eat them and obtain chemicals that repel spiders. In order to deter predators, they’ll use unpleasant odours or sticky substances (reflex bleeding) to protect themselves.

Males in particular use patrolling flash patterns while luring a mate. Light conditions of the evening around them determine the patterns they use. Females will respond with a delayed coded flash, twisting their abdomen towards the male. Males will fly in a noticeable J-shape, but females are sedentary. If two males approach a sedentary female at the same time, they often become aggressive to each other. Males will offer food gifts of spermatophores, which females will then use to give nutrients to their eggs.

( More images under the cut. )

[Art] Bengal Tiger as Animal Teacher

The last for the Iconics deck!

Tigers always get snapped up super fast and this one is already technically spoken for, though the person who tentatively put it on hold may not want it anymore, at which point I'll relist it on Etsy.

I can't believe now I've got my 80 pieces of art for these decks? It's been a long haul. And I'm very intimidated by starting the formatting and so on. But I'm also definitely a lot closer.

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Bengal Tiger || Panthera tigris tigris || Etsy || Wildspeak Animal Dictionary




Keywords:

Power. Charisma. Attraction. Confidence. Ruling over one’s domain. Maintain your boundaries. Willpower. Courage. Taking time to learn. Monitor your anger and aggression. Forest wisdom. How do you feel about your biggest emotions? What are you hiding from? Unpredictability. Majesty. Self-pride and self-worth. Confrontation.

Description:

The Bengal tiger (also known as the Royal Bengal tiger) – Panthera tigris tigris – is an Endangered subspecies of tiger native to India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. They are one of the biggest large cats in the world, and widely recognised for the charismatic, powerful apex predators that they are. They are obligate carnivores. They inhabit many types of forest (moist evergreen, tropical, tropical dry forest, subtropical, temperate upland, moist deciduous forest etc.) as well as mangroves and grasslands. They are attracted to habitats where their preferred prey – ungulates (such as many species of deer, as well as buffalo, boar, porcupines, hares and peafowl) – are found in high number. There are fewer than 2600-3,300 wild Bengal tigers in the world as of 2018.

Males are larger than females, and tigers have the largest and longest teeth of any cat in the world. Adults rarely come together and fighting between the species can be particularly vicious. When food it plentiful, however, sometimes Bengal tigers will congregate. Otherwise the known social unit is a mother with her offspring. Males are usually solitary. All Bengal tigers maintain home ranges that ideally includes water, prey and shelter. While maintaining range boundary, they encounter other adults, which assists with locating mates. Some adults may even tolerate transient tigers in their territory, though this is usually temporary. Infanticide of tiger litters is quite common. Bengal tigers do not tend to leave their mothers until they are around 2-3 years old, at which point they become transient, while looking for their own territory.

Bengal tigers are known to kill predators on occasion, such as leopards, wolves, jackals, foxes, crocodiles, and bears. On extremely rare occasions, they may kill elephants, but this is unusual. They have a ‘feast or famine’ style of feeding due to their hunting methods, eating huge amounts of meat, followed by many days of fasting.

Bengal tigers are increasingly poaching human livestock, due to constant human encroachment on their territories. At times like this they will sometimes attack, kill and eat humans. Their greatest threats include habitat destruction, poaching (for fur, meat, and use as ‘alternative medicine’), and human-tiger conflict. Despite this, they are a beloved and charismatic animal, and there are many conservation efforts underway throughout the world. It is the national animal of India.

( More images under the cut. )