I am impressed by cold-blooded creatures that have adapted to cool climates and the wood frog (Rana sylvatica), one of my favorite amphibians, is such a species.
The watercolor posted above features a wood frog, and is part of a series that I'm currently working on. Comprised of many small watercolor paintings tacked to a wall, the series is basically a bastardized taxonomy. In the picture below, you can see one wall of the series, whereby the various species and individual humans have been grouped according to behavior rather than biological type, physiology,or phylogeny. I hope to make viewers question anthropomorphism while at the same time poking fun at the inadequacy of our taxonomic systems.
Also, while we're on the subject of wood frogs, this short article in National Geographic discusses the ability that has allowed wood frogs to thrive in cold climates. Incredibly, they have mastered the delicate art of cryogenic freezing.
Image credits: Christopher Reiger, 2005
4 comments:
An artist has got to be a self-promoter in one way or another, shameless or not. Nice "animate" pose on the frog.
Post more HH!
The paintings look great. I wish I could read them.
There's nothing wrong with pointing out behavioral convergent evolution between species.
I agree - post more!
Really great paintings. Regarding alternative taxonomy, I just read an article in Discover about these two guys, I can't remember their names, who are pushing the phylocode system of naming things. I thought it was new, but doing a little more research, I think it's been around for a few years at least. Anyways, love the frog.
Yes, phylocode taxonomy is rapidly becoming accepted, resulting in all sorts of craziness. I can't even keep up with changes on the herpetology front, so I'd hate to be one of those responsible for coordinating the future "unitary" classification system.
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