ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for National Aardvark Week, Part 2: Aardvarks in Bambara (Bamana) Sculpture

Happy #NationalAardvarkWeek! Aardvarks (Orycteropus afer) are widely distributed across Sub-Sahara Africa, and as such can be found in African visual culture from ancient rock art to contemporary works. The Bambara (also called Bamana) peoples of West Africa, especially in Mali, have a rich tradition of aardvark representation, which manifests in…

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ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for National Aardvark Week, Part 1: Robert Jacob Gordon’s Aardvarks

This gallery contains 6 photos.

Happy #NationalAardvarkWeek! Besides being one of my favorite mammals, the Aardvark (Orycteropus afer) is also the most evolutionarily distinct one, which makes it very special indeed: The aardvark…has the highest score for being the most evolutionarily distinctive (ED) using the EDGE scientific method. Species such as the aardvark are much…

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ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for International Polar Bear Day: Richard Friese’s Polar Bears

This gallery contains 7 photos.

Happy International Polar Bear Day! This conservation holiday was founded by Polar Bears International and celebrated annually on the 27th of February, “to coincide with the time period when polar bear moms and cubs are snug in their dens. As part of our celebration, we focus on the need to…

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ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for Love Hornbills Day: Kenyalang Figures

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For #LoveHornbillsDay, here are examples of kenyalang figures from the Iban people of Borneo. These carved and painted wooden figures are stylized representations of the kenyalang bird, aka the Rhinoceros Hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros). It is the official state bird of Sarawak and national bird of Malaysia. GALLERY The largest sculptures…

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Happy Newt Year!

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Plates XIII. IX, and X from Our reptiles and batrachians; a plain and easy account of the lizards, snakes, newts, toads, frogs and tortoises indigenous to Great Britainby M. C. Cooke (1825-1914)London, W. H. Allen & co., limited, 1893via Biodiversity Heritage Library

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