#bigcats are powerful, dangerous, beautiful predators. They’re perfectly adapted for the #ecosystems they live in, and have inspired #myths and #legends for millennia. Even so, they’re still sometimes just #cats who do quintessential things - as perfectly demonstrated by this #jaguar taking a bath up on a nice high perch at the Houston Zoo. #catsofinstagram #bigcat #houstonzoo #toebeans #cutecats #zooanimals #catsbeingcats #pantheraonca (at Houston Zoo) https://www.instagram.com/p/Btq9gKCB2-O/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=md5b988mb0q5
#bigcats are powerful, dangerous, beautiful predators. They’re perfectly adapted for the #ecosystems they live in, and have inspired #myths and #legends for millennia. Even so, they’re still sometimes just #cats who do quintessential things - as perfectly demonstrated by this #jaguar taking a bath up on a nice high perch at the Houston Zoo. #catsofinstagram #bigcat #houstonzoo #toebeans #cutecats #zooanimals #catsbeingcats #pantheraonca (at Houston Zoo) https://www.instagram.com/p/Btq9gKCB2-O/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=y37sgbzntx18
A #lion at the Houston Zoo shows off his incredible #canines and rough tongue after sniffing something stinky the #zookeepers scattered around his habitat. This funny face is called a #flehmenresponse - it allows #cats to pull air (and the funky smells it carries) to a specialized organ at the roof of their mouth. While normally a behavior used to detect chemical stimuli, all species of cats will happily use this adaptation to investigate all sorts of interesting scents. #bigcat #bigcats #lions #catbehavior #catbiology #wildcats #zooanimals (at Houston Zoo) https://www.instagram.com/p/Btj5QcWhmLt/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1925vi49hpj4v
#bigcats beat the #summerheat with different strategies at the #comozoo! The #amurtiger spent the day lazing in the pool, while the #lion flopped down on a convenient pile of bedding in the shade of a big tree. #felidae #bigcatsofinstagram #lazysummerdays (at Como Park Zoo & Conservatory)
Cheetah feets! #cheetah are the only big cats without fully retractable claws - an adaptation that gives them more traction when they run, increasing their ability to make sharp turns. Over time, their claws actually become blunted from all that speedy movement! #bigcats #bigcat #spotted #predator #spots #speeddemon #conservewhatyoulove (at Houston Zoo) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvtuByrh2gw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=6m80ionzy2mx
Hello there. This Friday May 20th at 12pm PST, I’ll finally be releasing the last edition of the pentagram crypt coin in a patina silver. I don’t know what got into me but I’ve hand cut several linoleum blocks to print on each of the 1000 organic black muslin bags that each coin will come with. It’s a lot of work but they’re all one of a kind and look pretty neat if I might say so myself. Shipping will begin on Monday the 23rd and will continue until the last coin is sold. You can purchase up to 5 coins in one order. As with the gold design, these coin designs will never be recreated again so if you’d like to have one, here is your chance. I’ve set a reminder in my stories and also have it in my bio. I’ll have any remaining coins available online and @monsterpalooza until they’re gone.
I know you haven’t seen me in my old fashioned habitat for a while so I thought I’d give you a peak at my home studio where I work on days when I get home too late from the hospital to make it to the studio. Behind me is my wall of antique prosthetic arms that I’ve collected over the last 15 years as well as some antique anatomy and surgical books. Along the other walls are multiple antique prosthetic legs, braces, my mother’s urn, a fish in an antique aquarium my husband made to keep me company and antique musical instruments. It’s always been a very inspiring room to be in. Hope you enjoy. X. #cryptcoin #crypt #cryptcurrency #limitededitioncoin #limitededition #coincollector #savannahcat #bigcats #f2savannahcat (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cdq5ubgJ_fe/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
I’ve prepared this artwork for international tiger day and if you’re following me on IG or twitter, you probably already saw it! Anyway tigers are my favourite big cats and, I think, favourite animal too.
Wild population of these majestic, endangered predators is now around 3900. In past years their population has growth in India, and now it is home for over 70% of global tiger population.
Three random facts just for fun: -tigers are the largest of Pantherinae subfamily -they pay a key role in the ecosystem, belonging to a group of “umbrella species”. It means that by protecting them, we indirectly protects the many other species and their natural habitats -they use chuffing to communicate. Chuff is usually accompanied with the head bobbing movement and is a kind of “hello, I like you” sign (I love it)
Hello dear followers! Just wanted to say thank you all for the love you’ve shown my artwork over the course of this page…and now for some news! I’ve recently started an Instagram account, so if you enjoy my drawings please head over to @christinebiandraws to check out some of my latest doodles. LOVE, PEACE, AND WOOLY FLEECE (or…HONKING GEESE? CHOCOLATE MEESE? Are meese more than one mouse, or more than one moose…?)
If nature is designed to prevent the survival of genetic mutations that are a danger to a specie’s survival – why do white tigers exist?
Natural selection would not allow the white tiger to survive in the wild. If a white tiger were to be born in the wild, the mother would either kill or abandon the cub as she knows it will not survive with its colouration and does not want to draw attention to her other cubs. So if they do not exist in the wild, why should we breed them in captivity?
White tigers are very popular among zoos, performing shows and exhibitions because they bring profit. The belief that the white tiger is a far rarer and more endangered species than the orange Bengal tiger has made it a significantly more popular cat to be seen.
In actual fact, the white tiger is simply an orange Bengal tiger with a severe genetic mutation. It is a condition called leucism whereby pigmentation is reduced due to a double recessive gene. Both parents must carry this particular gene for a white tiger to be born and is therefore a result of excessive inbreeding. This genetic anomaly is in fact so rare in nature that only 1 in 10,000 tigers are born white in the wild.
The same gene that produces the white colouration, also causes optic nerves to be wired to the wrong side of the brain, therefore making all white tigers to be cross eyed, whether it is noticeable or not. The inbreeding also leaves most white tigers with clubbed feet, cleft palates, spinal deformities, immune deficiencies and mental impairments which cause them to live miserable, short lives, if any life at all.
The truth is that every single white tiger that you see in captivity in the US has been inbred from one single tiger in the 1950s. Back in the early 1950s, a white tiger cub was captured, raised and inbred by a man in India. He bred father to daughter, mother to son, to get more white tiger cubs since this is a recessive gene that both parents must carry. This inbreeding continued for generations and now every single white tiger that you see in captivity can be traced back to that one single white tiger in the 1950s with them all been inbred ever since.
Because white tigers suffer from an enormity of problems, the ones that show visible signs of these conditions are known as the ‘throw away tigers’, they are the ones that you never see because they don’t make it on TV or in performing shows. Usually the orange ones that are born in this process are killed at birth as they are not as big money makers. In order to be a ‘perfect white tiger’, they must show no signs of deformity; they must possess a pure white coat with perfect black stripes and striking blue eyes. This is almost impossible to produce considering the amount of inbreeding involved. With severe inbreeding, 1 in 4 tigers will turn out white, 80% of which will be still-born with the remaining 20% deformed. According to some trainers, only 1 in every 30 of these white tigers will perform continuously, therefore countless tigers are being destroyed just for that one ‘perfect’ show tiger.
The myth of the rare white tiger was created to deceive the public into believing that they are an endangered species being bred for conservation purposes. This is all a fraud, if a white tiger were to be released into the wild, it would most likely starve to death. Instead they are being bred for entertainment purposes because they bring in more profit than orange ones. White tigers also rely more on their owners due to their impairments, causing them to be more popular among entertainers.
Do you support any organisations that breed white tigers? If so, you are simply supporting the exploitation of such animals, to be inbred, deformed and destroyed, not to mention the unnatural training and handling that the ‘perfect’ animals are put through, (but I will get to that in a future blog). They are the only ones that suffer.
Quan Yin Goddess of mercy from my 2016 inktober series of goddesses across the work So many of you requested this be restocked in my shop so she will be back in November! Goddesses books have been long sold out and won’t be reprinted until I am able to work on more from that series and make a hardcover. Future plans but definite plans! . . . . #lyfe #lyfeillustration #inktober #inktober2020 #art #artist #instaart #artistsoninstagram #illustration #illustrator #tiger #savethetigers #bigcats #catlovers #cats #ink #inking #drawing #watercolor #painting #quanyin #mothernature (at Thousand Oaks, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGQfchrHY4t/?igshid=8phunxkndnw5
