animals – Spyder Webb Fine Art

Saint Crying Fox 10x10

Acrylic on canvas, 25″x25″

The San Joaquin Kit Fox is an endangered species. Its natural habitat is the southwest United States and Northern Mexico, although it has steadily been losing habitat because of human expansion.

They’ve been listed as endangered since 1967, and in 2007 a special area was set aside for them as a protected habitat. You can think of it as a reservation for kit foxes, and like most other “reservations” it’s a fraction of their original territory, and not really enough for them to thrive and return in significant numbers.

Its numbers are dwindling, both because of human activity and because of predators. Of course the predator activity wouldn’t be such a problem if the habitat hadn’t shrunk so much.

So Saint Crying Fox has good reason to cry.

Tiny Deer FAA

I’m not at all sure what kind of deer these are. But cute. definitely cute.

Which is not to minimize the magnificent beings that they are. Just because they look all cuddly (which they’re actually not!), don’t weigh in with the mass of an elephant, or command fear like the big jungle cats, does not mean they are not awesome creatures.

Hmm. A lot of negatives in that last sentence, so let me try to put it another way.

These little guys are living out their existence according to the place they have on our planet, same as all us earthlings are. And they are worthy of exactly the same degree of respect as every other magnificent and cute and cuddly (OK, some not so much) living creature. Including you. (Whoa, snuck that right in, didn’t I?)

But they’re still ridiculously cute.

Maybe like someone you met in the mirror this morning?

This image is from my gallery, Out Here in the Country — check it out when you get a chance because you’ll get to see the full resolution image in all its detail. Just go here.