guard dog

the way her tail starts wagging as soon as I say hi to her 😭💕🥺 (my video)

ACEO for aohen <3

really wish my scanner hadn't butchered it so badly, but oh well. i don't have great natural light atm so this is the best photo i can get of it

The Only Way is Through

Now available in my BigCartel store: Double-Sided Articulated Wolf Charms

Charms can be attached with the cord provided to be used as accessories, decorations, etc.

Each fidget charm is made up of 10 interlocking articulated pieces that freely rotate creating an animated and lifelike feel when moved. Leg, body and tail pieces can be rotated to create various different poses, and head piece can be rotated to open the wolf's mouth. Made from heat-shrinked plastic, connected with metal rivets.

Double-Sided Articulated Wolf Charms

More charms

Don Balke (American, b. 1933). Michigan Wolverine and White Pine. Gouache and watercolor on board.

Hey can we not actually do this?

Orcas are not “humans of the ocean”. This implies that they are capable of understanding human concepts of morality, which we have no data to even remotely support.

What may seem horrific to us may be an adaptive survival strategy to them. For example, injuring prey and then allowing calves to practise hunting it is clearly a very successful way to pass on hunting skills.

This is unfortunately the danger of pushing this idea of the hyper intelligent animal that’s “just like us.” No. They’re not. They’re separated from us by millions of years of evolution and perceive and experience the world differently from us. Intelligence isn’t on a scale with humans at the top - intelligence is a range of cognitive abilities, spanning across a vast spectrum and dependent on the needs of that species survival.

There is nothing in the literature to suggest that orcas are capable of human levels of reasoning and therefore it is ridiculous to call them “humans of the ocean” when they engage in behaviours that are not exactly uncommon in other social species.

Tampering and destroying human property also isn’t new. Think about the kea in New Zealand that break off windshield wipers of cars seemingly for the fun of it.

Or, a personal anecdote, I recently had to take down my bird feeder camera because a sulphur crested cockatoo had deliberately bitten through the wire attaching the camera to the solar panel. There were seeds spread out for them to eat but they destroyed the wire instead - so no clear reinforcement value other than… fun?

Social learners like orcas are easily influenced and may do things just because it’s fun - which is likely what is happening in the Gilbrater Strait.