bestiary: black footed ferret

what's most surprising about these guys is how vicious they were with prairie dog populations. they would hunt these rodents down in their own underground dens! they're also known as praire dog hunters. i mean, come on. squirrels, mice, and rats were not safe either. also suprising is how much these nocturnal guys sleep. nearly 21 hours. they're like sloths! i think. they were once hunted for the pelts but it sounds like the removal of prairie dog burrows by farmers in the 1900s has led to this species becoming endangered. mustela nigripes in moleskine.

black bear

when i think of black bears i think of...the office. jim impersonating dwight: "what kind of bear is best? FALSE. black bear." and "bears. beets. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA." i digress. the first interesting tidbit about black bears that i have is that they can actually be a few different colours. they can be white! cinnamon. bluish (which i think is awesome) gray or black. brown. they spend their summers pretty much alone, eating just about everything. everything. their dormancy in the winter was once not really considered hibernating but that might have changed now. regardless, they don't eat, drink or go onesies or twosies during the winter. black bears were created by the great spirit, according to early inhabitors of the americas (grizzlies were created by the evil spirit). also, winnie the pooh was named after a london zoo female black bear named winnipeg. ursus americanus in moleskine.

steve

here's to one of the greatest risk takers of our age. even if you don't like his company or his products, i'd be willing to bet that his and his team's work influenced the product you chose as an alternative.

calvin

jeff hamada ovet at booooooom recently asked his followers what their first and last cd purchases were. i used that as the basis for some portraits, which i kind of missed doing. the first cd that i can remember buying was doggystyle by calvin cordozar broadus, or snoop dogg as we all know (of) him. technically, i also about dr dre's the chronic the same day but only one portrait for the first and the last. i don't make the rules. a portrait for the last cd will come.

bestiary: bird of paradise

this classification is a bit of a cheat i think as there are something like forty species of these birds. i do have to keep things as simple as possible though. hailing from australia, south africa, and new guinea, these birds usually have some very dramatic and showy feathers and colours (i say that as if they choose to dress this way or something). since there are so many species, it's hard to report on anything less general than they eat fruit and bugs. i leave finding out more about these birds to you.