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I am very curious to know what everyone's thoughts on this are before I tell you what it is.

I've had the privilege of seeing two spectacular predator-prey interactions, live and in person: Humpback whales decimating a school of krill and A pair of coyotes taking on an elk herd.

The first one happened the second Time when I went Whale-Watching in the Monteray Bay in California. We went through an area that was practically red with krill- and a group of three Humpbacks decided to have a mid-migration snack. It's a little disturbing to see and animal the size of a bus launch itself out of the water faster than your dinky little boat is going and open It's mouth wide enough to swallow you and you and your whole family with room to spare. You couldn't see the individual prey- but these predators were massive, agressive, powerful creatures that left a very deep mark in my mind.

The second one was in spring up at Rock Mountain National Park, when the female elk gather by the hundreds to calve and protect their young. Normally, No coyote would even think about charging the herd, because they'd be trampled to death in very short order. The pair was only skulking around the edges looking for afterbirth when a car near the herd Backfired very loudly and startled the entire herd, including the lead cow. She panicked, all the other animals panicked, and the entire herd of three hundred or so animals tried to run in several directions at once. Sensing opportunity, the coyotes charged and the animals went wild, trampling each other, slamming headfirst into trees and one parked car, tripping and nearly drowning in the river.

Ever noticed that there's dramatic music playing whenever a chase comes on in a nature program? It because animals literally scream when they're frightened, just like humans.

I couldn't even see the coyotes through the herd, only after they had fled to the hills and the pair was trying to decide which of the half-dozen trampled calves to eat first.

So these experiences got me thinking: a Humpback whale can eat about four tons of krill in a sitting, roughly 8000 pounds of flesh. the average elk weighs about 600 pounds. So a whale eats the equivalent of about 13 elk ina single sitting, sometimes more.

Just think about that for a minute. Isn't our world delightfully insane?

The was part of an art project for my advanced drawing class, where we studied the work of a contemporary artist and used their influence in our work for five drawings. I chose the artist Josh Keyes: [link] .

Materials: prismacolor pencils

Size: 18"x 24"

Time: 4 Hours

Description
I am very curious to know what everyone's thoughts on this are before I tell you what it is.

I've had the privilege of seeing two spectacular predator-prey interactions, live and in person: Humpback whales decimating a school of krill and A pair of coyotes taking on an elk herd.

The first one happened the second Time when I went Whale-Watching in the Monteray Bay in California. We went through an area that was practically red with krill- and a group of three Humpbacks decided to have a mid-migration snack. It's a little disturbing to see and animal the size of a bus launch itself out of the water faster than your dinky little boat is going and open It's mouth wide enough to swallow you and you and your whole family with room to spare. You couldn't see the individual prey- but these predators were massive, agressive, powerful creatures that left a very deep mark in my mind.

The second one was in spring up at Rock Mountain National Park, when the female elk gather by the hundreds to calve and protect their young. Normally, No coyote would even think about charging the herd, because they'd be trampled to death in very short order. The pair was only skulking around the edges looking for afterbirth when a car near the herd Backfired very loudly and startled the entire herd, including the lead cow. She panicked, all the other animals panicked, and the entire herd of three hundred or so animals tried to run in several directions at once. Sensing opportunity, the coyotes charged and the animals went wild, trampling each other, slamming headfirst into trees and one parked car, tripping and nearly drowning in the river.

Ever noticed that there's dramatic music playing whenever a chase comes on in a nature program? It because animals literally scream when they're frightened, just like humans.

I couldn't even see the coyotes through the herd, only after they had fled to the hills and the pair was trying to decide which of the half-dozen trampled calves to eat first.

So these experiences got me thinking: a Humpback whale can eat about four tons of krill in a sitting, roughly 8000 pounds of flesh. the average elk weighs about 600 pounds. So a whale eats the equivalent of about 13 elk ina single sitting, sometimes more.

Just think about that for a minute. Isn't our world delightfully insane?

The was part of an art project for my advanced drawing class, where we studied the work of a contemporary artist and used their influence in our work for five drawings. I chose the artist Josh Keyes: [link] .

Materials: prismacolor pencils

Size: 18"x 24"

Time: 4 Hours