Rigor Vitae: Life Unyielding

Friday, January 22, 2010

YET ANOTHER TIME-LAPSE CLIP

Here's my last time-lapse clip for a while. This one's a vertically-oriented diptych. Each panel depicts a different viewpoint of the same event, and illustrates some of the common evasive strategies employed by frogs. The Brilliant Forest Frog (Rana warszewitschii) inhabits rain forests from Honduras to Panama. When resting upon leaf litter, its drab dorsal colors are cryptic, but bright yellow spots on its thighs flash when it leaps, and a glimpse of its brilliant underside is even more likely to startle and confuse a predator. Upon disappearing beneath the water's surface, it usually follows a wild, zig-zag course, ending up some distance from where the naïve viewer might anticipate. This painting's antagonist, the Agami Heron (Agamia agami), ranges through most of Tropical America, but does not occur in great numbers anywhere and is infrequently seen. Long of neck and short of leg, it haunts streams within heavy forests and feeds upon small fish and amphibians. Incidental subjects in this painting include a water strider (Gerris sp.), damsel fly naiads (family Coenagrinionidae) and a White-necked Puffbird (Notharchus macrorhynchus).

1 Comments:

Anonymous suzanne larson said...

i've just seen this in "real life" up at the hogle zoo show. i could get lost in it for hours. great job!

suzanne larson

5:38 PM  

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