Kim Has a Whale Problem

Posting new and past art pieces, doodles and ideas, and the inspirational (or just adorable) art and photography of others. I also love biology and will probably share any interesting news that catches my attention.

[orca-sketcher]

Our Kickstarter for our collaborative charity book for the Southern Residents has gone live! Featuring the work of 18 artists! The book will be sold at #Superpod6 where all proceeds will go to the @centerforwhaleresearch and @orcanetwork_langleywhalecenter. Help us get the book printed to help the endangered Southern Residents!

The Kickstarter is here; https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1247395291/those-who-remain-a-srkw-charity-art-book

And feel free to use this image and help us promote the project!

[kimcoxart]

[kimcoxart]

Look what Target has brought us

[floridabottlenose-deactivated20]

Types of Bottlenose Dolphins & Bottlenose Dolphin Hybrids

“Lagoon Dolphins” in the Banana River. This ecotype of Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin is only found in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon (this includes the Banana River, Sykes Creek, and Newfound Harbor)

Interestingly, there are many different “sub-species” and ecotypes of Bottlenose Dolphins. Three sub-species of Bottlenose Dolphin are currently known, these being the Atlantic, or Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), the Burrunan Dolphin (Trusiops australis), and the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus). There are also several ecotypes of Bottlenose Dolphin, including the Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin, the Moray Firth Bottlenose Dolphin, Lagoon Dolphins, and the Black Sea Bottlenose Dolphin.

Several hybrids of Bottlenose Dolphin are known, including crosses with Atlantic Spotted Dolphins, Common Dolphins, Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins, Rough-toothed Dolphins, and even False Killer Whales (this cross is often referred to as a “wholphin”). Some of these hybrids have been observed both in the wild and in captivity.

CJ, an Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin/Common Dolphin cross at SeaWorld Orlando

Bottlenose Dolphin Hybrids in Florida: 

Interestingly, one captive Bottlenose Dolphin-Common Dolphin cross (named C.J.), can be found at a Florida marine park, SeaWorld Orlando. Also, Shaka, a dolphin at Marineland Dolphin Adventure in St. Augustine, Florida, is Common Bottlenose Dolphin who has some Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin in her.

[kimcoxart]

Pacific bottlenose are also divided into coastal and offshore ecotypes. And Bullet is another bottlenose/common hybrid. She has the same father as CJ - Cooper.

[namu-the-orca]

“Something new”

A young Pack ice killer whale investigates something she has never seen before in her life. Her family continues swimming steadily, but she is too intrigued to notice. Golden fronds beckon in the warm water, dancing weightlessly as she tries to grasp them. The fronds are small but together they form enormous pillars that reach all the way down into the deep dark blue. Giant kelp. Born in the frigid Antarctic waters, the empty ice-filled seas, spare for colourful starfish strewn across the pebbly ocean floor, had been all she’d ever known.

But now they have journeyed several thousand miles, leaving their Antarctic home behind to visit tropical waters off Brazil for a few weeks. The reason for their visit can be seen on their skin: diatoms cover it in patches, painting them a strange yellow. Unlike other cetaceans, who tend to continually shed their skin, Pack ice killer whales shed it all in one go. Their home waters are too cold to do so, which is why they have ventured so far away for a short ‘spa vacation’. For this young whale it is her very first visit, and the journey brings along many new and unexpected sights to see.

This painting was started, believe it or not, six years ago. I couldn’t make it work, and it was doomed to reside in the folder of scrapped paintings. Until I happened upon it again several months back, still despised the painting but still liked the idea, and decided to do a remake. Now here we are : D I absolutely love how this turned out, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too!

The next painting shall be a railway piece again, I’ll alternate between the two to keep variety going :)

I’m also very happy to say that this piece, together with several others, is available as a print in my brand new online print store! 

[kimcoxart]

This is amazing!

[fuckyeahaquaria]

Grey Whale calf with mother swimming underneath | Eschrichtius robustus

(by Tony Wu Underwater Photography)

[bitch-dont-krill-my-vibe]

Kinda looks like he’s shaking his fist at you 😂 Photo belongs to Jem Cresswell

[kimcoxart]

Lagenorhynchus obliquidens

Sketches of some dolphin friends for an upcoming painting.

[aurosoulart]

Open your mouth wide The universal sigh And while the ocean blooms It’s what keeps me alive So why does it still hurt?

This orca is J-46 ‘Star’, and she lives in the Salish Sea of the Pacific Northwest. In the fall of 2016, she lost her mother, J-28 ‘Polaris’, and baby brother J-54 ‘Dipper’. She was seen trying to catch enough salmon to feed all three of them, and supported her brother at the water’s surface in his final moments.

Here are a few websites with information about the endangered southern resident killer whales, and what we can do to help: x x x

[kimcoxart]

Oh, this is beautiful. =(

[kimcoxart]

Footage of the CA51 and CA216 matrilines as they headed north up the California coast from Mexico. They altered course and disappeared after being harassed by people on watercraft trying to take selfies.

[thedesigndome]

Impressive Giant Pacific Octopus, carved from a fallen Redwood

Woodcarver Jeffery Michael Samudosky has magical hands that he uses to carve exquisite sculptures from mere blocks of wood.

Keep reading

[kimcoxart]

An incredible piece of work!

[fuerimmer-gruen]

Valen, patagonian female Orca intentionally stranding.

[earthstory]

Kayaking trip off Vancouver Island with some visitors

[derangedhyena-delphinidae]

was this the ingestion of one massive beetle or the ingestion of many, many beetles? also how and why

Many. A beluga in SWT liked to eat things that fell in the pool apparently.“Endoscopy revealed the forestomach tobe laden with insects. Two days following the examination, the whale vomitedmost of the lining of her forestomach, voiding the remainder two days later.Approximately 0.5 liters of insects were expelled with the gastric lining.”The last sentence of this paper is“Ingestion of such beetles could obviously be of unforeseen consequenceto a cetacean and should be taken into consideration.”I… yhea.

[mama-beluga]

which beluga was this?

[derangedhyena-delphinidae]

‘ In July of 1988, Sea World of Texas, in San Antonio, received a young female beluga whale,’  Going by Cetabase, there seems to be four possibilities - dead: Roxanne or Martina - or living: Martha or Crissy. They all have capture dates in July ‘88.

[kimcoxart]

I don’t know if just commenting alerts people to responses, so I’ll reblog this, too. Roxanne immediately came to my mind. I was told by a trainer in 1996 that she would shed and regurgitate her stomach lining repeatedly (we watched her get an examination), but no mention of beetles was made. She died a few months later.

[kimcoxart]

Northern Resident Orca & Narwhal

by KtrenalWinterheart

[mama-beluga]

This is adorable.

[earthstory]

View this post on Instagram

Humpback visits a whale tour