Bear with Skull | Photographic Print

Description

BEAR WITH SKULL – 2010

ORIGINAL PAINTING HAND-PAINTED  IN CALLIGRAPHY INK ON PAPER BY EMMA J V HOGG

 

PRINT DIMENSIONS | UNFRAMED –

A4 – 21 X 29.7 CM / 8 X 12″

A3 – 29.7 x 42 CM / 12 x 16.5″

A2 – 42 x 59.4 CM / 16.5 x 23.4″

 

“Bear with skull” is painted all in words, except for the skull itself and the fur details. The text details the Grizzly Bear’s scientific classification and biology.

Text reads:

Grizzly bear – Ursus arctos horribilis, common name – Silvertip bear, subspecies of the Brown bear – Ursus arctos, conservation status – Vu = Vulnerable, scientific classification – Kingdom = Animalia, Phylum = Chordata, Class = Mammalia, Order = Carnivora, Family = Ursidae, Genus = Ursus, Species = U.arctos, Subspecies = U.a.horribilis, Trinomial name – Ursus arctos horribilis.

Naming of – The grizzly bear is so called because of their “grizzled” fur, meaning streaked or tipped with gray. The naturalist George Ord formally named the subspecies in 1815 mistaking the meaning of grizzly as a reference to their terrifying, gruesome nature as a wild animal. And so the biological Latin name of the grizzly became Ursus arctos horribilis, horribilis meaning horrible, frightful and monstrous.

Description – Normally solitary, active animals. North America’s second largest land carnivore, the largest being the Polar bear. Coastal grizzlies are the largest of the subspecies, weighing up to 545kg. Sexually diomorphic species, females on average 38% smaller. Average height at shoulders is 1m, up to 2.4m on their hind legs. Grizzlies can run up to 56kmph. Their claws are characteristically up to twice the length of their toes.

Grizzlies are omnivores with 80-90% of the inland grizzlies’ diet being made up of plants which accounts for their smaller size in comparison to the coastal grizzlies.

The reproductive rate of a grizzly is one of the lowest of all land mammals in North America. Mothers have an average of two cubs per litter, care for them for two years and will not reproduce again for a further three or more years.

Written by EmmaJVHogg, repeated 5 times in the painting.