Mira Armstrong

A Diet of Imitation The common garter snake has a varied diet and often consumes eggs, worms, snails and small birds/mammals. Our understanding of true nutrition has become lost to us over the years. Nowadays, we often go to great lengths to alter a food’s characteristics to mimic a more wholesome alternative.

Love Song Confusion This illustration depicts animals who sing and call to attract a mate, celebrating the diversity of different species and their mating rituals. Although human beings are just as talented in their musical capabilities, due to their commercialization, love songs seem to have lost their purpose. In current culture, they’re primarily used for entertainment rather than for attracting a partner.

Mechanism Failure Like a tortoise shell, the bicycle helmet acts as a cyclist’s “shell” to protect their heads. Despite our intelligence, there are times when our inner defense mechanisms fail us due to reckless behavior. For example, not wearing a bicycle helmet despite knowing the consequences.

Wasted Matter Carcasses of large animals greatly impact an ecosystem by sustaining a vast array of species. Nature is beautiful in how it breaks down organic matter and implements it into the circle of life. Humanity’s fatal flaw is how we waste matter in ways that prevent it from returning to earth.

The Symbiotic Relationship Between Pests & People Urban pests are animal species who seem to thrive in man-made environments to the point where they are considered a nuisance. Despite our efforts to separate ourselves from nature and industrialize the earth, the presence of “pest” species reminds us we are still a part of it, nonetheless.

Migratory Folly The Greater flamingo will migrate to warmer waters to raise their young. The act of migration is often one that involves commitment to a long arduous journey followed by meaningful change. In choosing not to migrate, the flamingoes try to fool themselves by making their environment fit the needs migrating would have fulfilled.

The Camouflage We Wear Animals born without their natural pattern can be more susceptible to bullying and predation such as fawns displaying piebaldism. The patterns of an animal’s coat cloak an animal to blend in with its surroundings. Similarly, people use clothes and fashion to subconsciously fit in with others.

Resource Guarding A leopard will store it’s meal up in a tree to prevent it being stolen by other predators. Like animals, we require food, water, and shelter to survive. Where we differ is in our dependence on money which humans’ ultimate resource to afford survival. Whereas animals depend entirely on their own abilities.

Domesticated Interiors The Zebra resides in the African Savanna, often experiencing the hot arid winds and grazing on native shrubs and grasses. This illustration is meant to show how we alter our living spaces to replicate a natural habitat using man-made things. This example uses a zorse (zebra-horse hybrid) as it exists in an odd limbo between wild and domesticated. The stall it resides in is filled with objects that artificially mimic the elements of the zebra’s natural habitat.

Grocery “Struggles” A maned wolf’s diet is incredibly varied and includes a number of different items. Foods like fruit, a main proponent of their diet, is often taken for granted by us. Despite their scarcity in the wild, most fruits are widely available in most grocery stores. Much of an animal’s everyday life depends on their ability to locate and consume food. Often people in the Western world don’t realize how much easier we have it, as they always try to make the process easier with technology, i.e. delivery services.

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