Figure 1 – You are so in my space. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

It is New Year’s Eve. My cat Cloe has informed me that if there is to be an ultimate “Animal Face” for the year 2018, it is to be she. So Figure 1 is a portrait of Cloe, the sweetest most loving cat that there is. Well, I am just a bit prejudice, of course.

Cats are the world’s watchers. They have infinite patience. A vole got in the basement this year, and Cloe camped out by the door to the basement not for hours but for days. As a result they are rumored to be knowing and wise. They are featured in several science fiction works as guardians of the universe.

I’ll end this year with a quote from Winston Churchill that pretty much says it all:

Figure 1 – The View down NYC’s Fifth Avenue from 84th Street. (c) DE Wolf 2018.

I took the image of Figure 1 over the Thanksgiving weekend. It is the view down Fifth Avenue of New York City from 84th Street. I was focused at the time on the wonderful cloud patterns and their accentuation using the IPhone’s dramatic “Noir” filter. Soon gone will be the generation that remembers the classic Wratten Deep Red A Filter! However, on work-up, my mind turned to Edward Steichen’s fabulous gum bichromate over platinum print of a century ago of the Flatiron Building, with its deep blue tones. So I took on the digital task of cold toning this photograph. Perhaps I went too far. But I really like the moody Stonehenge effect.

Figure 1 – Fossil Turtle at the AMNH (c) DE Wolf 2018.

Today it’s turtles again. This time something new, a marvelous fossil turtle and a photograph that I took at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City with my son. It is archelon ischyros which lived during the late cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) and is estimated to have weighed 4500 pounds. As a result it is believed to be the largest sea turtle species to have ever lived.

This image creates new meaning, namely that the eye sockets are the window to the soul.

And inevitably we have Ogden Nash’s poem “Fossils.”

Figure 1 – American toad. Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, May 20, 2016, Sudbury, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

Here is one of my favorite “Animal Faces” images, taken with my IPhone while lying on the ground at the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge. It is a certain demonstration of the IPhone’s close-up abilities. And it continues the saga or question of animal consciousness. The toad was well aware of me and frozen in an “if I don’t move, you won’t see me” position.” Such reptilian eyes, so well adapted to trigger its tongue to shoot out at the sign of a passing insect. But other than that we rightly or wrongly attribute the look to be one of empty vacancy. True or not we cannot be certain. But we must remember that this little toad can trace its lineage back to Hylonomus lyelli, the first reptile and the first animal known to have fully adapted to land life about 315 million years ago, during the Late Carboniferous Period.

Figure 1 – On the Brink, Natick, MA, December 2018. (c) DE Wolf 2018.

We appear to be poised on the Brink of the Great Recession of 2019. Orange causes aside, it makes me reflect. Silently and slowly the great Amazon of the 19th Century Sears Roebuck has been on an irreversible decline, like any dinosaur hopelessly and irrevocably facing the path to extinction. Last year our local Sears went for months without its escalator, as if puzzled whether there would be any point. I sensed otherwise. The escalator was briefly repaired. But then the second floor was shut down and the escalator removed. Treated like fools, we were told in giant signage that there was to be a newer and greater second floor. But in the end, as was inevitable, we were told that the store was to close, symbolic of the decline of brick and mortar stores. All items went on sale, employees on notice! And now the final blow even the hangers and manikins are being sold.

The manikins have been stripped of their heads, and their their clothes, like a great slave army up for sale! Yes the economy is on the brink, and everything is on sale! 

Figure 1 – Snapping Turtle laying eggs, Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, Maynard, MA, (c) DE Wolf 2016.

Now we get into the question of where in the tree of life does consciousness begin? I cannot offer a complete answer. Subjectively, reptilian eyes seem a bit vacant. But I can share this photograph that I took at the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge in Maynard, MA in the spring of 2016. This snapper was laying eggs and quite single minded about the task. I stood as close as I dared and took this image as she stared back at me. Not the most comfortable of positions for the nature photographer. But note the bug on her nose, the aftermath of excavating.

The obvious point has to be that given the turtle’s occupation it was most certainly a female and as a result answers directly Ogden Nash’s question.

“The turtle lives ‘twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile.”

Figure 1 – Animal faces #9, “Alpaca.” Lincoln, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

I crossed eyes with this fine alpaca, a South American camelid, a few months ago. Clearly, for a few moments we mutually contemplated each other, which raises the question as to exactly how much thought is going on in this ungulate’s mind. Do we extend our view of cross species communication to the ruminants? There are I suspect two important points to be made here. First, that in the conventional view, there is the belief in the existence of a ladder of intelligence. culminating, you guessed it, in us! How convenient for our fragile egos. Second, however is the important point that in evolution all creatures are at the top of their niche, perfectly adapted. Or at least til the environment and competition changes.The alpaca is designed for living in the mountainous Andes of Peru. They are herd creatures. And, it may be pointed out, that in general, an alpaca herd seems better adapted for making mutual decisions than the American Congress.

Hmm. People, in general, confuse alpacas with the larger and closely related lama. As a result alpaca quotes are rare! But I must say that I would rather have an alpaca coat than an alpaca quote!