Wiles Animal Pottery

Grevy's zebras are different than other zebras. They live in arid areas. Other zebra species care about their families. Grevy zebras care & defend what is valuable to them in a dry region. Each male zebra will defend his  watering hole. They are the tallest of the 3 species of zebras - (the other two being mountain and plains). Like the mountain zebras, Grevy' stripes do not run under the belly.  Grevys have very narrow stripes. Interesting fact about the black and white stripes, it seems those stripes repel flies.  Zebras are the animals that have the least amount of flies swarming around them in Africa.  

These two ladies are retired circus elephants. They are Asian elephants that happily spend all their time together. Asian elephants are smaller than African savannah elephants. They are hairy, have two domes on the top of their heads and one finger at the end of their trunks. They have smaller ears than African elephants. African elephants have one dome, two fingers at the end of their trunks and are not hairy. African elephants have tusks. Asian elephants do not have those long incisors. Some have  smaller tusks called, "Tushes" and many have none. Elephants are one of the few creatures that can recognize themselves in a mirror.  I really enjoyed their story.  I illustrated and put these ladies on my mugs and trays. 

Do you know what makes a seal and a sea lion similar? What makes them different?

Both a pinnipeds. Pinnipeds are mammals that have flippers and eat meat. They have "goggles" that help them see underwater. They can close their nostrils like a nose plug. They can hold their breath for long periods of time and have blubber under their streamlined bodies to help keep them warm in cold water. 

Sea lions have ear flaps like us. Seals do not. This makes it easy to for us to see the differences between them.  Sea lions are flexible. They can change the  position of their back flippers while they are on land. This feature allows them to "walk".  Seals ungulate like a giant worm to move along land. They cannot sit up.  Seals have claws on their flippers.  Sea lions swim using their front flippers and steer with the rear. Seals are the opposite.  

Are they seals or sea lions in this picture?  They are sea lions. 
Don't forget to check out my artwork.