| |
|
| |
|
Swimming with the Fish - Hippo |
Bev Abbott |
|
| |
2010 |
Newport News, VA |
|
| |
Oil on Ivorine, 3.5 x 5.25" |
|
|
The hippo lives at the St Louis Zoo. It became obvious after watching the hippos for awhile why so many fish are in the tank. As soon as the hippo releases waste there is a mad rush of fish to consume it until there is only a bit of undigested matter still floating about. It was a bit gross but the water became clearer rapidly. Nature's way of recycling and keeping the environment cleaner.
Science Art Note: As in the Abbott painting of the grunts, here too the stripes seem to serve, at least in part, a protective purpose, in this case of breaking the outline.
In the wild, hippos and fish have a commensal relationship: As the hippos step, their hoofs stir up lakebed or riverbed mud. Fish eat the creatures that the hippos expose as they move along.
|
|
|
