PRAIRIE SENTINEL--AMERICAN
BISON & PRAIRIE RATTLESNAKE (2002)
Acrylic on
illustration board
15" x 40"
$12,000.00
| The
rattlesnakes comprise a subfamily of two genera and around thirty
species of New World pit vipers which are unique among snakes
in having tails which end in a specialized horny segmented scale
that produces a characteristic buzz when shaken. The center of
rattlesnake diversity lies in the southwestern U.S. and northwestern
Mexico, but fossil evidence suggests that the first rattlesnakes
appeared in the American Great Plains. Presumably, these reptiles
found an advantage in being able to warn away large ungulates,
chief among them the American bison (Bison bison). Today,
the rattlesnakes are represented in the American midwest by the
prairie rattlesnake, a race of the widespread western rattlesnake
(Crotalus viridis). Incidental creatures in the painting
include horseflies (Tabanus sp.) metallic bee (Augochlora
sp.), banded grasshopper (Trimerotropis sp.), skipper
(Epargyreus sp.), common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor),
horned larks (Eremophila alpestris), and a groundsquirrel
(Spermophilus sp.). |
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