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Today I made my hubby's anniversary present - a painting of a springhaas, one of his favorite animals. I hope you like it. I haven't tried to do flatwork in about ten years, so I was surprised that it came back to me with relative ease. It's not the greatest painting ever, but not bad for a decade of not painting!
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Springhaas are UNBELIEVABLY cute. Recently, we went down to Olympia to visit some folks who are breeding them. They're as common as squirrels in many parts of Africa, but because of the ban on importing African rodents a few years ago, they're extremely rare in the USA, which is too bad, because they make really ideal pets. And they're awesome zoo critters. They're usually very tame and like to interact with humans, so they make great "ambassador" animals. So, these friends of ours are trying to breed them for zoos.
Anyway, here are some pictures of our visit with Gizmo, one of the first baby springhaas born in non-zoo captivity. He'll be added to the USA Springhaas studbook when he's old enough and will make more baby 'haas for zoos to display. These breeders currently have two breeding pairs, and are searching for a female to pair with Gizmo when he's old enough.
In one of the pictures, he's sucking on his hand in his sleep, just like a human baby. Too adorable for words.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Oh, how cute! He looks sort of like a cross between a giant gerbil and a guinea pig, or maybe some kind of otherworldly anime-esque creature. And such enormous eyes!
You said that one's a baby? How big are adults?
*contemplates adding a springhare/haas to list of Future Exotic Pets*
Your painting is great - I'm sure he'll love it!
Posts: 952 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Yeah, the real animal pictures... I just can't get it out of my head that he's a great big rodent. Something about the closup pictures of the eyes and the nose makes me squirm.
The painting, though, looks great.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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quote:Originally posted by CaySedai: I have to agree with kq and Theca. But my daughters just spent a couple of minutes going "Awwwwww" and "I want one soooo bad!!!!"
It's got cuteness, though.
Aww, you guys! Words cannot express how charming and endearing these guys were in person.
And they're definitely rodents...the breeders told me a story of how one of their breeding males leapt off the back of the couch during an evening "free-for-all" exercise session, and knocked out his front teeth. They had to feed him baby food for a few weeks, but then the teeth grew back, just like before!
Bonus edit: Their fur is SO SOFT. Almost as nice as a chinchilla's fur. Maybe more like a rabbit's.
Posts: 1006 | Registered: Jun 2006
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