Tuatara

The New Zealand reptile (not a lizard). Tuatara are the only surviving members of their order, which peaked during the time of the dinosaurs.

A buddy of mine in New Zealand has been studying tuatara for the last couple of years, and found a successful South Island nest. It's the first time tuatara have successfully nested on the South Island in hundreds of years.

But you don't have to take my word for it - http://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago089975.html

Dunedin Douche Bag

This drawing is a bit of cathartic venting on my part.

The men's fashion in New Zealand drives me a little crazy.  Especially among college aged guys.  The fashion is typified by baggy-v neck shirts, dark shoes with long dark socks, and really really short boy's shorts with the bottoms rolled up even higher on the thigh.  It's a horrifying display of man thigh.

Lately I've been seeing a guy on campus with one of those "too cool for school" expressions, and everything he does makes me angry.  The other day I was walking behind him as he cut in front of traffic because he was too impatient to wait for the walk symbol.  But then he walked up to the door for handicapped people, slammed the automatic door button, and struck a little pose as he waited for the door to slowly open.  Even though I actually waited the fifteen seconds for the walk symbol to turn green, I still walked past him as he waited for the electric handicapped door to pen.  Apparently his arms were too weak to push the door open on his own.

It pissed me off so bad that I decided to immortalize the moment in digital technicolor.

It's really strange, because among some men in New Zealand (thankfully not all of them) there is a really false bravado that reminds me of insecure schoolyard bullies.  It is blatantly chauvinist.  It wouldn't be so bad if television advertisers didn't focus so much on that sub-set of population.  Every other commercial is about "Man"-this and "Man"- that.  Last year they were advertising Man Bread, Man Ice Cream, and (I swear I am not making this up) Man Yogurt.

Birds of New Zealand

New Zealand birds are confusing!  Both the Maori and Western names are commonly used, so you typically have to learn two common names for every species.  Not to mention knowing the scientific names if you have to write a paper about them.  Furthermore the Maori names all sound the same to me!  Don't get me wrong, it is pretty impressive that the New Zealand people still commonly use the Maori names (because we all know that the first people to exploit a species should traditionally have the honor of naming them), but I do wish that most of the bird names didn't start with the letter "K". 

Case in point - the birds featured in this illustration are the: Kakapo, Kakarikis, Kokako, Kaka, Kaki, Kiwi, Kea, Karearea, and Kereru.  Try saying that three times fast!

I've been joking for a while that I should make an ABC's of native New Zealand birds.  The book would consist of one blank page labeled A-J, then an overpopulated K page, and finally another blank page labeled L-Z.  "New Zealand birding made easy!" 

PS.  There are even more K birds that I didn't include in this illustration: Kotare (Kingfisher), Kotuku (White Heron), Korora (Little Blue Penguin), and Korimako (Bellbird).  Just to name a few!

Kakapo Leprechaun

(click on the picture for a larger view)

I recently moved to New Zealand to study Wildlife Management which inspired me to do a drawing of one of the many critically endangered New Zealand birds.

After looking at a number of Kakapo pictures I started to realize just how much they remind me of little fluffy leprechauns.  They're evasive, green, and like to hold things in their mouths (thus the pipe).