Thursday, September 30, 2010

Babysitting the Cubs

Thanks to a combination of cartoons, children's books, a really vivid dream I once had, and a nature documentary that featured a segment about them, I pretty much know all there is to know about lions. I expect I'd know even more if the TV hadn't been muted during the documentary, but they're just big cats. How complicated can they be? I now want to share some of what I've learned with you, the easily-angered, blog-post-policing public. This should go well.

To begin with, female lions (or "lionesses" to those who enjoy stumbling through words that end in too many S's) do the majority of the hunting, most likely due to the fact that they yearn to be in charge and feel important. Because female lions spend so much of their time hunting as a result of their pride (or "for their pride" as it's generally stated), the responsibility to babysit falls on the unfortunate males.

Now, babysitting is never easy, but imagine doing it full time while you're also trying to get twenty hours of sleep a day. That's how much an adult, male lion sleeps. You may not know this, but you can't really get much done when you're only awake for four hours a day. I did it for about six years in college, and even if someone had been doing all my hunting for me, by the time I'd eaten dinner and watched Monday Night Football, there's no way I would have been up for babysitting. Male lions are getting robbed! And on top of that, sometimes they're raised by sheep.

16 comments:

Kris said...

You make me laugh and brighten my day!

Heather Dixon said...

Hahaha. I love the one tied up in his tail. Awesome!

Jacob said...

Can you imagine being raised by sheep and then trying to raise lions? What does that do to the psychological stability of a species?

aintshakespeare said...

OH MAN! After ten long years of therapy I finally had the theme song from Lambert the Sheepish Lion out of my head.

La-a-a-mbert, the sheepish lion.
La-a-a-mbert, there's no denying...

(sob)

Great pic, and the narrative is hilarious, as usual.

syellen said...

@aintshakespeare:

I was thinking the exact same thing!

Hilarious though...I actually cried from laughing :)

Ron said...

Beautiful art, as always! I particularly like the depth of field (no pun intended) you achieved in the grass. Awesome!

L. D. Torres said...

Amazing art and hilarious post, as usual, Shane! I'm so glad that 1 of my 4 concious hours are spent on your blog ;)

hotel in bandung said...

I like this blog

Richard Gaines said...

I can never get enough of your stuff, Shane. I also like how you add creases and folds to the joint areas.

Joe said...

I often times feel like a lion with cubs gnawing on me. Great post.

HenriekeG said...

Just wanted to say I love your blog and art! And looking at your profile, you have good taste too.

Nathan Lindsay said...

"as a result of their pride", hahahahahaha.

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Great pic!
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Impoverished Mormon said...

Haha, this was great. By the way, do you have any advice for an aspiring artist/animator?

Unknown said...

Man I absolutely love your work from design to colour and posing. Brilliant!

"TORI CAT" said...

This is puuuurrrrrrfect!!
Certainly one of my favorites!!
It reminds e of my dad looking after me and my 4 older brothers when were kids. Im not only the youngest, but the only girl too. Dad always said (and still does) that i am more trouble than all the boys together! ;)
Ha ha, thanks for sharing!! Its the perfect pic!
Bye for now
TCat.x