Description
The swift arctic hare, Lepus arcticus, is a study in adaptability, embodying the unique traits necessary for life in the Canadian Arctic. North America’s largest hare relies on camouflage and breathtaking agility in a frozen habitat that offers few places to hide from predators. Environment-specific adaptations, like short rounded ears, a foreshortened fur-covered snout, powerful hind legs, and front claws for digging in the snow, have enabled it to thrive in the open tundra for millennia.
The Design:
The reverse design by Canadian artist Emily Damstra captures a wolf’s dramatic pursuit of an arctic hare from a unique perspective. Giving the effect of gazing through the lens of a wildlife camera at a critical moment in the struggle between predator and prey, the image centres on the arctic hare as it leaps toward the viewer. The hare’s large, muscular hind legs power forwards as its front paws make quick contact with the ground. Its rounded ears are turned outwards as it listens for its pursuer. The hare’s characteristic dark ear tips and eyelashes and its thick winter coat are engraved in careful detail. In the background, following close behind, an arctic wolf races toward the fleeing hare, its mouth open to reveal the sharp fangs that the hare is trying to evade. The scene uses sparing but critical details—chunks of ice spraying back behind the hare, jagged boulders across the open spaces, windswept snow, and a barren snow-covered mountain in the distant background—to convey the essence of the animals’ Arctic habitat.
Show-stopping detail and the use of multiple finishes brings the reverse engraving to life, lending depth and drama to the image of a bounding hare as it escapes a wolf in close pursuit.
Show-stopping detail and the use of multiple finishes brings the reverse engraving to life, lending depth and drama to the image of a bounding hare as it escapes a wolf in close pursuit.
