Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Chinese Giant Salamander

Hi guys! So today's animal is definitely not a good-looking one. I know I said that about the condor yesterday, but even it had its redeeming features, like the bright colors on its head, its glossy black feathers, and the cuteness of its babies. But today's animal really doesn't have anything that people would like to look at, unless you like big slimy things that creep about in the night. However, ugly creatures should not be wiped off the planet just because they are ugly. They deserve help too. So the animal we're gonna look at today is the Chinese Giant Salamander:






I wonder why this one is peach-colored. I also wonder why it's smiling like that.


    The Chinese Giant Salamander is kind of cool because it's actually the biggest amphibian in the whole world. It can grow up to six feet, although most adult salamanders today only make it to about 3 feet and 66 pounds. Which is small for the species, but still scary big for a salamander. They spend most of their time underwater in mountain streams, are nocturnal animals, and eat insects, frogs and fish. But sadly for them, they  are coming awfully close to extinction because they are losing their habitats due to pollution and development. This has forced them into smaller places, which is partly why they never really grow into the magnificent giant salamanders that they are supposed to be. They are also seen as a delicacy in China, so people will overhunt them to use in presumably delicious dishes. They actually can't see and hunt by feeling vibrations, which makes it extra unfair, because people can just kind of run up on them and snatch them up before the salamander even knows what's happening. It's like kidnapping a blind person. Poor salamander, right? :(

So here are my Chinese Giant Salamander nails. I tried to replicate the splotches on the salamander's skin:

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     To do this, I started with two layers of OPI Bling Dynasty. Then I used Sally Hansen Sequin Scandal and a dotting tool to apply random splotches and dots to my nails. Last thing was to carefully apply topcoat, so the pattern didn't smudge and that was that. 
    Overall, I like how it came out. When the design is supposed to be random, it's easier to get away with stuff lol! My only thing is that I wished I had done a few more splotches and maybe made it matte. It would have looked really cool matte.

P.S. If you're wondering what happened to my nails, I broke a large chunk of corner off one of them in a horrible collision with my desk, and in a fit of rage and maybe madness, I filed all the rest of my nails into pointed nubbins. It's weird not having square nails anymore since that's been my nail shape for the past...three years. But it's cool too, and I kind of want to see what happens with them as they grow out. 

But that's all from me today!
Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone has a wonderful day!