@rachelbrooksart

The closer details 🖋 I've had this piece in mind for about a year before putting pen to paper, its such an important story I wanted to make sure I did it justice. 🍃 This is John Coe, one of the last two known members of the western community of orca. Unfortunately as both the remaining orca are male this unique ecotype of orca has been deemed as functionally extinct. Its heartbreaking seeing an animal who is the last of his kind, especially one so powerful and impressive as an orca. 🖤 As none of the other pod members have been sighted in recent years the worse has been presumed, one of the females 'Lulu' washed ashore a few years ago on the Isle of Tiree - giving insight in to what could have caused this. Lulu's body was heavily contaminated with PCBs, over 100 times the amount which would have been classified as toxic. As apex predators, orcas are unfortunately susceptible to bioaccumulating dangerous substances. This seems to have prevented the pod from breeding. Have you ever seen any of the west coast community? . . . . . #orcas #orca #orcaart #orcaartist #orcapainting #savethewhales #whaleconservation #johncoe #killerwhale #hebrides #innerhebrides #isleofskye #penandink #stippling #oceanartist #oceanart #artivism #artforchange #artforconservation #scientificillustration #marinescience #marinebiology #sharkresearch #girlsthatfreedive #girlsthatscuba #dolphin #orcadrawing #isleofmull