A Delicate Balance, Gerenuks Feeding

This work, also known as Thorn Scrub Pixies, was described by Kuhn,'Gerenuks can be found in the northern regions of Kenya, in Abyssinia or in a few other isolated pockets of East Africa. Called swala twiga in Kiswhili, or 'giraffe gazelle', they spend a lot of time propped up on their well-muscled hind legs. Evolution has also provided them with a long, thin neck, enabling them to browse on tender leaves beyond the reach of many other herbivores. The result of these adaptations is an altogether beguiling animal that begs to be painted. It is a plea that I, for one, can't resist.' (op. cit., p. 103). A popular subject for Kuhn, he was fascinated by their unusual feeding habits, 'They are, indeed, strange creatures, something perhaps from another place. To see these members of the gazelle family clustered around a clump of desert brush, nibbling away with their spindly forelegs hooked over branches, is to intrude on a tableau that is foreign to most of us. But they are as much fun to paint as they are to watch.' (op. cit., p. 102).