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Central Park - Mammals 1999 Presented in the style of a color plate from an old unabridged dictionary, this painting shows the 12 mammals that are currently thought to live in Central Park, according to a recent survey by the Urban Park Rangers. Also included is the Eastern Mole, which may or may not still reside here. In the bottom right corner of this painting, a gray squirrel holds an acorn, a perfectly natural scenario used here to represent Central Park in its pristine, pre-human state. Across from the squirrel is a raccoon holding a vaguely acorn-shaped piece of a paper coffee cup, a potentially useful scrap of human detritus. The raccoon and his find represent Central Park in its current state, a place where wildlife and human life can coexist with interesting results. It is a mutually beneficial relationship: the animals living here find a wealth of human left-overs that they can use for purposes ranging from nourishment to nesting. They are also looked after by numerous humans, ranging from those who come to feed the squirrels every morning to the Urban Park Rangers, who are also managing the bigger picture of Central Park ecosystem management. And living so close to the beautiful array of animal life that calls the park home certainly enriches the lives of us city-dwellers, bringing us closer to our natural heritage and helping us to remember that we are just one species amongst many, even in the concrete jungle where most of us make our homes.
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