Today was rainy and windy most of the day, so it had to be spent mostly indoors. So I took advantage of the time to work on a couple of my digital paintings. I had started this one about a month ago and gotten distracted by some other projects (one of my short comings. I’m very prone to getting distracted), but I got it finished today. It’s based on one of the photos I took in Alaska on our boat trip. It wasn’t a very good photo, but I loved the interaction between the two Steller’s sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus). I had been watching the young one pester the adult most of the time that we were watching them, and she was for the most part very patient, but eventually he pushed her to far. She roared at him, and he quickly backed off, but not too far. I suspect that the adult was his mother, but I’m not sure. I’m also not sure what the youngster wanted, but whatever it was, she wasn’t having it. It was not hard to figure out the basics of this interaction based on the body language and the roar, but the details weren’t clear to us, although I’m sure they were quite clear to the ones involved. Just like people, many animals are easily capable not only of having emotions (including annoyance), but also of communicating them very effectively.