Scottish Highlands

This scene is an original illustration set in Scottish Highlands. It lies in high latitudes, where the climate is oceanic — mild, wet through the year.

A long-haired cow with wide upswept horns and a heavy fringe over its eyes stands in the foreground. Purple flowering heather carpets the moor behind, running up to bare rounded hills. The long evening light is gold and low.

Why does Highland cattle carry a double coat instead of fat?

That double coat — coarse outer hair over a dense undercoat — replaces the fat layer other cattle carry, letting the animal winter outdoors on poor grazing. Heather in full bloom means acid, peaty, nutrient-poor soil, which is what remains after ice stripped the ground and high rainfall leached what was left. Rounded hill profiles are glacial, not fluvial.

Terpano is a free daily geography puzzle. You study one original illustration, place a pin on a borderless terrain map, and see how close you were. There is no account and no sign-up; progress stays in your own browser. It plays in 11 languages.