A leucistic moose filmed by municipal councilmember Hans Nilsson in the Värmland region of Sweden (2017) National Geographic
Makes me MAD that jiggly rubber anemones and corals (accurate or made up) are a common aquarium decoration now because for my first 10 years of life I'd have been thrilled to bits to play with them as creature toys. I'd have probably collected every variety and used them as both literal anemones or aliens depending on the situation
Anonymous asked:
If you’d like, can you share some info about a reptile you don’t often get an excuse to talk about? :D
I'd love to talk a bit about Gila monsters! I don't think I have on this blog before. :)
Gila monsters are probably the most well-known venomous lizards. And they're precious.
Unlike venomous snakes, their venom glands are located ata the base of their jaws, and the venom ducts don't go all the way up inside their teeth. Instead, they have teeny blood vessels inside their lower teeth that propel the venom out through grooves in their teeth.
Check out this setup. That is so cool!
They're also a rare example of a venomous reptile who most modern herpetologists agree evolved their venom for defensive use, not for hunting! Their venom isn't fatal to healthy people, and it's not really useful with their prey since they eat a lot of small mammals and eggs, but it is allegedly extremely painful.
I've never met anyone who's been bitten by one, because that's genuinely a hard thing to accomplish. They're reluctant to bite and they'll give you ample warning by opening their mouth and hissing first. The few times I've interacted with them they've been so slow and polite in disposition that it made me feel a little silly wearing protective equipment.
Their distinctive bumpy scale texture isn't just the scales - they actually have teeny little bony deposits, called osteoderms, that fill out those bumps. This is great for extra protection!
Cool, right?
Their venom has proven to be really great when used as an ingredient in drugs made to treat some types of diabetes. Awesome!
When they walk, they look so, so silly.
Like, you go, little guy.
I cannot independently verify the authenticity of this well-known quotation, but I want to leave this with one of the funniest things I have ever read. Supposedly written by a Dr. Ward for the Arizona Graphic in 1899:
"I have never been called to attend a case of Gila monster bite, and I don't want to be. I think a man who is fool enough to get bitten by a Gila monster ought to die. The creature is so sluggish and slow of movement that the victim of its bite is compelled to help largely in order to get bitten."
Absolutely obsessed.
Girls don't want more Marvel movies, girls want an updated Dinotopia reboot
Honestly just give James Gurney all the moneys so he can do more Dinotopia. Journey to Chandara featured much more updated and fuzzy dinosaurs so I think, given the chance, he'd go for it!
Oh don't get me wrong, I never meant to imply that anyone other than James Gurney should make a reboot. I trust him to do it perfectly. I've seen his recent paleoart, the man knows what he's doing
White Folohy Madagascar frog (Gephyromantis luteus)
Girls don't want more Marvel movies, girls want an updated Dinotopia reboot
Going Batty for the Little Brown Bat
The little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) is a species of mouse-eared bat that lives throughout North America, from northern Canada to the southern United States. They are most commonly found in deciduous forests, but they also roost in man-made structures or caves; anywhere warm and dark.
M. lucifugus is aptly named, as it’s a relatively small bat. At most, individuals weigh 12.5 g (0.44 oz) and have a wingspan of 27 cm (10.6 in). Females are typically larger than males. The color of their fur can range from tan or red to dark brown, though the fur on their stomachs is lighter than the rest of their body. In addition to their large ears, which gives them a great hearing boost, the little brown bat has exceptional eyesight and is sensitive to ultraviolet light. However, they lack a Jacobson’s organ, which in other animals is used to detect moisture-borne odor particles.
Like other bats, the little brown bat is primarily nocturnal, emerging at dusk and feeding intermittently throughout the night. Individuals emit about 20 calls per second while in flight, and use the corresponding information to avoid obstacles and detect prey. They feed exclusively on insects, including mosquitoes, beetles, and flies, and in a single night an individual may consume over 2/3 of its body weight in food. Because their source of food is generally seasonal, little brown bats are only active in the warmer months of the year. When the temperature drops to 0 °C (32 °F), individuals will enter a state of torpor, in which their heart rate may drop as slow as 8 beats per minute.
Mating takes place in the fall, just before the hibernation season. Males and females gather together in large groups to roost, in a behavior known as swarming. During this period, colonies average around 9,000 individuals; the largest recorded had over 180,000. Both sexes mate with multiple partners, and homosexual pairings are relatively common. This behavior continue throughout the hibernation period, and individuals will pair indiscriminately with active and torpid bats. Once mated, female bats store their sperm for the following spring; they then carry their pregnancies for 50-60 days. Each female gives birth to only one pup, which weighs about 30% of her body weight.
Pups grow rapidly, opening their eyes and ears within a few hours of being born and becoming completely weaned at 26 days old. After this, young transition to feeding solely on insects, though they may receive help from their mothers while learning the best techniques for catching prey. Females are sexually mature at only one year old, and males mature at two years old. Once they reach maturity individuals will leave to form their own roosting groups. In the wild, a little brown bat can live up to 34 years; however, many bats are predated upon by owls during the active season, and by raccoons while hibernating.
Conservation status: The IUCN has rated M. lucifugus as Endangered. Their primary threat is a fungus-caused disease known as white-nose syndrome; this disease is particularly harmful to the little brown bat due to their large congregations during the mating and hibernation period.
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Anonymous asked:
It bothers me the selection of dinosaurs in land before time. They would never have been friends!
Apatosaurus
Stegosaurus
Triceratops
Pteradon
Saurolophus
They didn’t all live in the same era
they did not! Saurolophus and Triceratops are at least both Maastrichtian, and Apatosaurus and Stegosaurus did live in the same time and place, but yeah, the land before time is a hodgepodge. which begs the question, if they are just mixing up all the cretaceous and jurassic animals together with no rhyme or reason, why not anything from other times?
Yes, I remember the Dimetrodon from the first movie, I mainly mean Cenozoic things. and more paleozoic things. Honestly why the hell IS there a dimetrodon in the first movie...
Honestly this just lends credence to the theory that they're all dead and in some kind of afterlife because they could've died at different times.
.... go on
I remember watching a YouTube video about it a long time ago that said the great valley is an allegory for heaven and all of the characters are dead. I don't remember much else from that video though, I watched it around 10 years ago.
but why though
I don't entirely know if that makes sense considering Grandpa Longneck nearly died in movie 3?
Also dinos can enter and leave anytime, like Pterano, Bron, and the rainbowfaces.
THANK YOU
Honestly I figured they might've meant exclusively within the continuity of the first movie- i.e., treating subsequent releases as "non-canon"- but it still doesn't make sense because. Wouldn't his mom be there or something? Or is she like. Double dead. Idk it's been a while
Why are we more worried about the dinosaurs not being from the right time periods than we are about the
FUCKING RAINBOW FACES THAT WERE LEGITIMATELY ALIENS FROM SPACE.
I mean, I can be worried about more than one thing, and that question is beyond my paygrade
obviously the anachronisms are because it's the land before time, as in, time doesn't exist yet.
this still doesn't explain the Gallimimus from space though
The Struthiomimus are also the only dinosaurs in this whole series aware of their own taxonomic designation. The ornithomimids are just Like That.
Alternate theory: Land Before Time exists in the Jurassic Park universe, where humans are gone and the dinosaurs let loose in the World movies survived. That doesn't really help with the aliens. They're just there too
May comic! Happy mental health awareness month. 🐝 Comic brought to you by my constant worry that I don’t exist if I have nothing to show for myself.
Advice to my past self: Read about burnout. Stretch. Stand up. Get lunch. Ask for extensions. Get help. Sleep. Take time off if you need to, don’t ask. Take care of yourself.
The core tenet of Stupidism is that everyone is really hecking stupid.
The core values of Stupidism are
- Caution: because we, being stupid and surrounded by stupid people, are liable to do something stupid or be subjected to the stupidity of others at any time and in any situation.
- Compassion: because it sucks to be stupid, and we are all stupid together.
- Curiosity: because being stupid means having a lot to learn.