Why Don’t You Stare Back Into My Huge Eye

A new study describes set of conjoined deer twins, including a CT scan of their skeleton. A taxidermist also mounted the skin, pictured here. An analysis found that they had never breathed air, meaning they must have been stillborn. (Photo: D’Angelo et al.)

Can i be completely honest?

I wasnt sure the display enclosures I built were the best choice. Even though i am pro enrichment and larger enclosures, i had my doubts that a ball python would use all that space.

The behavior im seeing is so awesome though. Like Khaleesi, who is 6-7 years old now, raised and bred entirely in a typical rack system for most of her life, is a very different snake. She would hide pretty much exclusively, even in my larger tubs. If you check the past posts- i believe i excitedly posted a photoset seeing her out for the first time ever a few months back. That alone was amazing to me. Now, my mind is blown. Youve seen the pictures, but im not sure you know how proud of her i am.

Look at that. Confidently chilling up top where the hotspot is about 95.

Part of me wasnt going to put her in a display. Not because ball pythons do poorly in large enclosures, but because i was certain she wouldnt use the space, whereas the animals i raised with enrichment would put it to better use. It sounds funny but i was scared i would find out animals treated like breeder would never take advantage of enrichment and thusly would not “need” it. That would make all of my efforts pointless.

Despite all that, I intuitively felt that she needed to be in the first completely finished display enclosure.

You can see, that was the right choice and she has expanded her behaviors.

I see her out and about, but shes also more confident. For example:

She started to periscope when the door was closed, and i was able to open the door and snap this picture without having her shirk away in fear or immediately seek a hiding spot to escape.

Watching her and the other females use their enclosures to perform different behaviors has encouraged me again.

And now, when i get responses like this:

I can smirk and laugh, because my animals are healthier.

Oh i also saw Asteria and Prometheus mating out in the open 🤷‍♀️

I hate that I’m always trying to find cool biology themed stuff to wear but all the “nature inspired” clothing companies just have like two crossed arrows or a minimalistic mountain on a sweatshirt. Fucking lame, that’s barely even nature-adjacent. Put the life cycle of a salamander on a jacket, put hyena skeleton patterns on leggings, put a damn field guide of birds of prey on a peacoat and THEN you can have my money. Do NOT give me a shirt with a leaf on it that says “stay wild” or some bullshit I would much prefer clothing that broadcasts to everyone around me how many teeth an adult Jaguar has or how some pitcher plants can catch and digest rats.

A Newspaper Publication in 1912 Predicting the Effect of Burning Coal on the Warming of the Planet.

The idea of the Greenhouse Effect goes back even further than this - and in fact, is something that we should all be thankful for as without Greenhouse Gases, the Earth would be a chilly -14C (0F).

Joseph Fourier, known for his famous Fourier Transform as well as his theories of heat exchange, questioned why it is that the Earth stays warm even when the Sun has set for the night. If the Sun was the only source of heat, wouldn’t it rapidly become unbearably cold? This was all the way back in 1822.

From there, Swedish Scientist Arrhenius theorised in 1896 that a rise in CO2 concentration within the atmosphere would cause a warming of the globe.

Stained glass is not talked about enough

Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank, shares a sustainability pro-tip in honor of Earth Day. Instead of wasting leftover pasta water by pouring it down the sink, you can save it, let it cool and use it to water your plants. The starchy H2O will give them a beneficial nutrient boost and help them grow. Just be sure to avoid using cooking water that has been salted or seasoned.

did you know that teeth actually evolved from scales hence why they have a coating when the rest of our bones don't and why they have nerves in their pulp

bones started out that way too! once upon a time, tiny vertebrates just wore everything on the outside

I made a bad meme

School’s been super busy guys, I’m so sorry for the lack of posts!! To make up for it, here’s a funky guy I saw at Bass Pro Shop!! -Arty

Tumblr for some reason is not letting me publish asks but anyway…

The fuzzy fur-like stuff that covers a lot of moths is actually modified scales, like the scales on their wings, made of a substance called chitin, rather than keratin as in mammal hair. Chitin also makes up their exoskeleton. Wing scales are used to absorb heat, possibly to assist with flight, and to display colors/patterns as defense/camouflage or to attract a mate. The fuzz on their body is thought to muffle the sonar of predatory bats as well as keep them warmer in the chilly night air. Unlike mammal hair, though, these scales are not continually growing and cannot be replaced if lost or damaged.

Here’s a fun extreme macro photo of a sunset moth’s wing scales and longer modified hair-like scales:

Photo via Johan J.Ingles-Le Nobel