Spec-Dinovember Round-Up
Days 1-10:
Short King Dovahkiin Fan Favorite
Not pertinent to anything in particular but I do think it's kinda weird that we keep depicting cavemen in media crawling around on all fours covered in dirt with tangled, matted hair, speaking in broken, cobbled-together toddler language when like.
They were us.
Like literally genetically they were US, just like. A while ago.
Like
Would you trust a TV caveman with a baby? Probably not
A real life caveman though??? I think they'd be at least okay at it
This is actually really important and comes up in Anthropology classes all. The. Time.
As long as homo sapiens have existed, we have had the same emotional and mental capacity as you and I do today. You nailed it. They were US. Even Neaderthals existed alongside and had offspring with Homo Sapiens for many thousands of years.
There's much evidence that cavemen would have had complex spoken language, culture (learned information passed down), symbolic interpretation, and I think they most certainly would have been able to handle holding a baby. In fact I have my suspicisions that an ancient homo sapiens mother may be a more present, attentive, and knowledgable mom than I could be today.
Do not let media trick you into believing we are the pinnacle of humanity. Unilinial evolution theory (google it quick I beg) is BUNK, GARBAGE, and the root of so much evil.
We've been human for a long, long time, and we are not inherently better than all those who came before.
One the most profound experiences of my life was visiting Font de Gaume, which has 12 thousand year old paintings. They use a technique where the horses appeared to run across the wall when seen in flickering firelight. There was a bison the wall staring at us with such attitude, I could practically hear him. I had the most profound feeling of those ancient artists reaching forward to lay their hands on my shoulders. To say, "This was my world." It was a profoundly moving experience.
Some years later, I went to the Orkney islands where we visited a tiny family run museum of artifacts from the chambered tomb at the other end of the farm. They handed me a pestle once held by some neolithci human.They'd worn groves where the thumb and forefinger would be for better grip.
One time, in a French history class, my teacher randomly at the end of the class had all of us draw a sketch of a horse. And we were all like ??? Okay???
At the beginning of the next class, my teacher showed us a cave painting of a horse. And then he showed all of our horses, which he had scanned and put into the presentation.
He then pointed out all the ways that our horses looked similar to the prehistoric horse. Same features, drawn from the same angle, etc.
And then he asked us, "Isn't it cool that you draw horses the same way as someone who lived 20,000 years ago?"
Yeah. That stuck with me for a while.
I know some of you will love this
that looks awesome. tybalt is a mitsubishi forklift. the real understand
wake up babe new blorbos just dropped
your bed is probably as happy to see you as you are to see it. ‘here comes the warmth slab’ it thinks
wrong it thinks “god hope this dipshit doesnt spill beans all over me again who tf eats beans in bed”
stop reblogging this new year new me i havent spilled beans in bed ONCE this year
uh oh
Newly Described Tinamou!
A new species of Tinamus (Aves: Tinamiformes) from the western Amazon, Brazil
LUIS A. MORAIS, MARCO A. CROZARIOL, FERNANDO I. GODOY, RICARDO A. A. PLÁCIDO, MARCOS A. RAPOSO
Abstract
We describe Tinamus resonans sp. nov., a new species of tinamou from the montane forests of the Serra do Divisor, western Amazonia, Brazil.
The species is distinguished by a unique combination of plumage pattern, vocal repertoire, and ecological characteristics, including a conspicuous dark slate facial mask, vivid rufous-cinnamon underparts, and a uniform brownish-gray back.
Its vocalizations are remarkable, consisting of long and powerful songs that echo strikingly across the steep montane slopes, producing a characteristic resonant effect.
The species was documented exclusively at higher elevations within a transitional zone between submontane and stunted forests, where the understory is densely structured by root mats.
A preliminary population estimate, based on field detections and spatial extrapolation, suggests approximately 2,106 individuals restricted to the Serra do Divisor massif.
Although no immediate anthropogenic pressures were observed within its range, the species may be highly vulnerable to climate change and to proposed infrastructure projects that threaten the integrity of this federally protected region.
The discovery of T. resonans highlights the biological uniqueness of the Serra do Divisor, reinforces its status as a center of montane endemism, and underscores the critical importance of maintaining its long-term conservation.
Read the paper here:
A new species of Tinamus (Aves: Tinamiformes) from the western Amazon, Brazil | Zootaxa
not going to name names but a lot of the non humanoid alien designs people bring up as the most interesting and well designed ever are often just "wayne barlow if his stuff was dead boring"
i'm not talking about his concept art for avatar i'm talking about the stuff from expedition etc
I love Barlowe’s aliens! They’re not the most biologically plausible, but they are nonetheless evocative. Perhaps my favorite is the Emperor Sea Strider
The planet all these aliens are from, Darwin IV, has one large body of water, the Amoebic Sea. Most of the rest evaporated during a past aridification event, and this sea survived because a supercolony of microbes and plankton adapted to hold in as much of the water as they could, so now the entire sea’s worth of water is locked away within it. So naturally something evolves to feed on that. The sea strider walks along the surface of the Amoebic Sea, taking bites out of the microbe colony with mouths located on its feet. With such an easily accessible and limitless supply of food, the sea striders can grow large, the adults being hundreds of feet tall!
like, there’s a whole herd of the cow-sized littoralope sheltering in that thing’s skull!
Is any of this plausible? not really, but is it cool and interesting to think about? you bet!
Hell, bringing it around to the original point (kinda) his work on Avatar is a good example of ‘Barlowe if his stuff were boring.’ Like, there’s hints of his influence in the creatures, but it’s pretty obvious someone higher up had a list of animals they needed for the movie and told him 'but make it alien’
Like, these are just a horse, a panther, and a whale but with some extra bits to look just alien enough, and they are boring because of it! It’s kind of hard to believe they’re from the same guy who done these
Barlowe’s aliens may not be the most plausible, but at least he’s being interesting with the implausibility
ALT
ALT
ALTNon-croc post for a change of pace
Since it came up in a conversation I ended up googling if the rhinos in the Salzburg Zoo get out in Winter and not only do they, it also makes for some impressive photos Images by Manuel Bukovics
tetrapodomorpha
