Sunda King Cobra (Ophiophagus bungarus), family Elapidae, Indonesia
Venomous.
photographs by Lars Martin Holta
For all the issues the wolf reintroduction has caused in Colorado (wolf reintroduction=good, the way Colorado has done it=horrid), the one that I have not seen literally anyone talk about is the fact that everyone with a single goat went out and got a livestock guardian dog, chucked them out in the fields without any training, and just called it good. So now we've got a bunch of half feral livestock guardian dogs running around everywhere, just making up their own territories and attacking anyone who wanders through. One attacked my sister's CAR while she was going almost 30mph a few months back. Imagine if that had been a kid on an ATV, not an adult woman in an enclosed vehicle? When we called the non-emergency number to let them know, the dispatcher literally groaned and said, "not again. Nobody is training these things!"
"Wolves are going to start attacking people!11!" No, bitch, your fucking Anatolian Shepherd is.
Instincts still require training and refinement. You do not want a large, independent-natured dog making up its own rules. You will not like many of those rules.
And some individuals won't have good instincts and will require extra training, or plain won't work out.
English shepherds are herding dogs. Australian cattle dogs are herding dogs. My ES/ACD mix dog had zero herding instinct but would have made a decent livestock guardian. He had no desire to chase the sheep. When I *made* him chase the sheep he apparently assumed it was hunting time and bit the sheep. A sharp recall and he was back beside me showing no interest again in the sheep.
Masked Palm Civet or Himalayan Palm Civet (Paguma larvata), family Viverridae, Thailand
photograph by Alexander Coke Smith
This is a very interesting article which highlights not only the existential threat that chytrid fungus poses to amphibians (it has wiped out 90 species already), but also the ethical dilemma around synthetic biology, in which organisms have genetic material introduced or deleted, for example in the hope of increasing disease resistance.
Also, I would be remiss if I did not say that there is an incredibly cute picture of two frogs sharing one of the 'mini-saunas', an intervention which has already helped Australian green and golden bell frogs face off the chytrid fungus threat.
Imperial Sunstreak (Arcas imperialis), family Lycaenidae, Peru
photograph by Gavin Leung
Guineafowl Puffer aka Golden Puffer (Arothron meleagris), family Tetraodontidae, order Tetraodontiformes, from the Indo-Pacific and Eastern Pacific
B - Yellow Form MB - Dark Form MT - Dark form puffed up T - Juvenile dark form
Photographs: Laszlo Ilyes, Diego Delso, Bill Eichenlaub (NPS), Francois Libert
Favorite bug?
Assuming the definition of “insect,” I might currently say the Western carpenter bee?
Sorry if you meant something broader, or something more specific
We have those living in our shed! They're really chill, although they sometimes fall on your head.
I meant whatever your personal definition of "bug" is.
In that case, candy-striped leafhopper
Hadn't heard of that one before. It's so pretty!
It is fun to have the bees! Between them and our neighbor's honeybees our garden does really well! And they actually keep the wasps out of the shed.
Favorite bug?
Assuming the definition of “insect,” I might currently say the Western carpenter bee?
Sorry if you meant something broader, or something more specific
We have those living in our shed! They're really chill, although they sometimes fall on your head.
I meant whatever your personal definition of "bug" is.
people saying “don’t use your full government name for your ao3”, “create different emails for work and personal use” but personally I think it’s both sad and dystopian how capitalism/companies/even schools think they have the rights to cross your personal boundaries and insert themselves into your personal life. like, I get it, safety wise, why checking digital footprints can be important sometimes. but a gay fanfiction is not a fucking threat that could ever cause anybody harm. it’s funny (not really, it’s still sad and dystopian) how they now think they can control your personal life and prevent you from having hobbies
Sometimes old to ancient books still have good information in them because the basic fundamentals of reality have stayed the same and the person back then also knew what they were doing.
Sometimes though they re lying or drastically misinformed.
Other times they are not lying but if you follow their information you will essentially be using a windows xp for seniors book to run a brand new computer running on Linux. So be careful out there.
History and science books from like the 1800s to early 1900s: Eeehhhh maybe. Do research on the book before you trust it but it might be pretty good.
History books from before the 1800s: heavily cross reference with modern sources.
Cookbooks: Usually fine. Just don’t use any harmful ingredients they might suggest.
Crafting manuals: Usually pretty useful. Make sure you look up jargon though because different terms change.
Medical and scientific texts: Don’t trust anything this man says unless you yourself have enough knowledge to know when he’s making something up.
Math: Well, it’s math.
Collared Araçari (Pteroglossus torquatus), family Ramphastidae, order Piciformes, Costa Rica
Photograph by Supreet Sahoo
siphonophores will never not freak me out. stop doing that its SCARY but also please don't ever stop doing that you ethereal marine cryptid
the red shape is a person of average height. the green line is one of these freaks. btw
Ya'll forgot my favourite one