Birdie's Beasties

sideblog to talk about my critters! [Kerosene- Rosy Boa] [Mumbo, Grian, Etho, Iskall, Joe Hills, Zedaph, TangoTek, Cleo, Doc, Impulse - PP Hermit Crabs] [Jörmungandr - Ball Python] [I follow back from brdi3] [terfs/bigots dni] [nsfw dni] Main is brdi3

[brdies-beasties]

Just a silly reminder that citizen science is SO EASY!! I strongly believe that everyone ever should have iNaturalist, even if you don't use it that often. Genuinely i think that people overestimate the amount of information or commitment they have to already have to be able to contribute, so here's a quick walkthrough of what you need to make an iNaturalist entry:

-have you seen (or heard) EVIDENCE of an organism? (the organism, the sound it makes, a feather/fur, scat, prints, or any other evidence that something has Been There)

-do you know where you are? (this can be as broad as a continent or as specific as a street address)

That's literally it. You don't have to know what species you've seen (although any ideas you have will be helpful! you can log something as a broader family, or even as just generally 'bird' or 'fungus'). You don't have to have pictures or recordings of it. You don't have to know almost anything. You can just put what you do have out there and people will add to it with what they know!!

Also, having an entry on iN bumped up to research grade is maybe one of the most affirming things a person could ever experience.

[crevicedwelling]

if i recall correctly honeybees are actually invasive specifically because we protect them, they out compete the native bees hewre which are more efficient at pollination

more or less true, honeybees can be a real pain for native species. I’ve not read anything from the US about their negative effects (not my interest) but I’ve skimmed a paper about how farmed bees harass other species in Europe and seen videos of them robbing honey from stingless bees in Brazil.

my main issue with them is the publicity, though. “save the bees” campaigns for honeybees is like trying to save endangered parrots and penguins by protecting chickens. there are so many more important species of bee than the one whose spit we eat

[onenicebugperday]

"Save the bees" campaigns that focus on honey bees are a good way to spot a scam. I saw one recently selling honey bee charm necklaces as a way to "save the bees" and it said a percentage of each purchase went to "protecting honey bees." They don't need protecting, they're just using a gimmick to sell their cheap, cheesy necklaces.

If you want to help bees, support non-profits that focus on things like habitat restoration. The Xerces Society is my personal choice.

[brdies-beasties]

Man it is a sad state of affairs out there for casual observers of nature. I was watching birds earlier and logging things in iNaturalist so I was trying to figure out if tufted titmice were sexually dimorphic (they aren't), and this was the second search result. Highlighted and everything and it straight up gets the definition of sexual dimorphism wrong.

All this to say, try your best to find a decent field guide. They're generally not outrageously expensive, and if you can't afford one you can sometimes find them at libraries (including online copies if your library uses Libby or similar services. Sometimes they'll even have audiobooks with recordings of animal calls!). Plus, you get fun little notes like this one where a bird's call is referred to as 'complaining' and sometimes neat illustrations.

And if you can't find a field guide, just make sure you're at least triple checking your internet finding, because the enshitification is well underway and it's annoying as hell. Anyways, here's the titmouse I saw earlier :)

[cephalopodvictorious]

PETA put up more ads all over the city about how animal fibers require the death of animals, or requires ripping out their hair. This is your periodic reminder that that’s just not true. It doesn’t even make sense. It’s usually a haircut. Some of them get brushed. That’s it. That’s how we get animal hair off of the animal.

[brdies-beasties]

Got this article recommended to me

and I just wanted to mention something in it that raised some hairs for me

I'll admit I'm not Australian and don't personally know anyone who is, so maybe there really is an overlap of the terms locally there, but I wanted to mention it because **STRAY AND FERAL ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE TERMS!!**

STRAY animals are socialized with human interaction, and the term is often used (at least where I live) to refer to escaped pets. But the most important feature of a stray animal is that it is comfortable and able to interact with humans. If a stray cat were picked up off the street it could be adopted and would act as a "normal" pet cat.

FERAL animals are not socialized with human animals. They may be of domesticated species, but they are the closest those species can get to "wild". It is often incredibly difficult or impossible to adopt and fully integrate a feral animal into a pet lifestyle.

(you'll notice I use 'animal' because while we most often use these terms with cats, they can be technically applied to nearly any domesticated animal)

This is a crucial distinction when we talk about handling the impact of domestic animals on the environment around them because it determines how an animal's impact can be minimized. For as long as there are pets there will be strays. It is inevitable that a pet animal will occasionally escape or wander off. If an animal is a stray then the best course of action is to try and identify who it belongs to. If no one can be identified as an owner (no collar, microchip, posters, other search efforts, etc) then a stray animal can be adopted out. If an animal is feral then the best course of action is to reduce its ability to cause environmental harm as best as possible. The most common method for this is with feral cats tnr (trap, neuter/spay, release), with the goal being to sterilize as many cats as possible to minimize the population growth.

This is by no means a complete informational guide on handling the impact of domestic animals on wildlife. It's just something I typed up quickly because I had seen something about it. Thanks!!

[todaysbird]

as a huge lover of birds, 90% of the concern against wind turbines being used for energy is literally just pro fossil fuel propaganda. birds ARE at a risk however there is a lot of strategies even as simple as painting one of the blades that reduces a lot of accidental deaths. additionally renewable energy sources will do more in favor of the environment that would positively impact birds (and all of us). one study found over one million bird deaths from wind turbines. while that is a shockingly high number and we should work to drastically shrink it, at least 1.3 billion birds die to outdoor cats on a yearly basis. it was never about caring about birds

[wrentit]

there was a study done in 2015 that shows an even greater possible yearly divide than the 2012 one

[foone]

This is why we need to keep cats indoors and switch to linux.

[brdies-beasties]

I have very temporarily relocated all the crabs to the 55gal so I can redo the 40breeder! It's getting a ton more substrate and also I'm probably moving a bunch of stuff around. Very exciting :}

[brdies-beasties]

Next big project is going to be moving every crab I see to the 55 gallon tank so I can fully revamp the 40breeder

[brdies-beasties]

DONE!!!!

Oh my god I cannot describe how rewarding it is to see him immediately rush to the background and use it exactly how I expected him to :') . I'm honestly so glad I waited until I'd had him for a while to build anything custom because I know now that it's going to be totally suited to his needs and preferences. Also can I just say Kerosene is like. The chilliest snake ever?? I just put him back in the big tank after a half a month in the 10 gallon and he is still exploring. Almost every other animal I know would immediately scurry off to hide and then come out later to poke around. He's so sweet and lovely and confident and he is my pride and joy :')))

[brdies-beasties]

!!!! Big things happening!!

[brdies-beasties]

Got started carving!!!

He has no idea:}}

[brdies-beasties]

Got the background installed and the first layer of grout on!!

This is going way faster than I expected lol I might even be able to move him back in this weekend!

[brdies-beasties]

The little man is officially in temporary housing so I can install his new background!!

[reptimoe]

Messed around with silicone and dirt tonight

[beemovieerotica]

the cognitive dissonance from people who want the products of modern medicine but get weird about animal research. like im sorry but this is necessary for the survival of the society we currently live in. and the scientists who work on these things are not evil cackling psychopaths. anyone you talk to in animal research has incredibly complex feelings about their work and incredibly complex relationships to the animals in their care. there are regulations and oversight and penalties in place to make the work as humane as possible and scientists are overwhelmingly the ones enforcing and advocating for better care.

[beemovieerotica]

@velvetdemon I'm doing a full reply because I want to give this question the time and space it deserves, and I really do appreciate your curiosity about this.

The short answer: It is deeply unethical. There are nowhere near enough willing patients in the world to be able to do this, and it would be criminal to put them through this.

The long answer: The one side of the equation you're focusing on is: how much of a drug is too much, to the point where it will cause negative side effects or even death? And this is crucial to know. But it's not just a matter of finding out the lethal dosage of a heart cholesterol medication, you need to know that it can actually lower the cholesterol of any living thing. There is no way to know this without giving it first to...a living thing.

But beyond this, I need to emphasize: The goal of a drug trial is to effectively cure people who are already suffering from disease, who are living on limited time.

Drug trials don't just happen on any member of the public, they need to happen specifically on people affected by the disease you're trying to treat. There is at any time a very limited and very marginalized population of the world affected by early onset, familial Parkinson's disease. Because you cannot ethically induce disease in a human being, you are working with, speaking with, and helping patients and their families who are hopeful and desperate for a cure.

If you were to jump straight to human trials from petri dishes, not knowing absolutely anything about how the drug functions in a living, breathing animal body, it would look like this:

We didn't know that minute quantities of the drug interact lethally with x, y, z medication that people are commonly also taking. X number of patients have died as a result.

We didn't know that the drug is fatal to people with [common variant] in their genetics. X more patients have died.

We didn't know the drug exacerbates x, y, z chronic illnesses. X number of people have acquired permanent, lifelong disabilities.

We didn't know the best way to deliver the drug, so we tried multiple ways: the people who received it intravenously are now suffering from a painful, costly, and debilitating condition that did not happen with the ingested form.

I could go on, and on, and on.

The vast majority of these problems can be nearly or almost entirely averted by testing other animals first.

These are all people who possibly could have waited for the normal progression from animal testing to human testing and thus received better outcomes. Some people will pass away in the time it takes to get to that point, and that's heartbreaking, and we all wish science could be faster.

But the cost of expediting science could mean a life of profoundly greater suffering or an even shorter life than the one where no intervention happens at all. And at that point, you have completely exhausted your trust, your goodwill, and your patients' hope, after you've failed to do anything or even worsened the lives of people who are already deeply suffering.

[manslaughter]

hi, i’m an animal research professional. making sure laboratory animals stay alive, healthy, and enriched has been my full-time job for several years now.

animal research is not the mad scientist wild west that PETA wants you to think it is. there are extremely strict federal laws in place to protect the well being of these animals. animal welfare organizations like AAALAC ensure that lab animals are treated with dignity & respect and are given enough specialized care & enrichment to be happy and content in captivity, just like AZA accreditation with zoos.

not a single animal from a zebrafish to a mouse to a dog to a macaque goes unaccounted for. if an animal gets moved to a new cage, paired for breeding, has a procedure performed on it, gives birth, gets sick or injured, dies, etc. it is legally required that this information is recorded and kept on file for the US federal government to access. failing to record & retain this information is very much punishable by US federal law.

let me tell you - if you abuse or kill an animal, even a mouse - you are almost certainly getting both fired & blacklisted from the industry. if you abuse or kill a more ‘advanced’ animal, such as a dog or monkey, you will likely face criminal charges. killing a monkey is as serious and disastrous as a nuclear meltdown. you are expected to reasonably explain every illness, injury, or death of an animal under your care. you must record all of this information. animals that are clearly suffering with low QOL are required to be euthanized according to AVMA guidelines.

research animals are highly expensive. yes, even the "lesser" animals like mice. the cheapest mice will run you a few hundred $ per individual, with some of the most expensive mice i've cared for being $25,000 per individual. in research we have the "three Rs" - reduction (reduce amount of necessary animals to a minimum), refinement (refine processes to ensure research is accurate and animals feel no pain or distress), and replacement (replace animals with non-living research models as they become available). i can assure you no proper research team is wasting animals (*do not* say "b-b-but elon musk--" his research team is actively being investigated for animal abuse by the government).

research methods that do not require live animals are currently being looked into & efforts spearheaded by - you guessed it - the animal research industry itself (notice how the animal rights people are strangely silent & unhelpful when it comes to this?) but current technology is rudimentary and does not compare to live animal models.

some research animal fun facts (US edition):

all species of animals are only allowed to have one single major surgery performed on them in their entire lifetime.

institutions with nonhuman primates must have a behavior program in place (run by knowledgeable primate specialists) to ensure that they are happy and receiving enough daily enrichment and social interaction.

institutions with dogs are required to have physical exercise programs in place. this means every individual dog gets a substantial amount of leashed AND free-roaming exercise daily, including playgroups with other dogs.

a majority of nonhuman primates get to retire to sanctuaries like peaceable primate sanctuary, and almost all dogs get retired and adopted out by organizations like homes for animal heroes. some institutions will also adopt out unneeded young rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, etc.

some strains of mice glow neon green (or orange or blue) under UV light. this is not harmful to them and is commonly seen in cancer research.

so yes, you can rest knowing that laboratory animals are treated with the utmost respect by their caretakers. and you can stop this awful, ignorant talk of human experimentation that will only end in the abuse of nonwhite people, LGBT people, disabled people, indigenous people, and so many others. please just take a look at this wikipedia page if you think “ethical” human experimentation can exist.

[brdies-beasties]

My most impressive pattern recognition skills are being able to identify based on a YouTube thumbnail and MAYBE the first 30 seconds of their video if someone in the reptile hobby:

-is Australian

-started out keeping fish

-learned everything they know from SerpaDesign

-only keeps display animals OR only keeps interactive animals (as a principle, not a coincidence)

[brdies-beasties]

It is imperative that I plague you all with the information that Tanner SerpaDesign seems to have popularized speaking in the passive voice during voice-overs in the reptile YouTube community because it drives me absolutely WILD (not /neg, it's just so funny to me)

[brdies-beasties]

My most impressive pattern recognition skills are being able to identify based on a YouTube thumbnail and MAYBE the first 30 seconds of their video if someone in the reptile hobby:

-is Australian

-started out keeping fish

-learned everything they know from SerpaDesign

-only keeps display animals OR only keeps interactive animals (as a principle, not a coincidence)