"my love of sherry started at age 7 and i got chicken pox. so i lost my appetite after i got chicken pox at the age of 7, my nan who was a matron in a hospital told my mum that the best way to get my appetite back was to give me sherry. so i would have the odd glass of sherry before a meal, if i was having melon or fruit shed pour sherry. so my love of sherry started there, it then continued when we got our first dog a spaniel when i was about 8. we used to take our dog for a walk down park mill which was this lovely place in the woods and there was a pub and a big car park and youd walk out the back and ther'd be the wood. and what was a really nice treat is that my dad would get the dog out the boot would lift and i would sit in the boot and theyd get the dog and go into the pub and get me a glass of sherry and id have my glass of sherry and wed go for a walk and that is why i think everything in life is better with a glass of sherry so if im going for a walk i would have a hipflassk full of sherry and its shaped as a fish because it would entice animals and if im going through a walk i would like to have animals come up to me and theyre not gonna look and go oo look its a metal hip flask adn oh my god it makes a noise and its scary. theyre gonna go i recognise this animal, it might have a fox. you might have a squirrel, you might have some mice, you could have a rat and they will go i recognise this animal its not gonna frighten me i will join the walk. not a drunk little girl, a drunk woman now. and at least they will feel at one with the fish and they'll probably like the sweetness of the smell of the sherry as well. i belive that does deserve more than one point because sherry will make us happy. when i was baout 7 i started having sherry and now oh my god i love nothing better on a sunday right i have like a roast dinner sit there do an oh my god im not like this all the time but i am i would have a jigsaw watch a murder mystery and just drink sherry. but you all would and youd all feel better with a glass of sherry. its never stopped i still like the sherry now. that is genuine the hip flask " - Joanna Page
Meet Sibert and Red Cloud, baby black-footed ferrets that mark the first successful live births from a cloned endangered species.
"Once thought to be extinct, black-footed ferrets are the only ferret native to North America, and are making a comeback, thanks to the tireless efforts of conservationists.
Captive breeding, habitat restoration, and wildlife reintegration have all played a major role in bringing populations into the hundreds after near total extinction.
But one other key development has been genetic cloning.
In April [2024], the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced the cloning of two black-footed ferrets from preserved tissue samples, the second and third ferret clones in history, following the birth of the first clone in December 2020.
Cloning is a tactic to preserve the health of species, as all living black-footed ferrets come from just seven wild-caught descendants. This means their genetic diversity is extremely limited and opens them up to greater risks of disease and genetic abnormalities.
Now, a new breakthrough has been made.
Antonia, a black-footed ferret cloned from the DNA of a ferret that lived in the 1980s has successfully birthed two healthy kits of her own: Sibert and Red Cloud.
These babies mark the first successful live births from a cloned endangered species — and is a milestone for the country’s ferret recovery program.
The kits are now three months old, and mother Antonia is helping to raise them — and expand their gene pool.
In fact, Antonia’s offspring have three times the genetic diversity of any other living ferrets that have come from the original seven ancestors.
Researchers believe that expanded genetic diversity could help grow the ferrets’ population and help prime them to recover from ongoing diseases that have been massively detrimental to the species, including sylvatic plague and canine distemper.
“The successful breeding and subsequent birth of Antonia's kits marks a major milestone in endangered species conservation,” said Paul Marinari, senior curator at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
“The many partners in the Black-footed Ferret Recovery Program continue their innovative and inspirational efforts to save this species and be a model for other conservation programs across the globe.”
Antonia actually gave birth to three kits, after mating with Urchin, a 3-year-old male ferret. One of the three kits passed away shortly after birth, but one male and one female are in good health and meeting developmental milestones, according to the Smithsonian.
Mom and babies will remain at the facility for further research, with no plans to release them into the wild.
According to the Colorado Sun, another cloned ferret, Noreen, is also a potential mom in the cloning-breeding program. The original cloned ferret, Elizabeth Ann, is doing well at the recovery program in Colorado, but does not have the capabilities to breed.
Antonia, who was cloned using the DNA of a black-footed ferret named Willa, has now solidified Willa’s place as the eighth founding ancestor of all current living ferrets.
“By doing this, we’ve actually added an eighth founder,” said Tina Jackson, black-footed ferret recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in an interview with the Colorado Sun.
“And in some ways that may not sound like a lot, but in this genetic world, that is huge.”
Along with the USFWS and Smithsonian, conservation organization Revive & Restore has also enabled the use of biotechnologies in conservation practice. Co-founder and executive director Ryan Phelan is thrilled to welcome these two new kits to the black-footed ferret family.
“For the first time, we can definitively say that cloning contributed meaningful genetic variation back into a breeding population,” he said in a statement.
“As these kits move forward in the breeding program, the impact of this work will multiply, building a more robust and resilient population over time.”"
A little comic from last spring I made that hasn’t really had a home anywhere.
I liked the idea of immortality leading to a reverence for life and the world around it, rather than nihilism and wanton destruction. It was also a comforting thought that if immortal beings walked among us, they could see the future of our hope become a reality someday… so it felt relevant again.
everyone's talking about the ibs/autism haha funny comparison thing while I'm still stuck on the concept that hamsters exist in the wild. like naturally
tf do you mean they're a wild creature. you find those ankle-biters at the pet store
Not a biologist, but the evolution of mammals is way more granular than you might expect. Humans are the sole surviving species of the genus Homo, which was a real party before the other ones went extinct. You're in for a fun time.
Domestic cats are believed to be domesticated not from tigers, but from the African wildcat:
Which evolved to be small just because it's sometimes more useful to be small.
And no, hamsters are not off-brand rats. They're part of the rodent order, which includes beavers, moles, capybaras, guinea pigs (yes, also wild) and lots of other fun things:
people reblogging this talking about the english language. fuck the english language. the fascinating thing here isn’t how you pronounce it, it’s his amazing teaching skills. monolingual people be quiet for once challenge
I saw this when running newpipe. But wait, it gets deeper. I clicked on the details buttons and it said as of today,we have 83 days left until Google rolld out this new requirement for apps inside and outside of the google play store. If any developer disagrees with their new terms and fees, they will be blocked!
I'll share some of the info below:
Looks like they're trying to nuke the remaining privacy and freedoms we have left on the internet.
What to do?
-Get your developer friends to not comply to their new guides
- Sign the open letter on the site and take action by checking out thwir full resources list on their website as well!
To summarize, this is all daunting especially when you feel all alone with unfair and inhumane regulations comming out faster than improvements ut we got this working together!
Share the link with your friends,family and anyone who will listen!
Your phone is about to stop being yours. In September 2026, Google will block every Android app whose developer hasn't registered with them.
These pescatarian birds are directly exposed to PFAS contamination due to the island's position near the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Over fifty years of data show a peak in PFAS (also known as "forever chemicals") content in seabird eggs in the 90s, followed by a decrease as regulations went into effect. The most recent findings show a 70% decrease of most common PFAS.
While continued vigilance a regulation is needed, this data indicates that regulations are working to reduce PFAS concentrations in marine ecosystems.
Yes!!!! I did a review of literature on PFASs in human drinking water about half a year ago, and there is a lot of really good progress! Please celebrate this, please don't let this solution be forgotten (at least so quickly) as the ozone layer or acid rain.
We are making genuine progress! Producers are dramatically altering how much they use PFAS and how much gets released in effluent, but also there's a lot better understanding of how to remove PFAS from the environment!
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