teeth @gremlinkeeper - Tumblr Blog

some female bald-faced hornets (Dolichovespula maculata) joined a friend and I this morning while out exploring. It was really incredible to see them in action!

The animal in this video is venomous. Venom is dangerous and affects everyone differently, and in some cases can be life-threatening. I am an experienced entomologist; do not attempt!

etcstims

Clawing at you | source

ratbugs

the morsel of all time

sunbeams and dewdrops come to life

Amegilla albiceps from Court House reserve, Steiglitz VIC 3331, Australia on February 5, 2020 at 05:08 PM by Reiner Richter

ratbugs

lightly toasted marshmallows

plaster bees, caupolicana fulvicollis

unidentified flying object. . . 🛸

inat links 🔗 under the cut

warcrimesimulator

thinking about creatures.

warcrimesimulator

look at this thing

warcrimesimulator

Tumblr users will see some kind of animal or beast and just slam the reblog button

otiksimr

That is a banded linsang.

They sit very politely.

mammalianmammals

What are the fanciest squirrels you know of?

Here is a collection of well dressed squirrels for you...

Indian Giant Squirrel aka Malabar Giant Squirrel (Ratufa indica), family Sciuridae, found on the Indian subcontinent

photograph by siva.an.photography & (@sree_raghav)

Prevost's Squirrel (Callosciurus prevostii), family Sciuridae, found on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo and nearby smaller islands

photograph by dixonlau & ayuwat

Black Giant Squirrel or Malayan Giant Squirrel (Ratufa bicolor), family Sciuridae, Thailand

photograph by Nick Volpe

Bhutan Giant Flying Squirrel (Petaurista nobilis), family Sciuridae, Bhutan

photograph by Thinley Wangchuk

Variegated Squirrel (Sciurus variegatoides atrirufus), family Sciuridae, Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica

photographs by Hans Hillewaert

luncheon-aspic

??????

marchosias-shrugged

wolveswolves

Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) by Will Burrard-Lucas

heedra

if you learn to love bugs with all your heart the world will feel half as hostile and a thousand times as big

heedra

Theres a sentiment I'm noticing in the tags that I'd like to address. I dont think learning to love bugs with all your heart means forcing yourself out of discomfort you have with them overnight. It's about observing a different sort of being going about its life and deliberately trying to reframe your observations through a sense of wonder and delight. It's about cultivating a positive interest and curiosity for their ecology and behaviors. It's especially about trying to uncouple the value we find in them from how 'convenient' they are to us; to face head on the part of us that wants to assign moral evil to another organism who just happens to live life in a way that is not harmonius with ours. You can love insects in this way and still recognize your own health and safety needs. We are animals living side by side within a biosphere. This is how it is, sometimes.

I think this is important to cultivate because, if you are alive at all, you are coming into conflict with countless other people and things that dont owe you an apology for their existance and needs. If you are alive at all, you are encountering countless other people and things that harmful bias and personal discomfort have made repulsive to you. This is about bugs, but its also about way more than bugs.

invertebrates

It's hard to explain to the uninitiated that you can just go for a walk just about anywhere with a bit of green (and sometimes even in the heart of a city) and find like a dozen neat little unique guys if you're patient and observant.

People get really into bird watching but here's a secret: bugs are WAY easier to find than birds and they let you get a lot closer.

Try to approach the world with wonder and curiosity rather than fear and revulsion. Bugs are a great place to start.

heedra

if you learn to love bugs with all your heart the world will feel half as hostile and a thousand times as big

heedra

Theres a sentiment I'm noticing in the tags that I'd like to address. I dont think learning to love bugs with all your heart means forcing yourself out of discomfort you have with them overnight. It's about observing a different sort of being going about its life and deliberately trying to reframe your observations through a sense of wonder and delight. It's about cultivating a positive interest and curiosity for their ecology and behaviors. It's especially about trying to uncouple the value we find in them from how 'convenient' they are to us; to face head on the part of us that wants to assign moral evil to another organism who just happens to live life in a way that is not harmonius with ours. You can love insects in this way and still recognize your own health and safety needs. We are animals living side by side within a biosphere. This is how it is, sometimes.

I think this is important to cultivate because, if you are alive at all, you are coming into conflict with countless other people and things that dont owe you an apology for their existance and needs. If you are alive at all, you are encountering countless other people and things that harmful bias and personal discomfort have made repulsive to you. This is about bugs, but its also about way more than bugs.

invertebrates

It's hard to explain to the uninitiated that you can just go for a walk just about anywhere with a bit of green (and sometimes even in the heart of a city) and find like a dozen neat little unique guys if you're patient and observant.

People get really into bird watching but here's a secret: bugs are WAY easier to find than birds and they let you get a lot closer.

Try to approach the world with wonder and curiosity rather than fear and revulsion. Bugs are a great place to start.

araceae-advice

If you are disgusted and scared of most insects, I couldn't recommend more highly just. Learning more about them. Just about a few guys that exist in your area and are completely harmless parts of the ecosystem. Most insects are just little animals doing their thing.

Your immediate disgust response is likely to be a learned thing. And it's good to be cautious, but when I was really scared of bugs I know it was mostly fear of the unknown that was creating a lot of the bad feelings. There was no reason to hold onto those bad feelings and make my life worse frankly. If you wanna get better about this and appreciate a huge part of the natural world more, you can totally just make that choice, and work on it little by little!

ratbugs

this entire post is something i want to beam into everyone’s brains because it’s so true, and that’s exactly how i got over my fears (and now am obsessed with bugs).

but this also brings up a super important point that people don’t mention a lot.

liking bugs greatly improves your quality of life and i cannot stress this enough. so if not for the environment, and for the buggies themselves - then why not for you?

literally any activity done outside is almost guaranteed to have you encountering bugs. heck, even when you’re not outside you’ll be around them. what a joy it is to go hiking, or to garden, or to sit in the grass - and be in awe of all that is around you. all. of. it.

i’ve genuinely never been as in love with this planet as i am now that i love, and know so much about bugs. it gives you hope, and peace.

a bad day? it’s okay, little buddy in the corner. little guy in a flower. tiny creature on a leaf. funny rascal buzzing around your face.

it eases loneliness for me. i feel like there’s friends everywhere. things that appreciate my simple, easy kindness.

now i can sit at the table under the tree on my campus - the one that hardly no one will sit at (it’s always covered in ants). because i love ants, and i know that when given respect and care that they will gently enjoy me as a big bug jungle gym.

i can sit in my garden and coo at the wasps as by buzz by, i can carefully get close and watch them sniff about in the flowers and clean their gorgeous, intricately built exoskeletons.

i can dig in the soil and scoop up a little burrowing roach and feel so much love in my heart for that tiny, lovely, sweet animal.

i can lay in the grass and be in peace.

it really isn’t about the individual, you shouldn’t help and love and care all for yourself. but at the same time, you can - as a bonus. or maybe an incentive. the world is truly amazing and learning about all it has to offer outside the craze of the human bubble can bring so much peace to you, and your little buggy friends!

mammalianmammals

Variegated Squirrel (Sciurus variegatoides atrirufus), family Sciuridae, Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica

photographs by Hans Hillewaert

vet-and-wild

you know the obsession with keeping cats indoors is a purely American view of the world? Most Europeans let their cats outdoors without any problems. Many Europeans even think it's cruel to keep them indoors all the time

No, it’s not. European cats aren’t magically smarter and less environmentally impactful than American cats, it’s just more socially acceptable to let them roam. Do you not have cars in Europe? Foxes? Raptors? Stray dogs? Rat poison? Parasites? Diseases? What about the Croydon Cat Killer in England, where the dismemberment of over 400 cats was being investigated, and it turned out that foxes were mutilating the bodies of cats that were killed by cars? Suddenly it’s all ok because it was only horrific death via automobile, instead of decapitation like they suspected? Totally acceptable to outdoor cat owners, who cares if your cat gets hit by a car and dies on the side of the road? There is real concern for the hybridization of wildcats in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but sure, it’s just a US problem. How about how outdoor cats are effectively reducing the protective area of a national park in Poland? How about the increased incidence of lungworms and GI parasites in European free roaming cats? How about this small study from Denmark where 90% of free roaming cats tested positive for GI parasites on necropsy (and the risk was higher in rural areas). Not Europe, but for the sake of completeness, free roaming cats kill ~377 MILLION birds per year in Australia, and 61 million of those kills are thought to be from owned cats. You can also talk to @drferox about how problematic outdoor cats are in Australia. Free roaming cats are bad for the environment, and are put in unnecessary danger. Why don’t you provide enrichment for your cat instead of letting them run around unsupervised where they will kill native wildlife and get sick or injured or die (or all of the above). Other resources from @catsindoors about the impact of domestic cats around the world. Snagged a lot of these links from their blog.

prettyprettypretty-good-deactiv

Humans would also be safer and the environment protected if we all just stayed indoors. No passing of parasites, bacteria, or viruses. No harm to other species. No cross breeding either (if that bothers you). Do you want to stay indoors?

vet-and-wild

I generally try to ignore responses like this, but I want to address this because I see this ridiculous argument a lot.

The reason that this comparison is inaccurate is because humans have the ability to use reason and make logical choices, but cats don’t. Humans see a car coming and wait until the street is clear to cross. Cats don’t. Humans know not to eat strange food on the ground. Cats don’t. Humans can look up which plants are toxic and avoid them. Cats can’t. Humans don’t eat raw rabbits and rodents that may carry disease. Cats do. Humans who hunt follow laws that prevent them from killing endangered species (besides shitty poachers). Cats don’t.

A far more accurate comparison would be a cat and a toddler. They lack the ability to recognize danger and don’t have the ability to reason that an adult does. I’m sure a toddler would have a great time roaming around the neighborhood, but no one is going to argue in favor of that. People can understand that doing that is irresponsible and dangerous. But no sane person is going to lock their toddler inside and provide them with nothing to do; no one is saying we should do that for cats either. Play with them. Provide cat trees. Rotate their toys. Give them puzzle feeders. And if you want them to go outside you can leash train them. Or build a catio. The options aren’t let them roam vs. never provide them with entertainment. If it is unbearable to entertain and care for a cat that is kept indoors, you probably shouldn’t own a cat.

Would you let your dog roam? Or your bird? How about your rabbit? I’m sure all of these animals would have a great time running (or flying) around the neighborhood, but we generally recognize that this is a bad idea. It’s no different for cats. We are caretakers for our animals, so it is up to us to use our big brains to make logical choices about what they should or shouldn’t do. We have the ability to understand the risks associated with free roaming. Cats don’t. We can weigh risks and benefits before making a decision. Cats can’t.

tldr: Humans have the ability to make logical decisions to keep themselves safe but cats do not.

scienceshenanigans

Outdoor cats are also more or less an invasive species. They are such good hunters, they are capable of permanently changing an ecosystem by killing native prey animals.

Protect your kitty and local biodiversity–keep them inside!

r33naytealeaves

I just wanted to tack on that, there is no “more or less”, cats are an invasive species. Domesticated animals are invasive species and allowing them to interact with the local environment without monitoring will harm the local biodiversity. Cats especially. Domestic cats have a very high success rate for hunting. Historically, they have lead to multiple extinctions of animals because people brought cats along as pest control and pets.

shinynx

Idiot boy stuck in the sink again wet

omtai

goodnight sweetiepees. Fat-tailed Dunnart to keep you company

#thank u

artifacts-and-arthropods

Fairy Bees: these tiny bees can measure less than 2mm long, which is smaller than a carpenter bee's eye

Above: two different species of fairy bee

Bees of the genus Perdita, also known as fairy bees, are some of the smallest bees in the world. Their tiny bodies can measure as little as 1.6mm long, which is smaller than the eyes of many bumblebees and carpenter bees.

Above: a fairy bee depicted next to a carpenter bee (genus Xylocopa)

The smallest species in this genus is the mini fairy bee, Perdita minima, which is so small that it's often mistaken for an ant.

Above: Perdita minima standing next to a quarter

As this book explains:

With almost 640 species, most restricted to the southwestern USA and adjacent parts of Mexico, this genus forms a species swarm of mostly very small ground-nesting bees. One of its species, the aptly named Perdita minima, shares the record for being the smallest bee in the world at just 1/16th of an inch (1.6 millimeters) in length. Unsurprisingly, it favors similarly tiny flowers, such as those of the whitemargin sandmat (Chamaesyce albomarginata).

Above: close-ups of Perdita perpallida and Perdita heliotropii

Fairy bees are solitary, meaning that they don't form colonies or live together in hives. Each female builds her own nest by creating a small tunnel in the ground and then stocking it with pollen.

Above: a fairy bee standing on a dime and another one standing on a quarter

This article describes the nesting process in greater detail:

Fairy Bees are “mining” bees, referring to the fact that they are ground nesting bees. The females excavate tunnels in the ground somewhere within a short distance of a food source. They then visit flowers, feeding on nectar and collecting pollen on specialized hairs on their legs known as “scopae.”

The females then deliver these pollen bundles to their subterranean nests as a food source for their larva. The larva hatch, consume the pollen bundle, develop through metamorphosis into adult bees and the cycle continues.

Above: Perdita minima crawling on the antenna of a carpenter bee

Most fairy bees are specialist foragers with very short tongues, so they prefer shallow flowers. They typically fly during the summer and autumn, timing their emergence to coincide with their favorite host plant.