milk bubbles

♓️☀️|♒️🌙|♊️↗️

[milk-bubbles]

[great-and-small]

Saddest thing ever is reading an academic paper about a threatened or declining species where you can tell the author is really trying to come up with ways the animal could hypothetically be useful to humans in a desperate attempt to get someone to care. Nobody gives a shit about the animals that “don’t affect” us and it seriously breaks my heart

[great-and-small]

“No I can’t come out tonight I’m sobbing about this entomologist’s heartfelt plea for someone to care about an endangered moth”

[bogleech]

This is how I learn there's a moth whose tiny caterpillars live exclusively off the old shells of dead tortoises.

[thepastisaroadmap]

[Image description: text from a section titled On Being Endangered: An Afterthought that says:

Realizing that a species is imperiled has broad connotations, given that it tells us something about the plight of nature itself. It reminds us of the need to implement conservation measures and to protect the region of which the species is a part. But aside form the broader picture, species have intrinsic worth and are deserving of preservation. Surely an oddity such as C. vicinella cannot simply be allowed to vanish.

We should speak up on behalf of this little moth, not only because by so doing we would bolster conservation efforts now underway in Florida, [highlighting begins] but because we would be calling attention to the existence of a species that is so infinitely worth knowing. [end highlighting]

But is quaintness all that can be said on behalf of this moth? Does this insect not have hidden value beyond its overt appeal? Does not its silk and glue add, potentially, to its worth? Could these products not be unique in ways that could ultimately prove applicable?

End image description]

[headspace-hotel]

because we would be calling attention to the existence of a species that is so infinitely worth knowing

[rackiera]

I was so inspired by this I made it into a piece of art for a final in one of my courses for storytelling in conservation

[a-book-of-creatures]

[mossworm]

I used to work for two of the authors, Mark and Nancy Deyrup. They are true naturalists, interested in everything that lives, and wonderful human beings. They still live in central Florida where the tortoise shell moth lives, and have dedicated their whole lives to documenting the Florida scrub ecosystem and educating the public. I don't know if their names reach outside of entomology, but they are beloved figures here.

[noxith-sky]

Link to the paper

[milk-bubbles]

I live in the Florida scrub area and I tell everyone about it any opportunity I get because it’s so fascinating. I didn’t even know about this moth until now and I adore it but we have a lot of unique species here that are dying. As everyone knows, Florida is almost entirely a swamp but the south central Florida area along Highway 27 is actually a scrub ecosystem which is usually only seen in deserts. It’s called the Florida Sandridge and it’s considered an arid climate (despite regular rainfall) which is extremely unique for the south eastern United States, let alone Florida. We have scrub jays and scrub lizards here that aren’t seen anywhere else but deserts on the western side of the United States. My favorite species here is actually the Blue Calamintha Bee which was thought to be extinct until scientists found it again in the last several years. It’s literally a blue bumblebee. And now the tortoise shell moth is my second favorite species here.

Our rare ecosystem here is threatened by tourism and development and unfortunately Florida as a state doesn’t have as many protections for nature as it should. I’ve lived in Florida my entire life and as much as I hate the politics, our nature is so beautiful and special and it hurts my heart to see such a unique area be destroyed for profit. I know I’m essentially screaming into the void when I say this but please stop moving to central Florida and stop vacationing in rental homes here. You’re actively contributing to the destruction of an extremely special and fragile ecosystem when you do so. (Not to mention contributing to skyrocketing costs of living for residents but y’all don’t care about that, just think of the tortoise shell moth and the blue bumblebees, please!!!)

[milk-bubbles]

Everything is wrong with the world but at the very least, everything is right with us.

[kitttenteeth]

the color pink has always been there 4 me

[habit-forming]

Vargas

[katadesmoi]

its so stupid how you’ll have a dream that’s just like this horrible precision-crafted weapon of psychological terror and then you just have to get up and go to work like u didn’t just experience the apocalypse in real time or whatever

[lily-archipelago]

♡ horoscope cakes

[prettycolors]

[1anonyymous1]

it’s so attractive when someone is all about you and isn’t afraid to show it.

[crxmes]

@crxmes

[yoursummerdreamz]

[rainbowpotion-blog]

[sairenji]

[moonlightsdreaming]

Sailor Moon | “From My Heart”

[heartydior]

people we meet on vacation by emily henry

[un-monstre]

This is just my 2¢ as a nonbinary person but I genuinely think that cis people's gender is just as constructed as trans people's. Cis people love to accuse us of having making up genders or artificially modifying our appearance but....the entire makeup, fashion, diet, workout, and haircare industry exists so that cis people can maintain the illusion of two entirely distinct genders with no overlap.

[landofwindandthrowingshade]

Everybody is constantly doing drag, all the time

[stinkykatie]