I find nature and animals awe-inspiring and wonderful - in life and in death. Who am I? Someone who wishes the world was more perfect. I completed my BSc degree in Animal Management summer 2014. My primary side blog; Mydeadthingsdiary
Hector is French, which makes him sound even more unbelievable, tbh
Hector went to space in 1961, and while he did not orbit like the Russian rats a year before, he did make it ninety miles (144 kilometers) into the air before recovering him.
that funny little suit he's wearing is custom-built to harness Hector the Space Rat, and is made of leather. why? we aren't sure, but it hooked into springs and gauges and it's pretty fancy.
Hector survived twelve Gs of force on his way to space, while the average of survivability for most untrained humans is about 6 Gs.
to prepare him for this, they spun him and the other ratstronaut candidates in a centrifuge. a lot. for a very long time (multiple months). after about a day, everyone calmed down and got back to business inside the centrifuge. Hector was the only one who prospered long-term, though - which meant he got to go to space!
Hector returned from space safely, which is the most important part, and he was a special guest at a press conference in Paris after his return.
here's another photo of Hector, the most famous rat in France circa the early 1960s
(this suit is different and, from what we know, probably less comfortable. but Hector did what he had to do for the progress of ratkind.)
the Council salutes you, Hector, and you will never be forgotten. 🫡
i keep guinea pigs so of course the Guinea Big post has been sent to me at least 6 times and if it wasnt already obvious the images are faked/forced perspective but its been the greatest excuse to show everyone this actually big piggy
adult african forest buffalo have these big tufts on their ears that makes them look somewhere between being a puppy gog and standing in the doorway at night to inform you they frew up
Day 29 of my 2023 favorites: Unknown Leptochilus - and a new interaction!
I noticed a tiny potter wasp poking around an old oak gall, and, on a hunch, collected the gall with her inside. And, well, I'll let the discussion on iNat take it from here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/161178754
tl;dr: she doesn't match any of the known Floridian Leptochilus species, and, while some potter wasp species have been known to use old galls as nests instead of making their own, this genus had not been recorded using galls as such!
You can see her wasp child's head still inside the gall, not ready to face the world:
heres one of my FAV bugs evrr.. the HERCULES BEETLE!!!
They’re a species of rhino beetle and are SUPER SUPER AWESOME!! The males can reach up to 7 inches, the horns making up around 1/3 of their body length, with only males having the horns. Larvae feeds on rotting wood and can reach up to 4.5 inches in length!!! Adults feed on rotting or fresh fruit and tree sap!!
Adults can lift 850 TIMES THEIR WEIGHT! These bugs are definitely one of my favs, i just think theyre so neat :3
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