sophibug @sophibug - Tumblr Blog

An overzealous male Grass Frog (Rana temporaria) amplexes a male Edible Frog (Pelophylax kl. esculentus), both family Ranidae, Stuttgart, Germany

Amplexus is the mating embrace of frogs.

The Grass frog is also called the Common Frog.

The Edible Frog is also called the Common Water Frog.

The Edible Frog is now understood to be the fertile hybrid of the Pool Frog (Pelophylax lessonae) and the Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus).

photograph by Axel Kwet

herpsandbirds

hi Paxon :) when submission day is over could you share some photos of female cardinals? They're just as beautiful as the males imo but they don't get any credit for it :(

Most definitely!

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), female, family Cardinalidae, order Passeriformes, MI, USA

photograph by David Piszczek

Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), L - male, R - female, family Cardinalidae, order Passeriformes, Eastern US

photograph by Carole Wiley

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), female, family Cardinalidae, order Passeriformes, NB, Canada

photograph by Mat Custer

A female Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) and a male Pyrrhuloxia aka Desert Cardinal (Cardinalis sinuatus), struggle over delicious seeds, family Cardinalidae, order Passeriformes, Southern TX, USA

photograph by Dan TheMan

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), female, family Cardinalidae, order Passeriformes, OH

photograph by Matthew Plante

herpsandbirds

Eiselt's Caecilian aka "Penis Snake" Caecilian (Atretochoana eiselti), family Typhlonectidae, found in Brazil

Lungless, gas exchange occurs in the epidermis.

It is thought to be aquatic.

Only known from 9 specimens.

Little is known about their natural history.

Caecilians are amphibians (like frogs and salamanders).

photographs by Matt Roper

sapphireh3arts

did you know literally *everyone* is raised racist. like by society at minumum, if not specifically by their parents. if you aren't constantly questioning the prejucides around and inside of YOU, yes even you, then you aren't taking enough action in your daily life to be a traitor to the state of white supremacy.

pangur-and-grim

I told my little nephew that I'd wave at his airplane when it flew over my house today, and he very calmly and politely explained that it wouldn't be possible to see me due to the limitations of human vision. I said he just had to squint real hard, and he took a deep breath and went into the toddler version of "see, what you're not understanding–"

pangur-and-grim

it is actually haunting me that I forgot to wave. if he looked out the airplane window, he wouldn’t have seen me…..

naamahdarling

Go outside and wave real quick. He can not see you from wherever he is just as well as he could not see you from his plane. It's still nothing, nothing will change, but a process would occur.

mysterium-solis

The Destruction of the Pharaoh’s Host by John Martin (1836)

razehider

a rare case of two Charaxes jasius on a single leaf, owing more to their lack of awareness than any sort of social tolerance, although a fight would surely break out if they realized one of the siblings is a whole instar ahead of the other. you'll have to excuse the poor lighting as this photo was taken on a beautiful autumn night at the pitch black hour of - let me check - ah yes, five pm

(October 29th, 2025)

herpsandbirds

I recently learned about the penis snake, a caecilian that is the world's largest lungless tetrapod. Do you have any examples of lovely caecilians to share?

Yes this is one of my fav groups of animals!

Herps and Birds (and More) — Eiselt's Caecilian aka "Penis Snake" Caecilian...

Ringed Caecilian (Siphonops annulatus), family Siphonopidae, widely distributed in South America, east of the Andes

Caecilians are amphibians, like frogs and salamanders. (They are not worms, nor are the snakes).

Most species are fossorial (burrowing), but many are also aquatic or semi-aquatic.

photograph by Carlos Jared

Kaup’s Caecilian (Potomotyphlus kaupii), family Typhlonectidae, found in northern South America

This species is aquatic.

photograph by Dante Fenolio

Beddome’s Caecilian (Ichthyophis beddomei), family Ichthyophiidae, western India

photograph by Girish Gowda

Magdalena Valley Caecilian (Caecilia subnigricans), family Caeciliiidae, San Jacinto, Bolivar, Colombia

photograph by José Gabriel Julio Guzmán

São Tomé Caecilian (Schistometopum thomense), family Dermophiidae, endemic to São Tomé and Ilhéu das Rolas (Africa)

photographs by m_burger

swagophile

important reminder that most people you follow online are significantly lamer than you think they are including me. and if you feel insecure comparing yourself to someone online: DON'T. theyre probably also lame and weird. most people on the internet are

swagophile

Other useful trueisms about coolness

People who think theyre cool generally are not

Cool people are also broadly actually not cool deep down

There's no such thing as a cool person. We are all dogs fighting for scraps

Soon this world will be given a new purpose. The existing social structures we know will crumble and collapse

All of you will succumb to my will.

pixierainbows

prinnay

[Spectra Knight]

memorycycle

genius. it creates energy clones of itself to gather resources, while the main body stays alert and safe. and if i attack, it can simply swap bodies with one of its clones

prokopetz

Honestly, I can't really blame medieval scribes for making animals look Like That. It's easy to forget that manuscripts being copied by hand means the illustrations were reproduced that way, too, so often what we're looking at is a redrawing of a redrawing of a redrawing where nobody involved has ever personally seen the animal it's supposed to be. Like, if I drew animal you'd never seen, then asked you to copy my drawing without references, then asked your buddy to copy your drawing without referring back to mine, and so forth, I'd be surprised if it didn't end up looking like a space alien after as few as half a dozen steps!