From inside the Shamans' Cave as the Moon lights the Sedona area pre-dawn.
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h
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open

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@stealth-science
From inside the Shamans' Cave as the Moon lights the Sedona area pre-dawn.
My emotions about space travel, and the history of, are strong today.
Behold the pocket-sized western pygmy possum! (Cercartetus concinnus). One of the world’s smallest possums, this species typically weighs just 0.5 oz (14 g)—the size of an AA battery. This dainty marsupial is a nectarivore, meaning that its diet consists primarily of plant nectar. It inhabits treetops in forests throughout parts of Australia, using its long prehensile tail like a fifth limb as it moves from branch to branch.
Photo: Donna Belder, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist
momentarily had the thought “shout out to my platonic harem” and then remembered that’s called friends
Me, turning an interrogation lamp onto an author's face: what did you say this place was
Author, squinting: a marsh
Me, somehow turning up the intensity of the lamp: Then answer me this: WHY DOES IT HAVE TREES
Author, tearfully: b-because of a century or more of mis-management and agricultural drainage resulting in successional creep to willow carr
There are so many reasons to be a biologist, and one of them is there are at least 150 different species of deep-sea carnivorous sponges that use microscopic hooks to capture their prey and then GROW A NEW STOMACH that MIGRATES to where the prey is hooked in order to digest it, which they do over the course of days until the animal’s (usually a crustacean) soft tissue is entirely broken down for nutrients and all that is left is the shell.
May I say one more time that they GROW AND MIGRATE A NEW STOMACH
Studying biology is an acid trip of WAIT IS THAT REAL and OMG IT IS REAL THAT IS SO FUCKING COOL
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.
Above: Perdita leotola
Sources & More Info:
Minnesota Native Bees: Fairy Bees
Bees of the World: Genus Perdita
Honey Bee Suite: Perdita minima, the Smallest of the Small (PDF)
Field Guide to the Common Bees of California: Genus Perdita
Local News Pasadena: Photographing a Nearly Microscopic Bee You've Probably Never Noticed
iNaturalist: Fairy Bees
Facebook: The Bees in Your Backyard
Devil’s Hall fossils
sight I saw in san francisco, twice: gaggle of tiny children leashed together being herded along, everyone in hi-vis
endlessly funny that some pets will just decide they are service animals now without any training or feedback from humans. babygirl no one hired you. you do not have a license for this
I’m not talking about humans pretending their untrained pets are service animals so they can bring them places they shouldn’t be allowed. I’m talking about my dog, who took one look at the two people with severe ADHD time-blindness and executive dysfunction who adopted him and was like, “Great. I am your Watch Dog now, as in, dog who functions like a watch. That is, if your watch was a seven-pound furby that could run this house like the goddamn navy. I will catapult myself onto your chest and nip at your hands when you fail to get up and Do Things in response to my incessant whining that it is Time For You To Eat Lunch/Get Out Of Bed/Go Exercise/Take Your Meds/Etc Now Now Right Now. This is a service I provide for to Helping You. No, you cannot opt out of the Helping You. Do not attempt to resist the Helping You.”
⬆️ Trained Professional
My cat knows when I should stay in bed and screams at me until I do and then sits on me so I don't get back up. If I do get up she follows me and screams until I sit down again
She knows by sniffing my mouth first. Which she does at least once a day
When I am struggling to eat she'll do her "I need food" act even when her food is full until I eat
@thebibliosphere I think we've found Holly Mop's people
Some beloved critters really take the ‘companion’ role so seriously they train themselves to go above and beyond to the point where you’ll find yourself being bullied into lying down by a 10lb Shih Tzu. And then they’re right. You were getting a migraine. (It’s me. I’m in bed with a migraine with a 10lb Shih Tzu lying on top of me.)
Devil’s Staircase & Devil’s Hall.
Fun fact, the portion of Devils Staircase below the 2” crack (about halfway down) was only unearthed in the last few years during a large flood event.
I, too, thought they meant geology enthusiasts
Yesterday morning, some of our CAVE lights decided “no”. We scrambled for about an hour and a half to figure out how to make the big room safe and this was one of our solutions. 
Merry Christmas! 🎄
Me clocking in to make $200 per week for a ceo who makes my annual in a day
Federal minimum wage is 7.25, so $290 a week.
And that’s before taxes. My deductions are about 30%. 👀