12 and 19 for favorite animal asks?
Thank you I need asks rn OTL
12. What’s your favourite example of niche specialization/evolution?
There’s an orchid in Madagascar called the Madagascar star orchid. It’s unusual cuz the orchid is between 20 and 35 cm long. That means any creature that pollinated it would need an equally long proboscus, but one hadn’t been discovered. Charles Darwin theorised that such a creature must exist by virtue of the plant existing.
Meet Xanthopan morganii praedicta, commonly called a hawk moth, snacking away on its favourite food:
[Image ID: A brown moth with a remarkably long proboscus - its mouth, so to speak - flying in front of a white orchid with long green leaves. The background is entirely black. /end]
So yeah, I frickin love this thing because it was discovered more than a century after Darwin first predicted it and I just think it’s such a nice story of figuring something out
19. What’s your favorite charismatic megafauna?
Current or extinct? That is the question...
...nah, not a question at all. Mammoths. It’s mammoths. I want a nice plush mammoth one day
Fun fact: by the time the last mammoth went extinct, the Great Pyramid at Giza was already at least 600 years old. We missed them by -touches fingers together- that much
Link to the ask game if you want to play!
