al-the-alien

[al-the-alien]

Scratching the base of a cat’s tail

I’ve been seeing multiple videos on the internet where cats make strange noises or move weirdly while their owner scratches the base of their tail.

This is because the cat is overstimulated.

The base of a cat’s tail contains scent glands and is filled with sensitive nerve endings, it’s also a spot that cats can't reach themselves. While some cats might actually enjoy getting scratched there if it’s done calmly and rarely, if it’s done aggressively, a cat might become overstimulated, overwhelmed, and even aroused if it’s a female cat in heat.

Some signs that a cat is overstimulated and doesn’t like it include having their ears pinned back, making loud or strange noises, and exhibiting odd head movements. These signs also apply when a cat is aroused.

examples of overstimulated cats:

TL;DR: While it’s okay to scratch the base of a cat’s tail if the cat isn’t acting weird, you should stop as soon as it starts acting strangely, especially if it’s a female cat.

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I think a lot about how we as a culture have turned “forever” into the only acceptable definition of success.

Like… if you open a coffee shop and run it for a while and it makes you happy but then stuff gets too expensive and stressful and you want to do something else so you close it, it’s a “failed” business. If you write a book or two, then decide that you don’t actually want to keep doing that, you’re a “failed” writer. If you marry someone, and that marriage is good for a while, and then stops working and you get divorced, it’s a “failed” marriage.

The only acceptable “win condition” is “you keep doing that thing forever”. A friendship that lasts for a few years but then its time is done and you move on is considered less valuable or not a “real” friendship. A hobby that you do for a while and then are done with is a “phase” - or, alternatively, a “pity” that you don’t do that thing any more. A fandom is “dying” because people have had a lot of fun with it but are now moving on to other things.

I just think that something can be good, and also end, and that thing was still good. And it’s okay to be sad that it ended, too. But the idea that anything that ends is automatically less than this hypothetical eternal state of success… I don’t think that’s doing us any good at all.

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doodle dump of my pokemon sona and her purugly, her name is mittens :3

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more art of me (/my pokemon trainer sona) and some of my favorite pokemon!! enjoy ;3

their names are aurelia the altaria, spook the gengar, arrum the aggron, finn the arcanine and mittens the purugly

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doodle of me and my pokemon team :3

their names are spook (gengar) spike (nidoking) and spear (umbreon). i’ve loved all of these pokemon since i was a kid so in the pokemon universe these are the ogs in my sonas pokemon team.

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meow

a new sketch and re-coloring of my sona :3

they’re an alien. she’s also semi-translucent, changes her colors based on her emotions and glows in the dark. they’re just a chill guy

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The Red and White Giant Flying Squirrel

I was scrolling on TikTok when i saw a video of an animal i have never heard of or seen before!

At first I thought that it was a possum based on the way its face looked and its size but then I saw the yellow teeth and realized it had to be a rodent. After that I narrowed in on squirrels and scoured Wikipedia to find a match.

I present to you - The Red and White Giant Flying Squirrel!

These cuties live in the forests of mainland China and Taiwan at altitudes of 800-3,500 m and 1,200-3,750 m respectively.

This specimen is often called the largest flying squirrel reaching 58 cm in length. That is without tail however, their tail exceeds their body length reaching a whopping 61.5 cm in length! Together that’s 119.5 cm! That’s bigger than the average 6 year old.

Let’s also not forget that this thing can fly, or rather, glide.

Gliding is accomplished with the help of a parachute-like membrane called a patagium. This membrane is found in all flying squirrels. Additionally it can also be found in the legs of flying frogs, the ribs of draco lizards and the fins of flying fish.

I hope to meet the Giant Red and White Flying Squirrel some day. Until then i’ll keep staring at its pictures on the internet.

[al-the-alien]

Ginkgo biloba (The Maidenhair tree)

The ginkgo tree is one of my personal favorite plants ever. It is most know for its longevity, the longest known tree being over 3500 years old a tree that is still standing in China! The ginkgo is native to East Asia and is quite common there.

Fun fact! The symbol of Japans capital, Tokyo, is a ginkgo leaf!

My favorite fact about this tree however is just how long it has existed!

According to Wikipedia the ginkgo biloba is the last living species of its order which first appeared over 290 million years ago! We have also found fossils that are identical to the living species that extend back to the Middle Jurassic epoch approximately 170 million years ago!

How cool is that? That we can enjoy the same tree that the dinosaurs had!

Some more facts about the ginkgo tree!

It bears fruit that smell horrible, taste like plumbs and are mildly toxic!

That’s why in parks you will usually only find male trees that spread pollen instead of female trees that bear the fruit that emit a horrible smell. While we might hate it though the smell attracts carnivorous animals that spread the trees seeds.

We also supposedly prevented the extinction of ginkgo trees! Here’s an excerpt from National Geographic’s article “Ginkgo trees nearly went extinct. Here’s how we saved these ‘living fossils.’”:

In its nearly 200-million-year timeline, “they gradually were whittled down. They almost went extinct. Then they have this renewal that comes from their association with humans,” says Peter Crane, author of the book Ginkgo and one of the world’s foremost Ginkgo experts.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, an organization that tracks the survival of Earth’s species, classifies the tree as endangered in the wild. Only a few rare populations are thought to potentially exist in China. When you walk on those bright golden fans scattered on some rain-darkened sidewalk this fall, you’re having a close encounter with a rare thing—a species that humans rescued from natural oblivion and spread around the world.

(https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/ginkgo-trees-nearly-went-extinct-how-we-saved-these-living-fossils)

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“Blast from the past!

I caught a coelacanth! Think positive! Be a ceola-CAN!”

Have some fun facts about the coelacanth something from the American Museum of natural history!

When the first modern coelacanth was discovered in 1938 off the coast of South Africa, scientists were amazed: this group of fish had been long thought to have gone extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, some 70 million years ago.

The coelacanth also can live to be up to 100 years old!

you spin me right round baby right round like a (fossil) record baby

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THIS IS SO COOL

Sketch of a sphinx (Iris (she/her), one of my oldest ocs) and a little jump

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that looks like a black and rufous sengi (aka the black and rufous elephant shrew)! it’s relatively big averaging around 28 centimeters.

fun fact! they build little ground level shelters for themselves out of dry leaves at the base of trees. they also use their little snout to dig up insects like centipedes, from the ground.

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i love it when fish are like

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yes! i caught a dace! hope i have some space!

May I humbly request the smallest fish in your possession?

Microscopic

You get an Eastern Blacknose Dace

Rhinichthys atratulus

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i can’t believe how fast time flies

the cambrian period was like 10 years ago

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didn’t have access to my ipad and had to resort to ms paint, enjoy my artistic endeavors

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harvey with leaf appreciation post

in honor of shark week starting tomorrow 🦈

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