notebook-enthusiast

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ceramics i've found over the last few years :)

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The skull of a female Machairodus aphanistus from Madrid, Spain.

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Nudibranchs as pictured by a Japanese illustrator named Kumataro Ito, artist for the USS Albatross’ Philippine Expedition, 1907–10. More of his stunning images here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/kumataro-ito-s-illustrations-of-nudibranchs-from-the-uss-albatross-philippine-expedition-ca-1908

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hey why is clickhole so good sometimes

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Rainy Day in the Studio - Kiata Mason , 2018.

Australian , b. ?

Acrylic on canvas , 156 x 126 cm.

[notebook-enthusiast]

Ethiopian wolves feed on the sweet nectar of a local flower, picking up pollen on their snouts as they do so – which may make them the first carnivores discovered to act as pollinators.

The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) is the rarest wild canid species in the world and Africa’s most threatened carnivore. Endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands, fewer than 500 individuals survive.

Sandra Lai at the University of Oxford and her colleagues observed wild Ethiopian wolves lapping up the nectar of Ethiopian red hot poker (Kniphofia foliosa) flowers. Local people in the mountains have traditionally used the nectar as a sweetener for coffee and on flat bread.

The wolves are thought to be the first large carnivore species ever to be recorded regularly feeding on nectar.

“For large carnivores, such as wolves, nectar-feeding is very unusual, due to the lack of physical adaptations, such as a long tongue or specialised snout, and because most flowers are too fragile or produce too little nectar to be interesting for large animals,” says Lai.

The sturdy, nectar-rich flower heads of the poker plant make this behaviour possible, she says. “To my knowledge, no other large carnivorous predator exhibits nectar-feeding, though some omnivorous bears may opportunistically forage for nectar, albeit rarely and poorly documented.”

Some of the wolves were seen visiting as many as 30 blooms in a single trip. As they lick the nectar, the wolves’ muzzles get covered in pollen, which they could potentially be transferring from flower to flower as they feed.

“The behaviour is interesting because it shows nectar-feeding and pollination by non-flying mammals might be more widespread than currently recognised, and that the ecological significance of these lesser-known pollinators might be more important than we think,” says Lai. “It’s very exciting.”

Lai and her colleagues at the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme now hope to dig deeper into the behaviour and its ramifications. “Trying to confirm actual pollination by the wolves would be ideal, but that would be quite challenging,” she says. “I’m also very interested in the social learning aspect of the behaviour. We’ve seen this year adults bringing their juveniles to the flower fields, which could indicate cultural transmission.”

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Tweets that are stronger than any counseling

[notebook-enthusiast]

a 1988 Senegalese stamp from a series on mollusks

[ID: a postage stamp with an illustration of a grove snail. end ID]

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hi im your cat do you mind if i touch your coffee. do you mind if i put my whole foot in your coffee

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an interaction im very tired of in online autism spaces. aka when you don’t have a special interest / when your special interest isn’t [character] or [fandom]

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My other car is a rainbow trout

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"afabs" "amabs" tbeyre not nouns im going to rxplode and there will be organs and carnage everywhere

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three person poly relationship made up of two people who are already dating trying to coax someone with horrific self worth issues into a loving relationship. stray cat style

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i think every shirt should have pockets and i don't care about the aesthetic ramifications

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I hope we meet again in another life…