#Conservation status

[hyper-coasters]

Big Jim is probably one of the oldest animals in the park. The Aldabra Tortoise can live far past 100 years, even past 200!

[delicatelysublimeforester]

Preserving Saskatoon's Urban Forest

[saladban]

"This beautiful antbird is one of the most spectacular ornithological finds in recent years. It was discovered in 2016, and named for the remote mountain range in northern Peru where it is found. The male has black underparts and wings, chestnut upperparts, white eyebrows, and buffy wingbars. The female has chestnut underparts and a white throat, giving her a masked appearance. Inhabits cloud forest understory, where it is usually seen walking slowly on the ground."

-eBird

[2695/11080] Cordillera azul antbird - Myrmoderus eowilsoni

Order: Passeriformes Suborder: Tyranni Family: Thamnophilidae (antbirds)

Photo credit: Andrew Spencer via Macaulay Library

[traditionaldream]

Marian gardens are so beautiful 🌹🤍

[lamafeeling]

I'm going to tell you something that you may not like, you don't have to tell everyone things about yourself that can put you in danger. Especially now, if you are a part of any minority group, in a way that is not immediately apparent, you do not have to be open about that to everyone. Not everyone has to know you are trans, gay, Jewish, poc (obviously for white passing ppl), etc. You can lie or neglect to mention it for your safety. You don't have to be ashamed, but you don't have to put a target on your back. I have lived in conservative cities/towns almost my entire life, when I pass, I don't necessarily tell people that I'm trans. This can mean the difference between a (conditionally) civil interaction and a hate crime. Unless they have given you reason to believe they are safe, you do not owe anyone any information about yourself. The same goes for your political beliefs. I promise you, your hardcore Trump supporter coworker is not going to listen to your logical reasons as to why he is a fascist, and in fact, bad for all of us, it will only cause you problems.

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

"Zeugma Mars" Statue from Turkey, c.250 CE: this statue depicting Mars, the Roman god of war, was unearthed from the ruins of a city that was occupied and plundered by the Sassanids in 253 CE

The bronze figure is nearly 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall. It has a strikingly intense expression, with eyes that are highlighted by gold and silver inlays.

According to this article:

A bronze statue of Mars, the Roman god of war, was found in the ancient city of Zeugma in the course of an excavation campaign in 1999-2000. The statue represents one of the most interesting and spectacular finds from this city on the banks of the Euphrates river in southern Anatolia.

The statue is of great interest on one side for its rarity, as few Roman bronzes of such size are so well preserved, and on the other for its unusual iconography, depicting the standing God as a young athlete. The figure stands with the weight centered on the right leg, while the left, slightly bent, rests only on the flexed toes. The right arm is raised, its hand closed around a spear that has not been found, while the left is bent at the elbow, to almost 90° and with the hand wielding an object that appears to be a scourge with multiple and symmetrical endings.

Beneath the helmet, thick curls frame the face of the young man whose frown is marked by strongly furrowed eyebrows and a very intense gaze, highlighted by silver and gold inlays around the pupils.

A chandelier was found along with the bronze. It is composed of a drum, similar in length to the sculpture, which passes through a disc and is inserted in a base. The small size of the space in which the artifacts were discovered and its place in the general plan of the villa suggests a closet where the precious materials were hidden to escape the pillaging of the city, carried out in 253-6 AD by the Sassanids.

Sources & More Info:

CCA (Centro di Conservazione Archeologica): Zeugma Mars Conservation Project

Journal of Roman Archaeology: The Bronze Mars of Zeugma

Turkish Museums: Time Capsule of Ancient Roman Art: Zeugma

Packard Humanities Institute: The Rescue Excavations at Zeugma in 2000 (PDF)

UNESCO: The Archaeological Site of Zeugma

Archaeological Institute of America: Troubled Waters

Archaeology Magazine: Zeugma After the Flood

[eugenedebs1920]

Yet another. Things Fascists Say!: On this episode, echoing verbatim, one of history’s most notorious fascists, Adolf Hitler himself. “They’re not human”, “It’s their genes”, “they’re poisoning the blood of our country“. If you want to live in a country, similar to the third Reich, full of racism and hate, a kleptocracy where the rich get richer and the middle class gets trampled, then trumps your guy.

We’ll see you next time on; Things Fascists Say!!

[asterwild]

Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica)

[sharkgirldick]

Incredibly frustrating how often people take criticisms of society and especially established institutions of power as like. A personal attack.

[otherkinpolls]

IUCN redlist

CITES species checklist

[hyper-coasters]

Luna and Madju enjoying the nice weather on a cool October afternoon!

[palaceoftears]

Magnificent Century Rewatch: One Picspam per Episode

Episode 17: The Double Joy

-My dear mother used to say "walk barefoot on earth and it shall take away all your troubles and sorrows, earth shall give you happiness and joy"

-Your mother spoke well, one can only find peace in earth. But I'm not sure if it is on earth or in it.

[vintageseawitch]

WHAT IS THIS TIMELINE

it most certainly is NOT, "...side by side with a friend" because even in this instance "the enemy of my enemy" isn't really so much a "friend" as a "reluctant ally." BUT I'LL TAKE IT.

when i first heard about Dick Cheney calling out the danger of a second trump presidential term you could have knocked me over with a feather. but now this??? who else is going to say it out loud?

it won't sway deep in the cult MAGAts but it may further help persuade those who vote Republican if only in the old school way. you got notoriously conservative judges speaking out how they're voting for Harris. you got billionaires like Mark Cuban & investment banking Goldman Sachs claiming that Harris's economic plan is not only rock-solid but will be enormously good for the USA while pointing out trump will bring us into the red. no living, former Republican president was present at this year's RNC & over 40% of trump's previous presidential cabinet members are no endorsing him for a second term.

this is a HUGE FREAKING DEAL. i'm not being weird about someone like Cheney voting Democrat but it's because of who he is that astonishes me. even with what's at stake they're all saying something. i hope it gives anyone who votes Republican but isn't too deep in the cult mindset a second thought. you're not voting for party - you're voting for country.

WELCOME TO ANYONE WHO CHANGES THEIR MIND. i've said it before & i'll say it again - no matter your normal party/political affiliation, whether it be Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, libertarian, moderate, centrist, hell even if you're further left - WELCOME. we can't afford to be politically picky like Ernst Thälmann was. now is the time to work together. we can do this 💙

[clannfearrunt]

In a fantasy world where I have the attention span to make nice worldbuilding posts for my AU with nice graphics I think it would be really funny and also AU lore-accurate if when talking abt the various planets and how they compare to Earth as a reference point I kept casually using Inklings as the default Earthling rather than humans