#Darwin's rhea

[critter-captures]

Darwin's rhea (Rhea pennata), family Rheidae

Also known as the lesser rhea, it is the smaller of the two species of rhea. Together they are the only extant species within their family.

Avifauna, taken July 2024

[theretobelived]

[photographe-a-roulettes]

Nandou de Darwin - Ses trois orteils se terminent par une griffe puissante pouvant lui servir d'arme.

[ironcladfoundry]

Ironclad Lorebook 7: Circuitry

2/7

[tenth-sentence]

This instinct, however, of the American ostrich has not as yet been perfected; for a surprising number of eggs lie strewed over the plains, so that in one day's hunting I picked up no less than twenty lost and wasted eggs.

"On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life" - Charles Darwin

[thedivineart]

PICK A CARD ✶ list of reasons why will you love your future spouse﹙🍥﹚

one

cards: 7 of hearts, 10 of hearts, 4 of diamond,

peaceful and calming or healing aura

loves to surprise people but in positive way

sincere and devoted to their feelings

will possibly give you a loving and happy marriage life

successful individual due to their honesty

make someone softens around them

someone who to have large family like 4 kids and more

brings happiness and security at home

loves to play with kids

fear of being abandon or being left alone

brings heat and warmness in your heart

allowing you to fulfill your desires

very committed person when it comes to marriage life

everything they do or say something it brings amusement into you

build strong foundation for the relationship and marriage, as well friendship and sexual matters

financially stable or someone who will bring comfort in your life whether emotional and materialism

others: south node in taurus, strong taurus placements, moon in libra or strong libra placements, grass green, mint green, lavander or purple, violet, Possible names: mint, cyan, wrigley, pepper, Wesley, Adam, Esme, Aaron, Rhodes, Keanu, Sabrina, Emerald, Naomi, Alex/ Alexander / Alexandra, Ann or Anna / Hannah, Danielle/ Daniela / Daniel, Venus / Vanessa / Van / Vaughn, Oliver/ Olive /Olivia, Gareth, Finn / Finley, Kelvin / Kevin, Justine, Alfredo / Alfred / Wilfred, Wilson, Tomas or Toby

If you liked this reading leaving like, comment or feedback and re-blog are highly appreciated, thank you😊🤍

two

cards: ace of hearts, 10 of hearts, 10 of clubs

in life their main focal is home, family and the happiness they can bring into their abode life

very passionate in family, give gifting and nourishment to love ones

may love to stay at home probably a home body individual or they are often into their home spending time with their family

also they are affectionate for their family , relationship and even in friendship

someone who care a lot and often reminds you to take care of yourself

likes to visits his or her love ones or the people they care the most

reliable person who knows how to solve and give advice specially in home and family matters

someone who can't say no or have a hard time to refuse in favor of others

they may also likes to bring joy in family

successful in any aspects of life like in business

the happiness is growing when you are with them

this person is the one whom you will called "home"

stable, solid and happy marriage life

you will become more happy or will smile often when you meet them

they want a huge family, lots of kids cause they do believe that the more the merrier it is

sometimes they will be annoyed in you or you will be annoyed in them

spending and taking vacations in near beaches, family bonding or a simple date in beach or something near water

will work hard to achieve something in their life not really only for themselves but for the family also

they feel success is only valid because they have a family who's support and affectionate into them

others: sagittarius, sagittarius rising, strong sagittarius placements, sagittarius conjuncts in taurus, moon in taurus, taurus placements, taurus conjunct aquarius, aquarius sun, strong aquarius placements, aquarius conjunct pisces, pisces rising, pisces placements, aquarius in 4th house, possible names: Megan, Lola / Lolita / Lollie, Mauve, Maggie / Margie / Madge, Gen, Olive, Cyrus, Ace, Cecil / Celina / Cecilia, Art / Artemis, Seraphine / Seraphina, Sage, Scarlett, Eleonor or with a, Rosalinda, Celeste, Ethan, Henry, Gema / Gemma, Rhea, Amethyst, Phoebe, Genevieve, Darwin, Alex / Alexander, Gallen, Hugo, Kyla or Kyra or with H, Kai, Finn, Rio, Clio, Gareth, Mina, Juliet, Joe

If you liked this reading leaving like, comment or feedback and re-blog are highly appreciated, thank you😊🤍

three

cards: 6 of clubs, queen of spades, jack of clubs , jack of diamonds

they do take the responsibility in problems or situation to resolve it, however in very specific people who happened to pick this pile, your fs doesn't want to deal to this kind of responsibility into their life.

they do use their intelligent to outsmart the people who will going to betray them

likes to share their thoughts, opinions, ideas and feelings; honest

when saying something you may notice they have hand gestures and body language

reading and writing is their way of showing love perhaps it could be one of their hobbies

cannot leave without learning and studying most of the time; could be educated individual as well, lots of achievement in study matter.

open and willing to share an advice if you need it, even not too they still giving you an advice though

ambitious and skillful when it comes to work and something they do

primarily to people who pick this pile doesn't still know who is this person or they still don't yet appear in your life, in few people you knew this person. a relative by marriage for some

they don't live in your neighborhood, living far away, might be a foreign for few

they know how to turn tables for good and probably in bad too; know how to convince people and manipulative as well

don't like to get close to anybody or everybody, it's like they got strong boundaries or they do know to keep their privacy to people that mostly appear as cold and aloof

hardworking and honest often in trusted position whenever they are, in school / university, sports, into their community etc, they love to participate in anything

others: moon in sagittarius, strong sagittarius placements, sagittarius conjuncts virgo, virgo sun, moon and rising, placements in virgo, purple, green, pretty, handsome, attractive well being, adventures, extrovert, loves freedom, optimistic, fair minded person, likes to be honest, Seraphina or Seraphine, blaze, sage, Scarlett, Diana or Dianne, Aurora, Arc, Archer, Hunter, Apollo, Curtis, Marshall, Alden, Jason, Clark, Dustin, Amelia, Virginia, Emery, Aster, Rhea, Gaia, Pari, Melissa, Hazel or Acel, Daphne or Daphnie, Agatha

If you liked this reading leaving like, comment or feedback and re-blog are highly appreciated, thank you😊🤍

[randomnameless]

And people still think Supreme Leader's whole spiel of "weak must be rely on themselves instead of others" is not social darwinism.

Which is even more ridiculous, all things considered given how heavily Supreme Leader herself relies on others - or the "gifts" she "received" from Uncle to launch her war or just - but well, we know how the game is regarding Supreme Leader.

There won't be any situation where she says this and someone, Dimitri or Dedue, ask her if she didn't rely on Hubert and her soldiers/generals to conquer Fodlan... And it's really frustrating, because we see glimpses here'n'there that she doesn't want to take Hubert for granted in their supports - so she knows he trusts and supports her... and yet we still have this nonsensical line.

Sure, Supreme Leader and Hubert can't reach those supports in AM since they're not playable, and that's the kind of artificiality I was berating FE16 for - if Billy didn't pick class X, members of class X will be in some sort of limbo where we don't even know, as a player, what kind of relationship they have with each other - bar the Lions who have lines for each others if one of them is killed, or mourn on screen.

Is Supreme Leader suddenly caring and wondering if Hubert follows her because he wants to and not because it's his duty - because Billy is her teacher, or Supreme Leader, when Billy isn't her teacher, dgaf about Hubert despite him being her right-hand man and more or less managing the war and the Agarthans? I'd say we're closer to the second option, given how she has no fucking line when he died, no mourning, no "they even defeated Hubert... No matter what, I cannot let them win!", nothing.

I mean, after Uncle's fireworks in Tru Piss, Dimitri mourns Rodrigue, Felix and Ingrid (if they weren't recruited). Tru Piss!Claude even doesn't understand and is pissed/upset/saddened because Hilda didn't retreat, Rhea laments the fall of Cyril and Catherine (in GM but not in her IO form for some reason?) and Seteth'n'Flayn's deaths...

Anyways, back to your ask, anon, we're not at the only one "for thee not for me" contradiction with Supreme Leader, but that's her mindset, only using part of what she went through (tfw the "Goddess" abandonned her by not rescuing her from Uncle... which is why she sides with Uncle to get rid of those pesky lizards and their goddess) to justify and motivate her conquest and imperialism in a few words : Git Gud.

Hell, it takes Ferdie's end supports in Tru Piss to have her realise that randoms cannot "Git Gud" if they don't have the means to "Git Gud"!

[forhisglry]

My positive birth story

I write my own birth story on International Day of the Midwife, to highlight the incredible value of good midwifery support and continuity of care and how the environment that we birth in has a huge impact on our birth experience. And to reaffirm what all the research says, that birthing at home with midwifery care is safe and empowering and should be available as an option for more women. As a disclaimer, I know that birthing at home is not what all women want and may not be right for some women. I also know that many women come out of their birthing experience traumatised rather than empowered. My hope for the future of midwifery and birth is that every woman would have access to supportive woman-centred midwifery care to birth in an empowering way that is right for them in the space that is right for them- whether that is at home, in a birth centre or at the hospital. Own your birth, your body is powerful and so capable. It was created to do this.

For me, choosing a homebirth was essential. As a midwife, I know the benefits of uninterrupted labour, and wanted to be in a space where this was honoured and I could birth on my terms. I also knew the challenge I would have with switching my midwife brain off in labour and stepping into the primal brain required to labour well. Being at home meant I was away from my workplace and other people’s birth stories, and was safely in my own space to write my own story. Thankfully, Darwin has a publicly funded homebirth program that I fit the low-risk criteria for, so I was quick to book into this early in my pregnancy.

Choosing a homebirth was also a step of faith for me. For a long time, I’ve had a fear that I’d never be able to birth my babies vaginally. A midwife once said to me when I was 19 that my ‘pelvis was too small to birth’, and it’s haunted me ever since. (A reminder that the words you speak over people, even off-hand comments, have power). Birthing Reuben at home, all 4230 grams of him, was a real step of faith in trusting God over my fears. And in that, He reminded me in a very real way that through him all things are possible, and that not only can I birth my babies, I can birth chunky big ones. It broke my fears of untruths spoken to me long ago. I write this birth story to give God the glory.

During my pregnancy, my husband Jonno and I spent 3 months on the road travelling. It was an amazing bonding time together and we grew a lot in our relationship. While on the road, I saw a midwife in Yackandandah, Victoria, several times over the course of our travels. In our short time together, her midwifery approach and philosophy resonated deeply with me, and I felt valued and listened to. I loved getting some continuity of care even as we travelled.

We arrived back in Darwin at 35 weeks pregnant. In the weeks leading up to birth, Jonno and I did a hypnobirthing course and I read through Rhea Dempsey’s books ‘Birth with confidence’ and ‘Beyond the birth plan.’ These both really helped in my mental and emotional preparation for birth. I spent time every day working through thoughts and fears of birth, and taking my birth to God in prayer and letting go of control. The wait is hard and takes a surrendering of your own will. It’s a strange time of anticipation and stillness. I loved and hated it. I desperately wanted my baby to come, but valued those precious moments with just me and Jonno. Five days after my due date, I started to have some mild crampy niggles but nothing particularly painful or regular at all. It was a Sunday, and Jonno and I spent the day together pottering around and went for a long beach walk in the evening, watching a beautiful sunset. That night I woke up at 4am with surges coming every 10 minutes, not too painful but enough to stop me from sleep. I got up so I didn’t wake up Jonno with my tossing and turning and sat on my exercise ball in the living room with a heat pack on my tummy.

He woke up to get ready for work a couple of hours later. With irregular contractions only once every 10 minutes, I told him to still go to work, thinking it might carry on like this for some time, and wanted to maximise the time that he’d have off work after the baby arrived. Before he left for work I got him to put the TENS machine on my back. It was absolute magic. I kept it on all day.

As the morning progressed, the surges began to get a little closer together but were still irregular and I was coping fine. I spent the day trying to distract myself. I played some cards, danced around the living room, rested a little and practiced some good positioning.

By 3 in the afternoon I was struggling to motivate myself and stay distracted. Jonno had been calling me up every couple of hours from work to check on me, but my surges were still only every 5 minutes or so and pretty manageable so I didn’t think he needed to come home early, but I was keen on some company and motivation. At this point I called Jenelle, an amazing midwife and friend who has previously been a part of the homebirth team, and had agreed to be a part of my birth support team. She was just what I needed in that moment. She entered my birth space and helped me to draw in my focus, where I was having a ‘crisis of confidence’ moment. I broke out in tears when she got there, and told her I didn’t think I could do it. She looked me straight in the eye and said ‘well, you don’t like the alternative do you!’, which really helped to kick my head into gear.

Up until this point I had been experiencing all of my surge pain in my pubic bone, so Jenelle felt my baby’s position and we realised he was posterior with a deflexed head. We got hard to work right away with various positions and massage to try and realign bub and release tension from my pelvis. As we moved around, we chatted about all things from magic mushrooms and the golden valley tree park in Balingup, to candles, to my mum and my relationship with Jonno. It was excellent distraction and really helped me to relax. At one point I felt an unusual popping sensation, like my baby just swung into place, and then things were on pretty big from there. This happened right before jonno got home at 5.30pm, and then it was suddenly all systems go.

My lovely housemates set up my birthing space with the birth pool in the living room, while Jonno supported me for a while in the shower, and at some point my support team called my homebirth midwife to attend. The intensity of labour ramped up and there were so many moments where it felt unbearable. Labour truly does take you to the end of yourself, and it was my incredible support circle that really kept me grounded throughout the whole journey. I never once felt like they didn’t think I could do it and never once felt afraid. When I looked around the room I felt believed in and surrounded by love. One of the affirmations I had written on the wall was the Bible verse ‘There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear’, and it was so true in that space. I really felt carried by God throughout the whole journey. What surprised me was how much I needed interaction in labour. In most situations in life when I’m struggling, I tend to internalise and go quiet, but I found that in labour, talking to my team and giving myself little pep talks really helped me to keep going. It never felt like there were surplus people in the room, every person in my circle had an important role. Poor Jonno was well outnumbered by midwives! Besides Jenelle, my housemate Jos was there as another support person, and I had the 2 wonderful homebirth midwives.

Some time after 8pm, I felt like I had exhausted all other coping options, and that I wouldn’t be able to do this much longer. I got into the birth pool and it felt like the most blissful thing in the world. I floated around the water like a mermaid, my body giving me some much needed longer breaks between surges and I rode the endorphins through each rest. As the surges continued, I instinctively moved my body around the pool to make space for my baby. It felt so good to move in a weightless and unrestricted way.

Some time after 9 o’clock, I started feeling that involuntary urge to push and after fighting it for a while, Jenelle reminded me to go into it, not to resist it. So I went with the feeling and it felt good to do something, but I didn’t feel like I was really getting anywhere fast. My midwife suggested that I spend some time sitting on the toilet- aka dilation station. I did this and really felt his head move lower. I got back in the water around 11pm and jonno got in the water behind me, which really grounded me as I continued to push. My support team held up a mirror through my surges, and seeing his head slowly emerge really spurred me on to keep going. His head birthed slowly and smoothly, giving my body a chance to stretch and move as it needed to. He was calm the whole way through and his heart rate was steady. I birthed my baby in the water at 3 past midnight to the sweet joyful sounds of Celtic music (that we had playing in the background throughout labour). His head was born on the 17th and his body on the 18th! It was the most surreal moment. My boy was quiet and calm and he stared at me and Jonno as we sat in the pool. After birth we got out of the pool and waited for the placenta to come naturally, leaving my boy attached to his umbilical cord until well after the placenta had birthed. We had a few hours together at home, breastfed and introduced our dog Tobin to his baby brother, then I had to get transferred to hospital for repair of a tear from birth. We weren’t in hospital long, and came back home and settled in later that morning, riding high on the blissful oxytocin. What a wild and beautiful ride.

Birth looks different for everyone. And what is right for me is not necessarily right for other women. We can’t control a lot of the circumstances we get dealt around our birth. But there are ways we can be empowered and set ourselves up for success no matter what kind of birth we have. My birth of Reuben wasn’t textbook. But what an incredibly empowering and exhilarating experience and witness to God who makes all things possible. I wouldn’t change a thing.

As with most labours, it was intense and filled with moments where I lost confidence or couldn’t bear it any longer, but I was surrounded by 4 incredible midwives and my husband who had complete confidence in me and the capacity of my body to birth this baby. And that helped me carry on. They gave me space and time for my body to move and open in the way it needed to to let my baby through and they trusted that process, not trying to control it. I was at home, where I was safe, where I did not feel observed or put on a time-line or made to conform with the way we’re taught labour is meant to go. My contractions were not a regular pattern- they blended from long to short and spaced out to allow my son to move the way he needed to move. I was not ‘assessed’ on progress, and slowly pushed his whopper head and body out gently and slowly in the way it needed to be; I was not rushed. There were minutes between his head and body, but he was calm and his heartbeat was normal, because the process was undisturbed. He needed time for his big body to navigate through. I was listened to and felt safe to speak out my fears of birth, knowing that my support circle had my back to speak truth and courage and power back over me again. It wasn’t perfect, I felt my tailbone pop during labour, which is still giving me some grief when I sit, and I had a decent tear, but it was my body powerfully shifting and making space in the way it needed to for my baby to be born. It wasn’t perfect, but I loved it. And I would do it again in a heartbeat. What I am so thankful for, is that knowing what I know as a midwife, my labour and birth in another setting could have had a very different outcome. If I had been assessed on progress and been monitored as to the expected pathway of labour, I would have likely ended up with an oxytocin infusion, probably a forceps delivery with a shoulder dystocia and an episiotomy, all of which would have been deemed necessary, but weren’t really. But instead, I was privileged to be in a space where I was trusted and supported, where I could move how I needed to move, where my body was afforded the opportunity to birth in its own way: a privilege I wish more women had. It’s not to say that those interventions aren’t necessary in some cases, but how many more women would birth their babies without them if we watched and waited more and held space for women.

I’ve been a midwife for years but experiencing birth for myself has given me a whole new appreciation for the incredible role, support and wisdom of midwifery care and gently and confidently holding the space for birth.

I’m so grateful for Gods hand in my birth. I’ve learnt more of what it is to trust his perfect design and wait patiently on him. He is good.

[koval-ptaki-birds]

149) Rhea pennata; Nandu plamiste, nandu Darwina, Darwin's rhea, lesser rhea (nandu mniejsze) - gatunek dużego nielotnego ptaka z rodziny nandu (Rheidae). Występuje wyłącznie w Ameryce Południowej do wysokości 3500–4500 m n.p.m.

Po raz pierwszy opisany w 1834 roku przez d’Orbigny’ego pod nazwą Rhea pennata. Jako lokalizację holotypu autor wskazał Río Negro na południe od Buenos Aires w Argentynie. Takson ten często umieszczano w monotypowym rodzaju Pterocnemia, lecz jest blisko spokrewniony z Rhea americana, z którym w warunkach hodowlanych dochodziło do przypadków krzyżowania się. Wyróżniono trzy podgatunki R. pennata. Ich status jest niepewny, takson tarapacensis być może powinien być traktowany jak odrębny gatunek, a garleppi jak jego podgatunek lub synonim:

R. pennata garleppi – Peru, południowo-zachodnia Boliwia, północno-zachodnia Argentyna

R. pennata tarapacensis – nandu andyjskie – północne Chile

R. pennata pennata – nandu plamiste – południowe Chile i południowa Argentyna, aż do Ziemi Ognistej.

W północnej części zasięgu występowania (podgatunki tarapacensis i garleppi) zasiedla punę, solniska, wyżynne torfowiska i wrzosowiska do wysokości 3500–4500 m n.p.m. W południowym rejonie występowania zasiedla półpustynne stepy z grupami krzewów i użytki zielone terenów zalewowych do wysokości 2000 m n.p.m. Młode rodzą się zazwyczaj w obszarach górskich bogatych w kostrzewę. Podczas badań przeprowadzonych w północno-zachodniej Patagonii zaobserwowano, że samce wybierają miejsce na gniazdo na obszarach podmokłych (tzw. mallín).

W Czerwonej księdze gatunków zagrożonych Międzynarodowej Unii Ochrony Przyrody (IUCN) został zaliczony do kategorii najmniejszej troski (LC – Least Concern). IUCN uznaje nandu andyjskie (tzn. podgatunki tarapacensis i garleppi) za osobny gatunek i zalicza je do kategorii NT (Near Threatened – bliski zagrożenia). Wpisany do załącznika I (R. pennata) i II (R. p. pennata) CITES. Wszystkie populacje wykazują trend spadkowy. Łączną liczebność populacji podgatunków tarapacensis i garleppi w latach 90. XX wieku szacowano na kilkaset osobników, lecz obecnie uważa się, że były to szacunki zaniżone. Według współczesnych, wstępnych oszacowań, ich liczebność zawiera się w przedziale 1000–2499 osobników dorosłych, choć nie wykluczone, że jest ich więcej. Głównym zagrożeniami dla tego gatunku są polowania dla mięsa i piór, wybieranie jaj oraz intensywne przekształcanie środowiska życia tych ptaków na pola uprawne i pastwiska dla bydła.

[raethereptile]

And here we have it folks! The 139 competitors for the Tumblr Sexyman: Animal Edition title!

Quater finalists will be broken down into species (or more specific) competitors, but honestly I couldn't deal with that at this stage

Until then!

The first vote will be coming up very soon!

:keep reading:

Box jellyfish

Butterfly rays

Glass frogs

Quoll

Coral snakes

Planigale

Emu

Octocoral

Hog nose snakes

Chimaera

Kakapo

Shovel nose frogs

Narrow-mouthed frogs

Mock vipers

Bandicoots

Wombats

Hydra

Leaping frogs

Lobster

Eagle rays

Burrowing snakes

Kiwi

Koala

Boas

Saddleback toads

Pythons

Night snakes

Pipe snakes

Sea snakes

Marsupial shrew

Short-legged toads

Wallabies

Taipan

Possums

Blind snakes

True jellyfish

Tukeit Hill frogs

Dogfish

Sawsharks

Brown snakes

Panrays

Penguins

Mulgara

True Crabs

Isopods

Mantella

Tree frogs

Ningaui

Bullheaded sharks

Krait snakes

Kangaroos

Dunnart

Slug snakes

Rain frogs

Marsupial moles

Shield-tailed snakes

Seychelles frogs

Dancing frogs

Flightless teals and steamerducks

Octopus

Angel sharks

Potoroos

Mamba

Crayfish

True frogs

Carpet sharks

Whipsnakes

Bilbies

Cobra

Vipers

Poison dart frogs

Forked-tongue frogs

Krill et al.

Skates

Vampire squid

Prawns

Dibbler

Night frogs

Squid

Stalked jellyfish

Nautilus and Allonatilus

Parasite cnidaria

Tropical frogs

Marsupial frogs

Wart snake

False antechinus

Ostrich

Hexacoral

Bush frogs

Burrowing toads

Comb jellies

Centipede eater snakes

Odd-scaled snakes

Cassowary

Flightless cormorant

Guitarfishes

True Shrimp

Rat-kangaroos

Numbat

Phascogale

Parsley frogs

Horned tree frogs

Parasitic crustations

False shrimp

Painted frogs

Mackerel sharks

Flaxen crabs

Spadefoot toads

Antechinus

Australian ground frogs

Kaluta

True toads

Electric rays

Fire belly toads

Barnacles

Screeching frogs

Tailed frogs

Anemones

Tasmanian devil

Opossums

Darwin’s frogs

Rhea

Adders

Toungless clawed frogs

Primitive frogs

Grebes

Dasyure

Moss frogs

Flightless rails and family

Sawfishes

Cuttlefish

Thornbacks

Kultarr

Ground sharks

Stingrays

Kowari

Frilled cow sharks

Sunbeam snakes

Sand snakes

[coppercookie]

My favourite ratities

[freaksnature]

Darwin/Wallace Day

So its Darwin Day, named for Charles Darwin, and though I much prefer the lesser known Sir Alfred Russell Wallace I thought I'd make a post anyway.

Over 300 species have been named in honour of the naturalist.

Darwin's Rhea - Rhea pennata

IUCN Status Least Concern

Darwin's Fox - Lycalopex fulvipes

IUCN Status Endangered

Volcan Darwin's Tortoise - Chelonoidis becki

IUCN Status Vulnerable

Southern Darwins Frog - Rhinoderma darwinii

IUCN Status Endangered

Northern Darwin's Frog - Rhinoderma rufum

IUCN Status Critically Endangered likely extinct last seen 1981 suspected victim of chytridiomycosis

Darwin's Bark Spider - Caerostris darwini

IUCN Status Unevaluated

A native of Madagascar which has lost 80% of is forests to deforestation and continues to suffer from illegal logging.

Finally Alfred Russell Wallace

While never completing a formal education due family problems Wallace was an avid naturalist and did amazing research in Oceania he received special permission from an Indonesian Sultan to collect eggs, feathers and butterflies from Papua New Guinea to sell to collectors.

While there he came up with his Theory of Natural Selection the reason Darwin is a household name and not Wallace is because he sent his paper to Darwin already a famed naturalist before 'his discovery'.

Darwin a noted procrastinator suggested a co-written which Wallace agreed to amazed an popular academic took an interest.

Darwin low played the paper and soon after published his Origin of Species which made Wallace quickly forgotten.

Wallace for his part was in Indonesia for all of this and knew nothing of it and when he found out was not known to have held a grudge only happy to have shared a paper with great academic.

I encourage others to read up on Wallace as he was quite interesting.

[photographe-a-roulettes]

Nandou de Darwin - Inaptes aux vol, ils courent en zigzaguant, changeant soudainement de direction, pour échapper aux prédateurs, puis se tapissent dans les buissons. Ils peuvent atteindre une vitesse de pointe de 60km/h.

Lieu : Parc Zoologique de Paris

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Rhea

Greater Rhea by Juan Eduardo De Cristófaro, CC BY 2.0

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Name: Rhea

Status: Extant

First Described: 1760

Described By: Brisson

Classification: Dinosauria, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Palaeognathae, Notopalaeognathae, Rheiformes, Rheidae

Referred Species: R. americana (Greater Rhea, extant); R. pennata (Darwin’s Rhea, Extant); R. fossilis (extinct), R. mesopotamica (extinct), R. pampeana (extinct), R. subpampeana (extinct) 

The Rhea is the other fast moving ratite, and also the South American ratite, and also the often forgotten ratite. Still, Rheas are interesting in their own right, and deserve just as much love as other ratites. This specific genus first appeared about 126,000 years ago, in the Tarantian age of the Pleistocene, as the Ice Age was beginning to wind down. It has four extinct species - R. fossilis, R. mesopotamica, R. pampeana, and R. subpampeana. which are all known from the Pleistocene of Argentina. Today, they remain primarily in South America, though there is a notable feral population in Germany, living in the German countryside with a population of over 100 birds. 

Greater Rhea by Dr. Chrissy, CC BY-SA 3.0 

Both species of Rheas are large, flightless and brown, with long legs and long necks, allowing them to run fast in their open grassland habitats. They have large wings that aid in maneuvering and performing sharp turns as the run, much like in Ostriches. They spread them while running, making them act like sails. They don’t have the almost-hooves of ostriches, but rather run on three toes, and have lost their fourth toe completely. They are also kind of weird in that they store urine in an expansion of their cloaca, which is pretty wilde (the cloaca is the all-purpose waste removal and sexual reproduction hole of birds and some other reptiles). They are very quiet birds, though males do call for females during the mating season with loud booming noises. They then lift their body, ruffle their plumage, and keep their necks stiff while raising their wings and running around a little bit to impress a female. Unlike Ostriches, however, Rheas form flocks year-round, living in groups of 20 to 25 birds (though sometimes the groups are smaller). They will run in a zig-zag pattern as a group to evade predators. 

Greater Rhea by Florian Timm, CC BY-SA 2.0

They are herbivorous, with rounded flat beaks, feeding mainly on fruit, seeds, and roots, though they do supplement their diet with insects and small reptiles and rodents. Baby rheas only eat insects for the first few days of their life. The males will mate with two to twelve females per season, and build a nest, where the females will lay their eggs - much like how all the female ostriches that mate with a male ostrich will lay their eggs in a single nest. The male will sacrifice some eggs outside the nest to distract predators, and even will use another male to incubate the eggs while he mates with other rheas. The females then mate with other males as well. The males then take care of the chicks, to the exclusion of female rheas - even chasing them away. The rheas reach adult size in six months, and become sexually mature at two years. 

Greater Rhea Chick and Juvenile by Lady of Hats, in the Public Domain

The Greater Rhea, R. americana, is the larger of the two species, living in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It primarily lives in grasslands, savanna, and grassy wetlands, and it weighs between 20 and 27 kilograms on average (though it can weigh up to 40 kilograms), and is the largest bird (today) in South America. The males are usually bigger than the females. They eat lots of different types of plants, though there are plenty of plants that are farmed by humans that they don’t like - like cereals and eucalyptus. This actually turns into a beneficial situation for both the human and the rhea, because rheas will go into these fields and feed on invertebrates that are pests in these agricultural settings. 

Greater Rhea by Rufus46, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Greater Rhea is primarily preyed upon by cougars and jaguars as adults. Dogs will also hunt the birds, and the Southern Caracara preys on hatchlings. Armadillos will eat on Greater Rhea eggs as well. Unfortunately, being in captivity makes them more vulnerable to predators - Greater Rheas raised in captivity are “ecologically naive”, meaning they’re fearless of predators and reintroducing birds raised in captivity to their environment hasn’t been a very successful endeavor. Conditioning can lead to some fear of predators, but their personality affects it extensively - shy birds are afraid enough of predators to get by, but bolder Greater Rheas are usually not allowed to be released into their environment. 

Greater Rhea by Michael Palmer, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Greater Rhea is near-threatened in terms of its conservation, and their range is decreasing due to increased hunting and increased agriculture in South America. Argentina and Uruguay are having especial decreases in population. Farmers will kill them where they are considered pests and burning of crops leads to increased decline. Still, they are flourishing in other areas such as Germany. They also are kept and farmed, like Emu and Ostrich, for their meat and egg as well as oil. 

Darwin’s Rhea By Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0

Darwin’s Rhea is a smaller species, only reaching about 15 to 28 kilograms, and is found primarily in Chile and Argentina. Though living in a smaller area, it is less threatened than the Greater Rhea, classified as Least Concern. They have sharp claws on their toes that allows them to kick more effectively, defending themselves against predators. They have more spotted plumage than their larger cousins, and males are more aggressive in protecting their chicks. This species also includes R. p. tarapacensis, the Puna Rhea, which is often considered a different species, but here is treated as subspecies of Darwin’s Rhea. They eat saltbush and cactus fruit, as well as grass, and they’re also quite like the Greater Rhea. They live in smaller groups as well, between 5 and 30 birds. The chicks become fully mature at 3 years of age. 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_rhea 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_rhea 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhea_(bird)

[tenth-sentence]

Of all the things which York saw, during his absence from his country, nothing seems more to have astonished him than an ostrich, near Maldonado; breathless with astonishment he came running to Mr. Bynoe, with whom he was walking – 'Oh, Mr. Bynoe, oh, bird all same horse!'

"Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World, 1832-36" - Charles Darwin

[nature-nerd-sarah]

There was one major mountain animal not yet represented in the park: The llama. In this episode, a herd of them gets an enclosure, similar to the alpine meadows I've constructed for other alpine grazers. And next to them, I'm adding a pair of rheas, to make the exhibit more interesting.