#NOT zoology this time

[dougdimmadodo]

Carrion Flower (Stapelia hirsuta)

Family: Dogbane Family (Apocynaceae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Unassessed

While most flowering plants produce colourful, sweet-smelling, often nectar-secreting flowers to attract sugar-loving pollinators, the Carrion Flower and its relatives in the genus Stapelia produce hairy, “meaty-red” flowers that are said to smell like rotting flesh. The colour, hairs and smell of these flowers attract species of flies that feed or lay their eggs on carrion, and as these flies often fall for the mimicry of multiple flowers in a single blooming season they serve as pollinators, carrying pollen from male flowers to female flowers and allowing for the production of fertilized seeds, which are attached to cottony parachute-like structures that allow them to be carried away from their parent by wind. Native to western South Africa and southeastern Namibia, Carrion Flowers inhabit dry, arid habitats and are often found growing in shade cast by larger plants, which limits their access to sunlight but slows the rate at which they lose water through evaporation. Lacking well-developed leaves, members of this species respire and carry out photosynthesis using several offshoots of their stem that resemble small cacti, each with a waxy outer surface that partially blocks their stomata to further limit water loss and numerous short spines (actually what remains of their leaves) lining their edges to deter grazing herbivores such as the Cape Grysbok (a small species of antelope endemic to South Africa.) Carrion Flowers bloom in the summer and early autumn/fall, and are monoecious (meaning that every individual plant produces both pollen-producing male flowers and pollen-receiving, seed-producing female flowers.) While humans rarely harvest this species due to its unpleasant smell, it is occasionally cultivated recreationally due to its interesting biology, and the smell of its flowers have reportedly seen some use as an appetite suppressant.

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Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/366290-Stapelia-hirsuta

[hawkpartys]

i think of this image approximately every day of my life

Magellanic Penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) observation by kiwikiu

[markscherz]

Bad Newts: Amphibians are in Serious Trouble

My colleagues and I have just had a paper published in Nature, based on our efforts to assess almost all amphibian species for the IUCN Red Lists. The major takeaway messages:

It is a bad time to be an amphibian

Two fifths of all amphibians are threatened with extinction.

Salamanders are the most threatened group; three fifths of all salamanders are threatened with extinction!

Climate change is a major driver of amphibian declines globally

Habitat loss, especially due to agriculture, is a problem for the vast majority of amphibians

Chytrid pandemics have caused and continue to cause catastrophic declines of both salamanders and frogs

Protected areas and careful management are working as strategies! They are actively improving the outlook of some species

As many as 222 amphibian species may have gone extinct in recent times; of those, 185 are suspected extinct but not yet confirmed.

Our paper is Open Access, you can read it here!

Photo of Atelopus hoogmoedi by Jaime Culebras, used with permission

[aeriona]

fibsh…. in three dimensions....

based off yesterday's artwork

[marinememes]

They are serving in the highest level

[ask-the-dunmeshi-biologists]

Should i be eating the green parts of strawberries ❓️❓️ probably not, but my insides are touching grass‼️‼️‼️

Click for more detail. Our ask is open!

[eddieintheocean]

if youre defending one "bad" animal by telling people that oh wait this other animal is eviler and badder or generally worser actually youre doing it wrong

[silkwhim]

I request a parasaurolophus!

For a challenge: I request an "opposite ensthir". Like, whatever the opposite of an ensthir would be. A rihtsne if you would

If you'd like! :D

behold, my specbio pug: rihtsne...

[al-the-alien]

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.

[t34-mt]

refsheet from june 2023, old art old posture, skinny legend maanuls

another refsheet for artfight execpt this one isn't finished but its enough for ppl to understand, i cant complete it due to my tablet acting crazy and that its the 20TH I NEED TO DO OTHER CHARACTERS, wish i had sooo much moretime i wanted to do more intricate patterns. one day one day ill do complicated patterns like the ones you can find on tiles from Maghreb

also, a western hat! like i mentioned western maanuls took example on the normal shell hats of eastern, this is a sneak peak of an example before i draw a sheet of them in a part 2 post about hats

[horseshoecrabfan]

Please support the habitat of these wonderful creatures here!

[dougdimmadodo]

Potato Plant (Solanum tuberosum)

Family: Nightshade Family (Solanaceae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Unassessed

Originating from temperate regions of South America and southern North America, Potato Plants are now cultivated worldwide in enormous numbers (so much so that they are the 4th most important plant in achieving human food security, with over 300 million tons being produced each year.) The part of the Potato Plant that humans (as well as numerous non-human animals, including peccaries, feral pigs, rodents and deer) eat are its tubers, which are bundles of nutrients that the plant produces from offshoots of its roots during the warmer, wetter, sunnier months to sustain it throughout the winter and facilitate rapid growth during its reproductive/blooming season, which typically occurs during the mid-summer. As with many members of the nightshade family the leaves and stems of this species are poisonous, but the tubers are non-toxic when underground and only become poisonous when exposed to sunlight, with exposure to light triggering a chemical defence in which large amounts of toxic chemicals called glycoalkaloids are produced in the tuber’s skin, deterring animals that have succeeded in digging up a tuber from attempting to access other tubers and potentially damaging the roots in the process. It is because of this defensive response that uncooked potatoes may cause food poisoning if eaten in sufficient quantities – cooking denatures the glycoalkaloids and leaves the potatoes safe to eat. Potato Plants are capable of reproducing both asexually through genetically identical offshoots of their roots and sexually through the production of flowers, which range from white to purple in colour and are “perfect flowers”, meaning that a single flower is capable of both producing pollen to fertilize seeds and receiving pollen to begin developing seeds of its own. In the wild Potato Plant flowers are pollinated by small insects (particularly bumblebees), and once pollinated they develop into small fruits resembling tiny green tomatoes which are toxic to mammals but can be safely eaten by birds, allowing the seeds within them to be spread. Archaeological evidence suggests that humans have been farming Potato Plants for their tubers for some 8,000 years, with the earliest evidence of cultivation coming from what is now Peru and Bolivia.

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Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/53858-Solanum-tuberosum

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Daily fish fact #799

Stoplight loosejaw!

The stoplight loosejaw is able to see red with a chlorophyll derivative that absorbs red light — the fish obtains this pigment from eating copepods, which actually make up a large portion of its diet! One of its most notable features is its large, red cheek light, but it also has other lights, like a green light under the eye and several small blue lights all over its underside.

[markscherz]

Hello, I was wondering what criteria you personally use to decide if something is a species or a subspecies?

I quite like Kevin de Queiroz's recent take on the matter, so I will refer you to him. There has been quite a bit of subsequent discussion, some of which I agree with, some of which I think is a bit moronic.

TL;DR: They should be treated as a difference of degree, not of kind, and can conveniently be used to capture the grey zone that we know characterises the incipient stages of speciation.

[vaguely-concerned]

illario was so right... this one traumatized crow boy really can contain such a universe of pure and childlike wonder at the mere existence -- the concept! -- of wyverns. even through the horrors

[hawkpartys]

realized that if you ever wanted to institute an effective mass surveillance network all you'd have to do is get birders on it. they're insanely effective. whenever a notable vagrant bird(one that's extremely out of range) pops up, they have its whereabouts tracked down to the hour, god knows how