#South American Fauna

[nothofagus-archive]

"Try me" (2023-4)

Last OC painting of last year, and first into this one ^^ I have this small tradition, of making one last of them as a year closes.

This one was a coloring of a doodle I'd had laying around for literally months, and I ended up quite happy with it.

I've been quite busy, I hope you're all doing well!

[dougdimmadodo]

Fast Fauna Facts #11 - Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao)

Family: Macaw Family (Psittacidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Like other macaws the Scarlet Macaw's bill is large, powerful and unusually flexible, allowing it to manipulate and break hard fruits and seeds when feeding. Scarlet Macaws have frequently been observed using this ability to feed on hard unripe fruit, and as most other fruit-eating animals in their range are unable, or unwilling, to feed on such fruits it has been suggested that this is an adaptation that allows them to access food sources their competitors cannot. Many unripe fruits contain chemicals called tannins which are bitter-tasting and weakly acidic in order to discourage animals from eating them until the seeds within them are mature and ready to be spread, and the acidity of the tannins they eat may explain why Scarlet Macaws have occasionally been observed engaging in geophagy (the act of swallowing soil, rocks or, in the case of Scarlet Macaws, clay), as most clay is weakly alkaline and therefore may help to neutralize the tannins and make them easier to digest.

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Image Source: Here

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[uncharismatic-fauna]

A Mata-Fine Mata Mata turtle

A resident of the Amazon and Orinoco river basins, the mata mata (Chelus fimbriatus) is a species of freshwater turtle found in streams, pools, and wetlands throughout northern South America, from Venezuela to Brazil, as well as the island of Trinidad. This species is almost entirely aquatic, and excursions on land are extremely rare. However, they are not well adapted for swimming in open water, and are thus most commonly seen in shallow bodies of water with soft, muddy bottoms.

C. fimbriatus has a unique appearance among turtle species. The carapace-- the part of the shell that covers the back--it has three ridges running down its length and is often covered in algae, and so resembles tree bark. The head is similarly shaped to resemble leaf litter; it’s triangular, and the fringes around the cheeks and mouth break up the outline. The mata mata’s nose is long and snorkel-like, allowing it to remain just under the surface. Despite its unobtrusive looks, this species is actually quite large; mata mata can grow up to 45 cm (1.5 ft) long and weigh up to 17.2 kg (38 lbs).

Because of its unique body shape and camouflage, the mata mata is well suited to a sedentary life, and has few natural predators. It has extremely poor eyesight, though it does share an adaptation with other nocturnal reptiles that allows the eyes to reflect low levels of light. To compensate, the mata mata relies on its hearing, amplified by a large tympanium on either side of the head, and on the barbels lining its jaw. In addition to being an excellent costume, these barbels allow C. fimbriatus to sense vibrations in the water. The mata mata spends most of its time submurged or buried under the mud, waiting for potential prey like fish, worms, crustaceans, and insects to swim by. When they’re close enough, the mata mata opens its jaws and sucks its target in whole. Individuals have also been recorded herding schools of fish into confined areas before feeding.

The only time the mata mata emerges from the water is to reproduce. Individuals are solitary until September or October, when they begin to seek out mates. When a male encounters a female, he approaches while opening and closing his mouth, extending his limbs, and moving the flaps on the side of his head. If the female is impressed, she allows him to mount. Afterwards, she hauls herself out onto the nearby bank and builds a rudimentary nest from the forest litter. There, she lays 12-28 eggs, which will take about 200 days to hatch. There is no information on how long hatchlings take to fully mature, but individuals can live anywhere from 15-30 years.

Conservation status: The mata mata has not been evaluated by the IUCN, but is threatened by habitat destruction and overharvesting for the pet trade.

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Photos

Rune Midtgaard

Christopher Wellner

Joachim S. Muller

[rabbitcruiser]

World Turtle Day

World Turtle Day is celebrated on May 23 of every year. The World Turtle Day promoted yearly since 2000 by American Tortoise Rescue which is to bring attention to increase knowledge of and respect for, turtles and tortoises, that inspire human action to help them survive and succeed.World Turtle Day is celebrated around the spheroid in a variation of ways, from dressing up as turtles also by wearing green summer dresses to saving turtles caught on roadways, to research projects. Turtle Day lesson plans and craft designs promote teaching about turtles in classrooms. World Turtle Day is also to celebrate the great reptiles with their place in the world, and this encourages people to take action to protect them, both the common pet turtle and the ever jeopardized sea turtle.

“World Turtle Day is an annual opportunity to reflect on the myriad of threats facing turtles and tortoises and what we can do to protect them.”

History of World Turtle Day

World Turtle Day was created by American Tortoise Rescue in 1990. The term “WORLD TURTLE DAY” is branded by Susan Tellem of Malibu, California American Tortoise Rescue is certified by state and federal companies as a nonprofit corporation to provide for the protection of all species of tortoise and turtle. Orphans that cannot affirm because of ill health remain in the care of American Tortoise Rescue for the balance of their lives. Chase’s Book of Annual Events, the day was created as an annual observance to help people to protect turtles and tortoises and to disappear their habitats globally. Susan Tellem and Marshall Thompson are the founders of the rescue American Tortoise Rescue defend the humane treatment of all animals, containing reptiles. Since 1990, ATR has placed about 3,000 tortoises and turtles in caring homes and also assist law enforcement when undersize and compromised turtles are impounded and provides helpful information which has referrals to persons with sick and abandoned turtles.

In 2013, For over 5,500 students, 160 free Turtle Day Lesson planned and teaching materials were sent out to classrooms. Lesson plans were provided by the Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group, an organization that is open to all people interested in the welfare of chelonians.

How to Celebrate World Turtle Day

Celebrate the World Turtle Day around the spheroid in a contrast of ways, from dressing up as turtles by wearing green summer dresses to rescuing turtles caught on roadways, to research projects. They’re the astonishing creature, with positive grades making great pets and helping to preserve the eco-system in the waters they live in. Also if we live where snapping turtles haunt the waters, it’s probably a good idea that people know how to withdraw them and where to find them.

Source

[steal-this-idea]

I love how I created a world whose arrangement of continents could have totally allowed for a Centauri-Xon situation but opted to only give the world a single sentient (suspiciously human-looking) species

My loss, I suppose

Though I doubt that continent's animal and plant inhabitants managed to escape tragedy...

[headspace-hotel]

There was this post a while ago where somebody was saying that Cheetahs aren't well suited to Africa and would do well in Midwestern North America, and it reminded me of Paul S. Martin, the guy I'm always pissed off about.

He had some good ideas, but he is most importantly responsible for the overkill hypothesis (idea that humans caused the end-Pleistocene extinctions and that climate was minimally a factor) which led to the idea of Pleistocene rewilding.

...Basically this guy thought we should introduce lions, cheetahs, camels, and other animals to North America to "rewild" the landscape to what it was like pre-human habitation, and was a major advocate for re-creating mammoths.

Why am I pissed off about him? Well he denied that there were humans in North America prior to the Clovis culture, which it's pretty well established now that there were pre-Clovis inhabitants, and in general promoted the idea that the earliest inhabitants of North America exterminated the ecosystem through destructive and greedy practices...

...which has become "common knowledge" and used as evidence for anyone who wants to argue that Native Americans are "Not So Innocent, Actually" and the mass slaughter and ecosystem devastation caused by colonialism was just what humans naturally do when encountering a new environment, instead of a genocidal campaign to destroy pre-existing ways of life and brutally exploit the resources of the land.

It basically gives the impression that the exploitative and destructive relationship to land is "human nature" and normal, which erases every culture that defies this characterization, and also erases the way indigenous people are important to ecosystems, and promotes the idea of "empty" human-less ecosystems as the natural "wild" state.

And also Martin viewed the Americas' fauna as essentially impoverished, broken and incomplete, compared with Africa which has much more species of large mammals, which is glossing over the uniqueness of North American ecosystems and the uniqueness of each species, such as how important keystone species like bison and wolves are.

It's also ignoring the taxa and biomes that ARE extraordinarily diverse in North America, for example the Appalachian Mountains are one of the most biodiverse temperate forests on Earth, the Southeastern United States has the Earth's most biodiverse freshwater ecosystems, and both of these areas are also a major global hotspot for amphibian biodiversity and lichen biodiversity. Large mammals aren't automatically the most important. With South America, well...the Amazon Rainforest, the Brazilian Cerrado and the Pantanal wetlands are basically THE biodiversity hotspot of EVERYTHING excepting large mammals.

It's not HIM I have a problem with per se. It's the way his ideas have become so widely distributed in pop culture and given people a muddled and warped idea of ecology.

If people think North America was essentially a broken ecosystem missing tons of key animals 500 years ago, they won't recognize how harmful colonization was to the ecosystem or the importance of fixing the harm. Who cares if bison are a keystone species, North America won't be "fixed" until we bring back camels and cheetahs...right?

And by the way, there never were "cheetahs" in North America, Miracinonyx was a different genus and was more similar to cougars than cheetahs, and didn't have the hunting strategy of cheetahs, so putting African cheetahs in North America wouldn't "rewild" anything.

Also people think its a good idea to bring back mammoths, which is...no. First of all, it wouldn't be "bringing back mammoths," it would be genetically engineering extant elephants to express some mammoth genes that code for key traits, and second of all, the ecosystem that contained them doesn't exist anymore, and ultimately it would be really cruel to do this with an intelligent, social animal. The technology that would be used for this is much better used to "bring back" genetic diversity that has been lost from extant critically endangered species.

I think mustangs should get to stay in North America, they're already here and they are very culturally important to indigenous groups. And I think it's pretty rad that Scimitar-horned Oryx were brought back in their native habitat only because there was a population of them in Texas. But we desperately, DESPERATELY need to re-wild bison, wolves, elk, and cougars across most of their former range before we can think about introducing camels.

[amuseoffyre]

History yelling time, because I am a very excitable little bean. I know I probably wailywailed about this at the time, but I need to waily wail some more.

We get a very, very brief glimpse of this map, followed by Zheng's fleet coming through the jungle and the tiny moment of that had me yelling and flailing because it's a hugely significant historical place that she's bringing them across.

This is the Darien Gap, one of the narrowest points between the north and south American continents. This is a map from 1732, where you can still see a spot marked "New Caledonia" (ie. New Scotland).

In the late 17th/early 18th century, Scotland tried to set up a crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific in order to make a fortune in trade by cutting out the need to go around South America and/or Africa. It did not end... well. That is an understatement.

The fact that Zheng is specifically bringing them across at the point where the New Caledonia settlement was based tickles me so much. She's succeeded in doing the crossing and she's done it with a large number of her ships so discreetly that no one has noticed. She's someone who has plans and contingencies and Gets The Work Done.

She also has a varied and diverse crew who would bring different experiences and knowledge to the table unlike the herd of very beige Scotsmen who got to Darien and couldn't deal with the climate, the bugs, the altitude, the flora, the fauna and... well... everything.

And while some people wondered what that scene was kept in for since her ships were blown up - only her ships that were already in the Caribbean were blown up. As you can see on that first map, she has a whole queue lined up to come over. It's all optimistic set-up for S3: her second fleet is coming and Ricky is gonna rue the day he pissed her off.

And for the curious, a connection was eventually made in/around that specific area, but not until the late 19th century and it was only completed in 1904.

[uwmspeccoll]

Another Wood-engraved Feathursday

JOHN MCWILLIAMS

Now here's a couple of intense fellows! The print is entitled Sparrow Hawk by South Carolina artist and engraver John McWilliams (b. 1941). The print was selected for inclusion in the Fourth Triennial Exhibition 2020-2022 of the American wood engravers society, the Wood Engravers’ Network (WEN), and this image is from the catalog for that traveling show.

McWilliams's work is inspired by Lowlands flora and fauna, so it seems a little odd that he would choose as his subject the Eurasian Sparrow Hawk (Accipiter nisus) rather than the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), which is so common to his native habitat. Both species are used in falconry. Nevertheless, both offer something for the engraver, and we enjoy how McWilliams's Sparrow Hawk looks like it's about to take a bow.

John McWilliams received his BFA and MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and is Professor/Director Emeritus of Georgia State University Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design. He has received numerous awards, including the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in photography. Today he maintains a studio in McClellanville, S.C. He counts as his inspirations the work of Albrecht Dürer and the German expressionists, the illustrations of Rockwell Kent, and the graphic novels of Lynd Ward and Frans Masereel. Of working in wood, he writes:

Woodcuts and wood engravings . . . have held much fascination for me. . . . The process of developing an image into a woodcut or wood engraving gives structure to my life. . . . It is such sweet irony that, although the act of creating gives my life structure, it nevertheless produces an enigma, a puzzle that others may interpret through their own lives. There are no easy answers. Such is life.

View more Feathursday posts.

View other posts with engravings from the WEN Fourth Triennial Exhibition.

View more engravings by members of the Wood Engraver’s Network.

View more posts with wood engravings!

[glitterandtoadstools]

Enchanted South Tarot Deck

The Enchanted South Tarot deck is inspired by the rich history and symbolism of tarot and imbedded with imagery derived from the folklore, fauna, flora, and objects of the Southeast United States. Utilizing the enduring archetypes of historical decks such as the Rider-Waite-Smith, this deck features 78 original drawings depicting the lush colors, diverse plants and animals, and meaningful objects associated with the region. Traditional tarot metaphors are reimagined in this deck through magnolia seeds, honeysuckle blooms, moonshine bottles, mosquito wings, and more. 

The E. S. tarot deck combines traditional tarot imagery with fauna, flora, and artifacts of the American Southeast. These elements are depicted through a whimsical lens that incorporates fairytales, folklore, and magic to create illustrations that illuminate the magic of my childhood spent playing make-believe alone in the woods. The deck incorporates lush greens, mushrooms, and insects.

All decks will come with 78 cards of the Major and Minor Arcana featuring the original artwork of Hannah Mathis, a downloadable guidebook that overviews the history of tarot, common spreads, and card interpretations for the deck, and a hunter-green velvet carrying bag.  

Purchase Options:

The Honeysuckle/Basic Deck: Deck, Velvet Carrying Bag, and Downloadable Guidebook

The Magnolia: Deck, Velvet Carrying Bag, and Downloadable Guidebook, and one-of-a-kind handpainted storage box ($80 value)

The Okra: Deck, Velvet Carrying Bag, and Downloadable Guidebook, one-of-a-kind handpainted storage box, and 8"x10" limited edition print ($110 value)

Imperfect Deck: Deck with slight imperfections that did not quite pass QC. Comes with downloadable guidebook. 

[dougdimmadodo]

Fast Fauna Facts #14 - Firebrat (Thermobia domestica)

Family: Silverfish Family (Lepismatidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Unassessed

Like its close relatives the silverfishes, the Firebrat (named for its attraction to warmth which often draws it towards empty fireplaces) belongs to an unusual order of anatomically "primitive" insects that never developed wings, in contrast to most wingless insects which are descended from winged ancestors. Firebrats can be found on every continent except Antarctica and generally inhabit shaded forests where they feed on leaf litter, but like silverfishes they frequently become established in warm human homes where they may reproduce rapidly (with females laying as many as 6,000 eggs throughout their lives in clutches of over 60 at a time) and emerge from sheltered areas mainly at night to feed on any digestible matter they can find - while they prefer sugary and starchy foods such as flour and cereals they may also eat organic textiles, paper, card, dried meats and the remains of other insects, with a diverse community of mutualistic bacteria housed in their digestive systems producing enzymes that allow them to digest almost anything organic.

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[uncharismatic-fauna]

Caring for the Cane Toad

Also known as the giant neotropical toad or marine toad, the cane toad (Rhinella marina) is a large species of toad native to Central and South America. They are most often found near permanent sources of water like lakes, wetlands, and slow-moving rivers, as well as tropical rainforests and open grasslands. R. marina can also be found in human-modified areas, like gardens and farmland. They have a wide range of temperatures which they can tolerate; some populations in North America can tolerate up to 53% of their bodily fluids freezing.

Despite their preference for living near water, cane toads are primarily terrestrial. They feed on a wide range of arthropods, birds, small reptiles, and small mammals-- anything they can fit in their mouths. Prey is mainly identified via movement and smell, as R. marina has poor vision and hunts at primarily night. During the day the marine toad hides under logs or in foliage to avoid predators. The most common threats in its native region include caimans, birds of prey, snakes, eels, large fish, and bullet ants. To deter these predators, the cane toad can emit a milky-white substance known as bufotoxin, which is poisonous to many species. Individuals will also inflate their lungs, puffing up their bodies to appear larger than they really are.

R. marina is easily identified as the largest species in the family Bufonidae, reaching up to 24 cm (9.5 in) long and weighing an average of 106g(3.75 oz). Females are significantly larger than males. On adults, the head and back are covered with large wart-like bumps, and the color ranges from light grey to red to dark brown. Juveniles have smooth skin and are usually darker in color. Because of their terrestrial nature, marine toads lack webbing between their fingers.

The giant neotropical toad is capable of breeding year-round, so long as resources are plentiful. Males congregate in bodies of slow-moving or still freshwater, and call loudly to attract a mate. Depending on the number of males and the size of their breeding ground, males may also fight for dominance. After a female choses a mate (or several), she may lay up to 25,000 eggs in strings up to 20m (65 ft) long. The eggs take only 2-7 days to hatch, but few make it past the tadpole stage, which lasts about a month. Only about 0.5% of cane toads reach adulthood, which takes about a year. Without predators R. marina can live up to 10 years.

Conservation status: The IUCN lists the cane toad as Least Concern, due to their large native population and adaptability. Unfortunately, the cane toad has been introduced in many areas, including Australia, southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and North America, and is considered a highly invasive species.

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Photos

Chris Ison

John Sullivan

Richard Shine

[rabbitcruiser]

World Tapir Day

Learn about the highly endangered creature known as the tapir, and educate others, volunteer, or donate to help preserve these fascinating mammals.

Let’s dive into the fascinating world of tapirs with World Tapir Day! Celebrated every year on April 27, this day is all about shining a spotlight on these unique creatures. Since its start in 2008, the event has aimed to increase awareness and support for tapir conservation​​.

Why celebrate tapirs, you ask? Well, many people don’t even know these animals exist. They’re often mistaken for other species, even in places where they naturally live.

Tapirs are crucial for their ecosystems, helping forests grow by spreading seeds. But they’re in danger due to habitat loss and other human activities. World Tapir Day is here to change that by educating people and rallying support for these shy giants​​.

How can we make a difference? Simple acts like learning more about tapirs, sharing information, and supporting conservation efforts can have a big impact.

You can also donate to organizations working to protect tapir habitats or take part in local events and activities. Together, we can help ensure tapirs thrive for generations to come​​.

History of World Tapir Day

World Tapir Day is a unique celebration dedicated to raising awareness about tapirs, those curious creatures that have roamed the Earth for millions of years.

This special day was officially launched in 2008 and is celebrated annually on April 27. It wasn’t until 2011, however, that the celebration really took off, thanks to the passionate efforts of tapir enthusiasts and conservationists who recognized the need to highlight these lesser-known animals.

Their goal was to educate the public about the critical role tapirs play in their ecosystems and the threats they face, such as habitat loss and hunting​​​​.

The founding of World Tapir Day marked the beginning of a concerted effort to put tapirs on the global conservation agenda.

By drawing attention to their plight, the day aims to inspire actions that help ensure their survival. Zoos, wildlife organizations, and conservation groups around the world participate by hosting events, educational programs, and social media campaigns to spread the word.

Activities range from visiting tapirs at local zoos to engaging in conservation fundraising efforts​​​​​​.

The significance of World Tapir Day has grown over the years, reflecting the increasing urgency of protecting these animals and their habitats. All four recognized species of tapirs are currently listed as vulnerable or endangered.

The day serves as a reminder of the beauty and diversity of wildlife and the importance of conservation efforts to protect our planet’s biodiversity for future generations​​.

How to Celebrate World Tapir Day

Celebrating World Tapir Day can be both fun and meaningful with a sprinkle of creativity. Here are some playful suggestions that don’t just stick to the script:

Dress Up as a Tapir: Grab some grey or black clothes, fashion a snout, and maybe even some spots and stripes. Walk around your neighborhood or park, sparking curiosity and conversations about tapirs.

Tapir-Themed Art Day: Gather your friends or family and create tapir-inspired artwork. Paint, draw, or even create digital art—let your imagination run wild. Share your masterpieces online to spread the love for these unique creatures.

Movie Night with a Twist: Host a movie night featuring documentaries or films about tapirs and their habitats. It’s a cozy way to learn about these animals and the challenges they face.

“Adopt” a Tapir: Many conservation organizations offer symbolic adoption programs. Adopting a tapir can be a great way to support its protection and learn more about the specific animal.

Tapir Trivia Night: Organize a trivia night with facts about tapirs. It’s a fun way to educate and challenge your friends and family about tapir knowledge.

Visit a Zoo Virtually or In-Person: If you can’t make it to a zoo, many offer virtual tours where you can see tapirs. For those who can visit in person, it’s a great opportunity to learn firsthand about these animals.

Tapir Treats Bake-off: Get creative in the kitchen by baking cookies or cakes shaped like tapirs. Share your creations with friends or on social media to spread awareness in the sweetest way possible.

These ideas make sure the spotlight is on these fascinating creatures and the efforts to conserve them.

Source

[wendievergreen]

Misc Birds (Wobrafmet, Hreakgleav, Klethghrom)

Given the delightful spread of miscellaneous medieval birds @maniculum curated for us, I could not possibly narrow them down based on any measure of quality. So I used a completely arbitrary method: according to the beastiary entry, does the bird's name comes from the sound it makes?

Sibling suggested two animals to reference, and since they both happened to live in Costa Rica I decided to limit myself to Costa Rican fauna (with one exception).

My Whobrafmet has the head of a Black vulture with the eyes, body, and iridescent feathers of the Great-tailed grackle.

My reasoning's pretty simple: Black vultures are detrivores, grackles are a) all black, and b) not the bird I'm 95% sure this entry is for.

It ended up looking a bit like an evil advisor that's been slowly poisoning the king.

My Hreakgleav has the head of an oilbird, the body and legs of a Harpy eagle, and tufted tail feathers inspired by quetzals and motmots.

The oilbird does not live in Costa Rica, but it is the only cave-dwelling bird that lives in the Americas, so I decided that northern South America was close enough :) they're one of the few birds that uses echolocation! Neat!

I wanted to incorporate a bird of prey because the entry says other birds harry them; I picked the Harpy eagle because I think they're cute. I struggled a little bit with this one because it turns out if you put a nightjar-type head on an eagle, it just...looks like an owl...

I was trying to decipher 'weighed down by its plumage' and Sibling suggested giving it a quetzel-esque tail that "looks like a ball and chain." There are seven 'balls' for the seven deadly sins; the largest is sloth.

My Klethghrom has the head of the Central American eyelash-pitviper, the body of the Amagi heron, and the Great heron's breeding plumage, with little tufts also inspired by the quetzal/motmots family.

Obvs I had to draw a literal serpent's head. Sibling suggested the eyelash-pitviper. I love their little spikes :)

Technically I didn't put the 'eyes' on the tail, but I'm very charmed by Great heron mating floof and wanted to draw it.

I really like the Klethghrom entry because my local zoo used to have a bunch of [redacted] walking around loose when I was a kid, and it's true: they do have a fearful voice and an unaffected walk.

...

Whats that? How are the 'eyes' all facing you?

Good question! (･Θ･)

...

......

(◉Θ◉)

[milos-journal]

trying to not hop in on discourse but i want to say i feel like a good chunk of this thread is honestly missing the point here?

the point (to me at least, maybe i misconstrued it) is to TRY and get to know the world around you. just a little. learn the names of some of your local fruits and plants, maybe go birdwatching and learn of some “less common” local birds. learn to identify what insects are in your local area and what purpose within the ecosystem they have. do what you can, even if you find yourself in the cruel suburban landscape that gives you just enough green grass and juvenile trees to make you think you’re really in harmony with nature.

i dont know, maybe its because the initial post struck a chord with me. personal experience, ive lived in american suburbia my entire life despite having moved COUNTLESS times. i specifically want to outline the place i have the most memory of (as its where i live now) florida.

i cant say i have as much connection to flora in particular as OP, that much is true. ive tried and failed to learn botany and plant identification, although i do try every once in a while. for me, its ALWAYS been fauna. and kinda waterways, since florida has always had me by creeks and rivers. i am distraught i will never experience a PURELY wild florida, a place i could argue is north americas personal jungle. i remember being in a walmart parking lot down by miami and sitting there, i didnt have a phone yet so i was just kicking my feet. i look up and see PARROTS. a flock of little green parrots. i ask my mom (who grew up in the area) about them, and she notes that theyre native, she just doesn’t see them often. i know now those were likely monk parakeets. on the commute to school, i am often mistified by the couple of bald eagles, hawks, vultures, and the occassional possum or raccoon or other “vermin” animal.

but i do often wish i lived closer to the wild. i lived RIGHT next to a nature trail that went into the woods (not even in the woods, just vaugely next to it) for two years. some of the best experience in my life. to satiate my need for animals and learning, i sometimes go to the zoo and bombard whoever accompanied me with animal facts until they want to ram my head into a wall. theres a specific park i beg my brother to drive almost an hour to because theres almost always some alligators and some less common birds.

i still get shocked when i see the VERY RARE flamingo fly overhead. its wonderous. i just wish i got to see all of it more often. more sounds of coyotes laughing at midnight, more owls screeching, more of eagles chirping, hell, itd be the best day of my LIFE if i saw a wild florida panther (even if it was my last). i love the spoonbills and the herons and the ibis’ and the sandhill cranes and the vultures and the rats and the squirrels. i dunno. not to say some of the points brought up in the rbs arent good points, but nature isnt just an interest. it is literally around you ALL THE TIME. it doesnt hurt to get to know it.

I agree with the idea that a lot of humans nowadays have a severe lack of curiosity about the world, but I think there has to be a solution other than shame.

I think about this every day because the fate of our world hangs on curiosity: either we will rediscover the importance and wonders of the soil and bugs and flowers and water and finally with the whole natural world, or this way will be forgotten.

People raised in the great wasteland of the suburbs and roads and buildings have never seen most of the plants and creatures that are supposed to fill every field and meadow. So many humans have never seen with their own eyes more than a scant few of the most common of hundreds of wildflowers that are supposed to surround them. Some live in biomes designated forest and have never witnessed truly mature trees. They do not know what the birds sound like. When they see an ordinary deer, they are awed and amazed by it or even afraid of it. They have never eaten any of the delicious wild fruits that grow in their homeland; all birds except starlings and robins and sparrows are so strange and beautiful that they stare in wonder. They confront insects like people on an alien planet encountering an unknown life form: What is this? Will it hurt me?

I cannot even describe the grief I feel on behalf of humans that grow up and live in the wasteland of pavement and lawn. That we are expected to live in these brutal environments, that we are expected to be content without the right or ability to live alongside living creatures, to walk among wildflowers, to hear birdsong, to feel the plush softness of moss, to see even common bees and butterflies—the fact that we live, work, and raise our children in poisonous wastes where nearly everything has been wiped out, and the simplest and most abundant of natural pleasures are rare privileges—it's cruel. It's a crime against the human spirit. It makes me so angry and sad.

When I started researching plants, I had no idea that I would end up expanding my mind so much that I would be virtually a different person within the year. Before I learned, I could not have imagined the diversity and beauty that exists in the world. My mind did not have the tools to come up with it.

I lived for over twenty years believing that there was only one species of firefly. I lived for over twenty years not knowing that the Southeastern US has native bamboo. I had never tasted the indescribable flavor of a pawpaw or seen the iridescent vibrance of a red-spotted purple butterfly. I had only seen a Pileated Woodpecker out the window of a car. I had never touched true topsoil, the soft, living blanket of rich, sweet-smelling earth full of mycelium, as springy and plush as a mattress. Just one year ago, I knew nothing!

Humans, as creatures, are insatiably curious and hunger for beauty. It is so cruel to deprive a human of relationship with their natural environment.

It is no wonder that we are all addicted to the internet—we have a crucial need that is unfulfilled. Compared with a forest, the world of lawns and buildings is so ridiculously flat and unstimulating. You would expect humans in such a place to feel constantly bored, restless, frustrated, and incurably sad.

I feel that lack of curiosity can be a chosen thing, but it is also a defense mechanism against a world that will feel like sandpaper on the senses of the curious.

But we need curiosity to fix this—we need the ability to notice the living things that have crept in at the edges of the wasteland and be infected and tormented by their beauty. We need to recognize the forest reaching into our cage in the form of tiny saplings. We need to discard the word "weed," not because it is derogatory because it is fundamentally incurious—it designates a plant as needing no identity outside of its unwantedness. We must learn their names. We must wonder what their names are.

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

Since a lot of the desert is not very habitable, my world has a lot of underground buildings in the desert very high tech so that the natural land isn't very important. What do I need to consider for this?

Tex: Do you have a particular desert in mind with this question? There’s a fair amount of deserts that are inhabited already by flora and fauna, if not to a hundred percent coverage, such as the Great Basin desert, Kalahari Desert, and the deserts of Australia.

Deserts that have less flora and fauna, and are of the more popular imagination, such as the Sahara, Gobi Desert, and Syrian Desert, will have pockets of inhabitation around places like wadis, where there’s enough underground pooled water for migrational animals - including humans - to travel to and from. It’s not unusual to see water, and thus inhabitation, around mountainous regions in the desert, or by the borders of a desert where climate zones shift based upon geological features.

Humans have been living in and around the desert for a very, very long time (Wikipedia). Because of this, they’ve developed methods of surviving, and while it might not necessarily be an analogue to denser human populations like New York City that’s teeming with life and a focus of travel, a life is made.

Aridity isn’t necessarily the domain of traditional deserts, either - mountains are a good example of this, as are certain popular examples of civilizations in these areas. Petra is a popular example, home to the Nabataeans and geographically within modern-day Jordan. A notable mountain peak, Tian Shan, in Central Asia, was one of many places the Yuezhi people lived, who were nomadic and lived not only in the surrounding area but also across places like the Tarim Basin and the Tibetan Plateau. There’s a lot of examples of similar situations in other parts of the globe, so this is not an isolated event in human history.

Now, what is your definition of high tech? Skyscrapers? Internet? Something else? Lighting is something humans have had for a while, in the form of candles, hearths, and lamps, and we’ve more or less had an electrical grid in some places since the late 1880s (Wikipedia).

Plumbing has existed for thousands of years in some form for both fresh and wastewater (Wikipedia 1, Wikipedia 2), as has architectural features such as bridges (Wikipedia) and other types of architectural works (Wikipedia). Multi-story buildings have also existed for a while, notable in Roman insulae and Egyptian city of Fustat.

Telecommunications has existed in some form for about as long as human civilization has existed (Wikipedia), but electronic telecommunications began at about 1830-1840 (Wikipedia). I don’t know if you consider this sufficiently old or sufficiently modern, but the information is there for your perusal. Accordingly, the predecessor to the modern internet, ARPANET, was a multi-country project that began in the 1960s and established by the US Department of Defense - and computing hardware has a before and after historical split in technological advances at about the same time (Wikipedia).

What are your goals with this setting and this technology? What are the reasons that your society is living in such an area with such a climate, and what are they using the technology for? Are the communicating with people outside of this area? Is the technology completely isolated, for archival purposes, or is it interacted with on a regular or frequent basis? How much of this is aesthetic, and how much of it is part of a plot or culture?

Utuabzu: Historically, there have been several cultures in arid environments that favoured partly or wholly underground structures, from the Ancestoral Puebloans of the American South West, who sometimes built into the sides of canyons to the Derinkuyu Underground City in south-eastern Türkiye, to the modern town of Cooper Pedy in South Australia. These sites vary significantly in form and in motivation, with the Ancestoral Puebloan canyonside structures built primarily for defense, Derinkuyu built partly for defense and partly just because the local stone was really easy to carve through and vast underground spaces made for convenient storage, and Cooper Pedy is underground to mitigate the worst of the desert heat, mostly utilising exhausted opal mines.

Any or all of these reasons could apply, and would impact your setting’s architecture and urban forms, but the biggest impact is always going to come from the reason people started living there in the first place. The Ancestoral Puebloans farmed the fertile river valleys, Derinkuyu lies in Cappadokia, a region that once gave rise to the Hittite Empire and has plenty of decent farmland and pasture, while Cooper Pedy is a major centre for opal mining. 

I’d suggest considering why this culture lives in the desert in the first place, and then researching what similar locations in the real world look like. Also, decide what sort of desert you’re working with. As Tex said, there’s a lot of different kinds of desert, and they have historically produced very different cultures and architectural traditions. What makes sense in the hot sandy deserts of the Arabian Peninsula or Northern Africa does not necessarily make sense in even the relatively nearby Iranian Plateau or Thar Desert, let alone the cold deserts of Central Asia or the high altitude Atacama or Tibetan Plateau.

[piizunn]

orville peck: appropriation and intellectual property

Orville Peck is a white South African man who has built his entire career off of colonial North American western aesthetics that are directly influenced by Métis and First Nations cultures and aesthetics. This aesthetic is incredibly loaded and has a history that he seemingly has no understanding of other than the fact that often cowboys were queer. In fact, Peck has gone so far as to rip off Métis and Saulteaux artist Dayna Danger.

Fig. 1: Danger, Dayna. Big’Uns: Adrienne, 2017. Courtesy of the artist’s website.

Fig. 2: Orville Peck for Alternative Press Magazine, January 2021

The first image is from a series of similar photographs created by Dayna Danger, well known contemporary artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba. The second image is Orville Peck's cover for Alternative Press magazine's January 2021 issue. In addition to the responsibility of the photographers and stylists to be researching artwork and influences and giving proper credit, it is also up to all parties to understand the colonial implications of the material culture represented in Peck's magazine cover.

Given that Peck is a white South African man I highly doubt he has an actual understanding of how North America was colonized, how animals like bison were hunted into near extinction by white settlers seeking to starve the First Nations and Métis people into extinction as a tool in their ongoing genocide. Many populations of native fauna are still recovering from this practice. In addition to slaughtering millions of animals, white settlers posed proudly with their trophies, mountains of skulls representing the loss of our animals and their triumph over nature and our people.

Fig. 3: Men standing with pile of buffalo skulls, Michigan Carbon Works, Rougeville MI, 1892. Photo from Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

Rather than providing an artistic compliment on the history of North American colonialism and cowboy culture, Orville Peck culture hopped from one settler-colonial state to another, to profit from and flatten the aesthetic into something simply rooted in queer culture rather than Black, Mexican, Métis, and First Nations communities and histories.

Works Cited:

Alternative Press. Orville Peck cover, January 2021.

Danger, Dayna. Big'Uns: Adrienne, 2017. https://www.daynadanger.com/photography

Tascheru Mamers, Danielle. Men standing with pile of buffalo skulls, Michigan Carbon Works, Rougeville MI, 1892. Photo from Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library. December 2020.