#nick garbutt

[sitting-on-me-bum]

At dawn when mists often hang low over the rainforest canopy. This is Danum Valley, Borneo.

By Nick Garbutt

[colorsoutofearth]

Montane Glass Frog (Centrolenella ilex)

Photo by Nick Garbutt

[delicatuscii-wasbella102]

 Bornean Peacock-Pheasant Feathers by Nick Garbutt

[st-clements-steps]

A song for each letter of my url.

Thanks @salty-wench @siriuslythatbitch for the tag.

How I did this? Put the letter in the my library and searched songs for one I associated with a ship. The ship thing is all me, I couldn’t work out how to choose basically.

Spanish Bombs - the Clash (Lilypad)

The Eagle and the Dove - Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler (Sansa x Patrek Mallister)

Charlemagne - Blossoms (Regulus x Evan)

Last Nite - the Strokes (Evan(s))

Exile - Taylor Swift and Bon Iver (Jonsa)

My Lady of Mercy - The Last Dinner Party (Lilytrix)

Everlong - Foo Fighters (Rosekiller)

Notes from the Undergrowth - Gabi Garbutt (Greysnow)

There is a Kingdom - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Throbb)

So Real - Jeff Buckley (Wolfstar)

So Far Away - Carole King (Jonerys)

The Circus is Leaving Town - Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan (Rhaelicent)

Endlessly - Muse (Bartylus)

Prioritise Pleasure - Self Esteem (Daensa)

Silver Springs - Fleetwood Mac (Theonsa)

A ship count Sansa has four, Theon, Lily and Evan fucking Rosier have three, Bellatrix is reminding me that Evan is just a name who scars noses and nothing more. There is not enough f/f on here. I do not know why.

This turned out harder than expected cos of all those ssss. And the es were tricky.

Tagging @siriusly-sapphic @thistlecatfics @thistle-and-thorn @selkiewife @towyns and obviously anyone who feels like it

There is no Hefner on here and I wish there was

[erikacousland]

Vancouver Coastal Sea wolves in Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada © Nick Garbutt/Alamy Stock Photo

Today on Bing- November 7, 2024 Vancouver Coastal Sea wolves

Wolves in the wild | EN-CA, EN-CN, EN-GB, EN-US, ROW

[bingwallpapers]

Vancouver Coastal Sea wolves in Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada (© Nick Garbutt/Alamy)

[worldsandemanations]

Cup fungi (Cookenia sp.) By Nick Garbutt

[proboscismonkey]

Plodding along

[cypherdecypher]

Animal of the Day!

Lowland Streaked Tenrec (Hemicentetes semispinosus)

(Photo by Nick Garbutt)

Conservation Status- Least Concern

Habitat- Madagascar

Size (Weight/Length)- 280 g; 172 mm

Diet- Worms; Insects

Cool Facts- Yet another weird animal lives on Madagascar. This mammal took a rule from the amphibian handbook and it a bright yellow and black, a warning to predators. Get too close and it shows off an amazing ability. Spines hidden under its fur flare up around its body. When the spines rub together, they produce a sound too high pitched for humans to hear which it thought to ward off predators, however there is still a lack of research on these animals to fully understand the purpose of this sound.

Rating- 11/10 (Spiny boy over here trying his best.)

[rjzimmerman]

I’m picking my five favorites. If you want to see all of them, click/tap.

Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis). Special ability: Poking! The long and slender fingers of the aye-aye are used to find and catch grubs (credit: imageBROKER / Alamy Stock Photo)

Red-lipped batfish (Ogcocephalus darwini). Special ability: Impersonations! The red-lipped batfish is a sad looking fish that ‘walks’ along the ocean floor (credit: imageBROKER / Alamy Stock Photo)

Goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni). Special ability: Bite! Razor sharp teeth of the goblin shark are perfect for biting and tearing (credit: Kelvin Aitken / VWPics / Alamy Stock Photo)

Leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus). Special ability: Camouflage! With a body shaped like a leaf the gecko can blend into the background (credit: Nick Garbutt / naturepl.com)

Puffer fish (Tetraodon sp). Special ability: Poison! Puffer fish are some of the most poisonous vertebrates on the planet (credit: ephotocorp / Alamy Stock Photo)

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Cup fungi (Cookenia sp.)

By Nick Garbutt

[colorsoutofearth]

Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber)

Photo by Nick Garbutt

[g33kxinc]

A warming world gives viruses more chances to hitchhike from species to species

A warming world gives viruses more chances to hitchhike from species to species

Straw-coloured fruit bats at their daytime roosts in ‘Mushitu’ or ever-green swamp forest in April, 2014, Kasanka National Park, Zambia. | Photo credit should read Nick Garbutt/Future Publishing via Getty Images Climate change is pushing mammals into new territory, increasing the number of opportunities for viruses to jump from species to species — including humans. By 2070, if global…

[isfeed]

A warming world gives viruses more chances to hitchhike from species to species

A warming world gives viruses more chances to hitchhike from species to species

Straw-coloured fruit bats at their daytime roosts in ‘Mushitu’ or ever-green swamp forest in April, 2014, Kasanka National Park, Zambia. | Photo credit should read Nick Garbutt/Future Publishing via Getty Images Climate change is pushing mammals into new territory, increasing the number of opportunities for viruses to jump from species to species — including humans. By 2070, if global…

[toonrandy]

Animated series that are unfairly being called rip-offs

It has become a regular occurrence that many people would falsely accuse of an upcoming animated series being a rip-off of existing popular series. And that too often would give the viewer an excuse by not watching it and judge for themselves, or actually doing some research, especially on the people working on them.  It could also hamper the chance of a new show having a wide audience. Here are several new/recent series accused of being rip-offs of popular series:

Pinky Malinky (accused of ripping off The Amazing World of Gumball): It hasn’t premiered and yet and the upcoming Nicktoon has already been accused of this because Pinky’s art direction is reminiscent of Gumball. What gets mostly ignored, however, is that the series’ creators Chris Garbutt and Rikke Asbjoern were involved in the production of Gumball! The pilot for Pinky was produced for Cartoon Network; around the same time Gumball’s pilot was also produced and Garbutt and Asbjoern was involved in that as well. It’s also worth noting that fellow Gumball alum George Gendi will have his own series Apple and Onion premiering on Cartoon Network later this year.

Too Loud! (accused of ripping off The Loud House): Let’s see…both main characters have white hair? Both titles have the word loud on them? It’s not what you think. While The Loud House is about a boy and his ten sisters, Too Loud! is about a brother and sister who volunteer at a public library and they have big heads and loud voices, hence the title. When he got blamed for ripping off The Loud House, creator Nico Colaleo has stated that he created his characters and had even pitched the show to Nickelodeon before the network ordered The Loud House into production. Even more so, he was already an employee at Nickelodeon Animation working on Pig Goat Banana Cricket at the time. Having premiered on DreamWorks TV on YouTube, Too Loud! is currently in production for a second season for Amazon. Also, the word loud is one of the most common words used every day!

Welcome to the Wayne (accused of ripping off Gravity Falls): Nickelodeon’s latest ‘toon has been described as a blatant attempt at cashing in on Disney’s success with Gravity Falls. Wayne involves a brother and sister investigating the paranormal at a New York hotel with their new friend;  however, the siblings’ last name is Timbers while the Gravity Falls’ siblings’ (and twins) last names is Pines, which raised suspicion when the names are related around trees. While Welcome to the Wayne is another series with the paranormal and other oddities as the focus, Gravity Falls is not the originator, which sadly a lot of people believe. Other popular TV series and movies in the mystery genre with paranormal activity and other oddities have been produced for years. Wayne, sadly, hasn’t become popular since the day it debuted despite praise from critics and fans alike. Its ratings were always falling behind a lot of other Nick series -- the kids are watching it, but much of the older demographics? Nope.

Sanjay and Craig (accused of ripping off Regular Show) Two buddy comedies with wacky adventures, but different shows. On Sanjay and Craig, a boy and his snake go on adventures with their friends around town with some gross out humor thrown in (in the first season at least); on Regular Show, two adult slackers are on their day job maintaining the park with weird stuff occurring. Nearly five years ago, Nick was promoting the then-new Sanjay in odd ways, and one of the promos had the titular characters reacting to each other in way similar to Mordecai and Rigby. That had many fans of Regular Show crying foul, and although both series are different visually, Sanjay was accused of ripping off Regular Show’s art direction too. But – surprise – both series had ties to each other! A few people behind Regular Show – including Madeline Queripel, Sean Szeles and Sarah OIeksyk – have worked on Sanjay and Craig! The overseas studio Saerom had provided animation for both series. Fortunately, Sanjay was a hit on Nickelodeon and was well received by critics despite scoring low from users of websites covering TV. Although its ratings tanked in the second and third seasons, Sanjay managed to finish its run on Nickelodeon while many other series went to Nicktoons to finish their runs. And for the record, Regular Show, like Adventure Time before it, didn’t originate the buddy comedy.

Fangbone! (accused of ripping off Star vs. the Forces of Evil): Back in 2016, this Canadian series received some concern of cashing in on the success of Star vs. the Forces of Evil. In Fangbone!, a boy warrior comes to live on Earth with a family while he tries to save his homeland. Fangbone makes friends with a boy in the same family, and together they go on adventures through the use of a magic portal. Sounds familiar? Surprisingly enough, Fangbone! was based on a series of children’s books published in Canada, years before we’ve heard of Star Butterfly, making it a coincidence. And more surprisingly, the TV series was picked up by Disney XD in the United States, the home of Star vs.!

Harvey Beaks (accused of ripping off The Amazing World of Gumball): Even this series was accused of it, simply because the main characters are blue, orange and pink, just like the main characters of Gumball. However, this had all but died down as the series progressed and Harvey Beaks has become the underrated gem that it is.

Can you think of other animated series that was unfairly blamed for being a rip-off of another series? Do you have your thoughts on this? Answer or reblog away! And thanks for reading!

[xtruss]

Massive Wolf Kill Disrupts Long-running Study of Yellowstone Park Packs

Hunters have killed more than 500 wolves in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming in recent months

— January 31, 2022 | By Virginia Morell | Science.Org

Wolves feed on a bison carcass in Yellowstone National Park. Nick Garbutt/NPL/Minden Picture

Hunters are killing gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains in numbers not seen since the animals were driven to near extinction in the continental United States in the 20th century. The killing of more than 500 wolves in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming in recent months—including nearly 20% of the wolves that sometimes range outside of Yellowstone National Park—threatens to undermine a decades-old effort to restore the predators to the landscape and disrupt a long-term Yellowstone research project that has produced influential findings on how wolves help shape ecosystems. Researchers and conservation groups are calling on government officials to rethink the hunts, which have eliminated about 16% of the wolves living in the three states.

The loss of the Yellowstone wolves “is a huge setback,” says wildlife biologist Doug Smith of the National Park Service, who leads the park’s wolf restoration and study project, which began in 1995. “We had in Yellowstone one of the best models for understanding the behaviors and dynamics of a wolf population unexploited by humans.” Now, he says, researchers will “do what we can to keep the science going—what we have left of it.”

The killings are the result of a change in legal protections for Canis lupus. For decades, the wolves were strictly protected under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), but more than 10 years ago successful restoration efforts prompted federal officials to ease protections and give state governments a greater say in managing the species. With wolf numbers in the northern Rockies reaching about 3100 in late 2020, several states have legalized or expanded wolf hunts. Legislators in Montana, for example, last year set a goal of shrinking the state’s wolf population to “at least 15 breeding pairs,” the minimum required by the ESA; state rules allow a person to kill up to 20 wolves each season. Idaho also aims to shrink its wolf population and has set no kill limits. Wyoming has nearly achieved its goal of maintaining just 100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs outside of Yellowstone (where hunting is barred).

Biologists say the recent killings won’t cause the regional extinction of wolves, although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced in fall of 2021 that it would begin a 12-month review to determine whether “potential increases in human-caused mortality may pose a threat” to the species. The killings do, however, promise to alter the social structure of wolf packs—and reshape the Yellowstone study, which has produced high-profile findings on how the return of wolves has affected willows, aspen, and cottonwoods as well as elk, songbird, and scavenger populations. As of 31 January, hunters had killed 24 of the roughly 125 wolves that use the park, including five that carried electronic tracking collars placed by scientists. Nineteen were killed in Montana outside the park’s northern borders, where officials had recently lifted quotas, and five were killed in Idaho and Wyoming.

This is not the first time hunters have killed park wolves. In Montana, hunters killed up to seven of the wolves each year between 2009 and 2020. But this year’s large kill “complicates the research as we will now have to account for the confounding effects of hunting,” says Dan MacNulty, an ecologist at Utah State University who studies how wolves affect the Yellowstone food web.

Smith now plans to study how the killing is affecting the Yellowstone packs. Last week, he placed tracking collars on animals in the northern part of the park, hoping to “compare the persistence and reproductive rates” of packs that have lost members to hunters with those that haven’t. Data show pack size can affect wolf health and hunting success, Smith notes. Packs with more than eight individuals “are more resilient” to diseases such as mange, which is caused by mites, and can “have greater prey kill rates and are better at territorial defense.” Smith believes it will take 4 or 5 years for the park’s packs to rebound from the recent losses, and he anticipates park wolves will become warier of humans and likely more difficult for visitors to see.

Scientists, Indigenous tribes, and environmental organizations have raised concerns about the loosened state wolf hunting regulations to FWS. One fear of wolf advocates is that the increased hunting in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho will prevent wolves from leaving those states and founding new packs in other western states. Still, at least one state, Colorado, is pressing ahead with its own plans to restore the canids to areas west of the Continental Divide.

Because Yellowstone wolves are a favorite attraction, the park’s superintendent, Cam Sholly, has said he is willing “to work with the state of Montana to make the case for reinstating quotas that would protect the [park’s] core wolf population.” But Montana Governor Greg Gianforte (R), who is a trapper, has shown little interest in tightening hunting limits. And the state’s wildlife commission recently declined to close hunting in certain areas near the park, where hunters have so far killed 77 wolves, just below a “threshold” target of 82. “We don’t manage for individual wolves or packs. We manage wolves across landscape and population scales,” says Greg Lemon, a spokesperson for Montana’s wildlife department.

Critics of wolf hunting say state officials have adopted contradictory policies. On one hand, they want to reduce elk populations, which they say have grown too large. Montana, for example, wants to reduce elk numbers from about 142,000 to 92,000. But they’ve also embraced killing a predator that could help them achieve that goal. “Their management objectives,” MacNulty notes, “are at cross purposes.”

Wolf advocates and state officials are also battling over wolf hunt limits in Wisconsin. Early last year, hunters there killed more than 200 wolves—an estimated 20% of the state’s wolf population—in just 3 days, well above the permitted kill of 119 animals. Conservation groups and Indigenous groups then went to court to block a state plan to allow hunters to kill up to 300 wolves in a subsequent hunt. A judge has barred the hunt pending the outcome of the cases. Meanwhile, biologists and volunteers are now conducting an annual Wisconsin wolf survey, which should enable “a better assessment of what the impacts were of the 2021 hunt,” says wildlife biologist Adrian Wydeven of Green Fire, a group that promotes science-based management of natural resources.

— With reporting on the Wisconsin wolf controversy by Susan Cosier.