#spiders are so good for the ecosystem

[elliwoods]

Damn ok tumblr pull a fast one on me like that! why dont you I am sure the post thats exploding will get a way higher note count later since jesus its still technically morning for me, but did tumblr spotlight the post or something hello???? what happened

Also: for everyone tagging about me calling pigeons rats, I did not mean that negatively at all I promise! Pigeons are cool, rats are also amazing, the comparison was made in regards to living in the same areas and usually eating the same food, Id change what I said but oops the post is already everywhere

[vulpinesaint]

saw + killed a spider while i was cleaning the bathroom earlier so now i am subject to the spider’s curse (constant crawling feeling all over me and being Sure it’s another spider for the next two hours)

[headspace-hotel]

How to begin a sustainable way of life

This is a draft of something I've been writing for a couple months. It is mainly focused on the culture of the USA. Feel free to repost or otherwise share, with or without credit.

Do not tell people what to do—help them do it! 

Give the gift of relief from being forced to engage in society’s unsustainable ways of life. 

“People need to eat more plant-based foods.” ->Talk about your favorite recipes, give others recipes, cook for them, and grow vegetables and plants in your garden and give them away as gifts. 

“People need to repair their clothes.” -> Offer to repair others’ clothes, and teach people how to repair their clothes. 

“People need to buy less clothes.” -> Give them old clothes that you don’t want, help them repair their clothes

“People need to buy less plastic stuff.” -> Learn to make things that can serve the same purpose, such as baskets, and give them as gifts. Let people borrow things you own so they don’t have to buy their own. 

“People need to stop using leafblowers and other gas-guzzling machinery.” -> Offer to rake the leaves. You can use them as compost in your own garden. 

“People need to be more educated about nature.”-> Learn about nature yourself. Tell people about nature. Be open about your love of creatures such as snakes, spiders, and frogs. Do not show awareness that this could be strange. You are not obligated to quiet down your enthusiasm for creepy crawlies to demonstrate awareness that it is weird. Point out at every opportunity how these animals are beneficial. 

“People need to use cars less.” -> Offer rides to others whenever you must go somewhere. Whenever you are about to go to the store, ask your neighbor or your friend who lives along the way, “Is there anything you need from the store?” 

You cannot control others’ behaviors, but you can free them from being controlled. 

If you think to yourself, “But this would be so difficult to do!” ask yourself WHY? Why does your society coerce you into less sustainable ways of living, forcing you to consume excessively? After thinking about this, consider that it is less simple and easy than you thought to make more sustainable choices, so why would you judge others for not doing it? 

Do not act alone—act with others! 

Environmentally friendly behaviors that can be done alone, without collaborating with or consulting another person, are the least powerful of all. Whenever an “environmentally friendly” behavior is suggested, figure out “How can I give this as a gift?” or “How can I make this possible on the level of a whole community?” 

“Personal choices” do not work because every single person has to make them individually. If you are focused on making your own personal choice, you are not focused on others. If you are not focused on others, you are not helping them. If nobody is helping each other, most people won’t be able to make the “personal choice.”

You inherently share an ecosystem with your neighbors  

            Start with your neighbors, the people physically close to you. You live on the same patch of land, containing roots from the same plants and trees. You can speak to them face to face without traveling, which means you can easily bring them physical things without using resources to travel. 

            Always talk to your neighbors and be friendly with them. Offer them favors unprompted and tell them about how your garden is doing. Do not be afraid to be annoying—a slightly annoying neighbor who is helpful, kind, and can be relied upon for a variety of favors or in times of need is a necessary and inevitable part of a good community. If you make the effort to be present in somebody’s life, they will have to put up with you on some occasions, but that is just life. We cannot rely on each other if we do not put up with each other. 

Simply spending time with someone influences them for good 

Every hour you spend outside with your neighbor is an hour your neighbor doesn’t spend watching Fox News. Every hour you spend talking with someone and interacting with them in the real world, eating real food and enjoying your real surroundings, is an hour you don’t spend only hearing a curated picture of what reality is like from social media. 

            Isolation makes it easy for people to become indoctrinated into extremist beliefs. When someone spends more time alone, watching TV, Youtube, or scrolling social media, than they do with others, their concept of what other people are like and what the world is like comes more from social media than real life. TV and online media are meant to influence you in a specific way. Simply restricting the access these influences have to yourself and others is helpful. 

A garden is the source of many gifts 

If you grow a garden, you can give your neighbors and friends the gift of food, plants, and crafted objects. This is one of the foundational ways to form community. When you give food, you provide support to others. When you give plants, you are encouraging and teaching about gardening. It is even better when you give recipes cooked from things you grew, or items crafted from things you grew. You can also give the gift of knowledge of how to grow these plants, cook these recipes, or craft these objects. 

More on gift-giving

            Some people are uncomfortable with receiving items or services as gifts. They want to feel like they are giving something back, instead of having obligation to return the favor hanging over them. 

            It can help to ask a simple favor that can be easily fulfilled. People generally like the feeling of helping someone else. 

When you give someone a gift, it can help to say something like “Oh, I have too many of this thing to take care of/store/eat myself! Do you think you could take some?” This makes your neighbor feel like they are helping you. 

When allowing others to borrow items, you might not get them back. Don’t worry about that. It just means the item found a place where it was needed the most. You can ask about the item if you think it might have been forgotten, and this can create an opportunity for a second meeting. But don’t press. 

If the person you give to insists upon some form of payment, this is a good opportunity to negotiate a trade. 

Ask to be given compostable or recyclable things 

Ask your neighbor to save compostable scraps, biodegradable cardboard and paper products, and any other items that might be put to use. Use them in your own compost pile. Or, start a compost pile at the edge of the yard where you both can add to it. Remember that “wet” compost like vegetable and fruit bits needs to be mixed with twice as much of “dry” and “woody” compost like cardboard, leaves, small twigs, paper and wood bits. 

Use the front yard for gardening

Overcome the cultural norm that the front yard is only decorative. Use the front yard for gardening so you can be seen by others enjoying your garden, and others can witness the demonstration of the possibilities of land. In the front yard, anything you do intentionally with your land can be witnessed. It also makes you a visible presence in your community. 

Grow staple foods 

Don’t just grow vegetables that cannot be the core component of a meal themselves. Grow potatoes, dry beans, black eyed peas and other nourishing, calorie-dense foods. Grow the ingredients of meals. You could even build a garden around a recipe.

Invite neighbors and friends over to eat food made from things you grew 

Be sure to send them home with leftovers.  

Grow plants for baskets 

Containers are one of the fundamental human needs. If we had more containers, we wouldn’t need plastic so much. You can learn to make baskets, and to grow plants that provide the raw materials for baskets. 

If someone rakes their leaves, ask to have the leaves  

If you see someone putting leaves in bags, don’t be afraid to ask if you can have the leaves. More likely than not they will be happy to agree. 

Collaborate with neighbors to plant things in the no-man’s-land of the property line 

In the border land between your neighbor’s yard and your yard, it is almost always just mowed grass because no one can plant anything without it affecting their neighbor. But these border lands add up to a lot of space. It would be much better if you talked to your neighbor about what would be nice to plant there, and together created a plan for that space. 

Give others the freedom to wander 

Make it clear that you will not get mad if the neighbor’s kids play in your yard or run across it. Invite the neighbors onto your land as much as possible. Tell them they are allowed to spend time in a favored spot whenever they would like.  

The power of the hand-made sign 

If there is a yard sale, you always know about it because of the hand-drawn signs placed around. Therefore, a cookout or unwanted item exchange can be announced the same way. In rural areas I have seen hand-made signs that say: FIREWOOD or WE BUY GOATS or EGGS. This is one of the few technologies of community that remain in the USA. If someone who looks to buy and sell can put up a hand-made sign, why shouldn’t you?  

Religious people or people with strong political opinions like to put signs everywhere. If they have the confidence and courage to do so, why shouldn’t you? 

So if there is a message you would like everyone to see, use the simple power of the hand-made sign. Proclaim “BEE FRIENDLY ZONE!” above your pollinator garden with all the confidence of a religious fundamentalist billboard. Announce to the world, “VEGETABLES FREE TO ALL—JUST ASK!” “WE TAKE LEAVES—NO PESTICIDES.” Instead of YARD SALE, or perhaps in conjunction with YARD SALE, you can write, PLANT EXCHANGE or SEED SWAP or CLOTHING SWAP. Who can stop you? 

Someone has to do it for society to change  

Some of these ideas might be eccentric, strange, or even socially unacceptable, but there is no way to change what is normal except to move against it. Someone has to be weird. It might as well be you. 

[sideblogformentalhealtshit]

bugs are the most likely thing to make me experience suicidal ideation

there's a spider in my room and i immediately start to seriously weigh the cons and pros of just killing myself on the spot to never have to live in a world filled w these freaks again

[vainvex]

okay the other night i'd been worried abt whether or not the spiders building webs outside the house windows had survived the rain since the web had probably been washed away. and it turns out that furrow orbweavers destroy + rebuild their webs every day so theyre just fine :-)

[markrosewater]

As someone who only recently got properly into Magic this year my stance on the recent UB Standard legality is that so long as the mechanics are good, fun to play, and work well with the other Standard legal sets then I don't particularly care if Final Fantasy is legal.

But.

There is something about the Marvel Universe being Standard Legal that feels off. Final Fantasy shares many aesthetic and gameplay similarities to Magic that make it slide into the general ecosystem better from a Look/Feel perspective. Meanwhile, as much of a Spider-Man fan as I am, it is going to be incredibly weird seeing Peter Parker or Miles Morales face off against the critters of Bloomburrow, even more than Thunder Junction or Duskmourn do.

I will attend the Final Fantasy and Spider-Man prereleases because I love playing Magic and I am interested in both sets, but I cannot shake the feeling that this decision makes the overall play experience strange, especially since SIX Standard sets of a year is way overdoing it (maybe 3 In-Universe sets and 1 UB set would be a better balance?)

I understand the decision from a logical standpoint but the emotional reaction to Magic losing some of its Qualia is something that I can't ignore

I have read many of the responses to my request for emotional responses yesterday (I will continue reading - there are just a lot of people sharing). A common through line is the feeling of loss, that the decisions we’ve been making are taking things away from them.

So, I wanted to take a moment to talk about something that I believe Universes Beyond is adding to the game. I’m not talking about value to other people that aren’t you, but something that is upside to the enfranchised players that are the backbone of the game.

As I’m head designer, my focus is on mechanics and the core gameplay experience of playing the game. Universes Beyond has been a bolt of energy for the design of the game.

Because so many of you are sharing personal stories, I’ll use my own experiences as a way to illustrate my point.

One day, when I was seven or eight, I woke up and went downstairs to see that my Dad had bought me a comic book and left it out on the counter for me as a surprise. It was Spider-Man.

I must have read that comic ten times. It was the start of a life long love of comic books. I’m not quite sure why the superhero genre, in particular, spoke to me so strongly, but it did.

As a teenager I was a bit of an outcast, and when I stumbled upon the X-Men, it felt like a story that was core to my lived experience. I too was an outsider, but out there were people like me and if I could find those people, we could bond over our similarities.

I enjoy designing Magic. I mean really, really enjoy designing Magic. I don’t throw around the term “dream job” lightly. It is truly a lifelong passion. I spend so much time writing about it because it is something that brings me so much joy, and there is a desire to share that joy with others, my found family that shares my similarities.

Designing Marvel cards has been electrifying. I have spent years mastering the art of Magic design. Getting to combine that with my love of Marvel characters has been inspirational. It has inspired to make designs I would have never thought of.

It has pushed me in directions I couldn’t have predicted and resulted in designs that tickle both my inner Mel and Vorthoses.

And it hasn’t just affected my own designs. I have given more notes on card designs than I have in my twenty nine years at Wizards.

For example, the amount of back and forth with Aaron who designed the five Secret Lair cards we recently revealed at New York ComicCon was exhaustive. He and I have long bonded over our shared love of Marvel, so getting to translate that into Magic with him has been amazing.

And each Universes Beyond product we’re making has people as equally passionate about that property.

My point is from purely a design perspective, Universes Beyond has had huge dividends. It has inspired us to make fresh new designs. It has sparked creativity. We are making awesome card designs, mechanics, themes, and sets, things that most likely wouldn’t have come into existence otherwise.

The passion that beloved characters and worlds has inspired in us is translated into amazing Magic design, something that will make the act of playing Magic better for anyone who enjoys the nuts and bolts of the raw gameplay of Magic.

[bogleech]

With most insects and things I can understand that they have a place in the ecosystem, but I have trouble understanding the same thing with bed bugs. Are they just like. Kind of domesticated ticks? How did they end up almost solely indoors (to my understanding)? I had them in my apartment a while back and it was a pretty traumatizing experience. I know they don’t carry diseases like mosquitos and are really more mentally/emotionally harmful than physically harmful.

I saw your post about how we should be thankful the world isn’t so sterile that there’s no living thing left to harm or inconvenience us. And I do agree! But I think bedbugs are the one thing that I have trouble fully grasping that concept with. It’s harder to see the bigger picture with something that occurs in such a small and personal space, I suppose.

I can't find the post where I launched into this before but tiny bloodsucking animals ("micropredator" is growing as the preferred term over lumping them in with "parasites" per se!) exert a lot of important pressures on their host animals; everyone knows predators change how animals eat, sleep, mate, nest together and migrate, but so do the things that just "annoy" them, like having fleas! Additionally "micropredators" work together with predators and diseases in regulating population balance, and by taking nutrients non-lethally from their hosts, they help redistribute energy back into circulation! A little flea or tick or bed bug collects a little blood protein from a bear, it gets eaten by a spider or it dies and rots, and now that bear's protein energy is back in the food web well before the bear has passed on! All throughout that bear's life, its blood is "becoming" all these little pesky bugs that then become food for other things! When it comes to bed bugs, which are closely related to stinkbugs, assassin bugs, aphids and other "true bugs," they adapted to live in bird's nests, bat caves, rodent dents, anywhere juice-filled vertebrates come home to and rest, and the ones that feed on us are so closely related to a bat-specialized species you can only barely tell them apart:

The "bat bug," however, can't utilize human blood well enough to maintain an infestation on human hosts alone! They fully require bats!

We aren't sure when some bat bugs branched off and started traveling with humans, but we do know that they used to be MUCH MUCH EASIER to deal with. Perfectly ordinary pesticides used to clear up a bed bug problem just fine. That changed when we invented DDT and tried to use it to wipe them out altogether. It's one of the harshest synthetic poisons ever developed, and it kills through just an ion channel in the animal's nervous system. By drenching North America in DDT for years on end, we "seemingly" wiped out bed bugs and a few other things, but really all we did was give a few generations of human beings a bunch of new chronic illnesses and give a few generations of insects a mutation that makes them resistant to not just DDT but lots and lots of other poisons.

Bed bugs basically destroy people's lives but never naturally evolved to be that good at it; it's just another result of capitalism ignoring the warnings of the scientific community. People died rich off DDT before they ever had to care about its after effects.

[maeve-is-annoying-about-books]

I didn't really wanna talk ahead of the Dungeon Meshi anime but I had this thought bugging me as I was skimming the manga. So, spoilers for what's to come.

I don't think it's any coincidence that Laios' party, out of a cast of infinitely more capable people, makes it to the final floor of the Dungeon. Why? Cause they aren't heroes.

Look at Kabru, he's the poster boy for anime protagonists. He has a tragic backstory, a personal beef with the dungeon, skills trained by a master of the crafts, and a large party who seems genuinely friendly together. He has everything going for him to one day dive to the bottom and gain closure for his story but he just can't. He never will, because the dungeon does not work on his logic. It turns out that there is no plot armor against hearing a siren sing for the first time.

What about Mithrun then? Personally wronged by the Demon, he's the paradigm of vengeance. A tragic hero who will do anything it takes to get to his goal and probably die achieving it. He has a party full of dark history and interesting dynamics, really laden with moral greyness. Not Berserk but a step closer to it than Kabru's story. But he is, unfortunately, also a classic hero archetype, and although his skills are impressive they aren't fit for the ecosystem around him, singleminded vengeance will see you killed by changelings, the cold, or starvation.

Shuro, it's gotta be Shuro right? A man from a distant land but a familiar one to the primary readerbase. He goes back to train, hone his mind, collect a party, and save the love interest from a cruel fate. Perhaps he will learn there is no saving her, and tragically be forced to slay the monster she's become. His journey ends the second Faligon dies, so he has no chance, ever, of becoming the Dungeon Lord. There doesn't need to be any extra traps to deter him, he'll get what he wants at the fourth level and be gone, his desire simply isn't pointed that way.

Laios, on the other hand. None of his party are heroes, they're all here for selfish reasons and have absolutely zero illusions about heroics and greater goods. Laios is here to save Falin, he only wants his sister to be safe. And to eat and document monsters. Marcille is here for forbidden magic and Falin, and her two desires coincide with her resurrection. Chilchuck is here because he got paid up front and can't leave without rumors spreading. Senshi was always here and he just wants to live in peace with nature. None of them have heroic intent, broadly. But it also means they don't have heroic conceit either.

Laios' party will eat anything. They'll run from battle, take shortcuts. They treat monsters not as grand challenges to overcome but something to fight for their lives with. With their teeth if need be. There is no honor here there is only living. Honor gets you strangled by treasure bugs. Revenge will see you abandon your party to giant spiders for the mere shot at your target. Duty sees you skipping meals because your goal is so important. It is striking how different the dungeon is between Laios and the others. They all treat the dungeon as their personal hell to be striven against and conquered, only Laios sees it as an extension of the living world and understands his place in it. And I think that is so fucking cool, it's so multifaceted. Like, their exact skill set is perfect for getting through the dungeon because of how they all treat it. But also because the dungeon wants them there, because they have very personal, strong desires. Desires that shape their skills, and desires shaped by their skills in a kind of Ouroboros.

And it's an interesting question of how much of both factors into their progress in the story.

[bnha-headcanonss]

Sero headcanons :)

If you leave your dorm room in the middle of the night and head to the kitchen, Sero will 100% be there, no matter what time it may be.

He kills at Just Dance and often plays with Mina, Denki and Kiri. Denki and Kiri get tired quickly, Mina puts up a good challenge but Sero always come out on top.

Other than the guided dances of Just Dance, he’s a pretty okay dancer, not horrible by any means but not the best.

The rest of 1-A does ask him for pieces of tape from time to time and they have to cut them a little for a better sized piece.

Loves Spider-Man for, hopefully obvious reasons (this includes the infamous Spider-Man kiss)

His sleeves are usually stretched out so around the dorms and out in public he’ll wear a muscle tee.

The kind of guy who actually listens to anything and everything. His #1 most used app is Apple Music. (I feel like it suits him better than Spotify)

Natural flirt. Yes he’ll intentionally flirt too but he’s a natural at it and doesn’t realize until somebody else says something about it.

One of the more intelligent guys in 1-A, just super humble about it/tries to hide it.

Humble overall except with Denki where damn near everything is a competition.

Despite popular belief, not a stoner. Tried it once, hated it, never again. But he doesn’t mind being around others who do it and will happily tripsit if it means his friends are safe and okay.

Likes spicy food but not Bakugo spicy, little more mild than that.

Has stuck pieces of tape to his friends and waits for them to notice. There’s one folded on the bottom of Denkis shirt and he has yet to notice. (it’s been about a month and it may never come off)

Plant guy, lots, and lots of plants. And he’s very serious about them.

Tries to make a dead conversation funny but can read the room as to not may inappropriate jokes.

The Neighborhood >>>> and he puts people ON

Has the most complicated, mind boggling handshake with his friend group and each one is very different.

Hypermobile and he uses it as a party trick.

Has one hell of a comic book collection. And besides loving Spider-Man he’s more of a DC person but thinks both are awesome, it’s just what he grew up with.

Amazing natural come backs. Incredibly funny but they are only funny if he doesn’t try to be funny iykwim.

Extremely hygienic. Shower shoes, shower caddy and everything.

Wears a very clean and fresh cologne.

If you tell him there’s a bug somewhere and you don’t want to touch it, he’ll grab a paper towel and release it outside, he won’t kill them since they’re essential to the ecosystem.

He wants a couple tattoos but they’re often seen as taboo in Japan, and he hates needles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally finished my 2nd college term 😭🙏

[subwaytostardew]

▽ Subway to Stardew - Adoptable Joltik ⚡️

This would play after Emmet's 8 heart event and getting Joltik up to 8 hearts as well.

I released a separate mod specifically for adopting Joltik, so you only need to get them up to 8 hearts to adopt them! You can do it right now!

Adoptable Joltik Mod Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/21002

And of course... Commentary under the read-more.

Joltik's adoption event sat in the drafts for quite a while. It took me whole a day to implement and I didn't let myself sleep until I finished everything. (It's 1 PM now...)

The event ended up wildly different because of how extra custom pets are implemented. You would think that they would be added in the same way as you get your cat/dog that you select during character creation. No. You have to buy a license. Only Marnie is authorized to sell them.

Here's the original script for Joltik's adoption event:

[Joltik Adoption Event]

Emmet: @! Joltik likes you verrrrry much. They want to stay with you. I'm letting you adopt them. Yup. I filled out all the paperwork. The Joltiks are legally documented now. 

I never gave ours a name... Galvantula wouldn't let me. She is verrrry picky about it. But that's okay. Joltik is yours. You should name them. She came along for approval. So. What name should I put on the adoption form?

[Name input box like Marnie's adoption thing...]

[Galvantula pauses for a moment to think and then offhandedly agrees.]

Emmet: Galvantula didn't shock me for that. That name is okay. Yup. I will file that with the Ferngill Republic. Don't worry about it. Make sure you take verrrry good care of our little Joltik!

[Joltik jumps and heart emotes]

◇──◆──◇──◆

The whole naming portion was a source of much more frustration than it should have been. In events, the name input box is brought up by the "catQuestion" command (which applies to dogs chosen at the start, too...

If you refuse, then Marnie also shows up no matter what you do. Farmhouse positions are also tricky and made even harder to find reference for after 1.6 added the farmhouse being moveable. Joltik kept spawning where Emmet was supposed to be so I had to use a move command just to get them to spawn one tile to the side. Galvantula was fine. I didn't get to updating her vanilla portraits yet so she's staying quiet.

The catQuestion command also only adds the pet you pick during character creation. There's no fields to target the usage. You have to buy a license. It's the only way to get another pet. I didn't want Joltik to replace a cat either since in-story you would have to earn the trust of both Emmet and Galvantula... There's no way you can do that by the first 25 days of spring. It's immersion breaking and you lose a cat.

I did find the license aspect funny though. It was oddly fitting for the mod's lore of Pokemon being pretty much banned from the region. Emmet is a threat to Stardew Valley's ecosystem. Not the best guy for the task of combating anti-Pokemon xenophobia.

Pet sizes are apparently hardcoded so I had to make a new spritesheet for Joltik as if they even need a 32 x 32 pixel area per frame. I did end up making new sprites for them while I was at it. I tried to base it off of the cat's behaviors so I have less animation fields to edit (I was tired). The cat loafs a lot. Trying to convey that in a tiny spider posed quite the challenge.

After everything was done, I figured that the whole adoption portion of the mod could easilly be taken apart to be its own mod as a demo of sorts for the expansion. So I went and made a content pack to post.

Bringing up your starter pet's friendship level takes quite some time, so it would be awkward if I let the event play with no preconditions. Because of that, I ended up including Joltik as an NPC and locking their adoption behind their heart level.

We actually only had two lines per day of the week (not including season) for daily dialogue. That shot up to six lines per day of the week for a full 0-2-4-6-8-10 in spring because I was determined to publish a mod. (I've been modding for nearly a year nonstop and I don't have anything playable... humiliating...)

Anyways! I hope you're all having fun with 1.6! It certainly brought new challenges and opportunities to the modding scene!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Are Cowbirds Invasive?

(Originally published on my website at https://rebeccalexa.com/are-cowbirds-invasive/)

When discussing invasive species, we often think of species that evolved far away on other continents. Here in the United States, thousands of non-native species have been brought here since the dawn of colonization; while not all became established, a significant number have since become aggressively integrated into local habitats, much to the detriment of native species they displace or otherwise harm. But sometimes a species will simply encroach upon an ecosystem adjacent to its native home, and then spreads from there, having the same negative impact as other relatively new arrivals. Which begs the question: are birds on the move like barred owls (Strix varia) and cowbirds invasive?

I want to especially look at the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater). Like the barred owl, these chunky songbirds have expanded their range in North America in recent decades due to the extensive damage we’ve done to habitats across the continent. Both were particularly affected by the destruction of the Great Plains. Settlers tore up the ancient grasslands with plows, suppressed fires that had kept forests from encroaching, and started a trend of afforestation–planting trees where they aren’t supposed to be–that continues today. In the latter half of the 19th century, the plains bison (Bison bison bison) was slaughtered almost to extinction to make money off the sale of their remains, and to disempower indigenous communities throughout the region who were reliant on this keystone species for their very existence.

The owls hopscotched across the growing number of tree plantations that dotted first settlements, then towns, then sprawling suburbs and cities, and thus were able to reach all the way to the west coast, where they have put serious competitive pressure on the northern spotted owl. The cowbirds, on the other hand, became refugees as all but the last few hundred bison disappeared from the landscape. They instead turned to domestic livestock like cattle for their survival.

(Read the rest under the cut.)

Same Habits, Different Hosts

Brown-headed cowbirds are unusual in that they evolved to migrate with the bison, rather than waiting for new herds to arrive. The birds feed on insects stirred up by the herd’s hooves, along with seeds of grasses and other plants along the way. Cowbirds perching on the backs of these enormous mammals would have been a common sight prior to the bison’s near-extermination, and today they may still be seen watching for prey from on top of cattle, horses and other domestic livestock.

Because cowbirds have spent thousands of years migrating with their bison hosts, they couldn’t afford to settle in one place for months at a time to raise a nest of chicks, particularly as spring and summer would be prime time for finding insects to eat. It might be weeks or even months before a herd would return to a given area, and without the help of the bison the cowbirds would have had a difficult time finding enough insects on their own, let alone for a hungry nest of babies.

So the cowbirds evolved a rather controversial strategy: brood parasitism. Instead of building their own nest, they find someone else’s and leave a few eggs there for the unwitting owners to raise. Some people anthropomorphize the cowbirds as being “bad”, “lazy”, “evil”, and so forth. And, of course, it’s easy to call cowbirds invasive, too, since they literally invade the nests of other animals.

But nature is amoral; there are no inherently good or evil animals. While we may project our distaste for the cowbirds’ practices onto their value as a species, brood parasitism is simply one of a plethora of strategies animals have evolved in order to pass their genes on to the next generation. If it gets the job done, then it is an evolutionary success. Like the mate cannibalism of some mantids and spiders or animal infanticide practiced by male lions, baboons, and dolphins, brood parasitism may be vicious by our standards, but it is a legitimate survival tactic in the sometimes-cutthroat world of nature.

Are Cowbirds Invasive?

We can certainly call cowbirds invasive when they hop into a nest they didn’t build just to drop off an egg. But are they invasive on a more widespread level? Arguably yes. Not all invasive species were physically transported by humans, but the impact is the same: they have a deleterious effect on one or more other species in their habitat. And unlike coyotes, which only spread to new horizons when their competitors were extirpated by human hunters, brown-headed cowbirds are not filling a niche that was previously taken by another species. they are, instead, an often-unwanted addition to local ecology.

In addition to tearing up the Great Plains and then planting trees there, we also cut down massive numbers of trees in historically forested areas across the continent, leaving patches of fields in which cattle and other livestock graze. This has led to the spread of the cowbird beyond its normal range in the prairies. Other bird species that evolved alongside the cowbirds have developed ways to respond to brood parasitism, from throwing cowbird eggs out of the nest, to building a new nest entirely.

A young cowbird sits in a sparrow’s nest. Note the sparrow egg in the lower left corner that has been pushed out of the nest.

But birds in the cowbird’s expanded territory aren’t always so savvy. That includes species that have seen declining numbers in recent decades due to habitat loss, lead and other toxins, and predation by another invasive species, the domestic cat (Felis catus). Since cowbirds and their chicks will both remove their hosts’ eggs from a parasitized nest, and cowbird chicks may toss their host’s young out or steal all their food, this means fewer numbers of the host species being successfully hatched and fledged. All of which means cowbirds are becoming a serious conservation concern.

That being said, we shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss an entire species by calling all cowbirds invasive. Within their native range in the Great Plains, they are an important part of local ecology. And–unlike certain members of our own species–they are not intentionally cruel animals that want to see other living beings suffer. They are simply doing what their ancestors have done for thousands upon thousands of years, and unlike humans they have no capacity to consider the impact on their hosts.

One last note: if you are tempted to remove cowbird eggs from a nest, please don’t. First, it’s an activity best carried out by professionals who have a better sense of what nests should be attended to and when. Moreover, egg removal can not only cause the host birds to abandon their nest and their own eggs, but cowbirds are more likely to attack hosts who remove the offending eggs, and you could be setting the nesting pair up for retaliation from the cowbirds. And brown-headed cowbirds, like almost all native birds in the United States, are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which makes it a federal offense to disturb or harm the birds themselves, as well as their eggs or nests. If you are in an area where cowbirds are considered to be invasive, and you are concerned about another species’ nests, contact your state wildlife department or the closest Audubon Society (some of these societies have changed their names in recent years, but fulfills the same roles as before.)

Did you enjoy this post? Consider taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes or hiring me for a guided nature tour, checking out my other articles, or picking up a paperback or ebook I’ve written! You can even buy me a coffee here!

[ms-demeanor]

thank you for caring about the insects too, i know the cats and bird were the focus of your post but not enough people realize that bugs are incredibly important for the ecosystem and dying at an alarming rate. yes, even the bitey ones. mosquitos are a very important food source for lizards and small birds

And look, I dislike the mosquitoes on a personal level (I got so many bites this year because of all the rain we got early in the year) but you know what's also pretty good at keeping that in check? The hundreds of orb weavers in the yard! I am ambivalent about the mosquitoes but my beloved spiders!

Also he sprinkled the poison right in front of the butterfly bushes that he planted! You don't get to say "i want butterflies but not pests" when you're putting down poison! And it goes up the food chain! the bugs eat the poison and maybe before it kills them the birds eat the poison and maybe it kills them if they eat enough bugs! Same thing if you put out poison for rats and mice - if you do that you're killing the owls and hawks around your home!

So yes the main point of that post was to please and thank you keep your cats indoors but a secondary point is please and thank you don't use pesticide; bugs are VERY important and there are better ways of handling pests than poison (like my beloved spiders!)

[jadienjaystoriesandart]

Had this idea for a Super Hero AU in a dystopian future. Based slightly in Hermitcraft. With some magic and fantasy elements.

A world that is set in a post apocalyptic time.

Watchers have pretty much desired the world’s ecosystem and atmosphere.

Humans died or became pets to them. Those that did escape made these advance dome cities in the sky, land, and underground.

Two people made and created the Mod Project.

Which took 13 humans and mixed their dna with that of various hostile mobs to create Super Soldiers to fight the watcher and protect their chosen city.

Of the 13 only 8 survived the process.

These soilders don’t need sleep. They feed on the blood usually of Watcher monsters they’ve slayed.

Because most people don’t travel outside their chosen city they don’t have much contact with each other.

Meaning each solider of the dorm city has various levels of what they consider to be ‘morally right’.

They can also eat normal food but not as much as a normal human.

Hybrids do exist in this. Often these were the first attempt of the Mod Project. They still need basic human functions. And have bred with humans to make natural born hybrids by this point.

The story follows HotGuy, the ‘hero’ and ‘protector’ of the Crystal Dome City. In the east. His code name is The Vex

As to why humans don’t leave the city. The oxygen levels around the dome are of 60%

The farther you get from the dome the less you have and the more monsters you encounter.

The Dead Zone to the far west has only 10% oxygen.

Supposedly a few miles from it is a dome city in the sky? Land? They aren’t sure. And is protected by their solider called The Dragon.

There is one under ground run by The Warden

Two in the sky to the far north called the Phantom and the one to the south called The Blaze.

And one to the east also near the coast line, roughly a few weeks from HG’s city. It’s under the protection of The Guardian.

It’s unsure why the ‘Dead Zone’ is so well dead. But some speculate that this is where the Watchers first started their assault of Planet Craft.

There are 8 creatures with their own city.

-

The Vex

The Guardian

The Warden

The Phantom

The Blaze

The Dragon

The Ender

The Spider

-

The failed ones were

The Wither

The Husk

The Skeleton

The Piglin

The Ravager

-

They failed mainly because during the process the human died before the full transformation could be realized.

The Vex, or Hotguy/Scar, is able to turn into a monster like vex. He’s taller than the usual vex, about 6 or 7 feet tall. Long claws, sharp teeth, perfect hearing and smell. But has low eye sight in daylight, mostly can only see when something moves. He also has an aversion to fire in this form as vexes are cold beings.

The story in my head is HG with his friend Mumbo are trying to get back in contact with the 8 cities the Hart Foundation is still in contact with. In order to try to come together to stop the Watchers once and for all.

Of the ones he’s met so far is The Warden (Cub), The Blaze (Tango), and The Guardian (Grian). (Yes we are going with Sea Grian for this.)

Each of these groups of ‘Heroes’ have different ideas of what they consider to be ‘good’. Mainly due to the fact society is very different for each of them.

The Warden’s city is in the east but is deep underground.

The Blaze’s is in the south and is a city far in the sky. The only reason HG got tos we is is because, after contact with the Guardian and Warden, the Blaze opened up his teleporters to meet with The Vex in person.

Despite being of the same project, they don’t know each other and have foggy memories of their time being tested on.

Feel free to write for this or draw if you guys want. I’m just coming up with ideas. I’ll write a oneshot later.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. :3

Btw the ‘oxygen levels’ is mostly the amount of ‘breathable air’ for them. It’s not the amount of pure oxygen, it’s just the percentage of air that is breathable.

[howlingday]

RUBY ROSE RANKING: BUGS

Ruby: Hi, guys! I hope you're ready for another ranking, because we've got some bugs to choose from. Today's gonna be a good day!

Ants

Ruby: Honestly? C. I don't like them, but I can't fault them for being who they are. Like, it's annoying how many there are, but they're also kind of the baseline bug. Somebody says bug, and it's either them or flies you think of. They're a C if you're outside, maybe a little lower if they crawl on you, BUT THEY ARE A FUCKING F IF I FIND THEM IN MY HOUSE! FUCK YOU! KNOW YOUR FUCKING PLACE!

Bees

Ruby: S. Hands down. Like, I used to be afraid of them, like we all were, but- Come on, guys. If a bee is coming at you it's because YOU fucked with it somehow, and you have to own up to it. Let's be real. Plus, it's hard to be mad at them after seeing that video of them landing. We've all seen it. They crash into the ground and stumble around like they've got a concussion. They're little idiots and I love them.

Beetles

Ruby: Mm... A. No, wait, S! They're so awesome! They're those kinds of bugs that you see them, you don't freak out because they are so badass and you wanna pick them up. And then you have a friend. Really. Beetle? Friend!

Butterflies

Ruby: Below ants. D. Real talk, the caterpillar should have stayed the way it was. Butterflies are- They suck. Some of you are saying they're harmless, but it's not about being harmless. It's about being trash, which butterflies...

Moths

Ruby: ...and moths....

Cicadas

Ruby: ...and cicadas- No, wait, fuck cicadas especially! Noisy little losers! I was gonna be nice, but, no, they get an F. If you're a bug with wings that's not a bee, you're going into the D pile. Unless you're a cicada...

Wasps

Ruby: OR THIS ASSHOLE!

Flies

Ruby: OR THIS ASSHOLE! FUCK ALL YOU FLYING FUCKERS!

Caterpillars

Ruby: Caterpillars~! S~! ...Wait, no. No, I've seen the way you guys hurt plants. A. It's cute until it isn't.

Cockroaches

Ruby: ...C for Cock. I'll be honest, I haven't really had any problems with cockroaches because I don't get them in my house. It's just a bug to me. I don't have infestations because I don't live in a fucking trash heap.

Grasshoppers

Ruby: These guys? B. Just don't jump into my house. Or my face.

Ladybugs

Ruby: I would say B, but I've cleaned up too many of these assholes to put them any higher than C. Sure, they're fun-looking, but when you have to clean up after their corpses every fucking year- And people who live in areas with a lot of ladybugs will get what I mean! Just pull back the curtains one day and there they are. THOUSANDS of dead ladybugs!

Mantis

Ruby: A. They're cool, but they're too noodly. It's not S for a reason.

Mosquitos

Ruby: I would put you in F, but to be honest, I don't even want to put you on the board. Like, people are arguing whether or not we should band together to ban YOU. And the only thing holding us back is how important you are to your ecosystem. You're not a bug. You're a freak, and F would be way too generous for you. TRASH. Bottom tier!

Snails

Ruby: SNAIL~! How'd you get on the list~? Oh, who cares?! Instant S~! You're always welcome in my tier list~!

Spiders

Ruby: S. Spiders don't scare me. Wait, no, A. They're cool, but they're very inconsiderate about where they put their webs so they don't make you swipe at your face and go SPSPSPSPSP! Every summer in the garage. A.

Stick Bugs

Ruby: Who's this little idiot? Stick bug? Who is this? Eh. B. You're only here because people like you enough, and that's why you're above C. Sorry. All you have going for you is being in a meme people like. You don't do anything for me except distract people from the real hero of the story, the BEES, and- You're pathetic. You're nothing. No talent!

Worms

Ruby: ...Gonna be honest, I feel bad when I see a worm. Not a big fan of worms. The only time I see worms is when they're dead OR when they're dying. Stay in the dirt where you belong! Knowing you exist without seeing you? A. If I see you ever? F! I'll meet you in the middle and put you at a C. That's fair, right?

[naavispider]

opposite AU? The Na’vi are a hyper-intelligent species hundreds of years ahead of humans in terms of development. They thrive of renewable and clean energy, coming to Earth to rid the planet of the humans that are destroying it. Na’vi jake sully uses his human avatar - maybe they managed to figure out semi-permanent transfer - to attempt to reason with the owner of an incredibly large agricultural megacompany in Brazil (and South America in general) that contributes to deforestation to increase their farmland. He meets his daughter (human Neytiri). Na’vi quaritch destroys Neytiris home city, killing her father. And the rest is history.

the Na’vi’s technology utilises their queue in some way - maybe as a power source? Or their machines are just some really advanced biotechnology influenced by the plants in their homeworld. I was just picturing a smooth, beautiful Na’vi cruiser with no steering wheel. Just a mass of electrical wires looking like vines on a dashboard or a chair with a na’vi plugged into it.

Na’vi spider grew up on Earth after the na’vi fled back to their home system (multiple planets colonised). He is shorter - stunted growth due to increased gravity - and always slumped to appear smaller, and still outcast. His greater strength means he hurts people on accident some times. He lives in a megacity with the Sully’s in South America. When Quaritch finds him - maybe he has a human body, maybe another Na’vi one - he thinks of him as incredibly primitive in his views. When Spider is kidnapped (Jake sully leads a rebellion against the increasing colonisation of Earth - more navi are coming planetside after striking deals with multiple countries - Spider has info on the human resistance) he has no clue how to use anything on the ship he is being kept on which is very funny to quaritch.

so I guess this would be still an evil human AU - people like Neytiri, Jake and the kids don’t really give a fuck about the planet. Jake’s reasoning for turning to their side is basically human life is beautiful in its own fleeting way and deserves to be preserved. Tons of hisotry shouldn’t be erased. The planet can be saved while still preserving humanity.

But this doesn’t mean Na’vi are good guys. They are colonising the planet. In areas they set up camp they tear down infrastructure and attempt to restore the local ecosystem - maybe using humans as fertiliser could be a little fucked up plot twist. Any human that draws too near would die. As the “rejuvenation” of Earth begins, population of humans dwindle and are pushed from their homes. I don’t see a reason why Na’vi would use human avatars as their isn’t really an advantage other than being able to breathe 100% of the time - as well as not feeling the effects of increased gravity.

I think at this point - Na’vi have colonised most of their home system - with successful colonies on other planets. So some na’vi may have evolved to withstand higher gravity. the concoction the Na’vi use in order to speed up plant growth creates dangerous megafauna. Na’vi do experiments on earth animals to cross-hybrid them with their strange funky biotech. Meaning Na’vi can pilot them likes mechs. This could help with the increased gravity thing.

Na’vi intererence using powerful gravitational waves to destroy infrastructure could creat similar phenomena as the flux vortexes. These areas could provide na’vi relief from the increased gravity - which is why they erect their encampments are puns the graveyards of cities.

this desperately needs a way to nerf the Na’vi. In the original series - it’s their primitivity and morals that nerf them a lil. They can’t stand up against the absolutely giant machinery and guns the humans use - and they also wont resort to the same tactics. I don’t think there could be an issue with teh Na’vi tech not being compatible with earths gravity - as they would have colonised Alpha Centari already - which is a huge gas giant. The only think I can think of is seasons and irregular weather patterns - Pandora is tidally locked so it doesn’t experience seasons. They may not be prepared for winter - or might freak out once the plants they have just regrown start dying in winter.

This has been in my notes for ages - I remember trying to think of an actual plot point that’d turn this AU into a story but I couldn’t think of anything 🤷‍♀️ any ideas?

Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply! I’ve been terrible at updating tumblr recently ✨ This is really well thought out already! You’ve done 90% of the hard work , which is figuring out the premise in the first place!

Since it’s an opposite au you could focus on any part of the original A2 plot in this setting. I love the idea of Jake having a human avatar, after living his whole life as a Na’vi 😯 I think there’s a lot to explore there but aLso the humans-being-used-as-fertiliser side plot is too juicy to ignore… the only question is who is going to get trapped in the process and need rescuing? 🤨🤨

[northwest-cryptid]

Wait a second... does Mabinogi's ecosystem even make logical sense?

Okay listen, I know that technically speaking "nothing dies in Erinn" but you and I both know that's a load of shit. Animals "knocked unconscious" literally drop meat. We see foxes hunting chickens, we see wolves hunting sheep. I understand that a lot of this violence is explained through the lore of Fomors and such. However that being said it doesn't make sense. If animals were just becoming aggressive why don't they attack anything else?

Now you could say that it's as simple as the fact that other things aren't around. If we're looking purely at Tir that much is true, there are only Chicken near the Foxes, there's only Sheep and Dogs near the Wolves. Though if we look at Dunbarton we see an array of wildlife from Wisps, Bears, and even Imps, to Chicken, Rats, Cows, and Foxes. Yet the food chain seems to be completely undisturbed by this. We don't see the Spiders hunting the Sheep, we don't see the Wolves hunting the Cows, we don't see anything fighting the Bears or vice versa. These animals may be aggressive due to plot reasons but I think that logic is faulty. I think they're pulling a fast one on us, because we can actually examine a very specific food chain in action here.

By that same token, if we do look at how Mabinogi's ecosystem actually works, does it make any sense? Sure on the surface it absolutely does. Foxes hunting Chickens? That's true to life, and we could say the same for Wolves and Sheep. That being said however, we need to consider an important aspect of any ecosystem; that being that there's an established balance.

Yes we do actually see the Chicken and Sheep and Dogs fighting back against their predators. However that only accounts for mainly the natural animal life. If we expand that to Wisps, Imps, Kobolds, Skeletons, Trolls, Ogres, and various other overworld life forms who venture up out of dungeons or even just live on the surface of Erinn. How are these populations kept in check? They don't have any natural predators... other than... no wait- it can't be.

Were we summoned here to keep balance?

No I'm serious, there are no natural predators for most of the life that could be considered a "monster" by conventional means. With even most of the more "monstrous" animal life having no real competition in the food chain. Bears, Snakes, Spiders, Coyotes, etc; they don't get attacked randomly. The only natural means of keeping them in check would be either a lack of food or their prey animals killing them off.

We have heard stories, and even see in some cases that the humanoid races of Erinn do fight these creatures. Whether venturing into dungeons or simply defending the overworld. We don't get to see this naturally happen, but we hear about it and see it in quests and during the main storyline. I feel like it's safe to say that people in this world do fight these creatures, BUT only defensively. In most if not all cases of this it's a defensive measure; the sole exception I can think of being during dungeon runs. There's no natural predator of these monsters. Nothing that outright aggressively hunts them for food or sustainable material reason. Which means when these populations aren't wildly out of control and these creatures aren't being pushed out of their natural habitat and fighting for space on the overworld; they're not having their numbers kept in balance.

Though, there's good reason for this, these people are mortals; not all of them are strong enough. Not all of them have a knack for picking up new skills, learning and improving quickly; becoming strong enough to reliably and efficiently fight these beings. The Milletian is actually renown for these traits, held in high regard for not just our combat prowess, but our ability to pick up new skills and techniques quickly; and master them seemingly overnight without much issue.

Were we in fact really brought here to simply uphold the balance? Taught to fight and kill so that we could become the natural predator of the monsters that roam the world? Were we conditioned by not only the gods, but the people of Erinn to become a natural part of the ecosystem in order to stop the rampant over population of monsters?! ARE WE NOTHING BUT PAWNS IN A LARGER SCHEME?! IS THE TRUE WAR BEING FOUGHT VIA ECOLOGICAL WARFARE?!

Sorry I got a little carried away there. Seriously though I think we were brought to Erinn to become an apex predator with no rival; only when we did too good of a job the gods realized we could surpass even them. This prompted Morrighan to need us dead because we became so good at what we do, we became a predator to the very thing that felt otherwise untouchable. This is why the gods continue to challenge us, some of them wish to hone our skills through the tribulations thrown our way; others wish us dead for the threat we now pose to them. There are those among them who believe we need to become stronger, to bring balance to the ecosystem of the gods; the predator at the very top of the food chain. Meanwhile there are those who fear what would happen if we attain that power; and we have shown numerous times to already have that power without needing to become a god to obtain it.

On even a more mundane scale, consider how we're basically conditioned by the people of Erinn to partake in the life skills. Everything from weaving to blacksmithing has us traveling into dangerous areas that surround us with these monsters. A lot of the materials we need are dropped directly by these monsters, we've been given an incentive to fight; to kill without regard for population numbers or ecological impact. We don't think of it as anything more than gathering the materials we need to craft- what exactly is it we're crafting again? Oh that's right... weapons, armor; tools meant to make us better at killing.

So what happens when a predator is out of control and can't be stopped? Well if we look at a simulated situation in which we have a natural ecosystem and introduce an apex predator with no superior in the food chain; we will find that eventually they will kill off every other living thing until going extinct themselves due to having no natural food source left. Of course the gods want us dead, we're an invasive species that grew far too quickly and is out of control; Morrighan specifically likely feels personally responsible. She loves human and thinks they're special, right; and it makes sense that she would bring us to Erinn to fight for them. The problem is, looking back at that simulation, we could easily observe a situation in which entire populations go extinct due to demand outpacing population growth. If more and more Milletians come through the soulstream and begin hunting the foxes, wolves, bears, and spiders for materials, experience, drops, etc. At what point does Tir lose it's natural life? At what point does the sheep, dog, and chicken population grow out of hand because we upset the ecosystem. Does the price of chicken and eggs drop due to the over production? Do we stop breeding sheep dogs to protect our herd since there are no longer wolves? Does this effect the grazing habits of the sheep who would grow in number to the point they could turn the grassy hills of Northern Tir Chonaill into barren dirt mounds? At what point does Tir become a failing town. Would they have to migrate south to Dunbarton? Would people lose their jobs? Would the economy be in shambles because of the changes in the ecosystem?

If we think about just how powerful the Milletian really is, even in the early game; we begin to see an interesting pattern. The biggest contribution to Mabinogi's ecosystem, the one thing keeping it in check; the one thing that ACTUALLY keeps the balance?

Boredom.

We can see a sort of bell curve in the interaction between specific animal and monster species and the Milletian as they go along their journey. Early on the Milletian may wipe out fields of foxes, wolves, and spiders; but once they become powerful enough to begin fighting Bears and Wisps most of the other lifeforms are safe; they're simply not worth it. The Milletian would likely find it boring or even pointless to expend the effort to fight a wolf or spider that isn't outright attacking them, again going back to acting on self defense rather than predatory hunting. This could be said about almost every creature that exists outside of the dungeons, but even specifically for those that exist almost exclusively within dungeons.

As we examine a power increase in the Milletian, pushing them higher up on the food chain; we also see that they ignore the life that falls too far below them. No longer concerned about the creatures who couldn't put a dent in their armor, or would only take a single blow from their weapon of choice. There comes a point when spending the energy, durability, ammo, or even just time; on fighting something becomes a cost that isn't worth whatever the Milletian would gain. It's why the Milletian seeks out bigger and tougher prey animals/monsters. It's why they inevitably will end up hunting the gods, and it's exactly why the gods want us dead.