#thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

The Exotic Animal Photo Reference Repository is live!

You can find it at: https://www.animal-photo-references.com!

Here's how this repository works: all photos were taken by me, a human, at zoos, aquariums, sanctuaries, and other facilities with animals in human care. There is no AI involved in the photo editing or creation and there never will be. Right now there's 56 species on the site; my catalog has over 300 and I will be uploading the rest of them as fast as I can.

Artists creating derivative or transformative works (without AI) have blanket permission to use these references. Yes, even for work you're going to sell.

All other usage/reproduction requires permission, but assume I'm friendly and please do ask! That's educators, researchers, the media, people who need images for a school presentation, etc. This is just to retain copyright/control in case they're scraped/reused unethically - it doesn't meant I don't want folk to have access! So please do reach out via the contact form on the repository website, I don't bite and I'm most likely going to say yes.

Please don't repost the repository photos to your own blogs: I've created @animalphotorefs as a dedicated blog to share photos from the site, and of course I'll reblog a lot of it here! That again just helps with retaining copyright and sourcing of the images. If you really want to repost some for a specific purpose, please just ask me first!

Also, folks, this project has no funding. It's just me and my camera.

There will never be a paywall on the site - I believe resources like this absolutely must be free for everyone to access. So please, please, please support the repository if you use it. Want sneak peeks at photos, cute videos I take, or to help choose what I photograph and what gets posted first? You can do that through Patreon (and there's a free trial on the most interactive tier!) If you'd like to just drop a tip, I've also set up a Ko-Fi.

I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks of the repository.

To whet your thirst for cute photos, here's an Indian rhinoceros contemplating a goose.

[unpersoniverse]

has anyone done this yet

[lectern-fullcauldron]

my thoughts on this are that if one (former) hermit has let us and his community down majorly, the rest of the hermits have done themselves proud in their response. they were accessible for the victims to reach out to with their complaints. they then sought to verify them, and once they had, they directly addressed the situation in a swift and efficient manner. their statement allowed for the victims to offer their perspectives with their own voices, on their own terms, whilst preemptively warning us that they would be coming, and they had been confirmed and acted upon.

this has been dealt with extremely professionally, with care to protect the victims, and with clear decisiveness (especially from a server that is so famously indecisive, it required a coup to start its second season). this was not dragged out. allegations were not dragged through the mud and victims ripped apart by the jury of the internet. the hermits brought us a situation already resolved and within one day, we are already in the aftermath

[lowpolyanimals]

Mimi from Sorry We're Closed

[villainsheroes]

“i can fix her” final boss

[rainbowfartblaster]

JAYCES HAND CUPPING VIKTORS NECK OH MY GOD I NEED TO DIE

[noodles-and-tea]

OH MY GOD I NEED TO EAT YOUR ARTSTYLE, CHEW AND COMSUME IT,

Your Jayvik art means MILLIONS to me, there's something so cozy and happy about how you draw the boys that makes me want to consume more of your art MY GOD 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

All the loves to you and your art 💜💜

Thank you so much!! Please enjoy the snack!

[notsolonedesert]

siren ctimene…

Beeswax or not, what if Eury didn't take that encounter with the sirens very well

[pinkelir]

[c-hrona]

I thought that I could bring an end to the world's suffering, but when every equation was solved...

...only that remained...

...were fields of dreamless solitude.

[dear-ao3]

[mossspond]

Design comm for @ancientgrain 🔧

[fairylando]

my goat.

[lowpolyanimals]

Rabbit from Bratz: Rock Angelz

[strawberryyyenthusiast]

“Wait, so you’re telling me that I have fans? I’m not even famous— I’m so confused, baby.” Steve looks up at Eddie with scrunched eyebrows. He is currently making a demo project to show his kindergarteners for their art activity on the first day of school and multitasking is not something that Steve can handle at the moment. “I mean, I’m your boyfriend who was in the back of one tik-tak—”

“It’s TikTok, babe—”

“Whatever. Can you make them stop?”

Eddie sits down across from Steve. “Stop what, baby?”

“Stop them from making edits of me!” Steve is exasperated in a silly way, slamming his paintbrush into the cup of murky water next to him. “Robin keeps sending them to me and it’s just the same clips of me setting up my pump. Apparently my ‘arms are sexy??’”

“Your arms are very sexy, my love.” Eddie pauses. He moves to sit next to Steve and turns Steve’s chair to face him, cradling his face in his palms. “I’m not sure I can stop a bunch of people from making those videos, but maybe we can make a video together where you explain what diabetes is?”

Steve seems to question it at first, but then he starts to smile and nods his head. “That sounds like a really good idea, babe! You’re so smart. I love you.” Steve leans forward and kisses him.

“I love you, too.”

They sit in comfortable silence before Eddie’s phone beeps with the dexcom notification saying that Steve is either too low or too high. He quickly checks it while Steve ignores it and his eyes almost bulge out of his head.

Eddie stands quickly and grabs an apple juice from the fridge. “Drink this, Steve. You’re at 72.” He uncaps the drink and slides it over to Steve.

“You’re the best, you know that, right?” Steve says after a sip of his juice.

Eddie just smiles, the fondness seeping from the crinkles by his eyes and the dimples in his cheeks.