the-mad-natter

[the-mad-natter]

[1529/10977] Blue-winged Parakeet - Psittacula columboides

Also known as: Malabar Parakeet

Order: Psittaciformes (parrots) Superfamily: Psittacoidea (true parrots) Family: Psittaculidae (Asian and Australasian parrots)

Photo credit: Solomon Sampath Kumar via Macaulay Library

[the-mad-natter]

Common Dinosaur Mistakes

you know the "bunny hands" pose everyone does to indicate t. rex? with the hands folded down, palms facing the chest? yeah. almost no dinosaurs could do that. it would break their wrists. only one unique group evolved to do that, which doesn't include any of the Jurassic Park dinosaurs. the term for this is "pronation" and actually the vast majority of land vertebrates can't do it. mammals can. mammals are weird.

not a single dinosaur has claws on their fourth or fifth fingers. not a single one. not even if they're quadrupedal.

most dinosaurs have very stiff tails and can't wiggle them around like a lizard tail. the tails were stiff for balance.

the "tongue flick" thing that lizards do is a lizard thing. dinosaurs wouldn't have done that. they don't do that today (birds, birds don't do that)

"nonavian" dinosaurs with feathered wings had them like birds. they covered the hands. and attached to the hands. stop giving Velociraptor hands. it had wings. and very big ones, too, based on Zhenyuanlong.

dinosaurs with scales don't have lizard scales. lizard scales are a derived trait found only in lizards. they had scutes similar to those of living birds, but much smaller compared to body size, and often in crazy shapes and patterns. dinosaur scales are super weird tbh

sauropods don't have elephant feet. they handled the problem of size in a much weirder way: instead of spreading out the weight, they turned their feet into columns. like pillars. some of the biggest species didn't have any fingers, their front limbs just. end. for maximum column support.

dinosaurs were chonky. you could not see the bones like a silhouette under the skin. some might have been skinnier and some of the features of the bones would be somewhat like with skinny bird legs, but most of the time? no. so stop making the holes in their skulls visible on the outside like damn. jurassic park/world is the biggest offender for this one.

the whole unique feature of dinosaurs is having their legs DIRECTLY under their bodies. they do not sprawl. I can't believe I have to say that, but I do.

hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur) front feet were hooves. like, seriously, hooves. not little flippers. not three fingered hands. hooves.

I reserve the right to add more to this post as I think of things.

other people can too, but just research before you do.

[the-mad-natter]

The urge to just turn this blog into a chronic illness into/venting page is strong. I need to empty my brain.

[the-mad-natter]

“We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” —Carl Sagan

l All taken by Vikas Chander

[the-mad-natter]

if upon being told about someones illness/condition, your first thought is to say “have you tried X?” i want you to step back for a moment and think to yourself “if i thought of X after hearing about this condition for the very first time, the person who has this condition very likely has thought of this and possibly tried it already”

we are tired of constantly being told to try the same things by people who didnt know our condition existed five minutes ago.

you dont need to offer any solutions or try to fix us. i know it might seem like a polite thing to do or that it shows you care, there are other ways to show us you care.

[the-mad-natter]

weevil 179

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Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens), family Maluridae, Australia

photograph by Jennifer Sexton

[the-mad-natter]

Why is this so common....

Doctor: "Here is your diagnosis"

Patient: "Thanks"

Patient a long time later accidentally finding out about comorbidities/symptoms/complications of said diagnosis that the doctor ~forgot~ to mention: "Well shit"

[the-mad-natter]

Bjork and Michel Gondry, 1999, photog.  Benni Valsson

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me and the mutuals

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Beautiful gorgeous creature of the day is a friendly squid

[the-mad-natter]

People describe shoebill storks as being scary or ugly birds and always use one image to make their point. When in every other photo they look like this

More like shoebill dork

[the-mad-natter]

Oh to be an iridescent sea creature 💚 💙 💜

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Big and blue

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if the different hominins interacted pt.3

Homo Sapiens: Why are there little handprints all over the walls? Denisovans, whispering: Why are there little handprints all over the walls? Homo floresiensis : Because I have little hands. Denisovans: Because they have little hands.

[the-mad-natter]

The wonderful Glass Octopus. Living at depths of around 3000 ft and only being about a foot long, these strange little creatures are rarely seen by scientists.

[the-mad-natter]

regular lobsters start out as just little lobsters but spiny lobsters start out as these beautiful weird larvae that also evolved to ride on top of jellyfish. This jellyfish is too small though!!!