Day 26 Of Posting Cute Creatures We Found On Our Field Trip:

Day 26 of posting cute creatures we found on our field trip:

Ash slug (Limax cinereoniger) is the largest slug in Europe and, according to the Guinness book of records, the longest terrestrial slug in the world. Despite its formidable size of up to 30cm (!) this slug is not a pest. It lives only in ancient forests, far away from human settlements and feeds on lichen, moss and fungi. The colors of ash slug vary from this light grey to black, but it always has light colored keel on its back.

The internet has nicknamed this slug “glubby” because if you pick it up it curls up in its defensive pose and produces sticky mucus which makes it look very… well, glubby:

False Gharial aka Malayan Gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii), family Gavialidae, found in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia

Historically, there has been some disagreement about how this species should be placed. At one time, some herpetologists believed this species should be placed in the crocodile family, Crocodylidae. There is vast agreement now that they should be placed in the Gharial family, Gavialidae.

photograph by Ryan Off The Grid

Hey, I heard that there's a trend of drawing Mr Birchum yaoi, so I had to join lmfao.

(for those who don't know Mr Birchum is Daily Wire's sad attempt at offensive conservative comedy. it's spectacularly bad (I didn't watch it, cuz there is no universe in which I'm giving money to Daily Wire), but the main two characters seem to have cute/toxic ship energy, so I had to lmao. Cry harder conservatives, WE MADE THEM GAY!)

@snake-spotted I'm sorry I forgot to tag you here. This is one of my favorite snakes and I forgot to share it with a certified noodle enthusiast smh.

Day 23 of posting cute creatures we found on our field trip:

Hey, I’m back! And today’s creature is beyond special:

This is Balkan whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius). This is a fully grown adult. These colubrids are big, some grow over 2 meters in length. They have that wonderful copper colored head, shiny grey body and bright yellow belly. But they also have Black Air Force energy.

I’ve worked with these snakes a lot during my herpetology courses and oh my god, they are mean! They are called “whipsnakes” because they can actually hit you with their tail and because their scales are so tough, it hurts like a bitch. They love to bite. And they don’t have the “bite pose”. Most snakes coil up to prepare themselves to strike, but these do not. They are incredibly unpredictable and they can fucking jump. And on top of that, they have so much energy. Most snakes tire out in a very short period of time, but these do not. I don’t know how do they do it, but they can keep striking, swiggling and jumping for over an hour. And they do it while in the bag where we put snakes to calm down as well. They are unreal. A true menace to society.

But they eat rodents and venomous snakes so you want to have them around. And they are cute. Even though they bit me, I still love them. Here’s a cute juvenile as a bonus:

Juveniles have small black spots all over their body and are equally as crazy as the adults. That’s why we’re holding this one by her head. She bit three people.

Oh my god it could be! They are invasive here. Which is unfortunate because they are so cute.

Day 25 of posting cute creatures we found on our field trip:

Copper chafer (Protaetia cupraea) is one the prettiest European beetles. It feeds on nectar, pollen and fruit juices. Its shiny green - golden color is the reason why many languages call it some form of “golden beetle”. And it isn’t the only shiny beetle we have!

Unfortunately, since I’m not an entomologist I can’t really tell you which species these other shiny bugs are, but they are incredibly pretty and it would be a shame not to share them with you :)

Day 29 of posting cute creatures we found on our field trip:

This adorable bat was caught by bat scientist that joined our group for a class. She gave us a lecture about how to properly catch, handle and measure bats. Bats are adorable, but they can transmit diseases. This bat was found in Lazar’s cave, which is a cave system in eastern Serbia that hosts huge colonies of bats. In fact, bat biodiversity is so high, that scientists estimate around 37 species living in this cave together at some times. The cave itself is incredibly beautiful, here are some pics for all cave lovers: