Natural History - Tumblr Posts
the mountain lions are unwittingly practicing witchcraft to improve their hunting chances and leaving patches of terra preta behind
Tigers' stripes are on their skin, not just their fur - but how often do you get to see it?!
This is the female Amur tiger at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium (I can't find her name online, somehow). A sign on the exhibit noted she had recently had medical care and part of her belly had been shaved in the process. A beautiful lady, and those stripes on her skin are just stunning.
I love how both corvids and parrots are in general highly intelligent, but where corvids generally have strict hierarchies, solve disagreements in the pecking order by fighting, and have a strong dislike for anything new or foreign until they figure out how to make use of it, parrots are just here to party.
The New Caledonian crow, who knows how to specifically build a tool in order to build another tool, never engages in play. These motherfuckers are smarter than some people with the right to vote, and they are Extremely Serious Birds. They don't have time to play, they got work to do and kids to raise.
And then there's the kea, straight-up titled "clown of the mountains", that has a specific vocalization for "playtime!". Scientists decided to try what happens if they play the Play Call for two fully-grown adult keas that are together in an area and can clearly see there is no other, third kea to make the call, and they just go "great idea, disembodied voice! it's TIME TO FUCKING PARTY!" and start wrestling.
Imagine working really hard in order to make it into a top university to study astrophysics, making it to your first Very Serious Class, sitting down full of serious determination, and the dude next to you is taking notes without using his hands, with a glitter pen he's shoved up his nose. And his notes are good.
“The oldest olive tree in the world located on the island of Crete. It is estimated to be as over 3,000 years old and still produces olives.”
—
Did you guys know that the most recent version of sharks have fins that are kinda leg like and they like to walk up onto land?
ATTENTION there are hummingbird species called pufflegs and they are all wearing very silly pants and that’s their defining trait
Today I feel like a Palea Steindachneri.
Do you ever feel like a wattle-necked softshell turtle (Palea steindachneri)? You are not alone. Found in parts of Southeastern China and Vietnam, this rare reptile’s carapace, or shell, can grow up to 17 in (43.2 cm) long. It inhabits freshwater pools and feeds on fish, insects, and small invertebrates. Unfortunately, this species is critically endangered and is threatened due in part to habitat degradation and being hunted for the food trade.
Photo: randall_f, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist
We’re going BIG this Fossil Friday. Like, really big. 🦕At 122 ft (37.2 m) long, Patagotitan mayorum is the Museum’s largest dinosaur on display and one of the largest animals to have ever walked the Earth! This gigantic herbivore, which lived some 95 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous, was heavier than 10 African elephants—tipping the scales at roughly 70 tons. In fact, The Titanosaur is so big that it barely fits in the Museum’s halls: It’s longer than the gallery it sits in—and its head, which would graze the ceiling, extends outwards toward the elevator banks! We're open daily from 10 am-5:30 pm! Plan your visit.
Photo: © AMNH
Throwback Thursday! Do you remember the 1970s? 💃🕺 Saturday Night Fever was playing at the theaters and disco was pumping at Studio 54. What was happening at the Museum? We were opening a groovy Gems and Minerals Hall, complete with carpet, a sunken pit, and cave-like lighting. This archival photo, snapped in 1976, depicts visitors in the hall as it appeared shortly after opening. Its design was meant to simulate the Earth from which the exhibited specimens were extracted.
During the years since then, the fields of mineralogy and geology have advanced significantly. The Museum’s Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals—which now features more than 5,000 specimens—were redesigned to reflect these changes. Today, this space tells the fascinating story of how the vast diversity of minerals arose on our planet, how scientists classify and study them, and how we use them for personal adornment, tools, and technology.
Photo: Image no. ptc-2027 / © AMNH Library
Research alert! A new study finds that an extremely well-preserved fossil of Triarthrus eatoni from upstate New York has an additional set of legs underneath its head. By making comparisons with another well-preserved trilobite species, Olenoides serratus from British Columbia, researchers from the Museum and Nanjing University in China have proposed a model for how appendages were attached to the head in relation to the grooves in the exoskeleton.
“The number of these segments and how they are associated with other important traits, like eyes and legs, is important for understanding how arthropods are related to one another, and therefore, how they evolved,” said Melanie Hopkins, curator and chair of the Museum’s Division of Paleontology.
Research alert! A new study finds that an extremely well-preserved fossil of Triarthrus eatoni, a trilobite found in upstate New York, has an additional set of legs underneath its head! What did researchers learn from this discovery? Find out with Museum Curator Melanie Hopkins, who coauthored the research. Read more.