Leap Day…Why Does It Exist?

lextalkington A couple more mech-fossils that will be available this Friday, Sep 28. . Gold Spiked Rockfish Articulated Copperneck Seahorse (in the background) . I’m busy making new frames for these, but I plan to offer a smaller compact stand with a solid background as an option.

no fucking way

PROBOSCIDEANS

Whilst we all know that modern elephants are beautiful and remarkable creatures, few may be familiar with the order of which they are from, Proboscidea. Proboscidea not only contains the elephantids, but a whole range of diverse mammals, some reaching magnificent sizes and each one more intriguing than the last.

Deinotherium 

Deinotherium quite literally means “terrible beast” and they trawled the savannah-like Miocene landscape. Deinotheriums most striking feature is certainly its menacing downward facing tusks, a complete skull found in the nineteenth century measured at just under a metre in length, the skull also showed very deep nasal bones suggesting it had a much wider and shorter trunk than modern elephants. The reason for the unusual orientation of the tusks has been debated, perhaps they were purely for attracting mates or maybe they had a vital role in stripping tree bark to eat. Deinotherium was quite a bit larger than modern elephants standing a whopping 4 metres tall (almost as tall as a double decker bus) and weighing in at an estimate 11-14 tonnes.

Palaeoxodon namadicus 

Palaeoxodon namadicus, otherwise known as the Asian straight-tusked elephant lived during the pleistocene. Little is known about these species and whether it is a species on its own rather than a subspecies within Palaeoxodon antiquus, yet is is known from a thigh bone over 5 foot in length which indicates a possible height of over 4.5 metres which would make Palaeoxodon namadicus the largest land mammal to have ever existed surpassing Deinotherium and Paraceratherium.

Gompotherium 

Gompotherium is another highly unusual member of the proboscidea. Gompotherium stood around 3 metres high and had 4 tusks extending straight from its jaw, the two bottom tusks are flattened and shovel-shaped leading to suggesting that they were used in digging and finding food. Gompotherium is believed to be the first of the proboscideans to escape its homeland and migrate towards north america, mammoths would eventually evolve from the shovel-tusked creature. Although they are unfamiliar to most, they were very successful and flourished in north america for over 10 million years (during the miocene and pliocene). Their demise coincides with the rise of todays modern elephants, perhaps they were outcompeted to extinction.

Stegodon

Stegodon stood at around 3.5 metres tall and weighing in a 12 tonnes, however it is not this beasts size that is hard to comprehend, but its enormous tusks which could reach a whopping 3 metres in length. Stegodons thrived in the golden age of elephants 11 million years ago, exactly when they died out is a mystery, some believe they contained to roam across north america as little as a few thousand years ago.

Mammoths

Mammoths are amongst the most recognisable prehistoric creatures, they were extremely successful and thrived during the ice age thanks to their masses of fur, migration patterns and small ears. They died out around 4500 years ago when the ice age came to an end, although it is widely thought that humans contributed to their reduction in numbers as we fed on their meat, wore their fur and used their immense tusks and skin for shelter. The largest known species of mammoths could reach 4 metres in height and weigh up to 7 or 8 tonnes and they travelled in herds much like modern elephants. Incredibly well preserved specimens have been found across the world in peat bogs and permafrost preserving skin, hair and some organs in immaculate condition, this has led to multiple projects hoping to bring back the mammoth, although this is still highly controversial.

Elephants

All modern elephants are the only relic from the glorious evolutionary history of the proboscideans that we have left. They can reach 4 metres in height and weigh up 7 tonnes. Their tusks are used in competing for mates as well as for feeding and the trunks, perhaps the most recognisable feature of any animal, are analogous to human hands, they are used to grab things, communicate and sense their environment. Elephants travel in close herds led by a matriarch and have been shown to display emotions of grief when a valued member dies, their social structure is incredibly sophisticated and complex, when a matriarchs reign is over, their is a specific order of individuals to take her place, usually the eldest daughter. Separate families of elephants have even been known to form bonds with each other and socialise in passing. Elephants have long been attractive to humans, their skin has been sold, their tusks highly valued for decoration and medicine. Elephants have been relentlessly hunted by humans, so much so that in in the twentieth century their numbers declined by 74% in ten years. Over the last few decades multiple conservation efforts have been put in place to save these magnificent creatures from extinction, their population numbers have shown slight increases since the efforts began.

The proboscideans have been, and are still, one of the most remarkable groups in the animal kingdom. They have been incredibly successful since their first appearance over 40 million years ago, with only the elephants remaining we must save these wonderful animals from extinction for future generations to see and to continue the reign of one of the most spectacular dynasties in the animal kingdom.

Heather Nesheim  -  https://www.etsy.com/es/people/heddarsketch  -  https://twitter.com/heddarsketch

Gray wolves by Chad Barry

A for-funsies furry portrait of this cool dude with the fabulous art -> @poisondynamite / @redhotsneakers <- Go check ‘em out!!!!! >w<)/

Study tips

Be active while studying :

Do not mindelssly skip through your notes.Make sure you are fully understanding the material that you are working on. Ask yourself questions. If you can answer them , that’s cool, if you can’t, note them down on a post-it and ask your teacher or classmates or maybe google it. If you can’t focus take a break and come back later.

Set the mood for studying:

Wash you face and hands with cold water, or take a shower. Put on comfy clothes. Organize your study space and clean it up. Get yourself a snack and a cup of coffee or tea or just plain water, whatever works for you. Set the stuff you need for studying and get rid of anything else. If you don’t need your phone for studying, turn the wi-fi off and put it away from you. Start a study playlist if you want. Put your to do list right in front you and get to it.

Make a TO DO list:

Grab a white sheet of paper. Brain dump all the tasks you have to do for the day, prioritize them, and write them again in a clean way, while dismissing the unimportant tasks if you don’t have enough time.

Take breaks when you need them :

If you take too much you’ll lose focus, if you don’t take enough, your studying won’t be effective. If you can’t get yourself to study, set a timer for 30 min, take a 10 min break and work to add to the length of the studying each time.

Eat the frog :

Start with the boring and hardest tasks first. You’ll be more motivated to get work done after you get them out of the way.

Break up big goals to shorter clear tasks :

Don’t write for example ’ study maths ’ as a task, instead note exactly how you’re planning to do it, for instance ’ work 10 exercices from a certain book’ . It feels easier to get work done when it’s not just a vague goal.

Start homework as soon as you get. If you are busy, schedule a time block for doing it asap.

Break big projects to smaller tasks and schedule them on your planner.

You’ll more likely do them if you see them in your planner, then if it’s just an unclear deadline freaking you out and that you don’t know how to start.

Go to your classes and pay attention to your teachers:

Be ACTIVE. Ask questions, participate in class, it’s really helpful . Take your own notes, in your own way and don’t do just mindlessly note everything your teacher says. Pick just the important stuff or those that aren’t in the text book. Draw mind maps, lists, diagrams, use colors and leave space and margins.

When reviewing your notes, make them easier to understand by adding remarks from other sources in the margings.

I don’t know if it’s clear enough. But while reviewing my notes I like to use a pencil and try to make my notes easier to grasp, for example, write down a general way to solve all the problems that are similar to one that you have seen in class.

Study EVERYDAY:

Make studying a daily task. Don’t wait until the night before the test. Stay up to date with your classes.

Prepare your classes ahead of time time:

Read the text book. Google it. Watch YouTube videos. Take some notes and write questions for all the things you didn’t understand to ask in class. This way you won’t be overwhelmed in class and manage to not fall behind and make the most out if it.

Practice practice practice problems :

Work as much exercices as you can, and all the previous exams that you get your hands on. That way you know what the professor usually test the students on, and also you get used to working with your lessons, especially for maths and physics and such subjects.

Entelodonts: terrifying.

Shown here compared to a modern pig skull on the left. (Entelodonts were actually more closely related to whales and hippos than pigs.)