Shout-out To The Little Girl At Work Who Started Crying When She Saw A Tarantula Not Because It Was Scary

Hey so what the FUUUUUUCK happened in this beetle’s evolution??? For that matter why didn’t I know about these if they’re a “common wood-boring pest???”

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep27364 Under “normal” circumstances, they don’t form adults and the larva simply clones new larvae that eat their way out of the “mother larva.” If exposed to extreme heat, they’ll pupate and turn into little beetles like their ancestors did, and the little beetles go through a whole elaborate courtship period where the females fight with each other over territory and try to mount males or each other (apparently the first time same-sex coupling was observed in a beetle), with both sexes having unique little dances to communicate with each other. If I’m reading correctly the male has a mating display while the female has like a little “rejection dance” I think? And then it doesn’t matter because all adults are sterile so the population just dies off.

Invertebrate medicine is wild

Guys, omg. Something happened at this conference that I never ever thought would happen–I found invertebrates super interesting. And I kind of want to work with them. I didn’t even know that was an option! Also I’ve always been terrified of insects and arachnids but THEY’RE SO COOL I’VE BEEN SO WRONG ABOUT THEM. Look at this:

Look at that anatomy!!! How cool is that?? Their heart is just…dorsal. Like why?? And you can hear it with a doppler! You can anesthetize a tarantula with isoflurane and monitor their heart rate with a doppler. That blew my mind. You can perform surgery on them and suture them with 6-0 ophthalmic suture! You can give them IV and sub q fluids. That’s crazy!! And look how they drink:

Apparently they just drink like that?? I dunno why but that’s kind of cute?? They use hydrostatic pressure to move (which is crazy cool) so dehydration is actually a serious issue with them.

He also talked about scorpions, snails, shrimp, roaches, centipedes, crabs and a bunch of other animals I never would have even imagined you could treat. And honestly, I never imagined I would care enough to want to treat them but they were actually so interesting I ended up grabbing his email! Am I gonna be a spider vet?? Like that’s the last thing I EVER thought I would want do but hey, if I’m gonna treat exotics might as well include invertebrates, right?

LICHENS

vor dem Harz photos

I’m not a songbird. I’m a screm bird!

bro when did porn bots start getting urls this good

emo about lichens again

No one:

Bisexuals:

Inktober 2019 - Day 19 - “Sling”

House Finch variety. The one with the orange-golden tones has been around for a bit, and I love all the colors on him. The other one I would have thought was a lady, but the blush is confusing.