𓆰𓅢 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𓅢𓆰

So goofy

rabid rabies man

Wild Stingrays making sounds beneath the waves

Stingrays: no longer the silent residents of the sea! 

Our new Journal of Ecology paper provides the first evidence of not one but TWO species of #stingray actively producing sounds 🔊 

https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3812 

We present 3 examples of sound production by wild stingrays - one of an adult mangrove whipray (Urogymnus granulatus) in #Indonesia by #scuba diver Philip Christoff, a juvenile mangrove whipray at #MagneticIsland in the #GreatBarrierReef by biologist and photographer Javier Delgado Esteban, and an adult cowtail stingray (Pastinachus ater) at #HeronIsland the Great Barrier Reef by marine biologist and photographer Johnny Gaskell.

The sounds are characterised by short, sharp ‘clicks’ and likely serve as a warning or defence signal. Both species often form large groups, so it may alert others to potential danger, suggesting a role in intraspecific communication! The mechanism is still unclear 🤔 but it appears they are produced through rapid movement of the jaw or head and spiracles behind the eye. 

 Almost 990 species of bony #fish have been shown to actively produce sounds, but until now #elasmobranchs (sharks, rays, and skates) have been considered silent. We show that this is a misconception, and more #research into this ability is needed! Turns out we have much to learn about life beneath the waves… 

 Given these observations were captured opportunistically by different people, we expect more to come to light in these and possibly by other species. If you’ve seen something similar, please get in touch! 

 The paper is fairly short and you don’t need specialist skills to understand most of it, so do take a read & let us know what you think 👍. 

The early view pre-typesetting version is up now here:

https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3812 

(all versions will be open access and free to read)

Adult and juvenile vaquita (Phocoena sinus) skeletons displayed at Museo Laberinto de las Ciencias in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. [x]

Me when the seal is Baikal

headworld protag redesign junk… read more for even more junk!

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White-footed fox, a subspecies of the red fox, at the London Zoo By: Unknown photographer From: London Zoo: A Series of Fifty Real Photograps 1920s

Rare footage of an Eastern black rhinoceros [ Diceros bicornis michaeli ] and her calf, taken in the 1950s in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. The rhino, known as “Gertie”, had a horn that measured nearly 4ft in length before breaking off naturally sometime in the 1960s, possibly during a fight with another rhino.

The demand for rhinoceros horn has made sights such as this exceedingly rare. As of 1992, only 2 rhinos were left in Amboseli National Park, where the animal is now considered locally extinct, while the subspecies as a whole is listed as critically endangered.

[ video source ]