#wildlife documentation

[billionneuronscurious]

Larva with Hydrophobic Coating? Larva navigating in a pond.

The effect of larva on the water surface would remind one of hydrophobic surface, water striders, cosmos, space and time...

(and there's a bird playing background music for the video.)

[lilybug-02]

Just watched a video with some excerpts about Jim Corbett.

Holy cow. I need to read his book.

[brahmenbones]

Hey what if I put the wild kratts on copper 9

[falloutoz]

Wasteland Field Guide: The Unicorn

The Unicorn is a notorious feral Sleipnir who roams the wider area of Avaton. It has a pure white coat—potentially due to albinism, though no one has been able to get close enough to see its eyes to be sure—and a single abnormally long tusk. The Vaqueros have urban legends about it, though whether they are all about this particular individual or whether it is simply the latest in a genetic line of odd-tusked white Slippers is unknown.

Unlike the old-world myths of unicorns, it is not an inherently peaceful individual, having attacked several people who have tried to get too close, and like all Slippers it is an omnivore.

It can be tamed by a Pioneer with the proper skills and used as a mount, providing extra carrying weight and speed when traveling.

[hmtaxidermy]

How do you source your animals?

Hello!

All my animals are brought to me by hunters. I do commercial taxidermy, so the customer brings me their animal and I return it to them as a taxidermied specimen. I don’t keep the majority of what I mount.

For my personal projects I either scavenge roadkill or buy specimen from other taxidermists.

[clumsiestgiantess]

This is just my DNAlien character, Vremonl

After feeding your pet human, you are shocked when it says “thank you” in your language.

[delicatelysublimeforester]

The City Nature Challenge: Let’s Have Some Fun in Nature!

[kermit-the-fox]

Grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in my local park. He just found something to eat when me and my dog approached, so he took shelter in the bush where he could eat in peace.

I'm growing fond of these guys even if they are invasive in my area.

[scoriarose]

I was just informed that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently planning to rescind their definition "harm" that is currently part of the endangered species act. You can find out more about this and the impact that it will have here: https://savetheesa.org/federal-register

This rule change will make destroying endangered species habitat no longer illegal under ESA regulations. As you can imagine, that will be catastrophic for countless species and their habitats, including many of our local herp species. The government is accepting public comments on this move until May 19th. If you love our wildlife and our wild places, I highly recommend submitting a comment urging US Fish and Wildlife to oppose the rescinding of this measure. You can learn how to do that here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/17/2025-06746/rescinding-the-definition-of-harm-under-the-endangered-species-act

If you want to be taken directly to the comment portal, click here: https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0034-0001

[reasonsforhope]

A mountain in New Zealand considered an ancestor by Indigenous people was recognized as a legal person on Thursday [January 30, 2025] after a new law granted it all the rights and responsibilities of a human being.

Mount Taranaki — now known as Taranaki Maunga, its Māori name — is the latest natural feature to be granted personhood in New Zealand, which has ruled that a river and a stretch of sacred land are people before. The pristine, snow-capped dormant volcano is the second highest on New Zealand's North Island at 2,518 meters (8,261 feet) and a popular spot for tourism, hiking and snow sports.

The legal recognition acknowledges the mountain's theft from the Māori of the Taranaki region after New Zealand was colonized. It fulfills an agreement of redress from the country's government to Indigenous people for harms perpetrated against the land since.

How can a mountain be a person?

The law passed Thursday gives Taranaki Maunga all the rights, powers, duties, responsibilities and liabilities of a person. Its legal personality has a name: Te Kāhui Tupua, which the law views as "a living and indivisible whole." It includes Taranaki and its surrounding peaks and land, "incorporating all their physical and metaphysical elements."

A newly created entity will be "the face and voice" of the mountain, the law says, with four members from local Māori iwi, or tribes, and four members appointed by the country's Conservation Minister.

Why is this mountain special?

"The mountain has long been an honored ancestor, a source of physical, cultural and spiritual sustenance and a final resting place," Paul Goldsmith, the lawmaker responsible for the settlements between the government and Māori tribes, told Parliament in a speech on Thursday.

But colonizers of New Zealand in the 18th and 19th centuries took first the name of Taranaki and then the mountain itself. In 1770, the British explorer Captain James Cook spotted the peak from his ship and named it Mount Egmont.

In 1840, Māori tribes and representatives of the British crown signed the Treaty of Waitangi — New Zealand's founding document — in which the Crown promised Māori would retain rights to their land and resources. But the Māori and English versions of the treaty differed — and Crown breaches of both began immediately.

In 1865, a vast swathe of Taranaki land, including the mountain, was confiscated to punish Māori for rebeling against the Crown. Over the next century hunting and sports groups had a say in the mountain's management — but Māori did not.

"Traditional Māori practices associated with the mountain were banned while tourism was promoted," Goldsmith said. But a Māori protest movement of the 1970s and '80s has led to a surge of recognition for the Māori language, culture and rights in New Zealand law.

Redress has included billions of dollars in Treaty of Waitangi settlements — such as the agreement with the eight tribes of Taranaki, signed in 2023.

How will the mountain use its rights?

"Today, Taranaki, our maunga, our maunga tupuna, is released from the shackles, the shackles of injustice, of ignorance, of hate," said Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, a co-leader of the political party Te Pāti Māori and a descendant of the Taranaki tribes, using a phrase that means ancestral mountain.

"We grew up knowing there was nothing anyone could do to make us any less connected," she added.

The mountain's legal rights are intended to uphold its health and wellbeing. They will be employed to stop forced sales, restore its traditional uses and allow conservation work to protect the native wildlife that flourishes there. Public access will remain.

Do other parts of New Zealand have personhood?

New Zealand was the first country in the world to recognize natural features as people when a law passed in 2014 granted personhood to Te Urewera, a vast native forest on the North Island. Government ownership ceased and the tribe Tūhoe became its guardian.

"Te Urewera is ancient and enduring, a fortress of nature, alive with history; its scenery is abundant with mystery, adventure, and remote beauty," the law begins, before describing its spiritual significance to Māori. In 2017, New Zealand recognized the Whanganui River as human, as part of a settlement with its local iwi.

How much support did the law receive?

The bill recognizing the mountain's personhood was affirmed unanimously by Parliament's 123 lawmakers. The vote was greeted by a ringing waiata — a Māori song — from the public gallery, packed with dozens who had traveled to the capital, Wellington, from Taranaki.

The unity provided brief respite in a tense period for race relations in New Zealand. In November, tens of thousands of people marched to Parliament to protest a law that would reshape the Treaty of Waitangi by setting rigid legal definitions for each clause. Detractors say the law — which is not expected to pass — would strip Māori of legal rights and dramatically reverse progress from the past five decades.

-via NPR, January 31, 2025

--

Note: The article doesn't get fully into the implications of the broader, global "rights of nature" movement (of which this is part), which is powerful tool for not only recognizing Indigenous ways of relating to the world, but also preventing ecological damage.

Examples of rights of nature include rivers having the right to not be polluted, etc. Powerful tool for leveraging the courts and legal frameworks against environmental destruction.

[techdriveplay]

Unleashing the Thrill: A Comprehensive Guide to Adventure Travel

Adventure travel is not just about leaving the beaten path; it's about discovering it. It's an invitation to challenge oneself.

The call of the unknown, the allure of the untouched, and the thrill of the unimaginable – adventure travel is not just about leaving the beaten path; it’s about discovering it. In an era where the quest for unique experiences outshines the desire for material possessions, adventure travel has emerged as a beacon for those seeking to explore the world beyond traditional tourist vistas. It’s an…

[theymightbebipeds]

ENCOUNTER: HERICIUM ERINACEUS OF MYTHIC PROPORTIONS

[corvidaemnit]

In order to show my support for palestine, I thought I would make a post— in typical bird nerd fashion— highlighting some information about one of the many symbols of freedom for the palestinian people: the palestine sunbird.

you’ve seen this bird everywhere lately I’m sure,

so, you may be wondering.. why is this bird so important?

In 2013, Israel campaigned to remove ‘palestine’ from the bird’s name. this failed, however, when the palestine wildlife society (PWS) petitioned to instead adopt it as palestine’s national bird as a direct defiance of the campaign.

in 2015, the palestine sunbird was officially declared the national bird of palestine.

the palestinian artist khaled jarrar designed a border control stamp featuring the sunbird with which he stamped passports as a cry for freedom.

more recently, khaled jarrar has also created these postal stamps for the same message— in defiance of israel’s efforts to erase palestine.

here you can find an incredible, short documentary detailing his work across the years to use his art as a protest against the plight of the palestinian people.

another palestinian artist, rasha eleyan, uses the sunbird in her work as a motif for the strength and boldness of palestinian women:

(source)

the palestinian poet tamim al-barghouti has tied the palestine sunbird’s beauty to resilience, in saying: “whenever you face injustice or roughness, remember to defend yourself by finding beauty… document, prove, and defend it because all beauty is resistance.”

the palestine sunbird is a symbol of hope and strength. It’s a symbol of fighting back against the odds and refusal to go quietly into the night— refusal to be erased.

continue to support palestinian artists.

continue to support palestine.

raise the voices of those who now, more than ever, need to be heard.

from the river to the sea, palestine will be free.

[falloutoz]

Wasteland Field Guide: Sleipnir

Descended from prewar horses, Sleipnir (colloquially referred to as Slippers) are strong, hardy beasts primarily used by the Vaqueros as mounts and work animals. Ambient radiation has caused physical mutations including six legs and tusks, and ecological pressures have forced them to become more omnivorous than their prewar counterparts. While not as fast as radraptors, they are stronger and have higher endurance, making them excellent partners for the working wastelander—provided you can gain their trust.

[typhlonectes]

BREAKING: New Jaguar Just Dropped!

A Center for Biological Diversity analysis of a trail camera detection by wildlife enthusiast Jason Miller confirms we have a new jaguar in Arizona, making it the 8th jaguar documented in the U.S. Southwest in the past 3 decades. The rosette pattern on each jaguar is unique, like a human fingerprint, and it enables identification of specific animals. The pattern shows this jaguar is not Sombra or El Jefe, two jaguars who have roamed Arizona in recent years. Jaguars once lived throughout the American Southwest, with historical records on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, the mountains of Southern California and as far east as Louisiana. But they virtually disappeared from this part of their range over the past 150 years, primarily due to habitat loss and historic government predator control programs intended to protect the livestock industry.

Read more: https://biodiv.us/3RORtQp

[pigeonflavouredcake]

Grimoire ideas that aren't research

While my grimoire is dedicated to research and documentation and I love that for it, I totally get how a load of writing isn't for every practitioner. I didn't want to leave you guys out so here are some grimoire ideas that aren't related to research.

_________________

Pen test/paint test page

make a spell page or prayer page in the style of collage/black out poetry

make a zine of the holidays/your preferred tools/deities/spirits ect.

make collage of your deities/spirits or local wildlife

tape grid/dump

sticker dump

sigil dump

If you're handy with a needle and thread, turn those sigils into patches for your clothes

Tape in an envelope to store excess thread or make a page of thread colour correspondences

if you enjoy cooking, make a list of flavour combos and their magical properties including dish uses, colour schemes, aromas, general vibes ect.

Rip off the labels of your candles, herbs and spices and stick them in your grimoire for future reference

design your own insignia (you don't have to be in a coven)

stick in pictures of local haunted attractions/spiritual places and (optionally) write about them

make a collage of you ideal work space or meditation spot

Plan/design your ritual outfit

make a charging station for small objects then design a large one for yourself (can be conceptual or literal)