cloudclipper - Tumblr blog

[cloudclipper]

So i was reading one of sy mongomery's books recently and she talkes about how wolf spiders can see the moon. Can a lot of insects, like, not see her?

I’ll tell you a secret: most arthropod eyes are incredibly shitty.

they may have a near-360-degrees of view, but most insects eyes simply aren’t on the same level as yours, and it’s because of physics!

see, each of those individual bumps on those eyes up there is a convex lens, which focuses light onto a retina to form a picture of their surroundings. 

however, the power of a lens dramatically decreases the smaller it is, because small lenses capture less light to make into an image! 

to these animals, the world is a brightly colored blur that extends out for a few feet around them, and ends there. so no, they CANNOT see the moon. weep for them.

to insects, humans have god-level foresight and prescience! HOW DID YOU KNOW THERE WAS FOOD OVER THERE, HUMAN. TELL ME HOW.

but some spiders are different.

see that? those eyes are completely smooth! jumping spiders in particular have developed eyes with a single massive (for a bug) lens on the outside, and a second focusing lens on the inside, giving them single-image vision much like your own. 

the diagram of their eyes looks like a pair of binoculars, and their focusing power is completely nuts, enough so to make up for that underpowered lens! 

so yes, some spiders CAN see the moon! take solace in this fact.

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the

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Yellow perch!

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Betta hendra! (Or really any of the wild bettas you fancy!)

fish 68 - betta hendra

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Camel fact: They're incredibly flexible and can kick in any direction. You are not safe from a camel kick just because you're standing in front or to the side

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male euthalia adonia | source

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best thing about tumblr is seeing pictures of Weird Creatures I’d never heard of before

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they love apple more than god

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First class rendition of Baba Yaga’s house for Lisa’s chickens. (Look at the bronze chicken feet!)

Keep reading

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Creature of the Night: 

“Feathered Dinosaurs aren’t scary,” is false, it’s about how it is presented and nothing is more terrifying than a bitter truth. 

by Jayson Duria/WobblyWorks

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Masha The Hero

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have you seen a patagonian mara? they're such strangely charming little guys that look like a mix between a deer and some sort of mammal. spoiler: theyre a cousin of the capybara, making them a rodent. have fun looking at them!

Oh yes, they are great! They do look like a Guinea pig that couldn’t decide whether to become an ungulate or a hare.

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Some fun felted friends!

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they’re here! it’s them! the

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I'm not making a universal general statement here but maybe this will help some people who are afraid of bugs.

I'm terribly arachnophobic. horribly. I get it, the irrational fear you can't fully erase. Yes I'm an entomologist and yes everyone at work thinks it's very funny.

But the more you pick away bit by bit at that general massive ball of fear, the more you can understand it and turn fear to wonder. I started small, just learning some facts about spiders but still unable to stomache looking at pictures.

And then I realized I could look at jumping spiders fine and made an effort to try to appreciate what I could about them. From there I could realized I could look at and Touch harvestmen and that there was a whole world to them to learn and love too. And by turning that Ambiguous Ball of Fear into curiosity and respect I've gotten to a place I can live side by side with my arachnophobia and approach spiders with appreciation, even if I will cry if forced to touch one.

And I guess it makes me sad when people's response to their fear is hatred and to kill. I understand the phobia and bugs and wasps especially is real and I'll never try to convince someone they're wrong for it - but treating insects with intentional ignorance will only make it worse and keep you from a whole world of wonder.

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Bupkis and Beeftongue.

Bupkis and Beeftongue.

Bupkis and Beeftongue.