dopscratch - Tumblr blog

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status update: i drew them again and remmy's hair got even smaller

process of drawing an OC: - you design them - you get attached to them - their hair gets bigger without you realizing it

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All of these need to get on my desk IMMEDIATELY

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instagram: smacmccreanor

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Stop trying to be productive

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Parrot caught singing let the bodies hit the floor

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Missing him

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If the httyd books had modern slang, Snotlout would unironically call himself an Alpha male and call Hiccup a Beta. Hiccup would be very confused as to why Snotlout suddenly knows Greek and then would go off on a tangent about math and science because those are the only contexts he knows those words in.

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Hi I just learnt that grebe the bird existed and I am intrigued do you have any knowledge to drop on the dudes

BOY DO I! grebes are my favorite waterfowl!

they're specialist divers and fish hunters, and they're a pretty wide group with a LOT of species!

and they're all freaks. every single one of them.

they're most closely related to FLAMINGOS, of all things, which is why their feet are so weird! they evolved completely separate from other waterfowl like ducks and geese, so they did the flipper thing totally backwards.

this is going to be a theme, nothing these birds do is normal.

unlike other specialist diving birds (coughcough LOONS coughcough), they aren't totally incompetent on land! just, again. total freaks about it.

aaagh I love them so much I might actually explode

also they swim like frogs, babies can dive pretty much immediately after hatching, and adults can minutely adjust their buoyancy in the water at will like a fucking submarine. you just can't make any of this shit up.

weirdest fucking bird 100/10

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The Can-do Pelican Eel

The pelican eel, also known as the gulper eel (Eurypharynx pelecanoides), are the only known species of eel in the family Eurypharyngidae. They are found exclusively in the deeper parts of the water column, from depths of 500 up to to 3,000 m (1,600 to 9,800 ft), but are distributed throughout all the world's oceans.

The gulper eel is perhaps most famous for its unique body shape. Like many deep-sea fish, this species is highly adapted to its environment; maximum energy efficiency is the highest priority. To that end, the pelican eel has a large head, and a jaw estimated to be quarter of the total length of its body. The jaw is loosely hinged, meaning that gulper eels can open their mouths extremely wide. The rest of the eel, in contrast, is quite slender and long, about 0.75 m (2.5 ft) in length on average. Most individuals are black--so black, in fact, that they only reflect 0.5% of light; perfect for hiding from potential predators.

Although they look skinny, E. pelecanoides can expand their stomachs to hold prey much larger than themselves. Their primary prey consists of crustaceans and cephalopods, though they may feed opportunistically on other fish. Because it is so well camouflaged, it uses bioluminescent organs on the tip of its tail to attract prey. Gulper eels themselves are preyed upon by lancetfish and other larger deep-sea fish. To deter predators, they will gulp down a large amount of water; this stretches the loose skin around their head and throat, and inflates them to several times their usual size.

Because of their remote location, the breeding habits of gulper eels are relatively unknown. However, it is believed that smell plays a large part in attracting a mate, as pelican eels have highly developed olfactory organs. Like other eels, they're born as tiny, transparent larvae in a state known as the leptocephalus stage. At this stage, they do not have any red blood cells. Researchers aren't sure how long it takes gulper eels to become fully mature, or how long they live, but many believe that adults die shortly after mating.

Conservation status: The population size of E. pelecanoides has not been assessed, and thus the IUCN has not made a determination on its status. The greatest threat for this species is deep-sea trawling, which frequently brings up gulper eels as by-catch.

Photos/Video

Paul Caiger

Schmidt Ocean Institute

EV Nautilus Team (I highly recommend checking out their 2023 highlights reel!)

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Homalocephale complete!

I wanted to try to make a more lively painting this time… most of my creatures are just sitting there, chilling. But not this time haha

Some people think Homalocephale is a juvenile of Prenocephale, but I disagree. I do think it’s possible the holotype is a juvenile, but Homalo is so wide compared to Preno. I don’t think it would get slimmer as it aged, right?

Drawing Homalo is difficult, I chose a tricky angle of the head to draw. I think it looks a bit weird… oh well. Overall I’m not insanely proud of it but there’s some things I like and I enjoyed making it. Onto the next one!!

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For anyone who makes Gravity Falls fanart, having this is absolutely AMAZING!

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“‘He’s been hit…He’s been hit…’ Hiccup heard a shaking Fishlegs say as he helped Hiccup down from the Deadly Shadow’s back, and because Hiccup was nearly fainting it sounded like Fishlegs was talking from a long distance away.”

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odin is like “when thor was born the sun shone bright upon his beautiful face. i found loki on the sidewalk outside a taco bell”