noxi0usly - Tumblr blog

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I’ve been waiting a year to post this

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i accidentally clicked onto and off of the "explore" page very quickly, and in the second or so that the explore page was onscreen i saw a beautiful photoshopped image that may infact be nothing like how i saw it due to the speed at which it appeared and disappeared.... but still. what i saw was beautiful

it looked like this

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Do you guys remember when Ocie joined and we thought she was gonna be isla?It’s kinda funny cause she’s got the blond hair and blue accents but instead of flowers it’s fins.

Do you guys think that after fable got out of purgatory he would walk around the grove with his children and find himself struck with panic as he occasionally sees Ocie in the distance, free and living her life. Do you think that in these moments, when she is far away, that he thinks she’s her. That for a brief sickening moment, all of his sins are out in the open and Isla is actually free?

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it’s so funny I think pearl is, secretly, a complete sweat, people just don’t call her a sweat the way they do like, joel because they don’t notice. she so frequently is like “haha guys don’t expect me to be good at this I’m just here for fun” and then puts the most time and effort into Winning of anyone ever. this is repeatedly true. I think the main thing that makes people not realize she’s a sweat is that she’s so cheerful about it. she does not experience gamer rage she experiences gamer nirvana I think. girl who wanders in like “oh hey are we having a competition?” and proceeds to wreck shop,

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People never seem to want to hang out at animal habitats. If they can’t see something immediately, they just leave. If you’re patient enough to stay, sometimes incredibly magical experiences happen. Like this one.

Those are California condors. Biggest wingspan in North America, incredibly endangered, and the only species with approval from USDA for emergency use of the poultry avian flu vaccine.

Towards the end of the day, once things got quiet, I sat down near where one was foraging and just hung out. Then… they noticed me.

I can only upload one video so I’m going with the one where I was showing them my glasses, since they kept trying to peck at my shoelaces and fingers and I wondered what else they'd be interested in.

They stayed there with me for at least five minutes, given the duration of video I took. Just chilling, watching me, interacting a little. It was just us - nobody else approached. Until eventually they chose to go do their own thing, and I sat there in awe for a while.

It’s worth it to wait, when you can.

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are you telling me americans have stores that open up SPECIFICALLY for halloween and just. dont exist any other time of the year. you people are insane

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The way people demonize seagulls is actually unreal. Almost all of their natural habitat has been destroyed (almost all coastal areas have been developed, destroying natural sand dune ecosystems) and they're doing their best to adapt. They're literally just trying to survive. You're in their home. The vitriol some people have for these gorgeous sea birds just because they're not shy about snatching food if you're not cautious is insane

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Nobody’s Soldier is c!Centross coded I will be taking no further questions

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It’s so fascinating to me that we’ve only been breeding Komodo dragons in captivity for thirty years. In that time, our understanding of them has actually really revolutionized the way we understand the social lives and behaviors of lizards in general, and it’s mostly thanks to this lady right here, who was born 30 years ago on September 13, 1992.

Kraken was the first Komodo to be bred in captivity. She hatched out at GMU, but was raised at the National Zoo. Her parents were wild-caught dragons- there’s still WC dragons in the AZA today- and this one specific individual probably did more to revolutionize lizard care in professional settings than any other individual lizard throughout zoo history.

Until Kraken, social enrichment wasn’t a thing people thought about. It wasn’t something anybody felt was necessary for lizards, because they were just… lizards. Sure, some keepers would play with their favorites, but it wasn’t until the National Zoo started documenting what she was doing that anybody realized how much Komodo dragons like to play with us too.

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Kraken’s not in that video, but she’s the one who inspired all of the social studies that have been done on captive Komodo dragons. When she was at the National Zoo, her keepers  started getting curious when, for no apparent reason, she kept gingerly stealing things from peoples’ pockets and tugging on their shoelaces. So they started giving her stuff- Frisbees, blankets, soda cans, anything she showed an interest in.

She played with them, just like a mammal might. The way play behavior is described in psychology is a given activity that’s voluntary, repeated, and conducted under “relatively benign” circumstances. Keeper staff found that her conduct during the study met all of these criteria. “Kraken,” they wrote, had clearly demonstrated “play-like behavior with objects and even with humans (tug-of-war).” Moreover, she “could discriminate between prey and nonprey” while showing “varying responses” with different items (rubber rings, shoes, etc.). (There’s an excellent book on Komodo dragons that has an entire chapter devoted to her.)

Kraken died several years ago, but her legacy continues today. There’s several of her descendants still in the AZA, and the intelligence and social needs she demonstrated led to the improvement of life for these guys- and other lizards. The Komodo dragon program has been an eye opener, not just for reptile conservation, but for understanding reptile intelligence and how this incredible clade of animals functions.

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Do animals cuddle in the wild ?

(Totally not me wanting an excuse to see cute animals photos)

pretty much all animals with social or semi-social lifestyles cuddle at least occasionally in the wild for everything from protection to enhancing bonds and relieving stress! this includes everything from birds and mammals to some really unexpected animals like sharks.

touch is just a near-universal love language.

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Jerboa By: Oleg Belyalov From: Realms of the Russian Bear 1992

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It *is* a problem that charismatic species are often focused on for conservation at the expense of less charismatic but important species, but threatened species that are the subject of a lot of public outreach and education are also typically strategically selected.

I suspect that monarch butterflies are an example of this. Milkweed is a highly valuable plant for pollinators and a host plant for like. 400+ insect species. Getting people to plant it to save monarchs is funny because you're essentially finessing people into saving a ton of other insects that they wouldn't ordinarily care about

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People who like mantises but aren't that into entomology are always "orchid mantises" this and "orchid mantises" that. Overrated. Can we talk about Toxodera integrifolia for a minute:

(Image links because as much as it pains me I've never seen one of these beauties irl: 1 2 3)

Like how are these things real. Girl what is that thorax shape. Why are you wearing eyeliner. And the colors? Absolutely fire. This is a 10/10 insect if you ask me.

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Fresh out the egg with my big feet

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LETS GO anti poaching win