#cave animal

[bethanythebogwitch]

This Wet Beast Wednesday is going to get dark. Not because of any grim subject matter, but because it involves caves. The olm (Proteus anguinus) is a cave-dwelling salamander classified as a troglobite, meaning it lives only in caves and cannot survive elsewhere. Compare to a trogophile (lives both in caves and outside) and a trogloxene (visits caves, but can't survive long-term in them). It is found in caves in the Dinaric Alps mountain range and can be found near Trieste, Italy, southwestern Croatia, and Bosnia, and has been introduced to a few other cave systems. Historically, they have been known for washing out of caves after heavy rainfall, where they were often though to be baby cave dragons. The olm sets the record for being Europes only trogolobitic chordate and the largest trogobite in the world at 20-30 cm (8-12 in) long.

(Image: a olm seen from above)

Unlike most salamanders, the olm is exclusively aquatic, living entirely underwater. To support this lifestyle, it is neotenic (retains juvenile characterists as an adult), having external gills for its entire life. The adult form does have lungs, but they are only used in ery low-oxygen environments. Despite sharing this adaptation with the North American axolotl, the two species are not closely related. They also have multiple adaptations for a life spent in complete darkness. Like many other cave-dwellers, olms are blind. Their eyes are very underdeveloped, but are still sensitive enough to detect light, which the olm flees from. To compensate, their other senses are more developed than those of other salamanders. They have powerful chemoreception through taste and smell, able to detect very low concentrations of chemicals in the water. It also has powerful hearing and a unique organ on its head that allows it to pick up electric fields. They are known to use this sense to orient themselves with the planet's magnetic field lines. Olm skin is thin and has no pigment, giving it a very pale coloration. They do retain the ability to create melanin and will gradually darken if exposed to light, though this is stressful for it. Their bodies are long, slender, and flexible, with underdeveloped legs. This allows them to have more sensory receptors along the body as well as helping them move through tight places.

(image: the head of an olm)

Olms live life in slow motion. The scarcity of food in their habitats is matched with a very slow metabolism that also gives them extremely long lifespans. They feed on small invertebrates and are capable of going on extremely long fasts between meals by reducing activity and metabolic rate. Olms can last up to 10 years between meals and one was recorded as staying in the same spot for 7 years without moving. They have an estimated maximum lifespan of 100 years and an estimated average lifespan of around 68 years. It takes a juvenile around 14 years to become sexually mature (though this rate in increased in warmer water) and females typically only reproduce every 12.5 years. Sexually active males establish a territory and chase other males away. This is notable because olms are otherwise gregarious, meaning they try to live around others. Mating pairs perform a mating ritual in which they circle around each other while touching each other with their snouts. The male then releases a spermatophore (sperm capsule) and the two wriggle together until it reaches the female's cloaca. Females lay their eggs in small cracks or between rocks and protect them as they develop. Some older references state that olms give live birth at low enough temperatures, but this has never been observed by scientists.

(gif: an olm moving around)

Olms have a subspecies called the black olm (Proteus anguinus parkelj) that is found in a very small cave system in Slovenia and has several differences from other olms. Black olms have pigmented skin, fully developed (though still small) eyes, and its other senses are weaker. This suggests that the black olm is a much more recent colonist of caves and has yet to fully adapt to an underground lifestyle. In addition, olms from different cave systems have minor physical variations, usually involving head size.

(image: a black olm from above)

Olms are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN, though local populations may have their own classifications. Their biggest threat is from pollution, especially wastewater runoff containing pesticides, fertilizers, and PCBs. Olms are also targeted by the black market pet trade and many places have laws preventing the removal of olms except for scientific purposes. Caves are temporary structures and species specially adapted to live in them will always be in danger should the environment change rapidly or the cave collapses. Olms have been introduced to a few other cave systems. Olms are considered a national symbol of Slovenia, especially as their presence in Postojna cave was one of the inspirations for the beginning of cave biology as a field and they are still used to encourage ecotourism.

(image: an official Slovenian coin depicting an olm)

[fanvoidkeith]

hey remember when everyone thought axolotls were weird and ugly?

me neither. that's my baby boy(?) right there

[mecharexisbones]

Here’s that horse again

*in the tone of a estranged grandmother*

You love horse

Horse was always your favourite what happened?

[bovineblogger]

i was struck w madness and made some cave painting inspired drawings of winged cattle.... save me aurochs

[the-cricket-chirps]

Bison From Cave Of Altamira, Santander, Spain, ca. 10,000 B.C, with artist’s interpretation.

[allosaurusrock]

Just learned about something very very cool that I’m shocked I didn’t know about before- Paleoburrows.

These are giant tunnels, mostly found in Brazil. Over 1,500 of them are documented.

It was originally assumed that they were dug by indigenous people, and many of them were repurposed into human shelters at some point, but we now believe they were built by prehistoric megafauna.

We know this because of distinct claw marks along the walls of the caverns, unlike anything humans have produced.

They come in a variety of sizes.

The smaller ones were probably dug by large armadillos, such as Holmesina.

The larger could have been dug by giant ground sloths like Glossotherium.

Thank you for reading, I just thought this was cool and wanted to share.

Sources and credits after the cut

Additional photos:

Additional photos:

[tubbytarchia]

Just a preview but heavens these guys make me want to animate (and suffer by virtue) (Psst, I would appreciate if you check my now official twt post of this, as it's also been reuploaded by someone who isn't me!)

[dcxdpdabbles]

Ooh I got something for you.

Cave Danny leaves the house, and comes back with a small child. He of course will be taking the child with him when he leaves, the child attacked him and tried to steal his food, so he must WANT to come with Danny. Stop laughing Jason.

I'll do you one better.

So this takes place before Danny goes on his solo trip to the mall and KOs the Joker.

Cave!boy Danny isn't allowed near humans or to leave the manor- to keep the cover story for his dimension traveling- but he is permitted to take walks on Wayne's property.

So Bruce opens the door to tell Danny that dinner is ready, and Bruce is stunned to see him sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by raccoons, birds, squirrels, and some rabbits.

Danny looks up at Bruce with a bright sparkling smile "Aren't they lovely!?"

The rest of the Bats look at Damian and respond, "Huh.

They never knew Bruce liked animals as a kid as much as Damian. Alfred laughs, saying that he used to chase out rats all the time because young Bruce kept scooping them up in the streets and bringing them home.

"Where are the bats?" Steph asks looking at the menagerie that Brucie snuck in. He got them from the property so she suprise he didn't grab some from the caves.

"No. Bats are evil" Brucie says with narrow eyes. "They remind me of tiny vampires. Fruitloop is a vampire"

Jason suddenly cracks up "I forgot Bruce is scared of Bats! That's why he dressed up as bat-man! To be fear!"

Dick laughs alongside him, voice going low and inheriting a growl " I am the night. I am the vengeance. I am the greatest horror to a fully grown man- a bat!"

Alfred laughs with the family until he sees one of the raccoons bite Brucie and all but launches himself at him with a rabies shot. "BLOODY HELL NOT AGAIN!"

[pangur-and-grim]

the Lascaux cave art pins are now live at greerstothers.shop

I’ve loved these for ages, because of how they show the colourations of extinct animals! that’s something that is so hard to preserve through fossils, but now we know that prehistoric horses had Przewalski-esque coats, that giant elk had these dark shoulder humps, and that cave lions were tawny with dorsal stripes

[fence-time]

Zeedap walked cycle sned post

[mfdragon]

Hey, y’all remember that time the Autobots huddled up to plan cause they were getting their entire asses beat and Blitzwing just fuckin stood there posin’?

Honestly one of my favourite moments in the show; top three at least! Only Blitzwing would be like “yo FUCK Megatron, I wanna see how hard these bitches can HIT ME!!!”

[typhlonectes]

Texas zoo hatches brood of rare, ghostlike crayfish species

The hatchlings also mark the second-ever breeding of a blind, white, and 'cave-adapted' crayfish.

Another Texas zoo is celebrating a historic milestone in the restoration of a critically endangered species. This week, the San Antonio Zoo announced the births of 47 Oklahoma Cave Crayfish (Cambarus tartarus). Born at the zoo's Center for Conservation and Research (CCR), the crayfish are the first-ever to be hatched under the care of humans. 

Known as one of the rarest crayfish species in North America, the Oklahoma Cave Crayfish is no more than three inches in length, with a white or colorless appearance, according to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. The crayfish, which have no external eyes, thin pinchers and legs, are most at risk from groundwater pollution. Direct disturbance of their caves, which are limited to a single county in northeast Oklahoma, is also a critical threat. The state has listed the species as "state endangered." However, the species is undergoing review for possible inclusion on the endangered species list by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...

Read more: https://www.chron.com/life/wildlife/article/texas-zoo-rare-crayfish-18364707.php

[corvidaedaze]

The olm, one of the less scary animals that resides in deep waters in dark caves, mostly oddly long and blank faced as the curl up within deep, wide and long pools of water.

[hadrassians]

restless dead

composition & pose inspired by the consolation by j.c. leyendecker

[bovineblogger]

u guys seemed to like my cowie cave paintings so HERES SOME MORE!!!!! including a bnuuy and a pallas cat lol

[herpsandbirds]

White Cave Velvet Worm (Peripatopsis alba), family Peripatopsidae, endemic to 2 cave systems in South Africa

Live bearing (viviparous).

Vulnerable, rare.

photograph by Rodrigo Ferreira