whats-the-beast

[whats-the-beast]

That is not a mole but a short-tailed shrew. Moles have massive claws!

I’m in tears… look at her…

[whats-the-beast]

Likely giant red flying squirrels (Petaurista petaurista)

[whats-the-beast]

Looks like a bittern, albeit with its neck puffed up and dragging a wing. I can't see if the other wing is down. Bitterns will puff up their neck as a threat display and can look quite ridiculous. Below photo by Davey Walters of a Least Bittern

Hard to tell the exact species from the poor video quality. The black wings and brown colors are making me say American bitter. Below photo by Nathan Dubrow

You Decide 🤔

[whats-the-beast]

Black-crowned night heron

bath time

[whats-the-beast]

Sharp tailed grouse, courtship dance by the males

🦉🦉🦉

[whats-the-beast]

to do justice to the bittern, here is what it looks like when they strike the pose IN reeds!

looks at you

[whats-the-beast]

While this isn't the usual focus of this blog, I know this story and wanted to share... This is not edited! This was a stray cat from the streets of Varna, Bulgaria; who dyed himself green by sleeping on paint. Find more footage below with a video from 2014, the year it happened.

https://youtu.be/I38vYIebEsk

The cat got lucky as the pigments were non toxic. Eventually, he was caught and washed by volunteers.

i really really really like this post

[whats-the-beast]

This is an agressive male wood grouse, an extremely rare european mountain bird from the same family as pheasants and peacocks. You can see a video of the male's mating display here.

[whats-the-beast]

A very thirsty king cobra (source for the story). Not an animal I'd recommend getting any sorts of close with, but this situation was well handled for everyone involved, so it seems.

[whats-the-beast]

Pied falconet

[whats-the-beast]

this is a wren, likely a Pacific or Eurasian wren. Where I could not find a source for the photo, it's likely to be real - wrens are extremely small birds, weighting 10g on average for these species!

[whats-the-beast]

This is likely a Satanic leaf tailed gecko!

[whats-the-beast]

Pyrenean desman, photo by Joel Sartore for NatGeo :)

turnips? do you have any turnips

[whats-the-beast]

while this is a joke post, i would like you to know about the pyrenean desman :) while it looks indeed like the frog-mouse gap, it’s closely related to moles!

(image sources: 1&3 by Richard Danis, 2 by Lucas Santucci)

i honestly feel like some ecological niches just aren’t filled. Like, what fills the gap between a frog and a mouse? Some sort of bug probably. A rude one, even. Just saying- there should be more cool animals to discoever.

[whats-the-beast]

Bug caught in a fabric pattern printer

[whats-the-beast]

Could one of my followers help ID this lovely little guy?

Found today while gathering acorns (swamp white oak). How adorable is this? I love her little feet, and the way she pivots around her proboscis, fascinated by how far her head rotates… Curculio sp. (if anyone can ID to species, please add!)

[whats-the-beast]

Olive python and a bunch of very horny cane toads. The photo was taken in Australia. Article here where the photographer and animal experts explain in detail what is going on