'Nature of Wildworks', a rescue in Coarsegold, CA, shared this video of Cliff the Cougar purring in contentment. Cats that roar (lions, tigers) generally can't meow or purr for anatomical reasons. But let's explore WHY cats purr. We can start by asking: WHEN do they purr? (📷: Nature of Wildworks)

From the Fort Worth Zoo: Raani the Indian gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) admires her baby, newly hatched. The Fort Worth Zoo had 8 (!) babies hatch this season. The population of these critically endangered crocs is less than 1000 globally, so every hatchling matters. (📷: Fort Worth Zoo)

Don't believe the LIES of BIG CORN DOG. These things grow WILD in wetlands across the US. That's why I always carry a jar of mustard when hiking, in case I feel like a snack. Let's talk about Typha latifolia, the broadleaf cattail & their remarkable seed dispersal capacity.

Bless the memory of Stanislav Yevgrafovich, the Man Who Saved the World. At a moment when it mattered, he chose humanity.

Ed Maibach@maibached.bsky.social · yesterday

Happy Stanislav Petrov Day He passed in 2017. As Encyclopedia Britannica puts it, “He is survived by his two children, two grandchildren, and the entire human race.” If you don't know his story, please take 3 minutes now to learn it. @gchalliance.bsky.social @docsforclimate.bsky.social

Goooooood morning, pika fans It's September, and you know what that means! That's right, we are Making Hay, we are Perching On Rocks, we are Squeaking

I wanted to photograph this moose as he was shedding velvet but on the big day he played hard to get. Once it was gone I couldn't shake him, he was everywhere I went. Chugach State Park #Alaska

PEZ Band-Aids Dick van Dyke PCP Kool-Aid ... all older than sliced bread.

c0nc0rdance@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · last yr.

"The best thing since sliced bread" is an odd phrase until you realize commercially sliced bread only dates to 1928, making it a newer innovation than aerosol cans, TV & PEZ candy. Let's learn about Otto Frederick Rohwedder's invention of the best thing since the last best thing.

Apparently we have ongoing IT issues. The Wi-Fi signal keeps dropping and nobody can work out why. IT have investigated and believe they’ve identified the problem. There appears to be a large tangerine obstruction sitting directly on top of it

"Snotites" was coined in 1986 by cave explorer & park ranger Jim Pisarowicz as a blend of "snot" & "stalactite" because of how much they look & feel like dripping nasal mucus. But, like, made of rock, bacterial biofilm & concentrated sulfuric acid.

c0nc0rdance@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 2y ago

In deep caves, where sulfur-rich water bubbles up then outgasses, an ecosystem of bacteria metabolize the sulfur gas into sulfuric acid, dissolving stone, expanding the cave, and producing snot-like strings of acidic biofilm ... snotites. Let's talk about them.

There are days I regret going into the lab side of biology and not the "scrub a happy alligator named Claude" side.

California Academy of Sciences@calacademy.bsky.social · last yr.

It’s Trivia Tuesday! 🤓 Claude has a skincare routine! Once a week, Claude’s biologists will give him a scrub to help remove any algal buildup. Claude loves these scrubs and they only take place if he wants them. So, if he’s looking extra green one day, assume he just wanted to skip this week.

History is stranger than fiction. The tiny mining town of Swastika, Ontario (pop 500) was named in 1907 for a lucky symbol on a necklace. During WWII, the provincial government put up a sign renaming it "Winston", but locals put their own sign up: "To hell with Hitler, we had the swastika first."

Girl dinner

WIRED@wired.com · 3d ago

One of the great mysteries in astronomy has been why Venus has no moon. Now a new theory provides a simple answer: It might have been eaten. www.wired.com/story/venus-...

Lord of the Rings, but instead of the "Gondor Calls for Aid" Lighting-of-the-Beacons scene, it's just this little guy:

c0nc0rdance@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Aww... look, she brought you some flowers! Let's meet the American pika (Ochotona princeps). The scientific name is from Mongolian 'ogotno' meaning "pika" & Latin princeps for 'first' or 'chief'. They're lagomorphs, in the same taxonomic Order as rabbits & hares, but adapted to mountain environs.

ᵐᵉʷ ᵐᵉʷ ᵐᵉʷ ᵐᵉʷ

I'm proud to present our newest publication: "Vampire bats 🦇: Sucking the most out of blood", led by Aryan Ghader from @westernu.ca and including @giuliarossi.bsky.social! @utscbiology.bsky.social @utsc.utoronto.ca @frontiersmedia.bsky.social #SciComm #bats kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....

Vampire Bats: Sucking the Most Out of Blood

Vampire bats are the only mammals that live on nothing but blood. Blood is almost entirely made of water and protein and contains very little sugar or fat, which most animals rely upon for energy. So ...

kids.frontiersin.org

Had the opportunity to interview @giuliarossi.bsky.social on this research in late 2024! I didn't include it here, but she also set one of the slow-mo vids to Unk's "Walk It Out" and it fits *perfectly*.

Moment of Science: Vampire Bat Metabolism

It's the Running of the Vampire Bats! Here's how researchers recently found out that these unique mammals can rely solely on blood to fuel their wings and legs. 🦇🦇🦇

13abc.com

Here's another fun fact: The clotting inhibitor in vampire bat saliva is named "Draculin". 🦇🧛‍♂️ Because scientists are all nerds.🤓

c0nc0rdance@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 2d ago

To celebrate Spooky Season, let's learn why this vampire bat is running on a treadmill. The three species of vampire bats are the only known mammals to be obligate hemophages: 100% of their calories come from blood. The Common Vampire Bat (Desmodus rotundus) prefers mammals... (📷: Giulia Rossi)

To celebrate Spooky Season, let's learn why this vampire bat is running on a treadmill. The three species of vampire bats are the only known mammals to be obligate hemophages: 100% of their calories come from blood. The Common Vampire Bat (Desmodus rotundus) prefers mammals... (📷: Giulia Rossi)

The Dallas Zoo & Fort Worth Zoo, both wonderful programs, are working with Texas Parks & Wildlife to restore wild populations of Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) via zoo breed & release programs. 2026 is already a RECORD year: > 1000 lizards released, with documented wild-born babies.

c0nc0rdance@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · last yr.

The Fort Worth Zoo is one of the few programs to successfully breed Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) in captivity, with the first zoo-reared group hatched in 2005. They've been so successful, they've been able to release them back into the wild to bolster declining wild populations.

Kind of amazing, and vaguely disappointing, that the brilliantly-marked young Aztec spur-throat matures into the most drab mid grasshopper you’ve ever seen. (Texas)

I'm deep down the rabbit-hole on Göbekli Tepe, a Neolithic ritual site with these carved columns, the oldest known megaliths. And I love the carvings. ART from 10,000 years ago. This one (Pillar 12), my dear friends, is decorated with DUCKS. 😀🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆

Pompeii is a UNESCO world heritage site not because it was remarkable in its prime, but because it survived to our era untouched: one moment, preserved for all time. But future generations won't know what OUR world was like unless we do the same. This is why we MUST bury Toronto with a volcano

The Facial Expressions of Tethys by artist Julius von Bismarck. A suspended high-sea buoy that moves in real time. Sensors on a twin buoy out in the Atlantic Ocean send live satellite data to motors inside the museum. This makes the indoor buoy copy the exact, real-time movements of the ocean waves.

Emperor Nero bribed officials to delay the 211th Olympic Games from AD 65 to AD 67 so that he could compete while touring Greece. He bribed them to add music competitions so that he could demonstrate his mastery. He won every event he entered, 7 crowns, including a chariot race he didn't finish.

Emperor Nero: The most disgraceful competitor in Olympic history

Nero demanded events in which he considered himself an expert be added to the programme and then had himself declared the winner of every single one

history.co.uk

[positive guy falls off cliff] Y E ⠀⠀ ⠀S ⠀⠀⠀ s ⠀⠀⠀⠀ s ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ s ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀s ⠀⠀⠀ ˢ ⠀⠀ ˢ ⠀⠀ ˑ ⠀⠀ ˑ ⠀ ⠀݁ ⠀ ⠀݁

"L’État, c’est moi" ("I am the state") -King Louis XIV, possibly apocryphal.

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 3d ago

The first architect of the White House ballroom resigned after warning repeatedly that Trump was insisting on designs that violated fire and safety codes, the Washington Post reports. “I am the code,” Trump said www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

UX system designers: "We have successfully integrated all controls on this device into a smooth, featureless plastic touch-sensitive screen" Meanwhile, humans:

Rad O'Brien, Chief Engineer@radobrien.myatproto.social · 3d ago

Men yearn to operate a large contraption by flipping switches and pushing buttons and turning knobs

Video from Maura Hennelly captures her sunbeam snake named 'Vespira' in all her glory. Sunbeam snakes (genus Xenopeltis) are non-venomous snakes from SE Asia that kill small prey (frogs, rodents) by constricting. They burrow through soft dirt or leaf litter in humid jungles. (📷:@maurahennelly IG)

Broward County, Florida had 2 problems in 1972: - a giant pile of used car tires. - low levels of game-fish in coastal waters Broward Artificial Reef Inc. (BARINC) aimed to solve both problems in one fell swoop. 2 MILLION TIRES would be used to construct an ARTIFICIAL REEF. What could go wrong?😉

Happy mushroom season!