Terra Ceti

the-absolute-best-gifs: all-good-usernames-are-taken: WHAT A...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 02:18:12 -0400

the-absolute-best-gifs:

all-good-usernames-are-taken:

WHAT A LITTLE SHIT

i lOVE HOW HE JUST HESITATES FOR A SECOND

“REBELLION”

kurt-cobain-is-my-nirvana: Posting this picture by request...

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:37:37 -0400

kurt-cobain-is-my-nirvana:

Posting this picture by request <3

Sea Sheppard Prevented the Japanese Whaling Fleet from killing 932 whales out of their quota of 1,035

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:28:04 -0400

fightingforwhales:

enlightenmentisgreen:

that means japan only killed 103 whales…that’s the lowest in the fleet’s history

That gif just made my day.

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Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:12:08 -0400

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Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:37:45 -0400

ridingsheepinnewzealand: i think about this gif a lot

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 22:06:46 -0400

ridingsheepinnewzealand:

i think about this gif a lot

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Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:07:41 -0400

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Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:43:14 -0500

astronomy-to-zoology: A Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:45:31 -0500

astronomy-to-zoology:

A Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera) preening itself using its feet. These hummingbirds must use their feet to preen as their bills are to long to reach anywhere on their body.

From BBC’s Life of Birds, The Mastery of Flight

astronomy-to-zoology: What’s the Deal With Dodos? there not as...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:43:24 -0500

astronomy-to-zoology:

What’s the Deal With Dodos?

there not as dumb as you might of thought

If there’s an animal that died during the holocene that people seemed to remember that animal would have to be the ~~mammoth~~ Dodo. Unsurprisingly alot of people know almost nothing about the famous flightless bird. But don’t fret after reading this post you will know more than you ever needed to know about the Dodo. To start it off the Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a species of flightless pigeon that found its way to the isle of Mauritius. They were fairly large birds with adults reportedly growing up to 3 feet tall and weighing around 40 pounds. Like several other flightless island birds they evolved on an island with no mammalian predators, so eventually their pigeon ancestors lost their wings and instead grew powerful legs and bills. Meaning that dodos spent all of their time on the ground where they feed on fruit and seeds using their powerful bills. Not too much is known about their behavior as they were never studied in detail. Unfortunately we all know how this story ends, in the 17th century Dutch sailors landed on Mauritius and a combination of introduced predators which fed on the dodo’s eggs and overharvesting of dodos for meat led the species to its fate in 1662. The dodo’s story does not end here though as it had several species related to it. The most closely related bird was the Rodrigues Solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria) which was another species of large flightless pigeon that was native to the island of Rodrigues but unfortunately they shared the same fate as the dodo and went extinct in 1778. Don’t worry though the dodo does have some relatives that are still alive. The dodo and solitaire were both members of the subfamily Raphinae which is an offshoot of the family Columbidae which houses most common doves/pigeon like the Rock Dove (Columbia livia). Since we placed the dodo in columbidae we can tell through the use of molecular data what species were most closely related to the dodo. Results from such an analysis show that the closest living relative of the dodo was The Nicobar Pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica). The Nicobar Pigeon is then followed by the Victoria Crowned Pigeon (Goura victoria) and the mysterious Tooth-billed Pigeon (Didunculus strigirostris). However this only means they were related and does not imply a close relationship. Well hopefully that answers any questions you might of had about the dodo, and I hope you all are dodo experts now.

Cladogram of Raphiniae and closest related species

*This post is pretty long so this should summarize it up pretty good

*Also i highly recommend a reading of Lost Land of the Dodo for further information on Mauritius’s numerous extinct animals.

Image Source

astronomy-to-zoology: A Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)...

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 14:01:07 -0500

astronomy-to-zoology:

A Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) catching a Eurasian Minnow (Phoxinus sp.) from the perspective of the fish.

video source

letsbuildahome-fr: Craig Shimala ”Lightning strikes three of...

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:05:40 -0500

letsbuildahome-fr:

Craig Shimala ”Lightning strikes three of the tallest buildings in Chicago at the same time!”

Gif by Be Con In Riot

fairy-wren: Plush Crested Jays (photo by hide photography)

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:46:27 -0500

fairy-wren:

Plush Crested Jays

(photo by hide photography)

Black Hole bending light.

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:46:10 -0500

Black Hole bending light.

ramirezbundydahmer: A fawn and bobcat hiding under a desk in...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 01:19:16 -0500

ramirezbundydahmer:

A fawn and bobcat hiding under a desk in the Santa Barbara County Dispatch Office after the Jesusita Fire which happened in 2009 in Santa Barbara.

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Wed, 13 Feb 2013 15:35:33 -0500

earth-song: The Peacock spider or Gliding spider (Maratus...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 14:39:58 -0500

earth-song:

The Peacock spider or Gliding spider (Maratus volans) is a species of jumping spider.

Octavius Pickard-Cambridge noted in his original description that “it is difficult to describe adequately the great beauty of the colouring of this spider”.

The red, blue and black colored males have flap-like extensions of theabdomen with white hairs that can be folded down. They are used for display during mating: the male raises his abdomen, then expands and raises the flaps so that the abdomen forms a white-fringed, circular field of color. The species, and indeed the whole genus Maratushave been compared to peacocks in this respect. The third pair of legs is also raised for display, showing a brush of black hairs and white tips. While approaching the female, the male will vibrate his abdomen while waving raised legs and tail, and dance from side to side.^[1]

Both sexes reach about 5 mm in body length. Females and immatures of both sexes are brown but have colour patterns by which they can be distinguished from related species. [read more]

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Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:08:56 -0500

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Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:57:14 -0500

gifmovie: David Attenborough chatting with a blind baby rhino....

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:42:20 -0500

gifmovie:

David Attenborough chatting with a blind baby rhino. vid