If you don’t pay careful attention to the instructions, you could wind up with unused material left over from your otter kit. If this happens, be sure to fix it before the glue sets or you’ll have to stick the extra bits on way they’ll fit.
All posts by Josh More
Nicobar Pigeon
Though Nicobar pigeons mostly eat fruits and seeds, they do live on islands and will sometimes pick up a seed on the beach. Though rare, occasionally, a grain of sand does get stuck under their tongue. That is where pigeon pearls come from.
Amur Leopard
Wikipedia states that amur leopards are “extremely conservative in their choice of territory”. That is why you find so many in North Dakota and Wyoming.
Victoria Crowned Pigeon
Sometimes it seems as though different generations will never see eye to eye.
Antelope
Here, we see an adult antelope teaching a young one how to fight. Shortly after this shot, they entered a training montage through which the young antelope become quite skilled, grew to the age of maturity, and became ready for his final battle with the bully that had oppressed him his entire life.
Bush Dog (Speothos venaticus)
As noted earlier, bush dogs have no sense of humor. Its very presence offends its senses, so it must block its nose to keep even the hint of humor in this joke from befouling its environment.
Joke: A sibyl, a haruspex, and a rhabdomantist walked into a bar. The sibyl said, “There’s going to be this big flood, and it’s going to be terrible.” And the haruspex was looking at this dead animal, and he said, “Yeah, it’s going to rain hard and wipe everything out, and it’s going to do all kinds of damage.” And the rhabdomantist said, “That’s terrible! Why…I’ll be out of a job!”
Caucasus Viper (Vipera kaznakovi)
Caucasians like to hang out in groups and seldom let others into the inner circle.
Blue Tree Monitor (Varanus macraei)
Halfway up, he pauses, questioning.
His instructions were as specific as they were simple. Climb to the top. Do not speak. Do not look back.
Violating any rule would bring ruination. It would be the end of all he had worked for. Stealing the map from the mammoths of Lyrcea. Choosing a reed from the Minnorie, making from it the flute, and charming the guardian of the gates. The eons of walking across the shards littering the floors of the caves of death. Arrival. The endless days of debate and negotiation. All for the goal he finally achieved, that he knows is almost his. Behind him, unseeable, unhearable, unsmellable, trailing.
At least, he thinks. He hopes. But he how can he know?
Can he really trust the lords of the dead? Stories abound, of tricks and lies, of slippery words and slithering tongues. True, he’d done his best. He’d driven a hard bargain, given up less than he had feared. Yet, was it too little? Should it have hurt more, cost more?
He re-runs the talks in his head. Did he err? He had traded years of his life and half of his soul. Was that enough? What was the value of a year, to those that lived forever? What was the value of a soul, to those that had a multitude? He had wagered his skill against their champion, and won. But had he? For a champion, she had seemed flawed. Surely she could have sustained higher trills and more mournful lows. Why did she give it less than her all? Was he truly more motivated, as he had thought? Had she felt some measure of pity?
Or was it a trick?
It may have been. Perhaps in a century, stories would be told of his folly in the underworld. How he had hazarded it all and been played a fool. He wants to look back, to calm his fear and assuage what remains of his soul. A slight turn of the head, a shift of the eyes, and he can know.
But no. He will climb to the end. Or until, unable to continue, he will fall, damning himself and his love forever to death. No. If he is to fail, it will not be from weakness.
He pauses, tensing his muscles, resting a mere moment, then continues his climb.
Lion
Ever notice how when someone is frightened, they look all around, but almost never look up?
Humans are stupid.
Grey-winged Trumpeter (Psophia crepitans)
The grey winged trumpeter, as seen here, has black wings and no trumpet.
Unrelated, did you know that when naturalists explored new places, they would often imbibe in the native alcoholic specialties?
Throwback Thursday
It appears as though this fish may be infected with a neurological disease. Since many of these diseases are caused by prions which can infect humans, it should not be eaten.
Flamingo
Flamingos are suspicious of your true intentions, but are willing to try just one more time.
Pelican
Sometimes a mirror can disclose the true reality, warped but recognizable, with the façade stripped away.
Preying Mantis
A while back, I read Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin, which discussed the basic plan of chordates and how all animals have similar growth patterns. Interestingly, he briefly mentioned similar findings for insects as well, at a genetic level. This would imply that, if we could find the right genetic tweaks, you too could get Batmanesque arm spikes.
Tentacled Snake (Erpeton tentaculatum)
Tentacled snakes use their appendages to locate obstacles, such as this glass ceiling, commonly experienced within large American corporation.
White Cheeked Turaco (Tauraco leucotis)
Turacos have no shame.
No
His crime was saying “no”.
When his brother asked him, he said “no”. When his chief demanded, he said “no”. When his wife and daughter begged him, tears streaming down their cheeks, he said “no”.
He would not fight.
The tribe geared for war, each soldier, in turn, giving him a scornful look as they marched. The spouses left behind watching them go, then turning to look, anger glaring from their eyes.
His next chance came with the priest, initiates trailing, hauling a heavy cart. He responded affirmatively to each of the priest’s inquiries … all but one. Yes, he loved his family. Yes, he cared about his friends. Yes, he knew what he should do, what he had been raised to do, since he was a child. But no.
No.
He would not fight.
With a sigh, the priest motioned and the cart was drawn near. Out came the shackles and chains. He did not resist as he was lain in the cart. His only movement, closing his eyes against the bright glaring sun, as he baked in the fiery summer heat, each rock beneath the cart’s wheels lancing pain into his back. Two hours later, he was held at the alter, panting, bleeding.
The priest asked one last time.
Parched from the heat, he could no longer speak. Instead, one slight shake of his head and the priest sighed released him, collapsing between the two standing stones and upon the altar.
There, in a torrent of smoke and flame, he beheld Tekaletali. The god of his family. The god of his tribe. The god of War.
Tekaletali stared and he withered, charring under the gaze of the god. Then he felt the voice, reverberating through the very core of his being.
“YOU WISH TO LIVE …”
“THEN LIVE YOU SHALL. LIVE FOREVER, BURNING IN SUN, FOREVER THIRSTY, FOREVER WANTING, YOUR VERY BLOOD STAINED YELLOW WITH YOUR COWARDICE.”
“YES. LIVE. LIVE AND LOSE ALL YOU HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED.”
He felt himself transformed, stretching, down into the earth, immobile against the sharp piercing rocks, skin cracking in the heat of the sun.
Eons later, there he stays, long after his tribe is gone, vanquished and slain. The alter stones, worn by the winds, broken and pillaged by the enemies of his tribe. All traces of his home, his people, gone. Bones, stones and moans, all turned to dust. And there he stays, forever living, forever bleeding, a blind and mute witness to the passage of time.
He did not have to fight.
Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus)
The sacred iBis is known throughout the world, due to the fervor of their worshipers. Though there are many birds that are just as good, the iBis has a vast and powerful marketing team behind it that provides ongoing self-reinforcement of its own fame.
Bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus)
Each horn of the bongo has a slightly different sound. The lower tone of the macho horn, when combined with the higher tone of the hembra horn, allows the antelope to create highly intricate rhythms with no additional instrumentation.
Butterfly
In the Autumn, the butterflies change their colour to organges and reds as the trees suck all the other pigmenting away as they prepare for Winter.