Loxocemus Bicolor / Mexican Burrowing Snake

Cecropia moths, Hyalophora cecropia, + details Photos by Alexander Wild // Twitter

Tumblr for some reason is not letting me publish asks but anyway…

The fuzzy fur-like stuff that covers a lot of moths is actually modified scales, like the scales on their wings, made of a substance called chitin, rather than keratin as in mammal hair. Chitin also makes up their exoskeleton. Wing scales are used to absorb heat, possibly to assist with flight, and to display colors/patterns as defense/camouflage or to attract a mate. The fuzz on their body is thought to muffle the sonar of predatory bats as well as keep them warmer in the chilly night air. Unlike mammal hair, though, these scales are not continually growing and cannot be replaced if lost or damaged.

Here’s a fun extreme macro photo of a sunset moth’s wing scales and longer modified hair-like scales:

Photo via Johan J.Ingles-Le Nobel

Does anyone have snake sheds they could donate to me?

They dont have to be unravelled or stretched, just as long as they’re mostly one piece and free of feces or urine!

Shoot me an ask!!

One of these things is not like the others!

This handsome skull belongs to an iguana.

These all belong to water monitors.

And this one belongs to a tegu.

The tegu’s skull is missing a hole!

Those little openings on the top of the monitors’ heads and the iguana’s is where the pineal eye is located. The pineal eye can distinguish between light and dark, and helps with thermoregulation. But tegus don’t have it! They lost their pineal eye sometime during the course of their evolution- which is evidence of how even though they might look a bit like monitors, they really aren’t that closely related!

The golden hour

Extremely beautiful springtail, Lepidocyrtus paradoxus. Totally covered in iridescent scales - my photos do a poor job of capturing just how shiny this animal is.

A proboscis monkey being released into the wild after being fitted with a satellite collar.

Be a friend to snakes

If you’re interested in getting one of these as a sticker, patch, or pin, reblog to let me know!! I can also draw your snake in; message me for details :)

Fireflies, Mia Bergeron

We humans are awfully keen on pointing out how ridiculous other species’ means of obtaining food are given that our own native hunting strategy is to aggressively power-walk toward our prey until it falls over and dies.