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Heterocephalus glaber - Naked Mole Rat
Aside from their rather unsightly appearance, naked mole rats are a very unique species of mammal. Their societies are set up much like your standard ant colonies (they’re the only eusocial mammals), with a queen whose sole purpose is to give birth, and individuals who have specific duties in the colony. These include tending the queen, defending their massive labyrinth of underground tunnels, gathering food, and digging more tunnels. Their roles are largely determined at birth, and are unusual to change once the mole rat is an adult. Like ant and social bee colonies, all of the productive members of the colony are female.
Other cool things about naked mole rats:
Proceedings of the General Meetings for Scientific Business of the Zoological Society of London. 1885.
The most excellent True Facts About the Naked Mole Rat (video) by Zefrank.
(Source: biomedicalephemera, via ofpaperandponies)
thebooshislooseandalittlebitraw asked: Do molerats?
Did a post in the past, but I can try to find something else on them…I’ll reblog the old one for now though.
Also: Naked Molerat wannabes! Or rather, just freakish sharpei mice.
[video]
Because Mother’s Day
Coffee trees developed caffeine as an insecticide, to kill off bugs that would eat its berries and fail to spread its seeds. Yes, it’s a deadly poison, but for tiny bugs. It takes at least as much coffee as crazy-face above is drinking to kill off us giant primates.
Why Coffee is the greatest addiction (in every sense).
Though maybe my mom should drink slightly less coffee. Maybe.
LIFE Magazine, Feb 2, 1953.
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[video]
hncking asked: do you have anything more squid illustrations. really good blog.
Surrre. I’ll find something.
Anonymous asked: People who are dissecting animals are expected to treat the dead with respect, regardless of species or the fact that it is, well, dead. If you wouldn't do it with a human body during scientific work, you shouldn't do it with another species. It is highly unprofessional and that someone would find joy and humor in making waste of an animal's death rather than being careful with the remains so they can learn from it is tasteless and speaks of poor character. It's more the reason than the act.
*shrug* I understand your viewpoint, but I have a hard time faulting someone who’s, say, a student who’s just getting used to (and may use humor or abstraction as a coping mechanism) dissecting animals. If it’s not actively wasting a dead animal and they’ve already learned what they could from it, why not make art instead of trashing it?
Honestly, I pinned paper wings onto my lamprey that I dissected in zoology after I finished, because the flayed hideous fish sort of looked like an “angel” when I closed it back up. It was goofy, but it made my (pretty uncomfortable-with-dissection) partner laugh and actually get back into learning all the parts for our exam.
I wouldn’t condone someone doing this for the sake of shock art, or if a professor or someone were doing something like that while teaching, but in most situations, I can’t see the harm.
That said, I know the OP was referring to “art” that was specifically made to showcase squid ink on squid skin, which I find weird, and am not crazy about, but I still reserve judgement on similar acts.
![Loligo gigas [now Dosidas gigas] - Humboldt Squid/Jumbo Squid
The Humboldt squid is among the largest of the squid, despite their lifespan of just under one year. Other giant squids have a lifespan estimated to be around five years at a minimum, and don’t reach their maximum size until near the end of their life. One of the major sources of food for Humboldt squid is other Humboldt squids, which is believed to contribute significantly to their fast growth.
All of the suckers of the Humboldt are ringed with sharp, flesh-tearing teeth, and when squid are feeding, they’ve been known to be very aggressive towards scuba divers. Outside of feeding time (generally dusk to dawn), the squid are generally non-aggressive creatures.
Like many squid, the Humboldt has chromatophores in its skin, allowing for rapid color changes. When they feed or are in distress (such as when they’re caught by fishers), they flash bright red. This led to one of their first colloquial names - El diablo rojo - the Red Devil.
Voyage dans l’Amerique Meridionale: Tome Neuvieme. Alcide d’Orbigny, 1847.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/5c04fc6eaaca6f9ce77e3182d25c94c9/tumblr_mmkeyhgOkQ1qk931ho1_500.jpg)
Loligo gigas [now Dosidas gigas] - Humboldt Squid/Jumbo Squid
The Humboldt squid is among the largest of the squid, despite their lifespan of just under one year. Other giant squids have a lifespan estimated to be around five years at a minimum, and don’t reach their maximum size until near the end of their life. One of the major sources of food for Humboldt squid is other Humboldt squids, which is believed to contribute significantly to their fast growth.
All of the suckers of the Humboldt are ringed with sharp, flesh-tearing teeth, and when squid are feeding, they’ve been known to be very aggressive towards scuba divers. Outside of feeding time (generally dusk to dawn), the squid are generally non-aggressive creatures.
Like many squid, the Humboldt has chromatophores in its skin, allowing for rapid color changes. When they feed or are in distress (such as when they’re caught by fishers), they flash bright red. This led to one of their first colloquial names - El diablo rojo - the Red Devil.
Voyage dans l’Amerique Meridionale: Tome Neuvieme. Alcide d’Orbigny, 1847.
“Ok, I’ll just leave the front here and hang the tentacles over here, get this squid drawn up before we bring in the next haul, and make it more accurate than last time! I want the squid exactly as it is; they don’t all look the same!”
Several hours later…
“DAMNIT CHARLES, I DIDN’T MEAN DRAW THE SQUID EXACTLY AS IT WAS!”
Cephalopoda of the Hawaiian Islands. S. Stillman Berry, 1914.
(Source: biomedicalephemera, via stupidreblog)
archaean asked: Can't help with the "drawings made by squid", but I've seen some photos of people drawing on (dissected) squid with its own ink... Well, that sounded quite callous. Nevertheless, I'm fairly interested in what you have about stylised/realistic (cute or ugly)/photorealistic squid, and would like to know if you have any on other cephalopods too! :3
Well, if you’re dissecting a squid (which was probably already dead [I would hope o_O] and doesn’t have the capacity to process pain in its nervous system to begin with, unlike most vertebrates and possibly octopods), why not draw with its own ink? I mean, it’s already there! I haven’t seen that sort of “art” myself, but it strikes me as sort of bizarre and “shock for shock’s sake”…kind of like performance art of feeding a cow a hamburger. I probably wouldn’t be crazy about it, but I can’t see a logical reason to be against it (unlike the cow example…yum yum BSE).
As for what I have so far, I have yet to actually sort all my categories (I will someday, really! probably when I sift through all my duplicate source images…so many duplicates D:) so here are some that I’ve posted:
http://biomedicalephemera.tumblr.com/tagged/cephalopoda
http://biomedicalephemera.tumblr.com/tagged/cephalopods
http://biomedicalephemera.tumblr.com/tagged/squid
http://biomedicalephemera.tumblr.com/tagged/octopus
http://biomedicalephemera.tumblr.com/tagged/nautilus
Anonymous asked: Can you post something on squid with drawings? I need a good drawing for tattoo inspiration
Squid drawings, or a squid with drawings?
I’m not really sure what you’re looking for…stylized squid, cute realistic squid, ugly realistic squid, photorealistic illustrations of squid, a drawn-on squid, drawings made by squid? If you’re looking for the last two, I probably can’t help you, but the rest I have SOME iteration of…
Anonymous asked: woooo dude, no disheartening feels! You are totally legit, I mean I love the BrainScoop, but I love biomedical ephemera too! I mean, I don't think that the brainscoop is ever going to put a two penis dude on their channel, not to mention that your posts are pretty random, sometimes biology sometimes medicine. It's like opening a bag of Magic Jelly Beans, you never know what you are gonna get be it a lime jelly bean or an earwax jelly bean. Anyways, stay excellent!
Hah! I did not take it in a disheartening way! I’m just hella jealous of Emily’s enthusiasm and energy! I’ve got 99 problems but a bitch aint one…wait…no, I mean, I’ve got issues, and I’m jealous of those who don’t! I absolutely love medicine, I love nature, and I love biology that spans both the most!
Keep following both of us, yeah?! Cheers! :D
HERE’S A FISH WITH LIPS
HAVE THE ENJOYS
LATER CHICKADEE
Anonymous asked: Your view on the YouTube channel the BrainScoop???
I love Emily Graslie and her enthusiasm is inspirational to me…pathology and anatomy is one of my favorite subjects, and she’s managed to explain things I’ve wanted to cover in much more succinct language than I’ve ever been able to come up with.
It’s sort of disheartening to me that I’ve never had that same continual enthusiasm for my education, and that she’s younger than me but much farther along in life than I am, but I still love all of her videos. They’re educational, fascinating, and sometimes extremely gross, and are part of one of the most interesting sets of channels on YouTube.