dantheclamman

loren , 26 days ago to random

that’ll paddle, fish

dantheclamman , 26 days ago

@loren best post, gar none.

dantheclamman , 1 month ago to random

So let me get this straight.
We call it the Arctic because a constellation called the Great Bear (which really doesn't look much like a bear) points in that direction. There also happen to be bears up there.
Meanwhile, we have another pole, but we just call it "Opposite of bear", and there are no bears down there.

dantheclamman OP , 1 month ago

@babe this is a very good point. there are actually water bears in Antarctica. so the name is not accurate and imo the continent should be renamed Tardigradica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acutuncus

loren , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

Edit: physical stickers are sold out, digital stickers and wallpapers are still available.

The nuthatch stickers are finally here! They are 3.91” x 2.31” glossy UV protected waterproof vinyl stickers and you can get them over on my ko-fi shop! I also put up a digital version of the sticker as a transparent PNG for use as an emoji or messaging sticker or desktop icon or whatever else you can think of! And if that all isn’t enough I have also listed the full image as a 16x9 phone wallpaper for download as well!

Please let me know if you plan to buy more than say 4 stickers as that may change the shipping a bit especially if you are not in the US.

I am very happy with how these turned out so please let me know if there are any other pictures of mine that you’d like to see as stickers!

Nuthatch sticker: https://ko-fi.com/s/33675fd31a

Digital sticker: https://ko-fi.com/s/562277ac67

Phone wallpaper: https://ko-fi.com/s/9760982c9b

Ko-fi shop: https://ko-fi.com/loren_nature/shop

#birds #stickers #MastoArt #BirdArt

dantheclamman , 1 month ago

@loren omg I would go so hard for a fridge magnet

dantheclamman , 1 month ago

@loren I would make it move down the fridge and do silly nuthatch sounds

dantheclamman , 2 months ago to random

Shipworms are cellulose-eating bivalves famous for boring into wood, leading to their nickname "the clams that sunk a thousand ships". TIL they also loved to eat early trans-oceanic cables, which were often wrapped in hemp, tree rubber or other plant-based materials. The problem was only solved when a protective metal tape was developed! #clamFacts https://atlantic-cable.com/Article/Clifford/teredo.htm

dantheclamman OP , 2 months ago

@llewelly shipworms have been around since at least the Cretaceous and potentially the Jurassic. and other invertebrate groups have likely been eating driftwood since it first appeared! it's a rich nutrient source that is surprisingly important to marine food webs https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pala.12376

dantheclamman OP , 2 months ago

@llewelly it is thought that before wood boring evolved, logs would have had a much longer life floating in the sea, and evidence of all sorts of rafting organisms have been found from that interval. The shipworms make quick work of such logs these days! https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/566844v2.full.pdf

dantheclamman , 2 months ago to random

Some of the weirdest clams to have ever lived: Shikamaia, extinct giant bivalves over a meter long, shaped like a cross between a surfboard and a giant slipper. They lived during the Permian, over 260 million years ago. It has been hypothesized that they rafted on the bottom of shallow, stagnant lagoons, partnering with photosynthetic algae to harvest sunlight for food, like living solar panels. #clamFacts

dantheclamman OP , 2 months ago

@futurebird the shell was on its side, and the valves sat lengthwise like a pair of scissors. The modern heart cockles rest on the side like this, but not as elongated of a shell. Some heart cockles have windows to allow in light to symbionts, but Shikamaia's shell was too thick for that. The researchers propose that if it was photosymbiotic, it extended its mantle over the edges of the shell, like giant clams do. However, we will need better preserved shells to look for geochemical evidence!