When I found out that leech saliva was antimicrobial I decided leeches are good and that disliking them is lookism

Even without a centralized brain, jellyfish can both learn from past events and change their behavior to preempt expected events.

No need to look for aliens in space when we’ve got plenty of them to make contact with underwater

(I am stealing that rfk line)

I have very few resources to offer anyone in need, as it’s really only by my basic unfair privileges as a cis white man that I even have a place to sleep, but I’m just trying to make it clear to the people I know that I have the space to house them/feed them if they are in crisis. Without much else to support them with it feels like the best I can do.

anyone who tries to claim there was any absolute standard of behavior for pre-industrial tribes like that is just doing fantasy worldbuilding

Every social organization you can think of was probably the way of life for someone out there, from patriarchy to matriarchy, communal to hierarchical

I get apprehensive around wasps too but it’s very funny to me how much hatred and distrust these animals are met with because they are able to force you to treat them with a little respect

It’s usually justified to make fun of STEMlords but scientists with highly specific skills are still a vital part of our societal whole (I choose to believe this for my own sake)

Oh yeah the Marine iguanas, incredible footage, some of the best ever imo.

Really feels like I picked a bad time to be interested in amphibians sometimes

Definitely jealous of getting to work with condors, sounds awesome.

I visited a lab where some of the last remaining dusky gopher frogs are cared for.

(reminder that frogs may be in what is considered the sixth mass extinction ever on earth)

Look this is true but AT LEAST it’s how politics is supposed to work, it’s not about choosing the most ethically and morally consistent person, it’s about having a person in the seat who will vote the way their constituents want, no more

No need to go all the way to beatnik wandering artist. I feel like the creative urge can strike any person at any time, and the problem with this is that as things are currently organized, that spark will be smothered. Part of demonstrating to people why they should want things to change is appealing to those who have felt that happen to them. I don’t think a person ever forgets the pain of it, and it can happen to anyone.

Okay people of this thread you gotta just accept the fact that activism is always gonna be at the end. Like I don’t intend for this to insult anyone’s intelligence, I promise, but you gotta understand that it’s matter of love. Spend enough time in a headspace in which funky lizards and ugly insects and smelly lil rats are your companions both physically and mentally and these things matter to you in ways that approach your love for people, it’s just the truth of it. I’m surprised Attenborough docs aren’t all activism and calls to action at this point, it’s so frightening and overwhelming that I myself have drifted away from field research because in my cowardice I just couldn’t bear to get more attached.

But yeah sadly he’s too old (British) to be able to summon anything like a cohesive call to action, which sucks ass