cmipalaeo

[cmipalaeo]

Spread this for a larger sample size, please.

#are you going to the beautiful town of Scarborough?

[cmipalaeo]

I really think people have forgotten just how bad things were under the Trump Administration. Literally every day there was news about some service being cut or someone terrible appointed somewhere they shouldn't be or what have you. He constantly flirted with WW3 and military dictatorship. It was such a blur of badness that there aren't big standouts for people to point to to make him "the XYZ president." it was everything. all the time. Why do we not remember this.

[cmipalaeo]

Common brown brocket Subulo gouazoubira

With purplish jay Cyanocorax cyanomelas

Observed by thekarp, CC BY-NC

#Subulo gouazoubira #common brown brocket #deer #purplish jay #Cyanocorax cyanomelas #passerine #bird #theropod #dinosaur #natural history

[cmipalaeo]

Robust Climbing Salamander (Bolitoglossa robusta), family Plethodontidae, Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica

Photograph by Piotr Naskrecki

#robust climbing salamander #Bolitoglossa robusta #salamander #natural history

[cmipalaeo]

🪶🌑great-eared nightjar🌑🪶

#great-eared nightjar #nightjar #bird #theropod #dinosaur #natural history #Lyncornis macrotis

[cmipalaeo]

African forest elephant Loxodonta cyclotis

Observed by dougmacsafaris, CC BY-NC

#African forest elephant #Loxodonta cyclotis #elephant #natural history

[cmipalaeo]

The Woodland Park Zoo had a spring event this past weekend, which I had to hit up for the fun enrichment. My favorite of all is the maned wolves - who you rarely ever get such a good chance to see!

One moment, they're elegant and ethereal. Then there's enrichment, and you realize they're just long-legged stinky goofballs [affectionate].

Meet Rosario (with tail) and Urso (tail-less).

Elegant, ethereal, unreal:

Ridiculous, adorable, dogs-running-fox-software:

#maned wolf #Chrysocyon brachyurus #or anurus in the case of Urso :P #dog #zoo #Woodland Park Zoo #natural history

[cmipalaeo]

Many-horned Adder (Bitis cornuta), family Viperidae, west coast of South Africa

Venomous.

photograph by Tim Brammer

#Bitis cornuta #many-horned adder #snake #natural history

[cmipalaeo]

Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis), family Centrarchidae, order Perciformes, southwestern Missouri, USA

photograph by Isaac Szabo

#longear sunfish #Lepomis megalotis #fish #natural history

[cmipalaeo]

by Devill Photography

#Bubo scandiacus #snowy owl #owl #bird #theropod #dinosaur #natural history

[cmipalaeo]

by bradley_images

#wasting away again

[cmipalaeo]

[cmipalaeo]

#seinfeld

[cmipalaeo]

Learning anything about marine mammal training will make you re-evaluate so much of your relationship with your own pets. There is so much force involved in the way we handle domestic animals. Most of it isn’t even intentional, it just stems from impatience. I’m guilty of it myself!

But with the exception of certain veterinary settings where the animal’s health is the immediate priority, why is it so important to us that animals do exactly what we want exactly when we want it? Why do we have to invent all these tools and contraptions to force them to behave?

When a whale swam away from a session, that was that. The trainer just waited for them to decide to come back. If they flat out refused to participate in behaviors, they still got their allotment of fish. Nothing bad happened. Not even when 20-30 people were assembled for a procedure, and the whale chose not to enter the medical pool. No big deal. Their choice and comfort were prioritized over human convenience.

It’s almost shocking to return to domestic animal medicine afterwards and watch owners use shock collars and chokers and whips to control their animals. It’s no wonder that positive reinforcement was pioneered by marine mammal trainers. When you literally can’t force an animal to do what you want, it changes your entire perspective.

I want to see that mindset extended to our domestic animals.

#domestic animals #marine mammal #cetacean

[cmipalaeo]

Woman at the zoo: Why do they look so sad? 😔

Sign literally 10 feet away:

#I love this kind of signage #zoo #natural history

[cmipalaeo]

Had to mo I've always loved orcas and they remain my favorite animal but I've been finding myself having to avoid the comments on anything with orcas and esp natural behavior. Because for whatever reason there's always comments on how orcas are "bullies" or the a-holes of the sea simply for being apex predators.

It's odd though if it's a captive orca people are all out ready to release it back into the ocean. But if it's wild that's a different story although there's always a comment or two saying how the orca "deserves" to be in captivity anyway because again they're bullies for being predators.

Like is there a reason orcas seem to be getting this unfair label for what they're doing to survive? I actually don't really see these same comments on wolves or lions or even sharks. There's even more sharks aren't monsters for being apex predators so why are they doing the opposite for orcas?

If I had to speculate, I think it’s because of the extreme lengths to which orcas have been anthropomorphized. Pre-2000s SeaWorld Shamu shows characterized the whales as basically big cuddly pets, and even into the 2000s and 2010s they still presented them as almost-mystical apex predators with a magical bond with humans. And for a long time, that was the (western) public’s main introduction to killer whales. It was hard to imagine them ever being anything but friendly.

Nowadays, a lot of folks—even some scientists—have popularized the idea that orcas are basically people, equal to or even superior to humans in intelligence and the capacity to feel emotions. So when they do something that humans find distasteful (punt around harbor porpoises, hunt fellow cetaceans, commit infanticide), it’s a lot more tempting to assume they’re doing it out of cruelty or malice than if it were a “simple animal” like a shark. I see that sort of comment a lot with animals assumed to be more “human-like” (orcas, chimps, elephants) or who live closely with people (hence the “cats are evil jerks” misnomer).

So yeah, in short, serious anthropomorphism. Orcas hunt because they’re predators, not psychotic murderers (*stares down Blackfish*). And while we’re at it—dolphins use sexual coercion because that’s the reproductive strategy they developed, not because they’re evil rapists (I’m really sick of seeing that “fact” shared around).

No animal is evil, because evil is a human concept. We cannot ascribe our sense of morality to them, no matter how intelligent they are, because they are not humans.

Anyway, pitting dolphins against sharks is stupid. Just like when people pit cats against dogs. Why not both?

#Jesus Christ yeah #this is soooo infuriating #killer whale #Orcinus #cetacean #marine mammal #natural history

[cmipalaeo]

Ilustraciones digitales

#ornithopod #theropod #dinosaur #pterosaur #snake #palaeoart #natural history