Today's beast is a Kakapo,a severely endangered parrot, but a story of hope too. They have a whole team working with them, and these fluffy birds are keeping steady. :)
If you'd like a bird, please check out Bittythings and Beasts.
ID: two gifs of a person holding a walnut shell, with a hinge attaching the two halves together. they open the shell to reveal a small owl that might be carved from wood, nestled in a small amount of moss inside the walnut. the person closes the shell again.
Dramatic Twenty-eight Constellation Figurines From The Jade Emperor Temple
Twenty-eight Constellations (二十八星宿) provided an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Chinese religious art of the Song and Yuan dynasties. Such images are characterized by amazing expressiveness. Something you can never unsee.)
These samples date back to the Yuan dynasty. The statues are on display in the Jade Emperor Temple (玉皇廟), located in Jincheng (晉城), Shanxi.
The temple itself and the main hall were erected during the Northern Song dynasty. These stunning clay figures appeared a bit later and remained there during all subsequent architectural expansions and transformations.