krakaheimr
thoodleoo

there are very few ancient artifacts that make me more emotional than roman tombstones that thank the reader for stopping by and wish them well. there's simply something so sweet and gentle to me about imagining a traveler stopping along the road to read someone's final dedication and being sent away with the blessings of a thankful ghost

thoodleoo

image

marcus caecilius: good luck and good health to you. sleep without a care.

me:

image
hylianengineer

[ID: first image: screenshotted text which reads "CIL_1^2.1202 (skip line) Latin Text (skip line) Marcus Caecilius. On stone. Found at Rome on the Appian Way: c. 140B.C.: Saturnians. This memorial was made for Marcus Caecilius. Thank you, my dear guest, for stopping at my abode. Good luck and good health to you. Sleep without a care.

Second image: a blobby emoji creature with huge eyes collapsed in a puddle of its own tears. End ID]

abz-j-harding
why-animals-do-the-thing

New weird horse just dropped, folks.

A spotless giraffe was recently born at Bright’s Zoo in Limestone, TN and was just announced in the media this morning. They’re starting a public naming contest for her, of course.

A baby giraffe stands in a pen. she is a consistent soft brown with a lighter belly and has no spots.ALT
image
image

I’d love to know what type of mutation causes this lack of of pattern, but I don’t know if we have genetics on that for giraffes the way we do other species. As far as is known, she’s the first spotless giraffe ever documented!

abz-j-harding

Squeaky-Clean. The spotless giraffe ~

rationaleidolon
headspace-hotel: “weaselle: “monticellomarshmallow: “ carnivalseb: “ heywetotheotherworld: “ jumpingjacktrash: “ coolthingoftheday: “Trees, like animals, can also experience albinism, though it is extremely rare. ” the reason it’s rare is because...
coolthingoftheday

Trees, like animals, can also experience albinism, though it is extremely rare.

jumpingjacktrash

the reason it’s rare is because without chlorophyll, the plant can’t get energy, and dies shortly after sprouting unless it has some other source of food. so if you see a plant as big as the one in the picture that doesn’t have any green in its leaves, it’s getting its nutrition from the roots of a neighboring plant of the same species, feeding on the sugars created by the other plant’s photosynthesis.

albino plants are basically vampires.

heywetotheotherworld

For a long time, scientists thought they were parasites, and couldn’t figure out why the bigger plants didn’t release chemicals to kill them.

Turns out, the lil’ ghost redwoods benefit their hosts by filtering toxins and acting as a sort of backup immune system.

They’re vampires, and they’re commensal, symbiotic mutualists!

carnivalseb

this is super cool! I had no idea

monticellomarshmallow

This is among the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

weaselle

we’ve already discovered forests where trees share nutrients with young or disadvantaged trees and forests where trees can ask their neighbors for some extra food (they literally send a signal requesting aid, via the web of fungus that connects their roots) and forests where surrounding tees will keep a tree alive even when it has been reduced to a stump through some tragedy…

so, while i love the playfulness of “vampire” and i commend the specificity of “commensal, symbiotic mutualists” i think it’s worth considering, at this point, if “member of the community” might not be at least as apt

headspace-hotel

There are numerous species of plants that have just evolved to not have chlorophyll because they yoink nutrients from fungi or other plants. It’s pretty neat!