sinobug:

Click individual images to see identification (linked to my Flickr page)…..

See my other posts in the Colours in Nature Series HERE.

See more Chinese insects and spiders on my Flickr site HERE……

If you guys aren’t following Sinobug, I don’t know what you’re doing with yourselves.  John Horstman has got to be the best contributor of original, beautiful, engaging and fascinatingly mind-blowing content on all of tumblr. Srsly. He brings an alien world to life. 

Here I am assisting in skinning a giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) with mammal prep staff at the Chicago Field Museum back in April.  We made bets on how much we thought this large male weighed - estimates were anywhere from 52-78lbs.  Actual weight was 82lbs (37kg), if I remember correctly.  The mammal prep lab manager, Anna, did the majority of the work on this specimen, but was nice enough to let me jump in at the end and help out. Bottom picture is me cutting around the gonads.  

Before you ask - I’m not wearing gloves because in many circumstances it’s arguably safer.  It allows you to get a much better grip on the specimen, which gives you more control over your instruments and the specimen, and no, I’m not really concerned with contracting some kind of awful disease if I had accidentally cut myself.  Wearing gloves and similar precautions are taken more seriously when dealing with primate specimens.  I’m not saying that it’s always advisable to go in bare-handed, just that some institutions approach procedures differently. 

Thanks to Marisol Cowan for the photos! 

biomedicalephemera:

American Flamingo - Phoenicopterus ruber

Flamingos aren’t naturally pink! They get their coloration from beta carotene found in the blue-green algae they consume. The flamingos that consume blue-green algae directly are much pinker than flamingos that primarily consume the blue-green algae secondhand (via zooplankton/brine shrimp). 

Flamingos are also unique in their method of eating - their bills are designed to scoop the bottom sediment and then filter out the mud and silt, leaving only the blue-green algae or the brine shrimp in their mouth. They shake their head back and forth under the water after scooping up the sediment. The big, fleshy tongue of the flamingo pushes water back and forth in the mouth and facilitates the filtering of all that mud. They also swallow their food while their head is upside-down! The meaty tongue used to be considered a delicacy among the Roman elite.

Images:
Nature Neighbors: Embracing Birds, Plants, and Minerals. Nathanial Moore Banta for the American Audubon Association, 1914.

Osteologia Avium; or, A sketch of the osteology of birds. T.C. Eyton, 1867.

Just look at that tiny tiny little body.  Oh, Flamingo. How do you hold your heavy head up on that skinny little neck?  You look so unfeasible and I love you. 

Love,

Emily 

the beauty of The Brain Scoop
from the episode Most of a Bear [x]

That was a good day. 

(Source: dylansdream)