Jacques of all Trades

allcreatures:

Moor frogs (Rana arvalis) temporarily turning blue at the Ljubljana Marshes, Slovenia. It is thought that males turn blue during the mating season so they can quickly distinguish males from females among the dense frog populations. Photograph: Luka Esenko/Rex Features

(Source: Guardian)

Wonderland Photo by Vanessa Hirsch — National Geographic Your Shot

On a July tramp through the woods of West Virginia, I encountered many large snails as well as these Russula mushrooms with their distinctive red caps mixed among moss and acorns. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. 

Why Did the Ostrich (or Snake, or Llama) Cross the Road? - Amanda Erickson - The Atlantic Cities

Click for more adorable photos of animals crossing roads.

Oops!

allcreatures:

Picture: Dave Woollacott /Caters

Looking forward to seeing how this year’s Magicicada brood explosion compared to the Brood X cicadas that invaded DC in 2004. 

The orange eyes are a new wrinkle!

(Photo via Lesson Plan | - NYTimes.com)

theanimalblog:

A llama seeks shelter from the snow next to an abandoned school bus at Cox Farms in Centreville, Virginia.  Picture: Win McNamee/Getty Images

More of the snow we didn’t get last week…

Christian Ziegler/Germany/Southern Cassowary, Australia - Nov. 16, 2012, Black Mountain Road, Australia. The endangered Southern Cassowary feeds on the fruit of the Blue Quandang tree. Cassowaries are a keystone species in northern Australian rainforests because of their ability to carry so many big seeds such long distances.# (via 2013 World Press Photo Contest Winners - The Big Picture - Boston.com)

theanimalblog:

Red Squirrel. Photo by Mike Killy

(via nonrequired-reading)

hikergirl:

blamoscience:

Pictured above are Gecko feet — each with a different toe pad structure. It is well known that the only force causing two hydrophobic surfaces to adhere in air is van der Waals force. In chemistry, van der Waals force refers to the relatively weak attraction between neutral atoms and molecules arising from polarization induced in each particle by the presence of other particles. Thus, the strong adhesion of ultrahydrophobic gecko setae to highly hydrophobic GaAs demonstrates that van der Waals forces are sufficient for gecko adhesion, and that other forces, such as those of capillary bridges, are not required. Since van der Waals forces occur between any two surfaces that are sufficiently close, this discovery paved the way for the design and fabrication of synthetic dry adhesives, inspired by geckos.

For isopod!

llbwwb:

Here’s looking at you kid! (by CMGW Photography)

newsweek:

See that little blue lizard to the left there? That’s “Obamadon,” a newly identified lizard named, of course, after President Barack Obama.

Is the lizard blue for blue states?

theanimalblog:

Cheetah, Kenya by Frans Lanting