notmusa:

fenestraria plants look like this in stores

but i just found out they grow like this in the wild

and im real fucked up about it

Oh, THAT’S why the tops are transparent. You also see that in lithops, which grow similarly. The transparent top lets sunlight down inside the plant, so it can be used by a greater number of cells than could fit into just the uncovered top.

Not going out in this. Should be interesting to see what all broke tomorrow. Saving this piece to show Mom when she gets back.

[Image of a large chunk of hail, about as wide as a nickel, in someone’s hand. A large freezer is open in the background.]

So I live in Texas, and we get hail sometimes. It’s usually pea-sized or so. This batch was not. About 70 seconds straight of this.

[5-second clip of hail raining onto a porch, as seen through a slightly opened door. The hail is large, multiple pieces easily over a half inch long. The sound is very loud and resembles someone popping bubble wrap at high speeds while several children with sticks bang on a tin roof. In the background, someone yells “this is a little bit excessive!” in a thoroughly amused tone and is barely heard over the noise of falling hail.]

montereybayaquarium:

montereybayaquarium:

Ever wonder what life is like as a cephalopod aquarist? 

Our Tentacles exhibition is the largest living collection on cephalopods on display in the world—and keeping up with its tenants is colossal (squid) amount of work! Take a look behind the scenes with our Squid Squad and find out what it takes to care for our cuttle puddle of cephalopods.

It takes an ink-redible amount of work and knowledge to raise baby cephalopods. But as our cephalopod aquarists will tell you, it’s worth it!

seatrench:

A Pufferfish inflating itself by rapidly intaking water

(source)

Friendly reminder not to provoke pufferfish into puffing, and NEVER to take one out of the water unless you intend to eat it. If they puff themselves up with air instead of water, they can end up not being able to blow it back out, rendering them helpless. Buckets are your friend with these guys. Really, with all fish, but especially with these guys.

That said, this is both interesting and adorable.

champawattigress:

A Jaguar

(Panthera onca)

stalks and kills a caiman. Jaguars are the third largest big cat species, and possess a unique method of dispatching prey. Rather than seizing a hold of the animal’s throat and crushing the windpipe, leading to a death by suffocation, the jaguar instead aims for the head. The killing bite occurs as the jaguar’s powerful jaws close on the animal’s skull, crushing it between its teeth.

“hm, I’m hungry. I think I’ll eat AN ENTIRE CAIMAN”