todropscience:

BADASS SEA URCHINS DRILL HOLES IN SOLID ROCK

In temperate rocky reefs, sea urchins are abundants, and often occur in cavities within the rock, and fit so tightly, it is natural to assume they sculpted these “pits. For a long time, scientists have wondered if they did really mold them by themselves, but until now there was no data to support this idea. A new study has allowed to see how these animals create these pits of the rocks thanks to an experiment carried out with purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus). The results, published in the journal PLoS ONE, reveal that they are the sculptors of these holes.

Scientists recreated environmental conditions where sea urchins lives, with fine and medium-grained sandstone rocks, lulita and granite from three California reefs where these echinoids tend to inhabit, and where researchers also did field measurements. After observing them, researchers proved that sea urchins actually excavate rocks,

with just their teeth,

removing material from all the rocky surfaces. In the lab, rates of excavation varied greatly according to the type of rock. While each sea urchin excavated about 32 grams of medium-grained sandstone for a year, which would allow them to excavate a medium hole in less than five years, the excavation in granite was 37 times slower, a task so hard that it would take more than a century to make a hole.

In medium-grained sandstone reefs, sea urchins can produce almost 200 tons of sediment per hectare in just one year. When compared with the field observations, the scientists were able to confirm this difference: granite holes were shallower than the sandstone holes, and sea urchins living in granite were flatter.

  • Photograph:

    Michael Russell 

  • Reference: 

    Russell et al. 2018. Bioerosion by pit-forming, temperate-reef sea urchins: History, rates and broader implications. PLoS ONE.

catwithbenefits:

funfetti-cakke:

starfleetrambo:

magnolia-noire:

logynnrose:

weavemama:

MILLENNIALS ARE BLAMED FOR EVERYTHING IT’S GETTING SO OLD

The Black Death wasn’t transmitted by rats. It was transmitted by millennials.

millennials shot versace

millennials killed off the dinosaurs

Millennials shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg.

Cain was a millennial

Millennials caused the Permian Extinction and built the tower of Babel.

Hi sorry to bother you! I have a question about animal lifespans. I tried to look it up but I don’t trust online estimates of how long animals live… I am planning to move across the continent soon to get a job for 2 years, and then I will likely move across the continent again. Are there any pets that have a natural lifespan of <2 years? I'm open to considering anything other than insects (I might even consider a few insects). Thanks so much for your help and sorry if you've already answered!

amazingpetenclosures:

Aside from insects, the only other critters with fairly short lifespans that I can think of off the top of my head are rodents. Rats, mice, hamsters; all have an average life span of only a few years. With good care, they live longer than two years, but you could consider adopting a pair of mature rats or mice and letting them live their last couple years in luxury 🙂 

If my followers have suggestions, ideas are welcome!

Annual killifish only live a year or so. Also, the eggs can be mail-ordered and hatched. 

Fairy shrimp and triops only live a few months at a time, and lay eggs that can be re-hatched. You could raise multiple batches. 

end0skeletal:

The northern spiny-tailed gecko is a lizard endemic to Australia. These geckos are nocturnal and their diet is relatively unknown, but they have been observed eating arthropods. Spiny-tailed geckos also

have the ability to squirt a harmless, smelly, fluid from their tails. This is used as a deterrent for birds and other predators.

This species can vary from a uniform grey color, with few black or orange scales, to rich brown, with a mottled pattern of grey, white, and orange scales.

(x x x x x x x)

crystalgem18:

azzandra:

butchcommunist:

kropotkitten:

thejesusandmarxchain:

do tumbleweeds actually blow around in the southwest or is that a myth…?

!!! They do!!!

Tumbleweed is actually an invasive species from Siberia. What happens is when the soil gets too dry the roots come out of the ground and the plant curls up into a ball so that it can blow to a new spot. When it comes into contact with wet soil its roots will unfold and it will settle down. 

That is ten times more fucked up than I thought. They plant themselves again? That’s neat. I always thought they were just dead leaves and twigs in a bunch.

I like this. Tumbleweeds just fuck off when they don’t like a place, they are not like other plants who have to respect your plant rules, they are rebels.

I actually read this as Tumblrweed and I don’t know why

Some other types of tumbleweeds are plants that, after they make seeds, dry up and die. The stem eventually snaps off, and the plant goes blowing away, scattering seeds everywhere as it does.