Scientists in Queensland, Australia have pieced together the most complete pterosaur fossil collection yet—a big-headed reptile with a 12-foot wingspan they've named Ferrodraco lentoni, or "Butch's Iron Dragon."
"It’s kind of scary when you think their heads are disproportionately large, it would have had a skull maybe 60cm," Adele Pentland from Swinburne University, the lead author on the study, told The Guardian. "To see it walking around on the ground it would have walked on four legs and looked really different to any kind of animal we have today." You can check out an artist's rendering of the derpy-looking lizard-bird here.
The field of dinosaur research is in a bit of a renaissance period, with some three dozen new species discovered this year alone. More importantly: of course a flying mini-T-Rex was found in Australia of all places. After all, this is the land of such natural wonders as mutant eel-sharks, birds that weaponize fire, projectile bull semen, human-sized jellyfish, and more strange spiders than anyone ever wants to hear about, except for that guy who was bit on the penis not once but twice (and still hasn't gained any spider-penis super powers).
In that context, it's frankly surprising that a flying T-Rex hadn't been discovered there until now.
(Image via Luis Rey/Wikimedia Commons) Read the rest
Nature's li'l hackers break into security contractor's van
The mortally injured cat was later euthanized.
“Can’t I stay with you?” Read the rest
The internet-famous Chicago native “Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't” talks to an injured coyote he encountered and rescued. The little guy just got a flea bath, and he was on his way to a wildlife rehab facility. Read the rest
The amazing Owl's Nest Sanctuary For Wildlife shared images of this incredibly beautiful blue-eyed baby deer on their Facebook page. Read the rest
Yesterday, a church group of little kids were playing at a creek in Preble County, Ohio when an adult spotted a big shadowy shape moving under the water. It turned out to be a seven-foot saltwater crocodile, a species not native to Ohio. A wildlife office was called to the scene and, sadly, shot the crocodile.
According to WLWT, pastor Jim Hazelwood "was impressed with the remarkable poise the children displayed and how their first words after the close call were how God had protected them."
Read the rest
Drivers on a highway in Buckinghamshire, UK spotted this very strange orange bird on the side of the road and called the nearby Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital. Further investigation by veterinarians revealed that the bird's feathers were not naturally orange but rather stained with curry. From CNN:
Vinny, named by veterinary workers in honor of the Vindaloo curry he was covered in, had a "pungent smell" but was otherwise healthy, the hospital said.
All he needed was a bath. Rescuers were finally able to clean the curry off of the herring gull after he put up a bit of a fight and covered the veterinary team in curry water.
Now that he's been thoroughly scrubbed and returned to his natural white coloring, Vinny will soon be ready to fly free...
Read the rest
“Environmentalists say the bear could have lost its bearings while drifting on an ice floe.”
Photographer Kaushik Vijayan snapped beautiful shots of rainbow-colored Malabar giant squirrels in the Pathanamthitta District in Kerala, Southern India.
"I felt so amazed by how drop-dead gorgeous it looked," he told CBS News.
While University of Miami evolutionary biologist Dana Krempels was quoted in National Geographic suggesting that someone may have jacked up the color intensity of the photos, the squirrels do have far-out purple coloring. From Nat Geo:
The squirrel’s purple patterns likely play some sort of role as camouflage. This is because the broadleaf forests these squirrels inhabit create a “mosaic of sun flecks and dark, shaded areas"—not unlike the rodents’ markings, (according to University of Arizona conservation biologist John Koprowski, author of Squirrels of the World.)
Read the rest
I like these albino turtles. Read the rest
Boing Boing! Read the rest
Sometimes life comes at you fast, and you just have to make the best of a challenging situation. Read the rest
“He is very gentle when he takes his treats.” Read the rest
