mikl-em's combine

Best snail photos ever. Via priceofliberty & taktophoto: tales of nature from Vyacheslav Mishchenko

(via pornnipples)

Sometimes you don’t care what it is, just what it looks like. This image seems to be the octopus-ninja tarot card. And that’ll muthafuckin do just fine.

(via mudwerks)

A couple posts today of large scale pagan-y art stuff—really?  Yeah. Seemed like a fun time to pair them. First, “The Four Seasons” by Philip Haas transforms a series of paintings by Mannerist painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo into into 15-foot tall fiberglass sculptural form—shown here at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London. They are now on display in Phoenix, AZ. Via staceythinx

(via flashandfootle)

Amazing, epic German landscape photos by Bernhard Edmaier. Been saving it for a while. Inspired to finally post these by my pal Scott’s pix his an amazing whirlwind Germany trip just completed. German art coming in the next post today, in a bit. Via arpeggia

The rare pink katydid, a condition so rare that the condition was not noticed by scientists until 1887. Via archiemcphee:

“Flamingos aside, you do not get to see the color pink in the animal kingdom a great deal. A notable exception is the pink katydid. Yet this is by no means a separate species – this coloring affects around one in 500. You may have already guessed that the condition is something similar to albinism.

Known as erythrism, the condition causes a curious reddish pigmentation. It can affect the body of an insect as well as its skin, and it is so rare that it was not noticed by western scientists until 1887. The reason for this oversight was perhaps due to the inclination of the insect to remain perfectly still during daylight hours.

You may also be wondering where this insect got its unusual name. It sounds like a scientific designation but in fact it comes from the noise that the insect makes which forms a song of sorts - katy did katy did katy did. There are literally thousands of species of katydids and many look like leaves or other shrubbery, some have even evolved to look like slime mold.”

Visit The Ark in Space to learn more about and view more wonderful photos of pretty pink katydids. These two were photographed by Richard Whitby (top) and janetandphil (bottom).

Where Snowmen Live - Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland by orvaratli on Flickr. I want to hang out in Vatnajökull via innaihtsiiyi

(via gooblegobbleoneofus-deactivated)

devotingfulltimetofloating:

Spotted Jellyfish by Pat L.314 on Flickr.

(via theanimalblog)

Amazing and Bizarre Hybrid Animals (Photos) from The Daily Beast featuring Wholphin, Zebroid, Liger, and the Hybrid Shark. Full of real life awesome, who needs science fiction. via apsies

(via theanimalblog)

Danielle and a glorious magnolia beating its neighbors to bloom at San Francisco Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park.

In the ancient plant area at San Francisco Botanical Garden. Cool #longnowflora.

On the surprisingly big side of things, in contrast to our chameleon friend is this Giant Weta—a cricket-y thing the size of your HAND. Also of course via archiemcphee:

Meet the Giant Weta! 

Mark Moffet (aka Dr. Bugs) discovered this awesome female specimen, which has since been officially declared the world heaviest insect, after 2 days spent searching on Little Barrier Island,  a remote island of New Zealand. Weighing in at 71 grams, she’s heavier than a sparrow and three times the weight of a mouse. The Giant Weta has a body similar to a cricket and a wingspan of seven inches. Mark found her up a tree and, as you can see here, successfully fed her a carrot (and that’s no little baby carrot!) while she sat on his hand:

‘She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away.

‘She would have finished the carrot very quickly, but this is an extremely endangered species and we didn’t want to risk indigestion.

‘After she had chewed a little I took this picture and we put her right back where we found her.’

Dr. Bugs, the Geyser of Awesome salutes you and your hungry new friend! (And reminds our readers about Ear Guards). More at Dailymail.co.uk!

The butterfly blues are all right. Gorgeous. Via npr:

WOWWWWWwwwww

publicradiointernational:

kqedscience:

Blue Morpho butterfly tree

Nature wins out in the “wondrous” category every time.