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“Feather Starfish. [video]
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“Feather Starfish. [video]
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After so much work on our renovations the past year it’s nice to be able to spend some time on what I really enjoy, making art. I designed this pendant a few years ago and it is by far my best seller. Every time I finish one of these I understand why. I am pleasantly amazed at what #3dprinting allows me to produce. Yay #technology! Available through the link in my profile or at our gallery @wooden_octopus in Berlin, MD. #finejewelry #sterlingsilver #octopus #octonation #designer #instacool (at Wooden Octopus)
Source: softcoyote
#octopus #animalportrait #underwater #underwaterart #dahab #redsea #eye #alien #alienportrait
among bioluminescent organisms, fungi are the most rare and least well understood. only 71 of the more than 100,000 described fungal species emit a bioluminescent light, which, it is believed, serves to attract insects who then spread the fungal spores around. click pic for the four species seen here. photos by taylor lockwood, lance aardvaarkau, steve axford, and nicky bay
(via moreanimalia)
Source: nubbsgalore
The bloodybelly comb jelly is nearly invisible in the deep sea, where red animals appear black and blend into the dark background. Scientists think the jelly’s blood-red belly helps mask bioluminescent light from prey it swallows—so it won’t become a snack for another deep-sea predator!
(via moreanimalia)
Source: montereybayaquarium
This little guy is the first one in a series I’d like to call Bio-spheres (I was very happy when I came up with that name and found it very clever :P) I’d like each one of them to contain an animal I love (or just love to look at) or alittle environment with different animals. At the moment I decided to exclude animals with either fur or feathers for I don’t quite know how to pull that off in that scale, but I might include them once I found a good technique.
So. On to the Octopus. I made him mostly from polymer clay (this time it was a brand called pardo of which I got a bunch of jewel colours from a former job. It was a really, really lovely shade at one point, but I mostly painted over it so you can’t really see it anymore) but painted him in a lot of layers to achieve the mottled “skin”. I started off with another Octopus, which, surprise, surprise, turned out a bit too big for the sphere I envisioned, which turned out to be awesome, though, cause I was able to play around with painting techniques, and especially with the suckers. I originally planned to make them in polymer clay too, but then decided that I don’t want to get crazy yet. So I ended up painting first a little dot of paint and then taking paint away with a very fine dotting tool. To complete the piece I added a little bit of sand and small rocks to the base. The Pendant measures a bit more then 30 mm, the dome itself measures 25. The pictures truly don’t do this piece justice.
(via meglyman)
Source: asabaijan
Plantigrade vs. Digitigrade Carnivores - the Polar Bear and the African Lion
The foot structure of many animals plays a critical role in their locomotion and environmental niche, and in carnivores, the clear distinction between plantigrade (walking with the podials and metatarsals both flat on the ground) and digitigrade (walking on the toes, with the heel and wrist permanently raised) animals is most evident.
In plantigrade beasts - which include humans, many rodents, bears, racoons, and opossums - the larger surface area that the many bones provide can act as both a stabilizer and a very effective bearer of great weights. In fact, the big ol’ flighted dinosaurs were plantigrade. At the same time, so were the first (and relatively small) mammals, since both of them needed lots of stability in their feet. The weight-bearing ability and stable platform comes at the cost of speed, as the energy and requirements for movement of so many bones and muscles is much greater than digitigrade feet or unguligrade feet.
Digitigrade animals walk on only their toes, leaving their wrists and ankles permanently raised. This affords more speed, much more silent movement. Cats, birds, and dogs are digitigrade. Digitigrade feet evolved long after plantigrade feet, to fit the niche of mid-sized carnivores. However, they cannot effectively sustain large loads, which is why you cannot use a lion as a pack mule. Well, among other reasons. Really, you just don’t want to try using any mid-sized (or large, in the lion’s case) carnivore as a pack mule.
On the Anatomy of Vertebrates. Richard Owen, 1866.
(via moreanimalia)
Source: biomedicalephemera
