seventy-five-percent-water:

Sea Angels

Gymnosomata, commonly known as Sea Angels. An apt name - they are the ethereal, translucent, fluttering angels of the sea. 

In hard scientific terms, they’re small swimming sea slugs, but we’ll pass over that for now and just admire how delicately beautiful these wonderful creatures are.

Not forgetting, of course, that it looks to many tumblrites like the head of a penis.

(via odditiesoflife)

gatsbyadventures:

Siblings.

Gatsby being awesome and sitting still. And Scout being…Scout.

(Source: -everdeen)

(Source: lookatthelights)

odditiesoflife:

Vintage Animal Photographer Harry Whittier Frees

Harry Whittier Frees (1879–1953) was an American photographer who created novelty postcards and children’s books based on his photographs of animals. He dressed the animals and posed them in human situations with props, often with captions. These were famously popular as postcards and posters at the turn of the century. The books and postcards are both highly collectible today.

These comical images are from his 1915 book, The Little Folks of Animal Land. He created images with animals, mostly kittens recreating everyday life scenarios.  The images were titled:

• “Lily Bufkins Cuts a Wisdom Tooth”
• “Barker was Busy in the Kitchen”
• “Mrs. Bufkins Takes Barker’s Place”
• “Purra Plays a Joke on Prowler”
• “Mrs. Bufkins had a Busy Day”
• “Rosie was a patient model”
• “Prowler and Purra Try the Jam”

Unlike many of Frees contemporaries, he used live animals and not taxidermy. This allows guilt-free enjoyment of the pictures without the “yuck” factor of knowing that you are looking at something dead.

odditiesoflife:

Distinguished Birds

Inca Terns always look distinguished since mature males and females sport mustaches.

Photo credit: Leslie Guinan

odditiesoflife:

“Morbid Curiosity” Taxidermy

After seeing what seemed to be an endless collection of work at the “Idiot” (their name!) website, I began to feel a bit queasy. Most of it is too disturbing for me to post here. I came across this bit of writing describing the artists “intentions” behind their work:

“The striking beauty and the vividness of the animals that figure in the works, conjure powerful emotions of awe and inspiration before giving way to our morbid curiosity surrounding death, which leads us ultimately to think of our own mortality. This contrast between beauty, luxury and greed coupled with the mystery of death, timelessly preserved, transports one into a transient state of mind, in which anything is possible.”

Forgive my lack of “knowledge” about art appreciation, but I just found the collection upsetting. Click on the source link to see more…if you can stomach it.

(via odditiesoflife)

bunnyfood:

(via)

Not cool, man.

magicalnaturetour:

The rare golden Tiger by Tambako the Jaguar :)

fat-birds:

soapywankenobi: Possibly the cutest fluffy Parrotlet on a skateboard I’ve ever seen! this is the [source]

(via octopussoir-)

radiofortheblind:

Whoever decided to put grumpy cat in a dress must have a death wish

sciencesoup:

Nature’s Night Light

Sometimes known as the sea-firefly, Vargula hilgendorfii is a species of ostracod crustacean that only inhabits coastal waters off Japan. It is a nocturnal creature that rarely grows longer than 3 millimetres, with a beautiful transparent shell—but it’s best known for its bioluminescence. When disturbed, it secretes a luminous blue substance through a process similar to many other bioluminescent creatures: a chemical reaction of the substrate luciferin and the enzyme luciferase. The maximum wavelength of its light depends on the pH and the salinity of the water, and varies between 448 and 463 nanometres—meaning that the light is coloured various shades of blue. In World War II, the Japanese collected these creatures and crushed them in sand and water to produce their blue luminescence, which ingeniously served as light for soldiers to read maps and messages at night.

(Image Credit: 1, 2)

(via onlylolgifs)

humansofnewyork:

Lying down on the job.