#fact post

[projectnomoho]

The Spectacle(d Cormorant) - an informative post about an underrated extinct bird

(Artwork by me. Halfly based on the artwork by Joseph Wolf.)

Just something out of the ordinary from before. I am getting tired from posting all those comics and stuff on here, so here's a repost of my depiction of one of my all-time favorite extinct birds - the life, the moment, the spectacle itself - the spectacled (or Pallas's) cormorant, as well as a bunch of facts about it below this because I care about this bird so much and will protect it with all my life if it still existed.

You may ask, why am I so into this nerdy-looking bird? It's not like it's THAT special or anything - we still have at least 40 other cormorant species alive on earth - 3 of them in the same genus as the spectacled cormorant.

The reason is simple - no one ever talks about it or even has an idea on what it is, even though humans were the sole cause of its extinction. (And believe it or not, cormorant culling IS still a thing, but that's a different story for now.)

(Specimen kept at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands.)

Large, stupid, clumsy, ludicrous in looks. That was how others, including Georg Steller, the discoverer of the bird, described the spectacled cormorant. It was, perhaps, the largest of all cormorants known to exist, rivalling the Galápagos flightless cormorant in length, but was way heavier than the latter. Due to its large size, it was probably flightless, but studies of its wings have shown that it was more likely reluctant to do so due to its lack of natural predators (besides Arctic foxes) while residing in its former habitat - the Commander/Komandorski Islands in Kamchatka Krai of Russia. Occasionally, some of these birds would get lost and end up on the Kamchatka Peninsula, which led to its consumption by the locals.

However, it wasn't until the 1820s when their extinction was hastened. The Russian-American Company started to transfer Unangan (Aleut) people to the islands, and, to no surprise, they found this cormorant easy to hunt. As Steller said on his journey in 1741, the spectacled cormorant was also rather delicious, unlike most other cormorants. Along with how it was abundant on the Commander Islands, this was most likely the exact reason why the Unangan people consumed it whenever they could not catch enough fish to sell or feed their families.

That marked the end of the legacy of the spectacled cormorant. It vanished from the islands and the world in the 1850s, and was never heard from anyone ever again.

(Artwork by J. G. Keulemans.)

The reason why it might have been forgotten by man was probably due to there only being six known specimens of this bird collected (all apparently by the same person, Governor Kuprianof), and only one or two of those specimens are currently up for display in the whole world.

The spectacled cormorant died like the dodo, but unlike the dodo, it was quickly forgotten by the people who caused its rapid extinction. By the time we wanted to care about it, it was already gone.

170+ years have passed. People like me still remember this bird, wanting to do anything to bring it back to life, or just imagining it while it was still in its glory - plummeting into the cold seas to catch a mouthful of fish, as it clumsily swims back to the shore to dry its wings. A beautiful bird that met a rather depressing fate.

#extinct birds #bird art #spectacled cormorant #recently extinct #extinct animals #i can't draw backgrounds #extinction #lineless art #digital artwork #informative post #fact post #bird facts #cormorant #seabirds

[critter-catcher]

Given today's events, I think we need some crab facts

There are more than 4,500 known species of crabs

A crabs pregnancy only lasts 1-2 weeks and they lay 1,000 to 2,000 eggs!

The smallest crab is the Pea Crab(Left) which at max is 0.47 inches. On the other hand you have the Japanese Spider Crab(right) which can get up to twelve feet.

Now Yeti Crabs are one of my favorite types because they live on hydrothermal vents at the very bottom of the ocean. And they stick together by the thousands, each white dot is in fact a crab.

There's another fun thing about these guys, and it's actually where they get their names from. They have little hairs covering their claws which they slowly wave back and forth encouraging bacteria growth, then they eat that bacteria!

Of course this list would be incomplete if I didn't tell you the most important fact,

Crabs dance.

All for different reasons, spreading eggs, gloating over a victory, to woo potential mates, even to attract food.

So post crab rave, technically, it's accurate

#shes gone and in the ground yall #its a good day #crabs #crab facts #animals #animal facts #facts #fact post #the queen #crustacean #rave away my dudes #ocean #ocean facts

[johnsotherbastard]

This is a blueberry hate page. Fuckass little berries. Worst fruit fr.

#opinion post #actually no #fact post #fruit #blueberry #hatred #loathing

[the-god-of-magic]

Wizard Fact #42: The real reason you're not supposed to stick a fork into your toaster is because you might stab one of the wizards in there

#the god of magic speaks #wizard #wizard posting #wizard facts

[squeakadeeks]

bro doesnt even have the jennies (certain je ne sais quois)

#i had this post beamed into my forebrain so now yall have to look at it too #although the fact that i had this so violently beamed into my brain means theres a non-zero chance i saw a post like this before and forgot

[liquidstar]

Yes, Greece still exists, we didn't all die 2000 years ago. Yes, people speak Greek. You people are so fucking stupid for real. So many of you claim to love ancient shit but can't even acknowledge the actual living culture of the people whose mythology and classics you romanticize. You keep leaving annoying comments about how you just forget Greek people still exist, thinking you're being quirky because you love ancient stuff soooo much that you forgot about the people it came from. You think about it so little you don't even realize that an actual Greek person has to read this shit, making it clear how little you actually care about the culture beyond the romanticized (and westernized) mythology. Don't claim you love Greece, don't use our mythology anymore if you can't acknowledge that we're still around without making it about how little you think about us. It's mind boggling that you'd think a Greek person would read this and think you're anything but obnoxious. Explode.

#this post is edited because you're all annoying. maybe I'll turn it back someday #it sucks that people can't even be normal about a funny family story once the fact that we're greek comes into the fold #suddenly its all about blorbofied mythology shit and idiots saying ''GREECE IS REAL???? 🤯🤯🤯🤯'' yeah percy j*ckson didnt make it up #maybe it would be less annoying if they weren't all saying it like I'd think it's funny that they don't know we exist instead of like #disturbing on a personal level. like what the fuck #man if you can't acknowledge we exist in real life just name your oc Icarus something else idgaf #so yeah explode. Skase. Voulos'to. Valto mesa sto katamalakismeno mouni tis mana's sou. Psophise. etc.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

Of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept 11 attacks:

15 were from Saudi Arabia (a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

2 were from the United Arab Emirates (also a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

1 was from Egypt, 1 from Lebanon.

None of the hijackers were from Iraq.

None of the Sept 11 hijackers were Iraqi.

None of the 9/11 hijackers were from Iraq.

#9/11 #serious post #not a shitpost #this should be one of the first things kids learn when they learn about the 9/11 attacks #politics #this is just...it's such an essential and brazen fact and i rarely see basic outrage over it #i want outrage. i want fury. i want disgust over the way fundamental facts are disguised and discarded and downplayed #because there are things we should KNOW. basic fact we should ALL KNOW. and they are tucked away in the footnotes. #and no this is NOT to put the blame on other middle eastern countries #we know this was carried out by a specific terrorist organization not a national government #but King George the Second decided (and was encouraged by his cabinet!) to invade a nation! #a nation that was not at all related or responsible!!! #a dictatorship to be sure--but a dictatorship that King George the First had been happy to support #so what changed? why did we go in guns blazing to DEMOLISH a country *we had NO PLANS OF REPAIRING*??? #well. because they wanted a villain didn't they. a nice clean war. clarity of purpose. us the heroes against them the villains #and when you're in that mindframe--truth is irrelevant. you can pick your villain (your victim) by rolling a roulette wheel #truth is irrelevant #worse: to the people in charge #truth is a HINDRANCE #'Alternative facts' existed long before it became a catchphrase #facts don't matter. truth doesn't matter. the impulses of a handful of volatile & rich & power-high people--that's History. congratulations

[frostedpuffs]

HAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

#I FUCKING KNEW HE'D MAKE A CAMEO #as soon as i saw mat i started SCREAMING laughing #no mark cameo though :( sad #fnaf movie #fnaf movie spoilers #text post #fnaf #fnaf spoilers #matpat #the fact that his nametag says ness too. the fucking earthbound character #THE EASTER EGGS IN THIS MOVIE WERE SOOO GOOD #listen as an og fnaf fan....im thriving #not super into the series anymore but WOW this movie really catered to my high school age self lol

[gaylactic-fire]

The Curse

Aka Hylia's favourite transmasc gets amnesia and forgets what periods are

#fires posts #my art #loz #tloz #the legend of zelda #botw #breath of the wild #totk #tears of the kingdom #comic #hey fun fact the lunar cycle takes 29 days so him syncing with the blood moon is totally possible teehee #trans link #tw blood #cw blood #tw menstruation #cw menstruation

[oars]

#i feel like tge fact im apprehensive about posting this is kinda proving my point #the way everyone talks about both weight gain and weight loss is just horrendous #like idek if i could fit all i wanna say in here especially while im at work but #i so badly wish people could be normal about weight gain and talking about it #its like if youre not in some constant state of wanting to lose weight people want to kill you #god forbid you want to put on weight to feel more comfortable in your body outside of muscles and a butt #fatphobia is a given thats a whole other few paragraphs #im grateful i have mutuals and friends who are normal but ill have or hear these convos and go #ok i feel sick. why do i feel this way why do you feel that way. #anyways i think fatphobia is one of the worst things to ever happen

[someonestrawberry]

saw I trap: hey girlie! this guy is dead. but he has a key in his tummy!! could you get it out to save yourself??

saw traps II and up: preform brain surgery on yourself then eat your own arm then watch your wife be brutally murdered then melt all your skin off with this acid then kill 7 innocent bystanders. you have 45 seconds. now you'll think twice about taking antidepressants.

#saw 2004 #saw franchise #amanda young #hollytalks! #fun fact i made this post before i watched saw x and successfully predicted the self brain surgery trap

[critter-catcher]

*slams 100 gold pieces on the table* Fact seller, give me your strongest fact

Yeah okay, this one's for my bug lovers. We know of over one million insects, that represents half of all living organisms. We discover roughly 15,000-18,000 new species of insects each year. Because of this scientists estimate there's 6-10 million insects in total, making bugs 90% of all animal life forms.

Oh, also there's an estimated 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) insects alive at any given time. That averages out to about 200 million bugs per human.

#i love bugs so much #youll find them almost anywhere #look under a rock and you too can find a friend! #animals #bugs #insects #animal facts #facts #fact post #answered #ask #speamyraven

[akkpipitphattana]

i’ll never understand people who can’t make fun of their faves a little. like yes i love this character and would defend them to my grave but also they’re stupid sometimes and they do dumb things and imma make fun of them for it

#someone commented under the alan post i made with him saying he can’t separate work from personal matters #and felt the need to clarify that this is what a professional would do #like yeah i agree. i made a post about that. #however this post is making fun of the fact that he’s a lil liar GDKDKED #liz rambles #greatest hits

[aq2003]

christopher eccleston do you know that i would die for you (1 2)

#christopher eccleston #re that nine post i did not in fact dream him saying this actually it's real #reading some of the interviews .. gosh hes had it so awful i wish only the best for him in his life rn #dr who #mt #9 era

[pokimoko]

I can't keep being fundamentally changed as a person by animated movies, it's just not sustainable.

#animation #animated film #animated movies #across the spiderverse #across the spider-verse #spiderverse #puss in boots #puss in boots the last wish #puss in boots 2 #nimona #nimona film #yes i'm posting this specifically because i just watched nimona and am feeling all kinds of things but really these are all PEAK TIER #the fact they have ALL been released within 7 months of each other...like...woah we are thriving right now #stylised animation with its own unique style reflecting the movie i love you forever kissing you on the mouth #films that make me ferally rip up any and all art blocks to shreds #and that's just the animation side of things #i won't get started on the plots. they also make me want to bounce off of walls #hugging all these close to my chest #as well as all the other great animated movies that exist because animation wins all catergories for me always #(let's not forget anime movies either; y'all are beautiful too! keeping 2d animation alive and i'm so here for it)

[ibtisams]

The global reaction to Aaron Bushnell’s self immolation has been very jarring. I understand how powerful and scary it is to witness such a young man set himself on fire while screaming for a free Palestine, but to now see comments like “his death will not be in vain” and “the video will haunt me forever” is very strange considering the depravity of the videos we have been seeing coming out of Gaza for 4 months. It seems like people are now using Aaron as the “perfect martyr” of Palestine that we can put all of our efforts into celebrating as if there has not been 30,000+ Palestinian martyrs that we have been begging you to acknowledge

#this is inspired by log6s post and the fact that the first video on my fyp was about Aaron and the comment section rubbed me the wrong way #and I really really hope it’s clear that I am in no way diminishing Aaron Bushnell and what he did #his martyrdom will stay with me for the rest of my life but so will the martyrdom of every single Palestinian #this is not very well said but you get it #🦢