Meet Selka the sea otter! 🦦

We’ve got an otter overachiever on our hands. 🌟 Selka’s survived a shark bite, contributed to scientific studies, and raised orphaned pups as a surrogate mother.

Adding to these impressive accomplishments, she’s got a full-time job charming millions of guests and livecam otter spotters. Selka teaches people around the world all about her threatened species and what we can do to protect them just by being her beautiful, brainy self. 
What, like it’s hard? 🤓🩷

Study up and learn more about Selka and her fellow exhibit otters, Opal and Ivy! 📚

women in stem

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✨Opal is ready for her close-up!

This confident and curious otter explores the world with her teeth. Behind Opal’s fluffy whiskered face is a powerful bite rivaling the king of the jungle! 🦁

Orphaned Opal was rescued and raised behind the scenes as part of our sea otter surrogacy program. Now this sparkly otter’s making a splash by inspiring conservation and awareness for her threatened species.

We’re working with Opal in hopes she’ll become a surrogate herself one day, giving orphaned pups a second chance at survival by teaching them the skills they need for re-release into the wild. 💙

🦦🦦🦦Learn more about our lovable exhibit otters and the role they play in our sea otter surrogacy program!

Adonis Blue (Lysandra bellargus) butterflies basking in the sun.

I am constantly thinking about this

This mild Wikipedia sentence is like the understatement of all time

Here are some crazy grasshopper mouse facts for those who are not familiar with the most badass mouse species on the planet

- They are primarily carnivorous, and their diet is made up of not only bugs but also snakes, lizards and other mice.

- They hunt like true predators, slowly stalking and creeping up on their prey before ambushing them. They will sometimes let out a screech as they attack.

- Like wolves, they howl to establish territory and have a specially developed throat to produce louder vocalizations. They will stand up on their hind legs and throw their head back to howl- a sound that can be heard from 100 meters away!

- Grasshopper mouse behavior is linked to lunar cycles and they are more active during a full moon.

- These mice have been hunting bark scorpions and evolving alongside them for so long that they’ve evolved a mutation where scorpion venom that is lethal to other animals is converted into a painkiller in the grasshopper mouse’s body.

Oncilla or Tigrillo (Leopardus tigrinus), MELANISTIC, family Felidae, Panama

• Also called Northern Tiger Cat and Little Spotted Cat

photograph by Ignacio Yúfera

unrestrained autumn fun

Frill-necked Monarch (Arses lorealis), family Monarchidae, order Passeriformes, endemic to northern Australia

photograph by Laurie Ross

Unique double-notched tail sets new Jurassic predatory fish apart from its relatives

Birch boy

HRT Jars

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Cookie dough? Nope, just the chocolate chip sea cucumber (Isostichopus badionotus). This critter has no true brain: Instead, a complex system of neurons helps it interact with its environment through touch and the ability to feel the presence of light. Found throughout warm, shallow waters in the Atlantic, this species grows about 1 ft (30.5 cm) long. Fun fact: There are more than 1,000 species of sea cucumbers! 

Photo: Matteo Cassella, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

Greater Sooty Owl (Tyto tenebricosa), family Tytonidae, order Strigiformes, Australia

Photographs by Ben Williams

Giant hermit crab (Petrochirus diogenes)

This specimen is relatively small. P. diogenes is the world’s second-largest hermit crab species, growing large enough to inhabit a full sized queen conch shell and beaten only by the terrestrial coconut crab, which is a hermit crab that stops using shells when it matures.

I can only assume that the the “diogenes” in its name comes from some parallel drawn between the hermit crab’s shell and the philosopher’s habit of sleeping in a large jar.

(Florida, 2/27/21)

so hard to find these guys

thinking about weevil photonic crystal structures…

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Weevils (such as Pachyrhynchus genera) have evolved epidermal cells that can produce colour through opal-like arrangements of packed spheres, forming a three-dimensional photonic crystalline structure.

Dragontail butterflies

Here is Kyle aggressively attacking an orphan

Japanese Giant Salamander (Andrias japonicus), family Cryptobranchidae, endemic to Japan

• One of the largest amphibians in the world, growing to a length of 1.5 m (~5 ft).
• Vulnerable

“During the survey in Nov, we found 28 Japanese Giant Salamanders within only 1km range.

The largest salamander we found on the day was 108cm (first photo). He has been constantly caught for 38 years since he was caught first time. The first time his measurement was 83cm. Researchers expect he should be at least 70 years old now.

The second photo is a medium-sized specimen with characteristic colour of this species, light yellow background with obvious black spots.

The research centre has been conducting the salamander’s survey for many years. But they still need financial support for the activity.

Photographs by Korp Sam

Prehistoric Planet, but make it silly

rolling rolling rolling