ubi

A striking blue Cuckoo Bee on a yellow cosmos flower. It's great when nature arranges all the colours for you and you just have to snap the photo. Bee eyes are so nice when they are in focus. #macroPhotography #bees #photography

More people should backlight insects. They are so thin that light interacts with them differently than larger animals. I could ID the butterfly, but for now I just want to focus on taking nice pictures. #macroPhotography #butterflies

@thomasjwebb @giflian @futurebird What about hot pot? Some Prototaxites and a few silurian fish for the broth sound delicious.

@PermaSolarPotter @gardening People often forget the "Culture" part of Permaculture and just think of it as farming. People aren't an island, there needs to be community building too. There needs to be building towards a sustainable culture. It's not just about self-sustaining a single family, it needs conversation, it needs art, it needs examples.

@abram @futurebird I have always thought that strangling figs would make fantastic living structures. They grow really fast in the tropics and can be shaped by manipulating the aerial roots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_root_bridge

@futurebird Looking up the Crematogaster species that inhabits Macaranga, I see a bunch of names that are familiar to me and I remember the late Prof. Maschwitz's predilection to not wear pants while at the field station. This paper has a good summary on the diversity of species: https://www.antwiki.org/w/images/2/22/Feldhaar%2C_H.%2C_Maschwitz%2C_U.%2C_Fiala%2C_B._2016._Taxonomic_revision_of_the_obligate_plant-ants_of_the_genus_Crematogaster_Lund.pdf

@quietmarc Sounds like a Bird Wave, when a group of different species flock together to forage, which naturalists have recorded all over the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed-species_foraging_flock A lot of bird waves involve Corvids (the crow family), which act as coordinators and sentries because of their wide range of vocalisations. I'm not very familiar with the literature, but I dont think there have been many records of urban mixed species flocks. It's an interesting observation there.

@afif Too much hassle to clean the slime. But fun fact: They were brought to Malaya during the Japanese occupation as an alternative source of protein to fight the famine. Then they escaped and became the pests that they are today.

@PermaSolarPotter That is a problem everywhere, maybe even worse in the US because of the lack of traditional food gardens. For me it took a lot of thinking about cultural preferences and what people actually wantsd to make better pitches about sustainable landscapes. My current argument leverages tradition and medicinal and culinary benefits, because people prefer that instead of saving pollinators. There isn't a one size fits all solution, it has to be rooted in people and place.

@futurebird@sauropods.win I used to be in the "Spare the rod" camp, but since I started helping to raise my nephew I realised that even toddlers can be reasoned with and just calming him down and explaining things to him works.

@irfan The problem with hydro is that it takes up a lot of land. And certain parties use it as an excuse to log the entire area, since it's going to be underwater anayway. To the state government, that's like double dipping the resources of the land. And it's a good way to reward cronies with logging contracts.

@Bellingcat@mstdn.social @mongabay@mastodon.green Facebook is so evil. Genocide, wildlife trafficking, all this goes unmoderated in Southeast Asia.

@MiguelGuerreiro@ecoevo.social I'm a biologist/taxonomist/ecologist from Southeast Asia.

@PermaSolarPotter @gardening A decade ago Urban Biodiversity were just small things that me and my friends were trying out in my country. Now every developer has a sustainability unit and they're fighting each to be the greenest and most biodiverse. It's a bit hypocritical, but at least it's something and it's getting more mainstream. I think it's the same for Permaculture, you need to show people what is possible. You need to start the discussion even if it's an imperfect prototype.

@cendawanita@mefi.social @irfan@calckey.social Honestly the main reason I'm still sticking around Mastodon is because of the SEA community here. It's not big, but there are interesting people and at least we get along.

@geraineon@blahaj.zone @cendawanita@mefi.social I've seen teenagers take an interest in all these stuff, but they do it among themselves so we don't see it much.

Preliminary results: out of 6 times picking it up on a completely smooth plastic surface, 4 times it reacted and released itself almost immediately without any resistance. 2 times it stuck for a while and I had to tug it off, but released itself from the surface without any apparent harm. There was no change in behaviour to indicate injury after all the pick up attempts. Currently euthanising it and I'll check the mantle for any signs of injury or bleeding tomorrow.

@rakyat I always assumed that pork to chicken was because both are white meats.

@henryk@chaos.social @NanoRaptor@bitbang.social So that's why this thing exists! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion-man

@cendawanita@mefi.social This is multiculturalism.