Orange spotted shrimp goby

Art

goal for the week 9.25hrs

Animal

photo by Boogies with Fishes

The orange spotted shrimp goby (Amblyeleotris guttata) is found in the outer reef areas in patches of coarse carbonate sand between Asia and Australia. It forms a symbiotic relationship with the goby shrimp (Alpheus orchrostriatus) the shrimp digs and maintains the burrow they both live in. The goby in turn watches for predators and brings food back to the burrow that the shrimp benefits from. The goby grows to a maximum size of about 4 inches and they generally eat small invertebrates. This goby is somewhat popular in the aquarium hobby as it will spawn in captivity and generally gets along with small ornamental shrimp.

European cat snake

Art

Goal for the week 11.75hrs

today

still sanding

buy a few (3 or so) little boxes for skull boxes

Animal

photo by hyperviper

The European cat snake (Telescopus fallax) is found mainly on Greek islands and also the island of Malta. They are mildly venomous but are rear fanged and poses little threat to human. Lizards are their main prey, particularly geckos, which they inject with their rear fangs and then follow until the prey is subdued. These snakes have also gotten associated with an Orthodox miracle. On the island of Cephalonia, in the village of Markopoulo during the festivities to the Theotokos between August 5 and August 15 these snakes are said to come in numbers to the temple. The legend goes that nuns being attacked by pirates in 1705 prayed and were transformed into snakes to escape the pirates. I'm not sure if the nuns were supposed to have stayed snakes. (For former Necropolitians and House of Thornes in the know, the randomness of this miracle has a feel somewhat similar to "the miracle of the Christmas bats and the reasonably priced alcohol". Have you considered a reoccurring element?)

Himalayan Monal

My coworker Angel, basking in our lack of dress code, came to work in a banana suit yesterday.

Art

Goal for the week 12.5hrs

today 

still sanding

Animal 

photo by Poplinre

The Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impeianus) is a pheasant that looks like it fell out of some high fantasy world and got lost. They do look like they might have been domesticated by elves or something. The Himalayan Monal ranges from eastern Afghanistan to Bhutan.  They are very sexually dimorphic the females do not display the iridescent plumage. They are the national bird of Nepal and the state bird of Uttarakhand.  The males used to be under heavy hunting pressure for their use in ornamental hats until hunting was banned in 1982, currently this species is doing just fine. They are very vocal birds and then to call most frequently in April during the breeding season.

Here is a video that show a male and a female Himalayan Monal

Cheetah

My place of work is having me take several certifications that I'm not prepared for very soon. This could be a very expensive way to get fired if I do not pass. I wish I knew exactly which certifications I needed to get next month so I could pick up some books to study. The problem being that they are still debating that.

Art 

goal for the week 15.5 hrs

today

still sanding

Animal

photo by Don Van Dyke

Mythology

In ancient Egyptian mythology the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is associated with the goddess Mafdet who was a cheetah headed goddess of legal justice and protection from venomous animals. The Zulu associated the cheetah with the occult and things beyond understanding. In that culture if the people presented their chief with a kaross made of cheetah skin it had a very specific meaning that they were loyal, but did not understand their leader. The legend about the lazy hunter that stole the mother cheetahs cubs causing her to cry until her eye became permanently stained also comes from the Zulu.  The Greek god Dionysus is sometimes depicted being carried in a chariot pulled by cheetahs. They Mughal empire associated cheetahs with royalty and elegance and occasionally used them for hunting in a manner similar to a falconer.

Elasmotherium sibircum

Yesterday was productive I can see an end to the boxes what need sanding. I might finish this weekend. 

Art

goal for the week 17.25 hrs

today 

sanding

Animal

Elasmotherium, autor - Bogdanov,2006

Mythology

A prehistoric Eurasian rhino (Elasmotherium sibircum) has gotten linked into unicorn mythology.  Willy Ley a German scientist better known for his work in rockets got into cryptozoology a bit on the side and suggested, among other things, that the unicorn legend may have come from a population of Elasmotherium surviving into historical times. As evidence he cites the account of Ahmad Idn Fadlan an ambassador from the ruler of Zaragoza who left Baghdad in 921 and traveled far to the north.  Ahmad Idn Fadlan wrote an account of a people he called the Rus, that were very probably the Vikings, somewhere in the accounts of his travels he also wrote about a strange beast with a single horn and how the people hunted it. This account Willy Ley is attributing to that Elasmotherium population. I can't find any evidence that Ahmad Idn Fadlan's account got mixed into the legend of the Karkadann, a ferocious middle eastern unicorn. The Karkadann being what that account would probably most resemble, but I also have not found any depictions of the Karkadann from prior to 921 so I suppose it is possible the account was an influence, though other rhinos seem more likely. 

Karkadan from a Persian manuscript

Southern Blue-ringed octopus

Art

goal for the week 20hrs

today

still sanding

Animal

Photo by Saspotato

The Southern Blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena maculosa) is a golf ball sized octopus from the south coast of Australia that is considered to be one of the world most venomous animals. Most of the time it is a tiny brown octopus, but displays it's bright blue rings when threatened.  The toxin it can deliver with it's painless bite is a powerful enough neurotoxin that it can kill an adult in minutes.  There is no known antidote, but individuals may be saved it artificial respiration is started before the cyanosis and hypotension develop. If the poisoned individual survives more then 24 hours then they will generally survive. The octopus's poison come from a symbiotic relationship with bacteria that live in it's saliva, it is also immune to the bacteria's chemical as it has evolved different sodium channel receptors then most animals. Fortunately they are relatively docile creatures and do not generally bother humans unless significantly harassed or stepped on.

Chain catshark

Our bathroom door has not been locking very well and I guess Tempest my cat took advantage of this. My roommate said that she was taking a shower and like a feline Norman Bates he snuck up behind her and clawed her in the leg. Then to Tempest's dismay he discovered he was in a shower. 

Art

sanding

Animal

photo by Cliff1066

The chain catshark (Scyliorhinus retifer) is a small shark, about 1.5 feet long native to the outer continental shelf from Massachusetts to Nicaragua. In 2005 it was discovered that the shark is fluorescent, under a blue light it glows bright yellow. Ironically this discovery was made somewhat close to the time the "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" came out so it gets compared to the "Jaguar shark " a lot. Biologists are unsure if there is any reason that the shark is fluorescent it is most likely not really a thing that benefits the sharks but more of a mutation that didn't kill them. It is currently the only known fluorescent shark.  They tend to hang out around burrowing cerianthid anemones in the wild and eat a lot of squid and crustaceans. 

Video of a chain catshark laying eggs

Tuatara

Somewhat better today. 

Art

some sanding

Animal

photo by Eric de Leeuw

Re-run from livejournal
The tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) of New Zealand is not a lizard but one of the last surviving members of a mostly extinct group of reptiles the sphenodontians. They held the niche of lizards in the Mesozioc, but are completely unrelated to the lizards of Squamata today. Tuataras have a third eye with optic nerves in the center of their forehead that is visible when they are young and they have no external ears but can hear. Unlike all other living toothed reptiles they have an acrodont tooth structure which means that their teeth are fused to their jaw. They they have the slowest growth rate of the reptiles and a very slow rate of reproduction. Individuals can also live well over 100 years. For the Maori they are associated with Whiro the god of death and disaster. They are considered to indicate the borders between the mundane and the restricted sacred.

Here is a picture showing that third socket in the center of the skull

drawing by ArthurWeasley

Clark's nutcracker

I've had an awful couple of days. Food poisoning I think. Sorry about the lack of an update yesterday I just wasn't up to it

Art

Not sure see how I'm feeling later

Animal

photo by Giant Ginkgo

Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) is a mid-sized corvid from western North America. They are noteworthy for having probably the best long -term spatial memory among birds. One of the major components of their diet is pine seeds which they store in caches of 5 to 10 seeds in an area that can span 12 miles. They can hide tens of thousands of these seeds per bird. They can then relocate these caches up to 6 months later even under multiple feet of snow. They have a pouch under their tongue that helps them in carrying the pine seeds. They feed their young with these caches and so tend to nest far earlier then most other birds of the area. Both the male and female of this species develop brood patches on their chest to aid them in caring for the young during the winter. Clark's nutcracker gets it's name from William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition though at the time he thought it was a woodpecker.

Tayra

Tired today

Art

goal for the week 17.5 hours

Today

still sanding

Animal

photo by Robabroad

The Tayra (Eira barbara) is a weasel-like animal about he size of a small dog from Central and South America.  They are diurnal omnivores that tend to eat a lot of small rodents and honey. Tayra are somewhat arboreal, but do spend quite a bit of time on the ground and are also strong swimmers. Their coat coloration varies along their range. They are described has having an erratic bouncing gait and being good long distance jumpers. They have been tamed and kept as pets by people living in their range they tend to be playful and helpful for rodent control. They are also so locally referred to as "cabeza del viejo" which means "Old man head" for their wrinkled faces some individuals also have lighter colored heads which emphasizes this.  

A video in which tayra bounces up to grab a banana 

Stomatosuchus inermis

Art

Goal for the week 19.5hrs

today

sanding still

Animal

drawing by Dmitry Bogdanov

In the Middle Cretaceous in the swamps of northern Africa there was a crocodilian that became a filter feeder like a whale, Stomatosuchus inermis. It was over 40 feet long with a head that was around 6 feet long. It's upper jaw had hundreds of tiny teeth and it's lower jaw was toothless with a pelican like pouch. It is thought it would scoop water into it's throat pouch and then filter tiny invertebrates through it's teeth. It was thought to be almost fully aquatic returning to land only to lay eggs. Unfortunately very little study of this creature has been possible as the only known remains were destroyed in an allied bombing raid of the Munich Museum in 1944.

Here is a drawing that shows the scale of Stomatosuchus

Honey bee

Art

Goal to the week 20hrs

today

sanding still

Animal
photo by Teone!

Mythology

The honey bee (Apis mellifera) plays a very important role in many mythologies. For the ancient Egyptians honey bees came from the tears of Ra. They were vaguely associated with his mother Neith a weaver and war goddess and they were also associated with the rule of Lower Egypt. A major Minoan goddess Potnia a mistress of the animals was also associated with the honey bee. Mycenaean tombs were shaped like bee hives as bees symbolized the transition between life and death.  In Greek mythology Zeus was fed honey by the nymph Melissa while he was being hidden from Cronus. He gave the honey bee its sting for feeding him while he escaped Cronus. In the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, his gift for prophecy was given to him by the Thriae, three bee nymphs.

Bee hieroglyphic picture

plaques depicting the Thriae

Pinecone fish

Not much going on. I have a lot of gaming today first Mike's game and then ours.

Art

still sanding

Animal

photo by Drow male

The pinecone fish (Monocentris japonica) is a small armored fish, up to about 6 inches that lives in the West Pacific at depths of 10 - 200m. On he lower side of their jaw they have two large phosphorescent organs that they can use to attract their planktonic prey at night. This organ is filled with symbiotic bioluminescent bacteria (Vibrio fischeri). They have a flap on their jaw that allows them to regulate the light being released. During the day these fish tend to hang out in caves. They have large spines on their dorsal and ventral sides that they use to lock themselves into the rock. 

A video in which a scientist is displaying the bioluminescent bacteria at the end they draw pictures with it in the cultures.

Hairy frog

text

goal for the week 10.25 hrs

today

sanding

Animal

photos by Reuters and Gustavocarra

The Hairy frog (Trichobatrachus robustus) is a central African species that in an effort to defend itself will break its own toes so that the sharpened bone protrudes through the skin to act like claws. If you look carefully at the foot in the above picture you can see the little bone points. It is thought that the bone claws retract later passively as the tissue is regenerated. Yes, every Wolverine joke conceivable from this has already been made. The frog gets it's name from the hair like dermal papillae that breeding males develop during the breeding season. These hair-like growths are thought to act like external gills to help the male stay underwater with the eggs. They also have rather serious forearms for a frog, not sure why may be trying out for Marvel. The tadpoles are carnivorous and have several rows of teeth. 

Here is a better picture of a less taxidermied hairy frog where you can see the serious forearms.

Superb lyrebird

I ended up contacting a different con since I missed Capricon. It looks like I'm sending to Lunacon instead.  It looks like Jason is dropping the game Stuart and I are running but we may be getting Bill. That could be odd.

Art

goal for the week 12 hrs

Today

fill out forms for Lunacon

send stuff to Lunacon

sand

Animal

photo by algaedoc

The superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandie) is one of the best mimics in existence, of all of the passerines they have the most complex muscle set up in their syrinx allowing them to make a vast variety of noises. They are also able to carry two tunes at the same time, in one case a lyrebird was recorded going through the tunes of "the Keel Row" and "Mosquito's Dance" simultaneously. It is also thought to be able to produce the loudest bird call among passerines. The superb lyrebird is native to southeastern Australia and they are the third largest songbirds at the size of a chicken. Fossils of lyrebirds dating back 15 million years have been found so the genus is very old. 

Here is the David Attenborough video of the singing lyrebird

And here is an amusing remix of it

Chinese Water Deer

Today is Darwin's 200th birthday.  

Art

goal for the week 13.5 hours

today

ship the new show to Capricon

sanding

Animal

photo by wwarby

The Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis) is a fanged deer from China and Korea. The male Chinese water deer does not have antlers, but does have extremely long canine tusks, often 2 or 3 inches, the females have much shorter canines. The males tusks are somewhat flexible and can be pulled back while grazing or held forward when competing with other males. They are relatively small deer that are only about 3 feet long. They can vocalize and generally make sort of a growling barking noise. They are very prolific deer and can give birth to up to 7 offspring at a time, 2 or 3 is more common. Despite this they are not doing tremendously well in the wild there are estimated to be only around 10,000 of them in the wild. There are also a feral populations of these deer in England and France.

Here is a picture of a Chinese water deer skull to show you the teeth

Baryonyx walkeri

I had sort of a relapse yesterday. Lets see I can make it through work today.

Art

(lets try this again)
goal for the week 14hrs
Today
get the stuff picked out for Capricon
inspect and touch up anything that needs it
fill out forms for Capricon

Animal

photo by Ballista

Baryonyx walkeri was a 4 ton theropod from the area that became England that combines the fishing techniques of a crocodilian and a grizzly bear, it was sort of like a crocobear if you will. Why are there no bad horror movies about this creature? Baryonyx may have fished by sweeping fish out of the water with its powerful claws and then catching them in it's specialized jaw. The position of it's nostril in the middle of it snout was also thought to have helped it breath while it's snout was have submerged. It is also thought that Baryonyx scavenged as well as the most complete fossil had the bones of a young iguanodon in its stomach along with the remains of fish. It is one of the only two known dinosaurs to specialize in fish and was the first carnivorous dinosaur found in England. 

Sea Angel

I've been playing with the last fm website. They seem to have a pretty good selection. I've not had the problems that Grace described so far, only a little  Alien Sex Fiend so far, mostly from Corpus Delicti. So far one band I will need to check out Zeraphine it looks to be a few of the members of Dreadful Shadows in a new project. If you are not familiar with Dreadful Shadows and enjoy goth music I recommend them highly.

Art

goal for the week 16hrs

Today

get the stuff picked out for Capricon

inspect and touch up anything that needs it

fill out forms for Capricon

sand 

Animal

photo by Matt Wilson

The sea angel (Clione limacina) is a free swimming sea slug that lives in northern arctic waters. It is the largest of the cliones reaching a maximum length of 5cm. They feed almost exclusively on sea butterflies, thecosomatous, they do this by approaching the sea butterfly then shooting 6 tentacle-like buccal cones from the top of their head. They are mutual hermaphrodites and when they meet will fertilize one another. They then lay their eggs in free floating gelatinous masses. I think the video below does a better job describing the weirdness of this animal then I can.

Japanese video showing the sea angel's feeding behavior

Atlantic Salmon

I ended up taking today off work. Game ended up getting cancelled last night, which is probably for the best as I was not super coherent. Stuart and I ended up going to see Coraline, it was good, the stop motion was so smooth I thought is was CGI.

Art

sick day

Animal

Photo by Zalgon

Mythology

The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is featured somewhat prominently in European mythology. In one Celtic myth in a sacred well that hazelnuts regularly fell in there was a salmon of knowledge that the poet Finegas spent 7 years trying to catch. He did eventually catch the salmon of knowledge and his assistant Fionn cooked it for him. While he was cooking the salmon Fionn burnt himself and put his finger in his mouth by doing this he gained the salmon's knowlege, he then went on to become Fionn mac Cumhaill, leader of the Fianna. This may be the origin of the idea of fish as a brain food. In Norse mythology after the death of Baldr, for which Loki was being blamed, Loki took the form of salmon to escape the other gods to the sea. Thor caught him grabbing his tail so hard that all salmon now have tapered tails. In Welsh mythology the salmon is the oldest of all animals.  In Northeast Scotland it was considered taboo to mention Salmon directly as it was thought it would bring bad luck, it was often referred to as the red fish or the beast.

Pictish petroglyph of an Atlantic salmon

Henkel's leaf-tailed gecko

Still sick. I saw Grace today she came to Champaign to assist with a friends table at our local gaming convention. She showed me a Brazilian tapir paladin she had been drawing at the convention, it turned out fairly well. She also suggested I look into last FM for looking into new music. So far the only problems she seems to have found with it being that it supplies you with a lot of Alien Sex Fiend (which I could probably do without) and randomly decides you like all music from a country, for example Grace was having a problem with it giving her a lot of Swedish disco.

Art 

Sick day

Animal

photo by Ben Smith

Henkel's leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus henkeli) is a strangely built arboreal 12 inch gecko from Madagascar and the island of Nosy Be'. They are nocturnal durning the day they scrunch themselves into a long oval head downward to avoid detection by predators. It is difficult to see in this picture but they also have these mossy little beards that hang off of their lower jaw. They can be quite variable in coloration, they are also somewhat sexually dimorphic with females being more grey and males being more brownish. Uroplatus geckos also have the most teeth of all living reptiles. Like other geckos they have vocal cords and when threatened will squeak loudly. They are becoming more threatened due to habitat destruction and collection by the pet industry. Though they have had reasonable success breeding this lizard in captivity so with an luck captive bred individuals will replace the wild caught individuals in the pet trade. 

Just for your amusement here is a Henkel's leaf tailed gecko "attacking" a reporter

Here is a picture that better shows the mossy beard

Common nighthawk

I ended up heading home early from work yesterday. I seem to have caught something.

Art

Not feeling well the week is probably shot at this point

Animal

photo by jerryoldnettel

When I first moved to Champaign I was unaware of the existence of common nighthawks (Chordeiles minor) they were just not a bird native to the area I'd priorly lived. I had seen a few flying around on campus and was confused about what species of weird bats I was seeing with white spots on their wings. They move in a very bat-like manner and have really short beaks, I also did not get a really good look at them. I could not track down the bat species and gave up not really thinking about it again.  Later I was working for our local exotic animal vet and we got one in for surgery. I remember being very confused (and upset, very hurt bird) by the little eyeless monster we received in it was a bird with an incredibly large mouth that was making hideous unnatural shrieking noises. I would have also been struck by it's large eyes had the accident it had been involved with not put them out. They ended up putting him down because he was injured beyond repair. I found out what the bird was later and then felt really dumb for thinking those were bats. I also tend to now associate them with trauma after the vet incident. 

      Nighthawks are a type of nightjar not at all related to hawks this particular species lives in North America and winters in South America. They seem to be mostly crepuscular given when I have seen them out. During their breeding display the male makes a loud booming sound and dives sharply. Most of the time their call is just isolated "peets". They eat mostly flying insects that they catch on the wing. Common nighthawks will eat quite a lot of insects one sampled had over 500 mosquitoes in it's stomach.

      Given the association have with them I did end up using them in a piece. It had these three nighthawk emerging from a single being and breaking out of this confining structure. I've included a picture of it below. I'm not sure the piece did quite what I wanted. I think if I ever revisit it I will probably make it more on an installation piece with lots of nighthawks spiraling up over the viewers head. I might play with the lights a bit or something so that one would get this chaotic movement around them as well. 

This page has a recording of their call about midway down the page.

Jamaican fruit bat

I went to the club last night. I talked to Greg about giving back the SCA sword and shield since I'm unlikely to get involved in that for the foreseeable future. It turns out I will actually be giving them to Andrew who is still interested in taking it up. I will probably give those to him on Sunday. 

Art

goal for the week 16.5 hours

Today 

still sanding
Animal
photo by digitalART2
The Jamaican fruit bat (Artibeus jamaicensis) inhabits Central America and northern South America. They are said to have a pleasant smell like that of perfumed soap. These bats have one of the most efficient digestive systems among vertebrates and can process food all the way through it's system in under 30 minutes, it likely does not use microbial fermentation to help break down it's food.  This fast digestion makes it a very important seed distributer, as seeds are still viable after the process.  They also have an unusual mobbing behavior, when one member of the bat's group lets out a distress call the rest of the group shows up and attacks the predator. Jamaican fruit bats have also been known to make tents out of large leaves by biting the stems at key points to create a little shelter. Their wings have two types of fast twitch flight muscles that give it a greater range of maneuverability then many bats.

Giant tropical penguin

I took Nick shopping last night. I guess he had run completely out of food and not told anyone. He should be well stocked now. 

Art 

goal for the week 17.25 hours

Today

still sanding

still need to work on new concepts no good ideas yesterday

Animal

drawing by Arthur Weasley

Icadyptes salasi was a 5ft penguin from the late Eocene period found in Peru. It was not the largest of past giant penguins (some of the ancient penguins of Antarctica being larger) but it is known from the most complete remains. Oddly, it lived in a very warm climate on average the late Eocene was a very warm period and it lived near the equator. It had been priorly thought that penguins had evolved in around Antarctica and had moved into tropical areas only within the last few million years. This giant penguin was 30 million years too early so it seems penguins spread into more diverse climates earlier then priorly thought. It had a long spear-like beak similar to a heron's, but it is thought that feature was not particularly odd for early penguins.

Jumping spider (Phidippus mystaceus)

Art

Goal for the week 18hrs

Today

still sanding (I think I may go insane)

start thinking about concepts for new fine art pieces

Animal

photo by Opo Terser

I saw a photoshopped version of this photo  and it was bugging me what species it was. I thought it was especially weird since it only had two eyes up front (it turns out that was photoshop). I found out it is a female Phidippus mystaceus the males tend to be more orange. They are small adorable jumping spiders with sort of curved range from around Texas to the East coast in North America, they tend to be uncommon in their range. Their species name is greek for mustache and refers to their little tuffs and thier genus name mean "one who spares horses" for reasons I'm not sure about (one wonders if there is a story there). They breed in the spring and hunt by stalking.  Other then that they don't seem to have been really studied at all.

Picture of a male

Ocean sunfish

Art

Goal for the week 18.5 hours

Today

take out the recycling (not art but I really need to remember to do this)

sand boxes

Animal

photo by n8agrin

The ocean sunfish (mola mola) is the largest bony fish at over a ton, the heaviest recorded was over 4900lbs,  Molas occur around the oceans worldwide. Molas are related to pufferfish and their larva still retain vestigial spines that are lost later in life. Despite originating from bony fish they have lost a lot of their hardened bone for cartilaginous tissues this lightens them making their large size more practical.  They are omnivores that eat largely open ocean invertebrates like ctenophores and jellyfish. Plastic bags are a real problem for them as they have a tendency to eat them and then starve to death unable eat with the plastic bag stuck in their stomach, they also have a tendency to get stuck in fishing nets. They tend to be a favorite among divers for their impressive size and extremely docile natures. In some parts of the world they are considered a delicacy.

photo by fogindex

Egyptian Horned Viper

Stuart and I started the new game last night. I hope it went well character creation took a lot longer then we we thought so we only got through about a fourth of what we had planned.

Art

goal for the week 20hs

Today 

still sanding

Animal

photo by Jwinius

Mythology

It can be difficult to talk about Egyptian mythology with certainty, because there are so many different versions of things.  In my favorite Egyptian creation myth (I'm not sure what city it is from I heard it in my archeology of Ancient Egypt class, it might be a few of them combined and some speculation) the world was created by primordial reptiles (probably the Ogdoad) that created a few of the gods and then mostly wandered off (presumably they had other primordial reptile things to do) they left behind one of their own, Apep to be the destruction of the world. I have alway liked the metaphor of that one with the world coming from a sort of uncaring chaos that presumably wandered off to go make other worlds. Apep is generally represented as an Egyptian horned viper (Cerastes cerastes) this snake was also used to represent the "F" sound to simulate the sound it made as it moved through the sand. Its association with Apep made it feared enough by the ancient Egyptians (in some places) that they would carefully sever the heads of that hieroglyph to avoid Apep's influence. It was also thought to represent Apep undamaged gave him more power. It was thought by ancient Egyptian's that every night Apep would attempt to eat Ra (in many cases there were some variants that involved other gods) and every night Ra in the sun boat and a small army of gods including set and the dead would kill him (sort of) and Apep's blood would dye the dawn pink.

image of Apep

"F" hieroglyph horned viper from the temple of Mentuhotep II at Deir el-Bahri (at the bottom)

Hooded pitohui

I discovered today that one of the types of boxes I had gotten came all defective the lids won't shut. I've had to break them all open (a thing I only do in a way I can save them about 50% of the time) and will have to rework them.  

Art

still sanding 

repair some of the boxes that had lids that would not close

Animal

Rerun from livejournal

The hooded pitohui (Pitohui dichrous) was the first poisonous bird discovered and is the most poisonous of all known birds. Hooded pitohuis  acquire their complex alkaloid toxin through their diet, in a similar manner to a poison dart frog. The toxin is concentrated in the feathers it causes a hot burning sensation that affects the body's nervous tissue when ingested. When threatened they also release a pungent smell. Hooded pitohui are found in New Guinea in rainforest habitats.  These birds also breed in cooperative groups during one study of a nest in 1995 the researchers were mobbed by five of the birds. They retreated and later observed the group cooperatively feeding the young. Hooded pitohui also occasionally flock with other species of birds such as Raggiana birds of Paradise (Paradissae raggiana) these birds benefit from the hooded pitohui's toxin. The Kalam in New Guinea call this bird the wobob and evoke it in their war magic for its agility in dodging arrows. Wobob also refers to an uncomfortable itchy skin disease.

A video explaining how the toxin was discovered