The Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza Fuchsii) Is Found All Over The U.K. These Orchids Produce Tiny

Elysia chlorotica, also called the “Eastern Emerald Elysia” is a bright green sacoglossa found along the Atlantic coast of North America that's earned the title of “solar-powered sea slug” for its ability to produce its own energy with sunlight and the chloroplasts that it sucks off of algae.

This unusual process, which is similar to photosynthesis, is known as kleptoplasty. Except for a select number of creatures like the adorable “leaf sheep” Costasiella kuroshimae nudibranch, very few non-plant organisms are capable of the phenomenon.

I met some relatives of my beloved leatherleaf slugs in the mangroves of Singapore, the onch slugs! they’re perhaps some of the slowest-moving animals I’ve ever encountered; this is one in a hurry:

the species pictured is a Platevindex, which are particularly interesting to me since their backs are studded with extra eyes! the dorsal papillae each have a little black dot that’s a photoreceptor, which helps the slug detect changes in light exposure.

onchidiids are marine animals, living on costal rocks and in mangroves, but breathe air and spend much of their time out of the water. like the leatherleafs, they’ve got a dry, tough hide that maintains water balance, but Platevindex takes that to an extreme—when I picked one up, it felt like a vulcanized rubber tire!

ScienceAlert

Wild Elephants Invent Names For One Another in Surprise Sign of Abstract Thinking

Elephants call out to each other using individual names that they invent for their fellow pachyderms, a study said on Monday.

Elephants call out to each other using individual names that they invent for their fellow pachyderms, a study said on Monday. While dolphins and parrots have been observed addressing each other by mimicking the sound of others from their species, elephants are the first non-human animals known to use names that do not involve imitation, the researchers suggested. For the new study, a team of international researchers used an artificial intelligence algorithm to analyse the calls of two wild herds of African savannah elephants in Kenya. The research "not only shows that elephants use specific vocalisations for each individual, but that they recognise and react to a call addressed to them while ignoring those addressed to others," lead study author Michael Pardo said. "This indicates that elephants can determine whether a call was intended for them just by hearing the call, even when out of its original context," the behavioural ecologist at Colorado State University said in a statement.

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Sea stars and friends by Alycia Uyeoka (mostlymarine on Instagram)

“The Herd on the Move”—William Jacob Hays.

This painting simultaneously breaks my heart and fills me with awe and hope. When people speak about how prevalent the bison were across Turtle Island I’m not sure if it fully HITS just how many were slaughtered, how much this land relied on them for proper ecological balance….

if we want our land to thrive, if we want the next seven generations to survive then we must help the bison (and the indigenous peoples who love/rely on them) to expand and grow until they are once again found all across the land.