Chuck Darwin

Male bowerbirds build stick structures, called bowers, that they use to impress females in mate choice. Each species builds its own unique bower, though there are 3 general bower styles: avenue, hut, and maypole. In these pictures, there are 2 avenue bowers, 1 hut bower, and 1 maypole bower.

You, too!

If you spend much time watching urban pigeons, you’ll notice that foot injuries are quite common. A recent study reports that the primary culprit for the mutilations is human hair. Long hairs get wrapped around the pigeons’ feet, cutting off circulation and causing infections. #pigeons #birds

Did you know that most species of earwig have wings? They’re not strong fliers but can fly if they need to. When stored, their wings are folded many times and are protected under hard wing covers.

Blood eating (aka: sanguivory, hematophagy) has evolved several dozen times across the animal kingdom, but only once in mammals. The three species of vampire bats are the only mammalian sanguivores, and have a host of adaptation allowing them to subsist on a diet of nothing but blood. #bat #blood

This fawn appears green to its predators. Dogs, cats, and bears lack a key photoreceptor cell in their retinas that would allow them to see red. As such, they are essentially red/green colorblind. Thus, this reddish-brown fawn appears green to them, and is well camouflaged in the green grass.

Love blue jays. Smart and beautiful. I just posted about them learning about toxic prey.

The peregrine falcon inspired the design of the B-2 stealth bomber. And if you enjoy that fun fact, check out the field of biomimicry, where engineering and technology draw inspiration from nature and evolution. #biomimicry #evolution #science #nature #natureismetal #airplanes

Thank you! Good to be here.

Did you know that the little structures on the outside of a strawberry are fruits with even tinier seeds inside? These small, dry fruits are called achenes. The fleshy strawberry is an “accessory fruit” that’s evolved to attract fruit eaters that disperse the achenes and the seeds they contain.

Naive predators must learn the hard way that black and orange coloration signals prey toxicity. This young blue jay is learning to associate a monarch butterfly’s aposematic (warning) coloration with getting sick, and will avoid the butterflies as prey in the future.