Danna Staaf

Parental care is everywhere, once you start to look for it! (Not just in trucks 😉)

Exactly what I was thinking of 😆

I was wondering about that! Maybe it's a runt that got pushed to the less desirable position by its siblings?

It does!! I saw a video a while back of an excavator building a nest, I think, but haven't been able to find it again... This rescue is amazing 🥰

Photo of a white truck (possibly a Snowy Peterbilt?) in motion, carrying four small trucks on its bed (dorsal side).

My first time observing parental care in trucks 🥹 and with such a large brood! 😲 Guessing these juveniles will strike out on their own pretty soon 🥳

Search for a Giant Squid: The Game | MindWare Embark on an underwater adventure like no other! This game sets young explorers on a thrilling quest to find matches, discover hidden marine animals and piece ...

Yay! It's such a lovely book! And they made it into a GAME which my kids also love: www.mindware.orientaltrading.com/search-for-a...

A drawing of a cartoon octopus by SS Julian. Text reads thank you San Diego comic con how to draw an octopus

A photo of Danna Staaf, SS Julian, and Josue Cruz at San Diego comic-con

What a rush! I’m still basking in the glow that was this weekend. Thank you everyone who made San Diego Comic-con unforgettable! Grateful to my co-panelists @dannastaaf.bsky.social and @xjosuecruz.bsky.social for bringing the event to the next level.

thank uuuuu

Photo of my hand holding a mini one-sheet-of-paper zine with all the zine-making materials on a table in the background: unfolded papers, scissors, stapler, scraps of paper and a pile of finished zines. The cover says "OCTOPUNCH by Danna Staaf" and has a drawing of an octopus giving a big comic book punch with one arm.

I made Octopunch into a mini-zine! I'm so excited to share these at Comic-Con today 🤩🐙

A pretty out-of-focus shot of a small freshwater ecosystem in a cylindrical glass jar. Several different plants are visible. In the center of the photo are two very small amphipods (shrimp) perched on a leaf and snuggling. The photo has been edited with a red heart drawn around the amphipods.

of all the blurry awful photos I've taken of my little aquatic ecosystem in a jar, this might be the worst, but I'm just so happy I saw these two amphipods making more amphipods 🥹🤏🦐

A photo of SS Julian behind a table of octopolis merch. Informational text about the event is displayed. Octopolis @ comic-con July 23-27 small press booth q-11

This weekend is San Diego Comic-con and for the very first time, Octopolis will be there as an exhibitor!!!! Come visit me in the small press section, I look forward to seeing you!
#sdcc #cci #sandiego #sandiegocomiccon #octopolis #comicconinternational

Ahhhh thank you! I almost tagged it SciArt, but second-guessed myself on account of its speculative nature 😅

A speculative natural history illustration that presents "software" as a type of lepidopteran (moth or butterfly). It is made in traditional media (paper, ink, alcohol markers). The title is SOFTWARE LIFE CYCLE and it begins in the upper left. "Software eggs are laid on paper napkins..." says the text next to three beautiful blue spheres on a white napkin. An arrow leads past the text "...they hatch into larvae, or 'alphas'..." to point at a rather horrible little yellow caterpillar-ish thing. An arrow leads from this past the text "...which grow through instars called 'versions'..." to point at a larger, lumpier, and hairier version. This version retains the yellow coloration, with the addition of a green spotted portion to its body. A third arrow leads onward, past the text "...forever.", to a still larger and more horrible version. This one is still yellow, and green spotted, and now also purple and red striped. From this abomination, two arrows peel off, both with question marks. One leads back to the napkin with the text, "Has the juvenile evolved through neoteny to reproduce without maturing?" Another leads down to faintly colored outline of what might be a quite stunning moth or butterly. The text next to this hypothetical creature reads, "Naturalists theorize that software should metamorphose into a beautiful final form, but this has never been observed." In the lower right is the text "natural illustration: Danna Staaf; software consultant: Anton Staaf."

observations of a naturalist in silicon valley

Promo image for How to Draw an Octopus, Sunday July 27, 4pm, Room 3, at San Diego Comic-Con. Photos of the three panelists with their book titles appear at the bottom: SS Julian (Octopolis: Holdfast), Danna Staaf (Monarchs of the Sea), Josue Cruz (Puppy Knights!). Josue made this incredible design, which also includes cephalopod art from each of us and a fantastic edit of the SDCC logo with an octopus eye where the regular logo has a human eye. It's SO COOL y'all.

I'll be on a workshop panel at San Diego Comic-Con! Can't wait to speak and sketch alongside incredible artists @octopolis.bsky.social and @xjosuecruz.bsky.social
We'll make folks laugh, learn, and hopefully love octopuses! comiccon2025.sched.com/event/2736n/...
...yes I will share all my cursed art

You're welcome! 😃

ShipNutella001

I think we need more "informal tests"

Haha yes! That half-paragraph about "informal tests" really gets the imagination going...

ShipGoo001 🧪 (2/2)
- The only sample is what's in the coffee cup because they CLEANED THE RUDDER SHAFT ARGH
- that said, I agree with this guy: “I don’t think this ship is unique [in harboring undescribed life]."
- We are probably surrounded by mystery goo at all times. Life is beautiful

Mysterious 'ship goo' contains new life forms No one quite knows how the tar-like substance got on a Great Lakes research vessel.

pls I want to talk about ShipGoo001 🧪 (1/2)
- It contains "new" life, i.e. undescribed microbes, but they belong to known domains (Archaea & Bacteria)
- They are not aliens
- The research isn't yet peer-reviewed; more details/mistakes may surface
- WHAT ARE THEY EATING
www.popsci.com/science/ship...

to see my art on a lab bulletin board is true joy 🥰

The OctoPost: Hypercolor Squid, Octopus Taste, and The Bored Book Cephalopod News I often compare octopus suckers to human fingers. They’re small appendages on one’s arms, which are great at sensing and manipulating the...

My latest newsletter celebrates suction cups, iridescence, and comics! 🐙🦑🧪
buttondown.com/dannastaaf/a...

Two photos side by side which show a temporary tattoo going around the A red squid squirts blank ink from its siphon, which turns into a black octopus squirting blue ink from its siphon, which turns into a blue cuttlefish squirting red ink from its siphon, which turns into . . . yep, you guessed it, the original red squid.

A temporary tattoo drawn on a forearm showing the developmental sequence of a squid from fertilized egg through hatching.

I have considered it! But I'm too aligned with the cephalopods, in craving the freedom to perennially change my appearance, so I just draw on different temporary tattoos from time to time.

TAing that course was honestly a pretty formative experience! I learned so much, from all the undergrad molecular biology I'd forgotten to the fact that not everyone cares about teaching. 😜 I'm so glad we met then and that we're still in touch online. 🥰

A blurry photo crop of me (Danna Staaf) grinning at the camera and brandishing a spatula. I think I was making pancakes with leftover vegetables? My hair is dark brown and shoulder length (with faint red highlights left over, like the vegetables, from something experimental--grad school was Like That) and I'm wearing glasses with oval lenses.

That's so valid of you! My hair was even a similar length when we met. I don't have many photos from early grad school, but I was able to dredge one up 😁
🤝 also a longtime Rosemary Mosco fan; I aspire to one day create something as funny and educational as The Birding Dictionary

Haha, that has also been known to happen in our house! 😆

In the first panel, the Bored Fairy waves their arms and suggests, "It [boredom] can mean you're tired. Try a nap!" In the second panel, the person who was draped on a chair earlier is lying in bed, eyes wide open. In the third panel, the person glares at the fairy and says, "No." The fairy responds, "Fine."

The fairy looks out very intensely at the viewer and says, "Sometimes people say they're bored when they're AVOIDING SOMETHING." Four panels follow, close-ups of the person's expression: shocked, then thoughtful, then pensive, then shrugging and saying, "Not really."

Three diagonal panels, exciting! First panel, the Bored Fairy has big cute eyes and says, "Or when they're LONELY." Second panel, the person smiles and says, "I *was* lonely. But now you're here!" The fairy looks charmed and responds, "Aww!" Third panel, the person says with stuck-out tongue, "I'm still bored."

The Bored Fairy says, "Then all you need is an activity!" and offers the person a pencil, paper, and scissors. "Why don't you make a book?" The person reaches out to receive them happily. As this is the final page of the book, it also includes the credits: a tiny octopus, a copyright 2024 Danna Staaf, the website www.dannastaaf.com, and "with thanks to therapist Laura Place."

The Bored Book, second half! 🪰🧚

The Bored Book, first half. A project inspired by my kids, my therapist friend, and my desperate need to see more faires with dipteran wings. Second half in the thread!

The Bored Book Do you ever feel bored? Do other people in your life--maybe younger and smaller than you--ever utter in a plaintive tone, "I'm bored"? Inspi...

It's high summer in the northern hemisphere, when the plaintive "I'm-bored-I'm-bored-I'm-bored" call of juvenile humans is often heard! I've made a little zine you can distribute to your local wildlife: www.dannastaaf.com/p/the-bored-...

I can't stop repeating the phrase "porcelain nautilus" in my head, send help, I'm being haunted