#Baikal is an active tectonic rift lake, and the rift is still opening. Sediment enters the lake and sinks into the rift. Sediment and water included, the rift is an estimated 6 to 7 miles deep! Incredible!

Thanks Alie Ward @ologies.bsky.social for bringing yet another guest to blow my mind.

Cappuccino was also named as a reference to the friars’ brown robes and distinctively long and pointed hoods. The Italian word for hood is “cappuccio”.

Capuchins (friars and monkeys) still exist today, but the latter are in decline, mainly due to deforestation and forest fragmentation.

Capuchins (subfamily Cebinae) are small, social, intelligent new world monkeys with semi-prehensile tails.

Early explorers thought the contrast of the monkeys’ dark brown bodies and cream colored necks looked like they were hooded, which reminded them of the friars’ robes and hoods. 🧵

Once the stabilimentum is built, the spider will shake it vigorously by pumping its legs. It’s thought that this creates a visual effect that prevents accidental bird strikes, attracts insects, or warns off predators. Only spiders that hunt during the day build stabilimenta.

The yellow garden spider (I grew up calling it a writing spider) is a visually striking species, good to have in the garden, & generally harmless to humans (they won’t bite unless grabbed). The bite’s pain is comparable to a bumblebee sting. However, some folks are allergic. 🧵

Like many legumes, Desmodium species can fix nitrogen: they have root nodules that host symbiotic bacteria, which convert atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form. This enriches the soil and benefits neighboring plants.

Clover (a legume) is commonly planted in lawns and fields for the same purpose.

This animal dispersal strategy helps seeds move farther from the parent, decreasing competition and increasing genetic diversity.

Desmodium is beneficial to deer for browse, an important source of food for seed-eating birds, and nectar for pollinating insects. 🧵

I just learned that Desmodium is in the pea/legume family Fabaceae. But unlike a typical legume that splits lengthwise (think green beans), tick trefoils split between seeds, creating strings of loosely-connected triangular stickers. These break off individually when an animal brushes past. 🧵

And still, the same people who carried pocket-sized copies of the constitution at all times during Obama’s presidency are mysteriously silent.

Wild cannas are native to the tropical and subtropical Americas from South Carolina, west to Texas, and south to Argentina.

It’s also known as Indian shot, edible canna, and arrowroot. Arrowroot powder is used widely as a food starch and is produced from the plant’s rhizomes.

When the seed pods ripen, they dry, turn brown, and open to release the seeds. The seed pods’ 3 chambers are visible in these photos.

Reproduction by seed can be seen as secondary, as cannas spread via rhizomes, and seed hibernation is made possible by a hard seed coat.

As a monocot, the flower parts are in multiples of three. The three petals and sepals are inconspicuous. What’s appear to be bright, showy petals are modified stamens and pistil. The pistil is connected to a 3-chambered ovary, which matures into a 3-chambered seed pod (pictured below, unripe).

Sometimes called “canna lilies”, cannas aren’t true lilies. They’re in their own family (Cannaceae), which has 10 species in a single genus.

Pictured is an unopened flower bud, early flower, spent flowers, and maturing seed pods.

A similar effect is true between coyotes and skunks. A skunk’s white stripe/spots is also aposematic. A study I once read found that a naive coyote gets sprayed by 3-5 skunks before learning to avoid them.

The thing that fascinates me about warning coloration is that the benefit to the species requires risk to the individual by being highly visible. Birds have to *learn* to avoid these brightly colored species by attempting to eat them. Otherwise, there’s no selection pressure to maintain the trait. 🧵

Several non-poisonous swallowtail species mimic the pipevine’s coloration to deter predators, while certain poisonous millipedes mimic pipevine swallowtail larvae and release hydrogen cyanide when threatened. These types of mimicry are called Batesian and Mullerian mimicry, respectively. #evolution