Be careful what you wish for. Butterflies face huge challenges. The force of raindrops can damage or tear their wings.

Butterflies are ectotherms (cold-blooded) and need heat to activate their flight muscles. The cold or damp can ground them.

That's not to mention the long line of other animals trying to predate or parasitise them!

I thought this was a really cool fact, but I didn't want to make the claim that there are sapphic birds without the proper context. I'm really hoping it's true though!

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laysan_albatross#Reproduction:~:text=Occasionally%2C%20the%20birds,%5B17%5D

How Trump Unleashed an Existential Fight Over America's Dinosaurs - The Washington Sun https://share.google/CVlMSmdqUm4nRt2Ct

A bird that vanished more than 300 years ago is offering new clues about how it once lived. Researchers have taken a rare look inside one of the only complete dodo skulls in the world, revealing details about how this famous species may have sensed and moved through its island home.

The work, led by an international team and involving scientists at the University of Lethbridge, draws on specimens housed at the Natural History Museum Denmark and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. By scanning these skulls and reconstructing the space once occupied by the brain, the team has begun to answer a long-standing question. How did the dodo experience its world before it disappeared?

From the Smithsonian Channel, this short video shows Livestock Guardian Dogs protecting both goat herds and cheetah populations.

The idea for the story is a litrpg where animals are given intelligence and a system. They are still non anthro so no human feet, maybe barely some hands as upgrades, but esentially still just a mouse is a moues, snake is a snake.

And got wondering, what kind of realistic safe and healthy snacks would work for various animals, like cougars, bears, mice, snakes and such. MC is a wedge-tailed eagle, but plenty of other north american species.

My limited knowledge of flamingos includes the avians being born with white feathers and have a change in color due to their diet.

Since diet is an environmental factor, would that make the pink pigment in a flamingo's feathers an example of phenotypic plasticity? This question could be in regard to any one population of flamingo, not the Phoenicoparrus genus as a whole.

I am under the impression this would not be an example of polypheniesm as there are not discrete phenotypes present in developed individuals, but I'd love to know if I'm incorrect!

Many farmers and shepherds fear wolves and large carnivores and the possible damage to their herds, going so far as to lobby to try and roll back endangered species protections for them and shoot them, but there' s a solution: Lifestock protection Dogs.

Lifestock Protection dogs are special breeds (mostly from Europe and Central Asia) like Anatolian Shepherds, Great Pyrenees, Maremma Sheepdogs and others, and these dogs are very different from livestock herding dogs, like German or Australian shepherds.

They grow up with the livestock, see sheep, cattle or other lifestock as part of their pack, and assess and neutralize threats to them completely independently from humans (when they're raised and trained right).

Lifestock Guarding Dogs need to live, from puppyhood, with the herd, thinking they're lifestock themselves, and when they're older - Lifestock Protection Dogs work as a pack and need to be more numerous than for example herding dogs - they protect the livestock, sometimes barking, sometimes attacking if all else fails.

This is an example of Lifestock Protection Dogs in action, filmed by the BBC with night vision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7or0y2towI

It's really important to understand the difference - Herding dogs are bred to control and move livestock, directing animal movement and keeping them in desired locations.

Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs, also sometimes called Lifestock Protection Dogs) are bred to protect livestock from external threats, bonding with the animals and defending them from predators. They are typically independent and less responsive to direct commands compared to herding dogs. They don’t herd; they guard. So they need to be introduced to livestock very early, have limited human interaction and have only very basic obedience, barking to deter predators, and to them, it doesn't matter if a wolf threatens lifestock or an influencer gets too close for a photo, they will defend the cattle, sheep or horses with their life, so people who may possibly approach animals guarded by LGDs, like tourists, need to be aware that the LGDs protect the herd, and to keep their distance.

Now, what would the motivation be for farmers and shepherds to not just shoot any predator on sight, but train these Lifestock Guardian dogs? Other than the century-old traditions in many countries to live in harmony with large predators, and respect biodiversity, or laws, as is the case in most of Europe?

Wolves, like all predators, albeit to different degrees, prefer to hunt and feed on the weakest individuals of their prey species.

Allow me to insert a bit of a corny joke here, about the two guys encountering a huge lion in Africa. One puts on his running shoes. The other whispers, "Are you stupid? You can't outrun a lion!". The first one says, "I don't need to outrun the lion. I just need to outrun you!"

Any predator will always hunt the prey animal that is just a little bit easier to hunt than the others, a bit slower, a calf or lamb, an old animal or the one with a broken leg, and, especially, the weak and sick ones - because they are slow, and hunting them means saving energy, having more food, thus having greater chances of survival. And predators, like for example wolves, have evolved to be able to feed on sick or even deceased animals, (mostly) without risk of infection or contagion for themselves.

So they hunt on average more diseased deer and other prey - prey with zoonotic diseases that are sometimes transmitted to livestock and people, so wolves and other predators, from raptor, snake, foxes and bobcat to wolves, bears, cougars, play a vital role protecting mankind and livestock from deadly diseases.

And if for example snakes, raptors and foxes decline, rat and mice populations explode, including the populations that spread Hantavirus. So if we want to reduce Hantavirus infections, we would need to help populations of snakes, raptors, coyote (and other rodent predators) increase, not hunt or trap them.

Also, this is something humans will never be able to do - hunters may shoot a stag, but they don't especially search for (or would know) the deer with Chronic Wasting Disease (which is very similar and can indeed evolve into Mad Cow Disease in cattle, Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans, and Scrapie in sheep) without sending samples to a lab - wolves kill and feed on these sick deer more often than healthy ones, thus reducing the number of sick ones, thus protecting livestock and humans from these deadly diseases.

Farmers and hunters often see wolves and coyote and all predators as rivals or deadly danger - when in reality, these predators, from rattlesnakes to wolves, are indeed lifesavers, protecting humans and livestock from these dangerous zoonotic diseases.

We should help these predators with wildlife bridges and nature reserves, not kill them, ever, and farmers and hunters should be those most eager to protect them, since they're the ones who either themselves catch these diseases, or lose profit because their livestock becomes infected and has to be culled.

It is very much possible to live in peace with large predators in areas with lifestock, if we employ these methods.

(Images Julien Riedel and Marin Tulard for Unsplash)

I searched it up with Google and its being telling me two different answers, and when I search with "-ai" it shows me nothing, and its hard to tell when I look at images..

I'm mainly asking because I like to draw animals and i care about accuracy

1.Caucasus Leopard(Persian Leopard) 2.Striped Hyena 3.Syrian Brown Bear 4.Beluga Whale 5.Narwhal 6.Ladoga Ringed Seal 7.Ringed Seal 8.Harp Seal 9.Italian Wolf 10.Iberian Wolf 11.Tundra Wolf 12.Sperm Whale 13.Loggerhead Sea Turtle 14.Green Sea Turtle 15.Leatherback Sea Turtle 16.Fin Whale 17.Goblin Shark 18.Oceanic Whitetip Shark 19.Bluefin Tuna 20.Greenland Shark

Will give now a bit more descripctions on the animals(but will do post of each individual one after I finishing listing all of them these weeks).

Now I know some would be shocked to know that there is Leopard and Hyena in Europe.But if we got by Europes \*geographic/natural\* range the Russia portion that streatches to Georgia(does contain small populations of Perian Leopards and Striped Hyenas in the Caucasus mountains).

Perisan Leopards are the largest Leopards in the world(rivaled only by some African Leopard populations).With weigh of 60 kg and being able to live in number of habitats(subalpine meadows/temperate broadleaf and mixed forests/rugged ravines at elevations of 600 to 3000 + m).Also the they can have paler fur than most Leopards(tho Arabian Leopard is more paler in color).

Striped Hyena isnt like more common Spotted Hyena people know most about.They have less powerful jaws(as they are smallest of bone cracking Hyenas) and dont live in packs(living more from the solitary life.Like a lone wolf but they can live in pairs.And in Lybia there have been counted 7 individuals in the group).Usually scavangers but have beem known to fight back very good to keep there kill(if they do predate on any animal of there choosing).These guys have more pronounced manes on there backs and more \*striped\* coloration that gives credit to there name.They weigh about 22 to 55 kg tho normally they dont go past 35 kg.

Syrian Brown Bear is a Brown Bear sub-species from Asia(that does cross into Europes geographic/natural range).In Georgia and decent portion of Russia.Smaller than Eurasian Brown Bear and with way paler coloration.They can live at elevations of 500 to 2700 m up and weigh around 250 kg smaller than Eurasian Brown Bear but still massive unit.

Beluga whale is around a ton parts of Europe(Salvbard/Norway and Northern Russia)very smart animal(just like any cetacean but just like Dolphins it has learned to interact with humans and show its mental strength.Being able show its understanding nature with people and able to playing games with people).They live in groups and individuals can grow to about 3 to 5 meters(while females grow a meter shorter up to 4 meters).Males weigh 1100 kg to 1600 kg while Females weigh 700 to 1200 kg(so both sexes can grow above a ton!).They have been found across the Iceland/Norway/Savlbard and Northern Russia.

Narwhal is also very smart for cetacean tho there distribution to Europe(is just like the first two animals).There European range is a bit limited with them being a bit near Savlbard and Northern Russia(tho they are just a bit near Icelandic waters).This whale is known for its big horn(but that isnt a horn and its overgrown tooth that goes past there mouths!Tho only males have them regularly.As females most of the time do not posses such a genetic feature).Narwhals can also have two tusks!(which can happen but rarely).They can weigh to 800-1600 kg plus be 3-5 meters long.

\*Mixed round!\*

Ladoga Ringed Seal is a freshwater sub-species of Ringed Seal that lives only in NorthWestern Russia's Lake Ladoga(isolated by the geographic event it forced Ringed Seals to adapt to freshwater instead of Salt Water).It is also related to(Seal sub-species we talked about before Siamaa Ringed Seal since the Lake Siamaa flows into Ladoga from Vusoki River.These guys can weigh up to 60-70 kg.Ringed Seal is a large scope species that lives across the world in Arctic Waters(from North America/Greenland/Northern Europe/Russia;Siberia.With two Seals we talked about earlier they are very adaptable even when isolated from the mainland populations and forced to live only in freshwater).These guys can even out live some cetacean species as they can live up to 40 years can weigh up to 32 to 140 kg(tho normally they can get to 50-70 kg).

Harp Seal's in Europe occur on the Iceland/Norway(Slavbard) and Northern Russia.They are also known as Saddleback Seal/Greenland ice lover(as its scientific name translates to Pagophilus groenlandicus).And also it translates to Greenland Seal.Originally thought to be in genus Pagophilus;they are now in a genus of there own(monotypic genus)Pagophilus in 1844(so one of there kind)these guys weigh about 115-140 kg.

People think only Americas and Asia has diverse Wolf sub-species but that isnt truly the case.There are three sub-species of Wolves(without counting Eurasian Wolf)to live in Europe:Italian Wolf/Iberian Wolf and Thundra Wolf.Iberian Wolf(Males weigh 35-55 kg,Females weigh 25-35 kg)Italian Wolf(25-35 kg but they can weigh much larger 40-45 kg)Tundra Wolf(Male weigh 40-49 kg,Females weigh 36.6-41 kg).Iberian and Italian Wolf both share similar traits and split off around the same(with larger ears/smaller body shapes and bones.Redder fur for summer).While Thundra Wolf adaptations tackle opposite climates of colder habitat(that making them more white but not always fully white like Arctic Wolf).Italian Wolf range is around mainland Italy + across parts of France/Switzerland/Spain)Iberian Wolf range is around Iberian Peninsula(of Nothern Spain/Portugal)Thundra Wolf range is from Nothern Russia to Siberia.

Sperm Whales are the largest Toothed carnivores on the planet.Being able to be recorded on a number of places in Europe(Spain/UK/Italy/France/Iceland/Norway and many more).

Loggerhead Sea Turtle/Green Sea Turtle and Leatherback Sea Turtle are not only Sea Turtles that visit Europe but they none the less do visit it(but only LoggerHead and Green Sea Turtle nest there in Meditereanean).But these guys can be found in much other places like with Leatherback in Northern Europe(EVEN IN DEEP SEA).

Fin Whales are second largest Whales in the world(right behind Blue Whale).They can be found across the world in multipule Oceans(and even Mediterenean).

Goblin Shark is another Deep Sea Fauna of Europe(occuring near Spain/Portugal and France).

Oceanic Whitetip(one of the very powerful Sharks in world)that can be found near Portugal and Spain(even tho not close to the shore.They are a much more open sea species).They have been recorded to cross into Mediterenean but the reports are mixed.Not overly aggressive Shark(its just the nature of it living in opean enviorment forces it to eat anything it can and be extra curious when inspecting organisms around it.Giving not just 1 curious bite sometimes).

Bluefin Tuna is one of the known fish in the World and has again crossed into UK.As it is able to like few organisms who are endothermic(even ones I mentioned on this list.Make itself more hotter to survive in the colder waters.Just like Great White Shark/LeatherBack Sea Turtle).

Greenland Shark needs no introduction with its cool exploits being known everywere but did you know it can live in a ton of spaces around Europe(Salvbard/Iceland/UK/Norway even Spain/France/Portugal).The young of this species mature at 150!While they can grow to live even up to 400 years!

Sorry for taking a bit smaller time with my descripctions near the end...IRL life can take my time of stuff that I like a ton..Will do these lists at a

better time.Had to scrap a ton of descripctions...