HERE I COME SAN FRANDISCOOOO

Phalera bucephala, commonly known as the buff-tip moth, is a remarkable mimic that can easily disguise itself as a broken twig. This moth has a unique resting position that makes its body seem narrower and more cylindrical; its wings are also covered in silvery patterns that resemble tree bark, and the buff-colored patches on its head and forewings mimic the appearance of freshly-snapped wood.

Above: three actual twigs and one buff-tip moth

This type of camouflage is also known as protective resemblance — a form of mimesis in which an animal can avoid being preyed upon by mimicking an unremarkable or inedible aspect of its environment. Many other moths are able to disguise themselves in similar ways, often mimicking dead leaves, twigs, tree bark, and/or moss, among other things.

Above: more photos of Phalera bucephala

The buff-tip moth is particularly adept at disguising itself, however, and the fact that it so strongly resembles such a specific object (not just a dead leaf or a piece of foliage, but a broken twig from a silver birch tree, in particular) makes this disguise seem even more impressive and unique.

Above: the photo at the top shows a buff-tip moth in its resting position, while the photo at the bottom shows the same species with its wings unfurled

It also tends to look like there's a weird little smiley face in the bristles that surround the moth's head, which is arguably even more striking, but for some reason none of my sources seem to mention that weirdness.

Above: the weird little smiley face on the back of the moth's head

This species is distributed throughout the British Isles, mainland Europe, and certain parts of Asia, with its range extending into Eastern Siberia.

Sources & More Info:

Wildlife Insights: Buff-Tip Moth Identification Guide

Wildlife Insights: Phalera bucephala

Butterfly Conservation: The Buff-Tip Moth

The Wildlife Trusts: Buff-Tip Moths

iNaturalist: Photos of the Buff-Tip Moth

Lepidoptera and their Ecology: Phalera bucephala

Encyclopedia of Life: Global Map of Known Occurrences for the Buff-Tip Moth

Moth Identification: Phalera bucephala

Journal of Ecology and Evolution: Strong Foraging Preferences in the Polyphagous Caterpillars of the Buff-Tip Moth

I went, "What. no. she/her."

"How does that work? With she/her/hers and they/them?"

I stared at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Well you came out as-" and I said, "I'm asexual."

She replied, "Like an amoeba, I know."

"Oh. My god. No. Mom. It doesn't- it's not the asexual you learned about in biology. I didn't come out as a single celled organism."

With heavy relief, she said "Oh, it has a different meaning?"

Mini rushed comic based off of this shit I saw Lil Toby fox posted! ⤵️

but in my experience 95% of my hallucinations are getting spooked by very clearly hearing someone knocking on my door or calling my name from another room or hearing footsteps walking behind me which are "just" my brain recreating the horror of an abusive childhood

(not trying to put you on blast specifically, you're just a good example to jump off of)

media and pop culture hypes up psychosis a lot as The Worst That Can Happen out of sanism, so even when you try and filter that cultural bias out you still assume it's based on something

when, no, psychosis is actually very simple: it's just hyperactive pattern matching. it's your brain's signal-to-noise ratio being off balance, it's seeing images in random static. it's not always this special uniquely big thing, it's in fact quite mundane a lot of the time.

no one is immune to psychosis, it's not purely the realm of the insane. anyone is one bad night of sleep or one bad case of food poisoning or one bad fever away from being just like me on my worst days.