It's Worms All the Way Down, Folks.

Certified Good Boys spotted in this Bestiary from ~1175. According to the Latin, "Nothing is smarter than dogs, for they have more senses than other animals, for they alone recognize their own names; they love their masters."

✨ Unicorn ✨

The Forerunner ('Le Précurseur') (Eugène Trigoulet, 1894)

i really like him

hamerkop

HAAAANK! NO HANK!! THAT'S NOT A BACTERIOPHAGE! THOSE WOULD BE WAY SMALLER THAN A TARDIGRADE! THAT'S A RADIOLARIAN, A TYPE OF UNICELLULAR EUKARYOTIC ORGANISM KNOWN FOR ITS ELABORATE MINERAL SKELETONS! HAAAANK! THAT'S THE WRONG MICROBE!!!

For anyone interested in some further reading on these topics, I have a rough bibliography attached to this comic available on my Patreon (it's a public post.)

If the quail have any they are very very very small. I do wonder what the peafowl gizzards...

There's a distinct variety of polish that identifies a gizzard stone - pits and grooves from the pebble's original morphology are often left untouched, while high areas and corners are smoothed, but with a pitted or matte polish, rather than smoothly shiny, and often a striated or scratched texture to the polish that's quite diagnostic of gastrolith origin. If the stone is polymineralic, especially porphyritic, softer minerals will be both physically and chemically eroded more deeply than harder minerals, giving a careous texture to the polish.

a coyote tugs at the strap of a trail camera [source]

Forbes et al. (2025)

Playmen Magazine (July 1977)

no matter what it is, it’s a privilege to see and raise this little oddity, I will keep you all updated on its progress!