A whole blog dedicated to how much I love nature

Megalopyges are cute but beware, they are danger boys as well

Photo by connlindajo

But this dude is one of the reasons I tell people not to handle bugs they can’t ID. It might be cute, but it has venomous spines on its body hidden within the hairs. It could likely crawl on your hand like above without risking injury because the underside isn’t fuzzy, but I wouldn’t risk it. If you brush the top hairs against your skin it’ll cause a rash of fluid-filled raised red bumps that radiate terrible pain away from the area. And like it says above, the pain can be so intense that it feels like a broken bone, and it can last hours.

It’s recommended that if you come in contact with one, you use tape to try to pull out any remaining hairs, wash the area with soap and water, apply an ice pack, and take an antihistamine.

On the plus side, the adult moth is VERY fuzzy and 100% safe:

BOTH CATERPILLAR AND ADULT FORM

Godman's Sarota Metalmark (Sarota myrtea), family Riodinidae, Costa Rica

the largest phasmids likely remain undiscovered; the longest insect known to science was a phasmid from a species that remains formally unnamed and undescribed, even since being captured for the first time in china in 2014.

a female specimen of the quasi-mythical australian species of gargantuan stick insect was sought by a curator of museum victoria for three years before he encountered one, also in 2014. upon realizing what it was, he says, “I started screaming."

The kitten was unearthed 4 years ago, in 2020, and the study about it came out just this week, which is why news about it is just now coming out! It's really amazing. According to the study, the cub was about 3 weeks old at the time of its death, and the body is from an estimated ~35,000 years ago. So we get to look at the face of a kitten born 35k years ago? CRAZY. I love it here. This offers a unique opportunity to compare this cub against its relatives from the current era's big cats, and measure the differences. WHICH IS SO SO FUN. You can read more about it in the links, and I'm sure more will be written about the baby than what I've shown. Details of note have been the difference in the paws, with the Sabertooth cub's feet being big and wide, without carpal paw pads, unlike the Lion cub of a similar age.

They also noted other big differences in the kitten, with it having very small ears, a large muzzle, long forelimbs, and a massive mouth opening. (room for those future teeth?) and a different muzzle shape. (When compared to Lion Cubs)