I Do Have To Admit In Retrospect,, That Was Probably A Big Part Of It As Well. And, The Purple. And-Character

I do have to admit in retrospect,, that was probably a big part of it as well. And, the purple. And- Character design...vibes... I am a sucker...

“B-but you didn’t even finish watching the last couple of shows you were obsessed with that had sinister adoptive dads!”

“Hehe evil mask man say ‘Subarashi’ a lot.”

being a fan of a character is sometimes “look at how complex he is. he’s so intricate and his story is so tragic and he’s so much more complicated than people give him credit for” and sometimes it’s like “haha look at this failure of a person. I wanna throw him off a cliff and see what happens”

Footnote: Might recognize this? Feel like seeing more? This is my new blog! Due to some technical issues with the old one, I will be rblging the original MMM and CFF posts on this account, as well as continuing both lil series!

Creacher feature friday 1: Let’s talk ladybug 🐞 STDS

That’s right! Oh, you thought the there was somehow an animal phylum that could get into risk-free unprotected hanky panky left and right as they pleased? Think again!

So, why focus on ladybugs? Turns out they’re one of the most promiscuous types of insect out there, like, insanely so, and in being.. that and also swarming our rosebushes every summer, they have notified me of a fun example to share.

Let’s kick off with the reveal of my third favorite parasitic fungus, and the only one I’ve actually been lucky enough to see a case of in person: Hesperomyces virescens

This species is one of quite a few actually that really likes to hang out on the exoskeletons of hard-bodied beetles. It mainly transmits between hosts during the shell-to-shell contact during mating. Predictably so, infected male ladybirds will often end up with a case in their underside, while females will usually catch it on their backs and heads. The success of this disease in their populations makes a lot of sense when you keep in mind that ladybirds go at it for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 entire hours once they find a partner. Two-spot ladybirds have even been reported to be able to engage in copulation for up to around 8 hours on few occasions. And quantity is just as accounted for as quality. Many breeds of ladybug will mate multiple times in a single day, with the females laying eggs several times over the season. Makes you wonder how they have time for anything else, but yes, back to this fungus-

It’s actually not particularly harmful to them in most mild-moderate cases, but it can cause trouble if a really bad infestation damages their eyes or wings. It also technically lives inside the beetle’s own blood once contracted, but emerges on the outside into these contagious (thankfully not to us) yellow patches. Here’s some good photo examples I snatched off of the Google:

Yeesh, this little hardshell horndog seems to have gotten it pretty rough, my respects.

So yeah, just another thing that happens sometimes. My conclusion- awful as human STIs can be I’m just glad that yeast is about the only sort of fungus we gotta look out for in that respect, and not mushrooms in our blood and sprouting out where the sun won’t shine.

Tune in next week, and maybe we will have a chance for a part two where I can get into that OTHER sexually transmitted fungus that hijacks the brains of male cicadas and makes them bottom for other males. You know, neat stuff; Till next time!

What would

What would happen if Neyla ate catnip

Footnote: This is my new blog! Due to some technical issues with the old one, I will be rblging the original MMM and CFF posts on this account, as well as continuing both lil series!

Creacher Feature Friday 2: Ode to the Opossum

Oh, you marvelous, misaligned, misunderstood marsupial, how I salute you~

Introducing a classic North American underdog and everyone’s favorite garbage gobbler, the Virginia Opossum! Not, of course, to be confused with the Australian common possum.

Ngl, the more I’ve come to learn about these funky lil fellas throughout my years, the more they solidify their spot as my favorite animal, but also the more their bad rep absolutely befuddles me.

Going by the pop culture representation of the poor things you would think they were just rat-tailed raccoons. But they’re so flipping unique and underrated.

Getting the obvious out of the way, not ratty at all! Not even remotely rodent. That’s all pouch-baring marsupial, baby, like kangaroos and bandicoots and mongooses. They’re also the ONLY marsupial native to the United States. And just like the cobra-eating mongoose, they also happen to share a high resistance to snake venom! We love them down in the south where they’re a fearless and very successful predator of copperheads, water moccasins, and rattlesnakes. They also help keep Lyme disease in check each year. They rarely catch it and/because they eat most ticks that latch onto them, making them not a key reservoir species for the pathogen.

You know what else they love eating? Slugs and snails the sorts that otherwise wreck gardens left unchecked. They call them rabid pests? Why, opossums are straight up free pest control! And the “rabid” thing is the most ridiculous part.

Like, can someone seriously, please tell me how on earth THIS little guy becoming the poster boy for rabies jokes makes any ounce of sense? I mean, other than for the hilarious irony when you realize a little known fact:

Virginia opossums have a natural resistance to contracting the rabies virus, too. No joke. They’re probably near the very bottom of the list of animals you’d have to fear the disease from. While any mammal certainly can become rabid, it’s phenomenally rare for opossums be reported as active carriers of rabies, and this comes down to the simple trait that is their curiously low body temperature.

Most mammals like to keep their innards in a cozy range of about 97°F to 104°F (~36 °C to 40°C), the Virginia Opossum enjoys a comfortable homeostasis all the way down to about 94°F (~ 34 °C). As luck would have it for them, rabies has a hard time being able to incubate at such a low temperature under normal circumstances.

Got a hunch, but maybe the “vicious/rabid” stereotype comes from the way they act when humans do happen to encounter them up close. They’re horribly near-sighted, slow moving little wanderers (big reason they get roadkilled so often), so they don’t really have fleeing in their set of options when facing down a threat. When an opossum gets frightened, the first thing they know to do is…. Bluff. Open up their mouths real wide and hiss and growl as convincingly scary as they can manage. I think it looks really goofy tbh, like

“:V”

The thing being, while this is pretty a intimidating act, it’s not much anything more than that. I’ve never actually learned about a wild mammal LESS willing to commit to defending itself. They’re complete cowards that seldom ever attack or bite people. There’s videos out there of professionals being able to handle wild females WITH babies on board and the things never actually go for a bite.

And this is mostly because their plan B after the bluff isn’t working out is, well… you know, playing possum. It’s not even something they choose to do. It’s actually an involuntary reflex due to shock. They curl up, keep that mouth wide open, and basically pass out on the spot. To make the corpse audition even more “convincing” they additionally secret a foul odor from their anal glands, so they can smell as dead as they look. The hope is that whatever was spooking them so badly just looses its appetite and moves on, leaving the opossum unscathed.

⚠️Important note that this is of course NOT an endorsement to try your luck for yourself by picking up or petting the first one you see. No wild animals are 100% predictable, especially when cornered, and even if these are relatively docile, dealing with them should be left to the licensed professionals (who do still wear gloves when they do, just in case) and any kind of unnecessary contact is going to be extremely stressful to them. We understood? Ok 👍🏻

Really, unless you’re a chicken farmer there’s really no reason to be so darn afraid of them. All they mostly do is just bumble along trying to mind their own business. Look at these super moms, mad respect.

This is seriously what they do for a while after the babies are too big to chill in here pouch, and it makes me smile very widely.

Not to mention the babies themselves are drop-dead adorable. Check out this lil punk and his fingerless gloves! This teeny silly billy and his prehensile tail?

Stupendous and gorgeous. Hats off to the common opossum, please keep being yourselves. We know you’re trying your best.

And that will be all until next Friday. I promise, pinky out and everything, I will definitely fill you in by then on the whole “mind-control fungus that turns cicadas into bisexual zombies” thing I mentioned last time. Just sit tight.