One Of My Favorite Books As A Kid Was This One On Speculative Zoology/evolution That I Loved So Much

one of my favorite books as a kid was this one on speculative zoology/evolution that I loved so much I borrowed it to the point my school had to chase me up on returning it several times. it influenced my early creature art and design and pushed me to delve into my own specbio (on dragons. no surprises there). I loved the informatic entries, all their little lore bits and ecological adaptations; the wild color palettes, their weird little shapes. it was called The New Dinosaurs, by Dougal Dixon.

there were two more books in the series that my school didn’t have, which is either a blessing or a curse, because the third book in the set is called Man After Man.

which contains this.

I love jumping spiders so much. There's something about the way they move that belies their incredible intelligence. The way their cephalothorax swivels about; the way they take small, thoughtful steps between contemplative pauses. You can tell they're examining and considering their surroundings, and when they make eye contact you FEEL it. I adore these little guys.

Had the pleasure to bump into this wonderful creature ✨️

For my final ever knitting/crochet project I completed a little baby Talita from @jayrockin's comic Runaway to the Stars as a gift for my husband. I'm so pleased with how she worked out!

Have I mentioned that The CryptoNaturalist podcast

returns on December 15th?

Suddenly, that's just a few days away!

If you're not familiar,

the podcast is a scripted show about real love

for fictional nature. It's about cryptids.

It's about an odd, enthusiastic expert in strange wildlife.

Stepping on your

(stolen from xkcd of course)