Someone: “I want a cat/rabbit/other animal that will be super openly affectionate, go for walks, play fetch, not mind being handled rough, never be shy, and also I don’t want it to claw me or the furniture(so I’ll probably get it declawed) and I don’t want to ever clean a litter box or cage.”
Me: “Hey there’s this great new type of animal you might be interested in:”
Someone: “I want a dog but I don’t ever want to take it for walks or exercise it very much or let it outside and I want it to be fine with being left alone for longer periods of time and also never bark.”
Me:
Someone: “I want a cat or dog but I want to only feed it a vegan diet.”
Me:
Someone: “I want to have a pet but I basically never want to interact with it.”
Me:
Someone: “I want to get my kid a cute pet for Easter/Christmas!”
Me:
Get a pet that fits your needs. Don’t get a pet then try to force it to fit your lifestyle. Just because you saw a person walking a rabbit once doesn’t mean you can expect a rabbit to just be a dog. Just get a dog!
Naked mole rats did not get the memo that they are supposed to be mammals and henceforth lost most of their hair, became eusocial, lost the ability to thermoregulate (essentially making them the only “cold blooded” mammal), and slowed their metabolism to the point where they can go without oxygen for a ridiculously long amount of time and live 20-30 years while other similarly sized mammals usually live around 2-3 years. Oh and they are almost entirely immune to cancer.
I love these adorable little freaks of nature.
No but it’s much crazier than that, they didn’t just slow their metaboism they evolved the ability to metabolise fructose in place of glucose and just respire anaerobically for up to half an hour.
The lace monitor or lace goanna (Varanus varius) is a member of the monitor lizard family, Australian members of which are commonly known as goannas.
Lace monitors are the second-largest monitor in Australia.
They can be over 6.8 feet with a head-and-body length of up to 2.5 feet. The tail is long and slender and about 1.5 times the length of the head and body. The maximum weight of lace monitor can be 44 lbs, but most adults are much smaller.
Uromastyx is a genus of African and Asian agamid lizards, the member species of which are commonly called spiny-tailed lizards, uromastyces, mastigures, or dabb lizards. Lizards in the genus Uromastyx are primarily herbivorous, but occasionally eat insects and other small animals, especially young lizards. They spend most of their waking hours basking in the sun, hiding in underground chambers at daytime or when danger appears. They tend to establish themselves in hilly, rocky areas with good shelter and accessible vegetation.
The generic name (Uromastyx) is derived from the Ancient Greek words ourá meaning “tail” and -mastix meaning “whip” or “scourge”, after the thick-spiked tail characteristic of all Uromastyx species.
Plume de Lynx 