Lee Raye

Large tortoiseshell butterfly confirmed no longer extinct in UK | Wildlife - United States News Beep The large tortoiseshell – an elusive and enigmatic butterfly that became extinct in Britain in the last century – is a UK resident species once again, with a

Large tortoiseshell butterfly confirmed no longer extinct in UK | Wildlife

https://www.newsbeep.com/us/513127/

The large tortoiseshell – an elusive and enigmatic butterfly that became extinct in Britain in the last century…

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I can't get the video alt text to work today but there is a version with subtitles on my new Instagram page www.instagram.com/reel/DVoC3zm... 😘

I believe that the 9th-century Welsh 'Eryr Eli' in Canu Heledd functions as the medieval analogue to a reaction video. The poem watches Heledd's reaction as her brother is eaten by eagles during the conquest of Shropshire. 🦅

Part of a Pictish cross from Latheron in Caithness, depicting a bird (perhaps an eagle) and a fish (National Museum of Scotland). #stoneworksunday

An eagle brings Cuthbert and his companion a fish which they share with the eagle.

BL Yates Thompson 26; Bede, Prose Life of Cuthbert; 12th century; England, N. (Durham); f.28v
@blmedieval.bsky.social

500,000-Year-Old Elephant Bone Hammer Unearthed in England Rewrites European Prehistory An ancient elephant bone hammer from southern England reveals that early humans used rare materials to precisely sharpen stone tools, highlighting unexpected technological sophistication 500,000 years...

An ancient elephant bone hammer from southern England reveals that early humans used rare materials to precisely sharpen stone tools, highlighting unexpected technological sophistication 500,000 years ago. scitechdaily.com/500000-year-... #archaeology #anthropology #Science #SciChat

In 1856, renowned British ethnologist Sir Richard Burton was told by Somali nomads that mosquitoes transmitted malaria, a claim he dismissed as "a ridiculous superstition". In 1902, British doctor Ronald Ross won the Nobel for "discovering" that mosquitoes transmitted malaria

Experimenting with video! Would you like to hear some thoughts about the crane in the 7th century Life of St Columba? 🐦💚

Old World societies with bovids (sheep, taurine cattle, goats, zebus, gayals, water buffaloes, Bali cattle, yaks). 🐄 🐐 🐑
🤝
New World societies with nightshades (tomatillos, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, tobacco). 🍅 🥔 🫑

Domesticating the same family of organisms a ton of times.

The goddess Selene (Diana Luna) on a medallion held by a two-headed snake bracelet, in gold. Selene holds the "night" above her head in the manner of Nyx, with stars beneath the covering. From Pompei, First Century CE. 1/

Old Irish Goats Are Ireland's Only Indigenous Breed, and Trace Back 3,000 Years - Bytes Europe In the wilds of Ireland live a fascinating yet dwindling breed of goats known as Old Irish Goats. The species is the only indigenous breed to the Emerald

Old Irish Goats Are Ireland’s Only Indigenous Breed, and Trace Back 3,000 Years

https://www.byteseu.com/1831804/

In the wilds of Ireland live a fascinating yet dwindling breed of goats known as Old Irish Goats. The species is the only indigenous breed to the Emerald Isle, and new research may …

Breaking news: planty fella
found some Lycopodiella
Someone saw it here before,
back in 1854
Since that day, the span of time
with no report of any sign
of such a species growing here
led to thoughts of “dear oh dear”
until this dazzling display
of yellow-green was seen today!

I think they are still pretty widespread although abundance might be different. Someone told me they are even found in deeper water which makes me laugh. Like a carpet of lobsters on the Atlantic seabed! 😹

Map showing where lobsters were recorded between 1529 and 1772. There are records from every region of Britain and Ireland, and clusters of records in several areas, especially the Inner Hebrides, the Isle of Wight and Devon.

Here are all the places I know of that common lobsters were recorded by the early modern natural history authors. This map makes me laugh - there are so many records compared to other species! My sources were VERY interested in lobsters I see! 😅🦞

An image of various beasts said to live near the Nile, such as crocodiles, hippopotamuses, lions, leopards, panthers, basilisks, tigers, dragons, snakes, asps, and the Cathoplebas, which can kill any animal just by looking at it. Thankfully, this latter creature is so lazy and ponderous that it can barely lift up its head. From 'Les Secretz de l’histoire naturelle", a translation of the Benedictine scholar P. Bersuire’s encyclopedic Reductium morale (ca. 1340).

🦁 For #caturday spot the miniature lion! This is supposed to be Lower Egypt with animals & the Cathoplebas monster living near the Nile.

🦄 The artist clearly never saw any of the animals, other than the parrot perhaps? 🦜

🗃️ #arthistory #art #cat #lion #medievalsky #bird

Eagle folklore: Implications for species’ conservation and extinction Tracey Hayes’ PhD research seeks to investigate the folk beliefs, narratives and traditions related to eagles in Ireland’s National Folklore Collection, housed in University College Dublin.

EAGLE FOLKLORE: IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIES’ CONSERVATION AND EXTINCTION #Folklore
www.york.ac.uk/anthropocene...

The image is a drawing of a Kalmyk and his horse by Élisée Reclus, from his series "L’Homme et la Terre." Reclus was a French geographer and writer in the 19th century.

1/4
Throughout the Kalmyk oral epic, Jangar, the essential role of the horse is stressed over and over again. Each hero has a named horse who at times, acts as a character in its own right. Early on, when a young Jangar is wounded, he is saved by his horse Aranzal:

#history #folklore

First Solid Evidence of Hannibal's Infamous War Elephants Discovered in Spain Elephants are not exactly commonplace in the European landscape, so when archaeologists uncovered an elephant foot bone among the rubble of an Iron Age dig in Spain, they knew it could be something sp...

First Solid Evidence of Hannibal's Infamous War Elephants Discovered in Spain : ScienceAlert
www.sciencealert.com/first-solid-...

Part of a hand-coloured engraving of a Roman mosaic showing a white leopard with yellow spots in profile running to the right. The animal is flanked by trees with colourful, lotus-like leaves.

For this #MosaicMonday, continuing the homage to the Withington Orpheus mosaic. Some of the animals are now excitingly on display @coriniummuseum.bsky.social, including this colourful leopard who is among those recently let out from the BM's store. 1/2

Otter is Cambridge University’s latest furry fresher The apex predator has taken up residence along the banks of the river Cam in big win for local conservation efforts

‘Lord #Byron, prohibited as a student from bringing a dog into [Trinity] College, #Cambridge, instead brought a bear.

In a letter in 1806, the poet wrote: “When I brought him here, they asked me what to do with him, and my reply was, ‘he should sit for a fellowship.’”

Japanese Archipelago Was Once a Refuge for Cave Lions | Sci.News Between 73,000 and 20,000 years ago (Late Pleistocene), the Japanese Archipelago was inhabited by cave lions (Panthera spelaea), according to a new genetic and proteomic analysis of fossilized felid r...

"...Japanese specimens formed a well-supported monophyletic group nested within the Late Pleistocene cave lion lineage... spelaea-1.

The authors suggest... cave lions persisted in the Japanese Archipelago for at least 20k years after their extinction in Eurasia..."

www.sci.news/paleontology...

This is King Ferdinand VI of Spain
Besides ruling one of the largest empires on Earth or attempting a full genocide on Spanish gipsy people, he hunted. A lot. And recorded the killings
OA PAPER Building historical biodiversity databases from royal hunts
Thread below
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Photo of the described owl art. It looks like muddy scratch marks on a mottled brown cave wall. The head is very round with two upright lines for ears and a line in the center for a beak. Numerous parallel lines suggest plumage on the wings.

The oldest known image of an owl:

More than 30,000 years ago, someone skillfully scratched the figure of a long-eared owl (Asio otus) into the soft outer layer of the walls of Chauvet Cave, France. The owl is looking backward over their wings, head turned 180 degrees
carnegiemnh.org/ancient-owl-...

Photo of described owl brooch. Its body is a metallic gray, shaped like a pear fallen on its side, with a tail like a shuttlecock, a sprig-like leg, and two large orange eyes. The center of the body is infilled with green enamel and almost peacock-like concentric circles of red, yellow, and black.

On the the island of Bornholm, Denmark, archaeologists unearthed this enchanting and unusually colorful Iron Age Roman owl brooch w/ a transfixing gaze. Made of bronze, finely decorated w/ enamel and glass, it was likely used to fasten a cloak or other garment.
www.sciencenordic.com/archaeology-...

My photo shows a roughly square-shaped piece of limestone with a relief carving depicting a front facing owl on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This relief represents the ancient Egyptian owl hieroglyph ‘m’. Limestone plaque dimensions H. 10.3 x W. 11.1 x D. 2.5 cm

Happy #SuperbOwlSunday!

Here’s a lovely limestone plaque carved with the face of an owl!🦉😍

From Egypt, Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, 400–30 BC.

Met Museum www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

📷 by me

#Archaeology

"Owl makes nest in mouth of dinosaur statue at Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, Britain - 24 Nov 2014"

Let's meet one of the earliest fossil owls, Berruornis orbisantiqui.

The name means "old-world bird from Mont Berru (France)".

It was ENORMOUS, with wing-span up to 1.5 m (5 ft), but I need to bend your brain a little.

See, the earliest owls VERY NEARLY OVERLAP with dinosaurs like T. rex.

Cats to Blame for Octopus Deity Enshrinement Delay Hayasuhime Shrine in Oita prefecture is a rarity in Japan because it is dedicated to the octopus. When local sculptor Kousei Hashimoto was tasked with creating a new deity to be enshrined, he expected for it to be completed by the end of the year. But the neighborhood cats had different plans.

"Cats to blame for octopus deity enshrinement delay"

spoon-tamago.com/cats-to-blam...

Making Tracks: Bargoed and Gilfach Fargoed Jon Gower The Bargoed coal tip in the Rhymney valley used to be the biggest in Europe, so big in fact that some locals called it a mountain. This huge mound of spoil was the consequence of Bargoed col...

The Bargoed coal tip used to be the biggest in Europe, so big that some locals called it a mountain. Now it’s surrounded by pockets of ancient woodland, is home to otters, kingfishers, and cormorants, and is still the subject of artwork and literature ✍️ Jon Gower

Image by/for the official LGBT+ History Month project founded by School's out. Shows Robert Boyle (25th January 1627 - 31 December 1691). There is a portrait of him with long curly hair and a lacy collar, with the LGBT+ History Month logo for 2026 - a test-tube with a rainbow exploding from it.

Happy LGBT+ History Month!
Robert Boyle (1627-1691) one of the founding members of the @royalsociety.org will be remembered this year. A bit of a queer black sheep, he was strongly against relationships with women, much to the dismay of his friends... 🏳️‍🌈🧵
#LGBTplusHM #lgbthm26

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This is the best article I found for understanding the queer history of Robert Boyle but it's paywalled... @historyofscience.bsky.social would you please consider making it open access just for LGBT+ history month this year, since Robert Boyle is a 2026 theme? 💜 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...