🔎🐧💡 At Centro de Interpretación, Paracas, Peru:
In the coastal desert around Paracas, numerous fossils were found. Including various penguin species, such as the Inkayacu pictured here. It lived around 36 million years ago. The 2008 discovered skeleton is the first one with fossilized feathers attached to it. The feathers are so well preserved that it's even possible to draw conclusions about the coloring. They had similar feathers as modern penguins, but more gray or brownish.


The other prehistoric bird in the picture is a pseudotooth bird (pelagornithid). These birds reached a wing span of up to 6 meters and were thus about twice as large as the Andean condor. They were probably related to pelicans or storks and lived all around the world. The fossils found around Paracas are attributed to the same era as the Inkayacu.

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💕🐧🐧🐧💕 African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) are the only penguin species of Africa. Their wild population has decreased by 90 percent since 1956. At this rate of decline, the African Penguin is expected to be extinct in the wild by 2026. You can help the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (@sanccob , sanccob.co.za) with a donation.

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Some may ask why, I ask why not! This is a fish with a palm in its mouth (drawn 2007).🌴🐟 Any questions?😝😝😝

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As a kid, I always loved to watch the "Bionic Six" on TV. "Bionic, Bionic Six uh-oh-uh-ooh!" 😆😆😆
In 2007, I just invented the "new BIONIC 2.0"! 🤔😅🙃

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This is a titmel. It's been first described in 2007. Other than camels, it lives in the mangroves only. When the flood comes, it sticks its long trunk inside a tight and wet hole. The thickening at the tip of the trunk serves as an anchor. At the back it has two huge humps which always float on the surface. They feel very nice. Because the titmel can't breathe underwater, there's a nose on each hump. It can't flee in water, so it follows a very interesting defense strategy. If an enemy appears (mostly sea cucumbers), it sprays milk out of its noses. That's very confusing for the enemy, because milk signals offspring. Every predator knows not to fight a feeding mother. When living at land, this weird animal behaves almost like a common rabbit. Always hopping around, looking for huge carrots and fresh holes. Scientists still try to figure out the reproductive system of that species. There's no evidence for sexual reproduction yet. It seems as if they just appear out of random holes in the swamp. Scientists definitely need to dig much deeper, harder and faster!

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🏨🐜 News from the insect hotel:


That's my bud, the stink bug! I thought of it as a different species, but thanks to a friendly hint I know that it's the introduced species Halyomorpha halys. Since 2011, this species has been detected in Germany and comes originally from East Asia.

It sat on my finger for about 8 minutes.☝ Then my patience was over. It has nothing to do with the little gift that made it to me.💩😂 I was hoping it would fly away, for recording.😐 It's very affectionate.😅😘 This stink bug has been with me for at least a month now. Sometimes it lands on my desk and struggles to get back up.😂 Stupid sweet little bug!❤ I'm very happy about this roommate, but I've just read that they don't survive the room temperatures in winter. Next time I see it, I free it! 🤗

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Cleopatra 💖☄☄

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Crane fly,
Tipula sp.❤
(05/2003 in Oberursel, Germany)

Isn't it beautiful?😍 Crane flies are completely harmless.😁 Many believe they are huge mosquitoes.😆 Their mandibles are only suitable for absorbing water and nectar and can't penetrate through the skin.☝ What can end fatally, however, is to get the giggles from people panicking around the whole apartment.😂🙈🙉🙊




Do you see behind the wings these small stems with the thickening at the end? In evolutionary terms, these are reduced wings and serve as orientation. They are called halteres and are a fascinating development of Mother Nature. Many other flying insects have that too. Simply said, the halteres swing through the wing movements, and as the animal changes direction, the vibration also changes.💡

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This is supposed to show a sleeping ground sloth. It's fallen totally exhausted into a dream-filled sleep. It's already clear to me that a ground sloth hardly slept in such a position. This is called artistic freedom! I often sleep in similar position!😜


With their huge claws, these extinct representatives of the South American megafauna were able to dig impressive burrows. A particularly large burrow can be found, for example, in the Brazilian state of Rondonia. It consists of several tunnels with a total of 2,000 feet in length (around 600 meters) and was probably extended over several generations.

In the past, sloths were a very diverse group. There was even a semi-aquatic species in Peru that showed similarities to otters and beavers.

Some cryptozoologists think there may still be live ground sloths, somewhere in the Amazon. Basis for this assumption is a myth of the Carios, according to which a monster (the mapinguari) living in a cave on their tribal territory in the Brazilian rainforest. One may doubt and still dream. I suspect that only well-preserved remains were found in a cave (in fact, ancient fur remains have been discovered) and the rest was done with imagination.

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The mysterious back of my painting. On the dark areas is a thicker color layer. Partly I dug into the layers with the brush, which then created these lines. As you can see, the snake consists of only a few layers of paint. Most of the layers I needed for the wood. You can't see the butterfly, because of the stretcher. The idea for the motif came to me during the painting. Originally I just wanted to paint my snake in a beautiful landscape. It's my first tempera and at the same time my first canvas painting ever.

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