this is the only xkcd that matters and i've kept it bookmarked for years since i first found it
@exiliaex The bee species is only “extinct” in the northern range of this orchid, i.e. northern Europe. It is still pollinated by a solitary bee species around the Mediterranean. I love XKCD but Munroe is exaggerating a bit in this comic.
Thank you all.
@exiliaex wasp orchid moment
@exiliaex wow. My heart aches
@exiliaex somewhat less poignant, it's the plant's idea of what a male bee would find sexy in a female bee. It probably has a certain Jessica Rabbit-ness to it from an actual bee's perspective, and is seriously offensive to female bees...
@The_Turtle_Moves @exiliaex Also, might all the males being on porn shrub explain their extinction? 🤔
@exiliaex
"Lucky 10k" is another xkcd which I suggest bookmarking and reviewing every now and then as a reminder.
@exiliaex So which # xkcd is it? Some of us might want to bookmark it too … >.>
@herzleid lol sorry this post reached way further than i expected https://xkcd.com/1259/
@exiliaex I'm so glad I learned about it, thanks for sharing this
@exiliaex This one's also pretty wholesome and has a similar structure.
@exiliaex it’s my favorite too! I know that it’s not totally scientifically accurate, but it might be soon for many species. It’s full of #LossPoetry and #EcoPoetry and makes me happy-sad every time 🥹
@exiliaex I love a lot of xkcd comics !
Some are silly, some are poetics, some technicals… Always clever.
@exiliaex I'm not crying, you're crying. 😭
@exiliaex
Echoes of the past.
Here in Britain we have a healthy population of badgers. They are nocturnal, keep themselves to themselves and feed largely on worms, small rodents, fruit and the occasional hedgehog. Most people have never seen one or even know they exist. Given their diet, badgers seem to have the most insanely disproportionately powerful bite and sharp teeth and claws that one could possibly imagine. Why? Ans: Long ago they had to share their world with bears and wolves.
@exiliaex Starting off the day with a good cry!
@exiliaex
This had me thinking of the Auschwitz account which says the name of killed people one at a time to say that name once more. I will sometimes reply to say that name again also. We are never fully gone until the last person forgets us.
The sexual gender objectification of bees by plants is exactly the kind of holistically high-minded academic discourse that endears me to Mastodon.
We have these at work, on a site that used to be a rubbish dump. Wherever the topsoil was imported from had the memory and now here it is.. specifically around just our building. Every year we mark the plants with yellow flags so they don't get mown over.
it's https://xkcd.com/1259/ for anyone who was looking