I finished my 4+ year-spanning comprehensive exam, getting a ba in biology! :d

[littleoc]

Herpetology is the study of Reptiles & Amphibians. Shells slime and scales...but not snails.

Some...

Lol, I know! I wanted to be one as a kid! Although maybe once I thought it was herpes.... herpes is an interesting virus, and it could turn you into a reptile untreated! :P

Thanks for the clarification though! :D

 

[littleoc]

What are y'all doing with the degrees you have, by the way? I'm intrigued!

 

[shatter eyes]

I still work with the animals but it has been greatly reduced.

It is hard with TBI PTSD and mobility injuries for me to be consistent and work with agencies, volunteers, etc etc.

I uses to be able to do outreach work... spotlight awareness... engage with strangers. Now i hide more than the turtles. And breathe more fire than dragons.

My schooling only helped connect the dots to my passion. It allowed me to understand the animals and their behaviors. Also opening me to understand sciences so I can read on PTSD... hormones... physiological changes... and such. Now that i wrote about this i wonder if my nerding out is way of dissociating.

 

[littleoc]

I still work with the animals but it has been greatly reduced.

It is hard with TBI PTSD and mobil...

That's an interesting question...

 

[SaharaSon]

I studied for four and a half years!

It took very hard work. I did have to take one medical withdrawa...

Congrats @littleoc. I love biology, I'm big into insects. Thousands of hours looking at those guys up close. It's an amazing world. :cool:

 

[littleoc]

Congrats @littleoc. I love biology, I'm big into insects. Thousands of hours looki...

For sure! Bugs are the best :P

 

[shatter eyes]

For sure! Bugs are the best :p

There are no such things as bugs... just insects. I am such a bugger buggin you.

Entomology is super interesting and I love how learning about bugs helped me not be afraid of them. It is the same as learning a person. When we learn we can appreciate who they are and not be afraid.

I grew up scared of earwigs thinking they will crawl into my ears and eat my brain. No longer scared. Plus i hated silverfishes and firebrats but now... i see them and think wow you guys are ancient creatures.

The adaptations from insect evolution are amazing all these creative changes all in the name of survival.

 

[littleoc]

There are no such things as bugs... just insects. I am such a bugger buggin you.

Entomology is s...

Lol, but true.

Rolly pollies/pill bugs/sow bugs have been one of my favorites since I was tiny! But knowing how ancient they are, and how they were some of the first critters wandering onto land (besides fungi and neat looking moss) is just awesome. I dropped everything I was doing when I saw one in Iceland! Same in Belize. :P

I used to have pet jumping spiders and those were a blast, lol.

 

[Muttly]

Ok, my inner geek is coming out. Actually there is such a thing as bugs. Hemiptera are an order of insects that are called the "true bugs". It includes things like bed bugs, cicadas and aphids are some examples. And if we are being picky, rolly polly's or whatever name you know them by, aren't bugs at all they are isopods and one of the coolest things ever. Errr.... ok... I will stop geeking out.

 

[littleoc]

Ok, my inner geek is coming out. Actually there is such a thing as bugs. Hemiptera are an order of insec...

Lol, I was fighting it too! I love knowing there are more nerds everywhere I go! :P

 

[shatter eyes]

rolly polly's or whatever name you know them by, aren't bugs at all they are isopods and one of the coolest things ever.

Yes they are! And they are friendly moving around so fluid. Ancients indeed so we must respect these elders. I did a term paper on these guys and they were once quite large from what I gathered.

Similar North America once had giant beavers too. Most skeletal remains found near the great lakes.

One of my coping skills is to fascinate myself with interesting species and wonder if they can speak what would they say?

Glad this thread is opening many like minded members to congrats @littleoc

 

[littleoc]

Glad this thread is opening many like minded members to congrats @littleoc

Same!

Plants are the most ancient land creatures! Besides maybe fungus, but we don't know much about it (lack of fossils) besides the fact that it may have encouraged the "invention" of roots :D

Fun fact: plants are green because green is the old black! All plants originated in the ocean from an algae ancestor, and in the ocean, green isn't that visible. It's the closest they could get to black (absorbing all light for photosynthesis). On land, green is the most intense wavelength of light (ususally) so if plants had adapted to land life, they'd maybe be darker -- or there would be more of those red/purple varieties.

Can you imagine thinking that a black forest was beautiful? Weird how nature shaped what we thought was pretty :p