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Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils

@biomedicalephemera / biomedicalephemera.tumblr.com

A blog for all biological and medical ephemera, from the age of Abraham through the era of medical quackery and cure-all nostrums. Featuring illustrations, history, and totally useless trivia from the diverse realms of nature and medicine. Buy me a coffee so I can stay up and keep the lights on around here!
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Crocodile d’Amerique (Fig 1) et Lacerta Heliaca (Fig 2)

[Now American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) and Mexican spinytail iguana (Ctenosaura pectinata)]

Albertus Seba seems to have been an originator of the 18th-century style of the funky curly reptilian tails in order to show both their dorsal and frontal patterns. He certainly imparted some great style to other parts of his illustrations, as well.

Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri accurata descriptio, et iconibus artificiosissimis expressio, per universam physices historiam. Tome I. Albertus Seba, 1734.

Source: archive.org
#albertus seba#zoology#herpetology#lizard#alligator#natural history#18th century#illustration#sciart#biodiversity library#openlibrary#1700s#1734#linnaeus#crocodile#art#history#reptile#reptiles
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Chelys fimbriata [now Chelus fimbriatus] - Mata-mata

Some people say the Mata mata turtle looks like it’s smiling, because of its unusually-shaped mouth. The Indigenous South American nickname for the turtle, “matamata”, means “I kill”, according to Fritz Jurgen Obst. Whether that eponym meant that the turtle was good to kill and eat or the turtle killed a lot is unknown. The relatively large size and a meat quality similar to the Alligator Snapping Turtle makes the former meaning more probable.

In the wild, Chelus fimbriatus lives in stagnant waters, blackpools, and muddy streams around the Amazon rainforest. Its fringed neck and murky coloration, combined with algae that grows on its carapace, makes this turtle an excellent ambush hunter. When fish come near it, the mouth opens up, and the mata mata “vacuums” them in. This is in contrast to Alligator Snapping Turtles, which are similar ambush predators, but with a different strategy. The tongue of the snapping turtle acts as a lure, and unsuspecting fish swim right into its mouth.

Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, 1885.

#natural history#PZSL#1880s#1885#turtle#mata-mata#matamata#behavior#reptiles
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Method of the mussurana’s attack upon the jararaca.

Note the size difference between the two snakes. The mussurana is able to consume comparatively large snakes because its digestive system compresses the body of the other snake into a wave-like shape.

Through the Brazilian Wilderness. Theodore Roosevelt, 1914.

#president#teddy roosevelt#theodore roosevelt#snake#mussurana#fer-de-lance#reptiles#predator#natural history#nature#1900s#1914#illustration
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Anonymous asked:

What's your favorite class of animal?

I don't really know...I'm partial to mammals because of evolution and how adorable as babies, but otherwise, I think that reptiles are AWESOME. I love lizards, especially, for their visual appeal, but I also love the tuataras for their role in the evolutionary tree, and venomous snakes for their venom sacs.

Erm....yeah, I don't really know. Something that's not insects or fish. As interesting as both of them can be, I don't find them as appealing as reptiles.

#Anonymous#natural history#reptiles
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Tupinambis teguixin - Gold or Columbian Tegu

These lizards grow to be about 2-3 feet long and are some of the largest tegus. They're considered omnivores, though they're skilled hunters and generally resort to fruits and vegetation only when there's a lack of animal life in their territory. Though some people keep them as pets, these lizards are much more naturally aggressive than other tegus, and their size can be a problem even without the rank attitude. 

Like all tegus, these guys are relatively fast runners when they need to be. Check out those legs!

Bilder-atlas zur wissenschaftlich popularen. Leopold Fitzinger, 1867.

#south america#columbia#tegu#lizard#reptiles#natural history#gold tegu#Leopold Fitzinger#1860s#1864
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biomedicalephemera

biomedicalephemera:

Method of the mussurana’s attack upon the jararaca.
Note the size difference between the two snakes. The mussurana is able to consume comparatively large snakes because its digestive system compresses the body of the other snake into a wave-like shape.
Through the Brazilian Wilderness. Theodore Roosevelt, 1914.

Here's a jararaca! I'm still gonna find that other one, whether it wants to be found or not...

#president#teddy roosevelt#theodore roosevelt#snake#mussurana#fer-de-lance#reptiles#predator#natural history#nature#1900s#1914#illustration#jararaca
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