Today’s LGBT+ Headcanon is;

Wainwright Jakobs and Sir Alistair Hammerlock from the Borderlands series-Transgender Men

Status: Alive (And married!)

Requested by @aetherocean

Today’s LGBT+ Headcanon is;

Wainwright Jakobs and Sir Alistair Hammerlock from the Borderlands series-Transgender Men

Status: Alive (And married!)

Requested by @aetherocean

"Once thought to be extinct, black-footed ferrets are the only ferret native to North America, and are making a comeback, thanks to the tireless efforts of conservationists.

Captive breeding, habitat restoration, and wildlife reintegration have all played a major role in bringing populations into the hundreds after near total extinction.

But one other key development has been genetic cloning.

In April [2024], the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced the cloning of two black-footed ferrets from preserved tissue samples, the second and third ferret clones in history, following the birth of the first clone in December 2020. 

Cloning is a tactic to preserve the health of species, as all living black-footed ferrets come from just seven wild-caught descendants.  This means their genetic diversity is extremely limited and opens them up to greater risks of disease and genetic abnormalities. 

Now, a new breakthrough has been made.

Antonia, a black-footed ferret cloned from the DNA of a ferret that lived in the 1980s has successfully birthed two healthy kits of her own: Sibert and Red Cloud.

These babies mark the first successful live births from a cloned endangered species — and is a milestone for the country’s ferret recovery program.

The kits are now three months old, and mother Antonia is helping to raise them — and expand their gene pool.

In fact, Antonia’s offspring have three times the genetic diversity of any other living ferrets that have come from the original seven ancestors.

Researchers believe that expanded genetic diversity could help grow the ferrets’ population and help prime them to recover from ongoing diseases that have been massively detrimental to the species, including sylvatic plague and canine distemper. 

“The successful breeding and subsequent birth of Antonia's kits marks a major milestone in endangered species conservation,” said Paul Marinari, senior curator at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. 

“The many partners in the Black-footed Ferret Recovery Program continue their innovative and inspirational efforts to save this species and be a model for other conservation programs across the globe.”

Antonia actually gave birth to three kits, after mating with Urchin, a 3-year-old male ferret. One of the three kits passed away shortly after birth, but one male and one female are in good health and meeting developmental milestones, according to the Smithsonian.

Mom and babies will remain at the facility for further research, with no plans to release them into the wild.

According to the Colorado Sun, another cloned ferret, Noreen, is also a potential mom in the cloning-breeding program. The original cloned ferret, Elizabeth Ann, is doing well at the recovery program in Colorado, but does not have the capabilities to breed. 

Antonia, who was cloned using the DNA of a black-footed ferret named Willa, has now solidified Willa’s place as the eighth founding ancestor of all current living ferrets.

“By doing this, we’ve actually added an eighth founder,” said Tina Jackson, black-footed ferret recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in an interview with the Colorado Sun. 

“And in some ways that may not sound like a lot, but in this genetic world, that is huge.”

Along with the USFWS and Smithsonian, conservation organization Revive & Restore has also enabled the use of biotechnologies in conservation practice. Co-founder and executive director Ryan Phelan is thrilled to welcome these two new kits to the black-footed ferret family.

“For the first time, we can definitively say that cloning contributed meaningful genetic variation back into a breeding population,” he said in a statement.

“As these kits move forward in the breeding program, the impact of this work will multiply, building a more robust and resilient population over time.”"

-via GoodGoodGood, November 4, 2024

Help my family 🩸🩸

I am Ahlam from Gaza

I am 54 years old and have 9 daughters and a son

I suffer from kidney failure, and with limited hospital resources, I ask you to help me go out to receive treatment so that I can take care of my children.

I am displaced in tents. I have been displaced more than 10 times, and my house was bombed, and I have no shelter, and this makes my condition worse.

Every $10 or $20 will contribute to saving my family

https://gofund.me/61f1dd1f

So. No matter what happens, I'll still be here making daily good news posts. Once the final results are called I'll stop with the election psas completely and go back to doing what I'm here to do. No more PSAs and no bad news.

This fucking sucks. But no matter what, there are people doing good in the world. There are people making progress. There are people who care so much.

If you can't hold onto hope, I don't blame you. And I'll still be here to keep putting little pieces of it in front of you.

The US isn't the center of the world, however outsized and violent its power may be. There are other countries and there are people within this country who are doing good, important things. So, I'll get a lot more international for a while, I suppose.

One foot in front of the other.

Keep living. No matter what.

[i dont know what you're local community is like so i can't research into the activists groups in your area but I have been participating in poltical activism where I currently live]

they make me sickkk

.

.

I’m turning into a cartoon wolf and making train whistle noises

tv show. white man. hes sad. he has to do important thing but its hard. his girlfriend died probably. TWSIT!! theres another white man. maybe MORE. hes sad too but for different reason. its very deep probably. theyre best friends but not gay but maybe they are haha fandom!!! every girl dies or goes away. just not gay white man friend. 10 seasons 100 million viewers. what will moody white men do this week.

This post just turned 10 years old which is pretty fucked up actually. When I made this post people would say things like “actually supernatural only has 8 seasons” but here we are in 2023 so who’s laughing now. Not me I want to die

guys i'm truly anxious about the election hysteria detracting from attention that should be going into fundraisers, so ahead of all the ruckus i genuinely think it's important to remember and that fundraisers remain paramount. platforming campaigns periodically is one of very few ways we can help and i'm worried many people will lose sight of that in the midst of the pointless discourse about the election. but it's literally all smoke and mirrors and none of it makes a tangible difference the way fundraising does

a lot of people will also take this opportunity to (subconsciously or consciously) decenter the fundraisers bc they're sick of it or bored or have "compassion fatigue" so it's really more important than ever to shed light on them now tbh

on this note, asking you all to please share mohammed ayesh's fundraiser. ayesh is pretty much the only link we have to palestianian families who're in active need of funds, but more than that he's also in gaza experiencing the same bombings and starvation and displacement alongside his family. the sheer amount of work he has done for so many people can never be replicated -- so please give him his flowers by boosting his campaign and donating any amount you can to it. it takes a massive difference

guys literally there’s only been one donation in the past 2 hours. and only 4 in more than 5 hours.

Mohammed has been putting so much work into vetting fundraisers. Meanwhile his family has been forced to hide in destroyed buildings from tanks that patrol thru neighborhood. Please please help them get funds to relocate and buy necessary supplies to survive. This is a time sensitive urgent request

£17,755 / £18,000 daily goal. £245 needed still before end of day!!!!! Please help Mohammed. Donating even £5 and sharing it on dash would do wonders

...the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot. V FOR VENDETTA 2005 — dir. James McTeigue

I forgor :(