SpookJ 👻SnoopJ@hachyderm.io
Oct 1, 2026, 6:48 PMHappy "Charles Darwin is poorly today" Day to those who celebrate
165 years ago today (1 Oct 1861), Charles Darwin was having a rough one
Replies
Hendrik Pfaff 🇪🇺HendrikPfaff@mastodon.socialOct 1, 2026, 7:19 PM@SnoopJ You and me both, Charles...
klarnebelklarnebel@mastodon.onlineOct 1, 2026, 8:00 PM@HendrikPfaff @SnoopJ you and Charles and me both.
Jeremiah LeeJeremiah@alpaca.goldOct 2, 2026, 8:49 AM
myrmepropagandistfuturebird@sauropods.winOct 3, 2026, 12:38 AMman... barnacles will mess you up good. Should have studied ants. They bring joy to the soul every day.
It's impossible to have a bad day if you got to see some new ants.
- myrmepropagandistfuturebird@sauropods.winOct 3, 2026, 1:05 AM
Barnacles are confounding. First of all they are part of Pancrustacea the group that includes crabs. They are also arthropods like ants.
They are more closely related to ants and crabs than snails or other Mollusca.
You'd think they'd have evolved from mussels, right? Nope.
Then there is their life cycle, which is similar to many creatures that have a plankton stage, but it's still odd and makes them hard to study.
Darwin nearly died trying really understand barnacles.
- myrmepropagandistfuturebird@sauropods.winOct 3, 2026, 1:06 AM
He went to see a doctor who was a bit of a quack doing a "water cure" but this doctor also gave Darwin some decent practical advice: the dude forbid him from working (studying reading, dissecting, etc.) for weeks and due to the rest and good sleep Darwin got better... but he was upset about not being able to study the barnacles.
- myrmepropagandistfuturebird@sauropods.winOct 3, 2026, 1:16 AM
Barnacles will gloam on to your very mind and you will never be free.