Who I was, covered up in leaves
My mother heard on the radio this afternoon that butterfly fossils prove that the proboscis evolved a full geologic period before flowering plants did.
Me: "So what were they eating with them?"
My mother: "Aha!"
(She's suspecting carrion.)
Me: "So what were they eating with them?"
My mother: "Aha!"
(She's suspecting carrion.)

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That is incredibly cool!
"The two tubes also separate from each other, giving the tongue a forked, snakelike appearance. And they unfurl, exposing a row of flaps along their long edges. It's as if the entire tongue blooms open, like the very flowers from which it drinks."
Way more H.R. Giger than I had given hummingbirds credit for.
(Actually, I'm still a bit confused because I didn't entirely understand the linked article, but I can still tell that it's pretty neat.)
The full paper is free to read online and has photographs and diagrams.
no subject