bears have an interesting existence. this might be too simplified, but essentially they eat enough so that they can last the winter hibernating. prior to hibernation season, they’ll eat around 40 kilograms of food. every. single. day. once they’ve dug their dens for the winter, they spend that time resting. females use this time to birth their cubs as well. after this time, they’ll shed half the weight and the cycle repeats. i used to think that brown bears are strictly solitary creatures but they do seem to gather in alaska in the summer for salmon spawning. also, if you run away from a brown bear, it most probably can catch you. leave the momma’s cubs alone though, and you should be good. apparently. ursus arctos in moleskine.

because their domes are box shaped, well, you get the picture. i think it’s well known that these mesmerising invertebrates are quite dangerous to be near. each of their tentacles contains a few thousand stinging cells that are so potent that humans sometimes don’t make it to shore before either drowning or going through heart failure first. each corner of their bell can grow up to fifteen tentacles that can reach three meters in length. serious stuff. what differentiates box jellyfish from others is their ability to actually propel themselves through north australian / indo-pacific oceans they inhabit. these jellyfish also have a rather developed set of eyes yet no central nervous system which begs the question: how do they see? cubozoa in moleskine.

everyone nose (…happy mistake? knows…) they’re mammals but did you know that all dolphins are porpoises? all porpoises are not dolphins though. their perma-smiles can sometimes belie the fact that in the wild they have to hunt as they are after all carnivorous. i thought they’d eat smaller fish only (and they do–mackerel and even tuna) but the diet of a bottlenose actually is primarily comprised of bottom feeders: shrimp; squid; etc. these dolphins are actually very compassionate though and i wonder if this has to do with their high intelligence. they have attempted to aid not just their own but other sea animals as well. they can swim at speeds around thirty kilometres an hour and can hit nearly five metres high out of the water. they weigh a half a tonne. tursiops truncatus in moleskine.

while being the most plenteous of wildcats (which they’re also known as) in north america, they’re also among the hardest to spot because they’re nocturnal. they also seem to like to be sneaky and surprise prey that oftentimes are much larger than they are. national geographic says that they hunt by pouncing with a death blow of a leaping pounce. this is a 3 metre pounce. causing death. an interesting thing i found is the association bobcats have with in american / indian folklore. the bobcat and coyote are referred to as the fog and wind and these are thought to be opposites. some interpretations seem to imply that this is a bit of an allusion to european and native cultures when they were first coming into contact regularly. felis rufus in moleskine

bluebirds are pretty obviously named and they’re quite commonly found in north america. many find them to be pretty birds especially because of their singing ability but gardeners love them because they are insectivorous—i love that word. they can be omnivorous as well but their appetite for insects definitely helps the avid gardener out. so all you green green-thumbs should get friendly with these little guys. sialia sialis / mexicana / currucoides in moleskine.

yes, the spear that is their snout / nose is functional. as one of the fastest fish in the water, blue marlins slash their way through schools of fish and return to collect their prey right after. though they do dive into deeper waters to feed on squid and such things, they prefer warm, tropical waters. this means lots of surface-ish water swimming which also makes them more susceptible to being fished by sport fishers. it’s crazy that anyone can fish for such large animals though. blue marlins get to about 14 feet in length and nearly 900 kg. they are highly prized as fishing trophies though and are becoming more endangered because of it. makaira nigricans in moleskine.

part of the corvid family, blue jays are actually quite intelligent birds. they have a bit of a bad reputation for raiding the nests of other birds and feeding on the young but this apparently might not fully be true. nevertheless, they are omnivorous and do feed on smaller birds. on the flip side, they are able to make a wide variety of calls and can even imitate hawks. whether for selfish reasons or not, when blue jays detect a predatory, they make calls to indicate this and other birds within an earshot get the warning as well. people refer to their calls as jays, hence the name. they are the provincial bird of prince edward island and the mascot for a certain local baseball team. cyanocitta cristata in moleskine.