Mike Benard
LightNews LightNews
banner
benardmf.bsky.social
Mike Benard
@benardmf.bsky.social
290 followers 150 following 80 posts
Biologist, ecologist, herpetologist.

Views expressed here are my personal opinions.

Professor & Department Chair at CWRU

https://sites.google.com/a/case.edu/benard-lab/the-benard-lab-at-cwru
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Mike Benard
cameratrapsue.bsky.social
A rather gloomy day here, waiting for rain or snow, cheered up by these bird flight trails this morning, I think its a raven and red-tailed hawk, colors aren't that great as camera is struggling in the overcast conditions. #birds
November 23, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Reposted by Mike Benard
zschierl.bsky.social
Since BlueSky seems to like (or dislike enough to hit "like") snakes, here's my favorite photo of a snake I've taken:

A smooth green snake knots its tail in a last-ditch effort to avoid being consumed by a garter snake. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO.

#photography #snake 🐍
A bright green snake has its tail in a knot as it is mostly swallowed by another snake with a multicolored pattern on its back.
November 23, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Reposted by Mike Benard
derfbackderf.bsky.social
Finished page from THE DISSIDENTS. I'm putting the last touches on this bad boy. It'll be in the can by Thanksgiving! What a relief.

Out in Fall 2026, y'all.
Freikorps militia gun down opponents during the Spartikus Revolution in Berlin in 1919.
November 22, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Reposted by Mike Benard
derfbackderf.bsky.social
A few of you will recognize this as an homage to the Otto Dix painting, Streetfight, from 1927. Dix was witness to the battle in Berlin. The Freikorps, of course, morphed into the Nazi Party.

It's an astounding painting, tragically destroyed during WW2, either on a Nazi bonfire or by bombs.
November 22, 2025 at 9:32 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
Baby Redback Salamander next to an Adult Redback Salamander. Plethodon cinereus. These are lungless, direct-developing salamanders. The babies skip the aquatic larval stage and upon hatching are completely terrestrial salamanders like miniature adults.
A baby salamander (left) next to the head and forelimbs of an adult salamander (right) on a white background. The baby is brown-black with a red-tan stripe down its back. The adult is a red-black with a dark red stripe down its back. If the baby curled up, it would be about the size of the adult's head.
November 22, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Mike Benard
kenwhite.bsky.social
Revolting.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7d
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 19, 2025 at 12:50 AM
benardmf.bsky.social
Visiting family in the mountains of South Carolina, encountered these large, invasive joro spiders for the first time. Some spots were thick with their webs spread between trees.
A large spider hangs head-down from its web. Its legs are slender and black with orange bands. Its thorax is a silvery-white. Its abdomen is very large, almost swollen- looking. The abdomen has a pale yellow background, with irregular, light blue stripes. A pinkish blotch is near the back of the abdomen.
November 10, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Reposted by Mike Benard
somuchpingle.bsky.social
I'm a little achy, feverish and listless from a Covid vax, so I'm just processing photos tonight. For #FrogFriday here's an African Clawed Frog (Xenopus laevis), observed in SE Free State, South Africa. Note the upturned eyes, perfect for laying in shallow water. #herps #frogs #NaturePhotography 🌿
Angled-down image of a frog lying in shallow, muddy water. The frog's color is a very dark blackish-brown with small streaks of a lighter brown. All four limbs are partially submerged. The eyes are tiny, and are located up on the top of the head.
November 8, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Mike Benard
emilytaylorscience.com
Tonight! act.gorgefriends.org/a/rattlesnakes
October 29, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Mike Benard
solomonrdavid.bsky.social
BEHOLD the GARgantuan Alligator Gar!!!

This is the largest Alligator Gar I’ve encountered; at over 7 feet 10 inches (240 cm) and approximately 55 inches in girth, its weight is estimated at 300 pounds (136 kg)!

A true river monster, among the largest caught, tagged and safely released! #GarWeek
A giant Alligator Gar (fish) lies in a boat, captured for research and safely released after measurements and tagging.
October 28, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Mike Benard
stephenbarten.bsky.social
Cooper's Hawk vs. Eastern Gray Squirrel
Spoiler: Squirrel gets away.
Lake County, IL 10.20.25
#coopershawk #graysquirrel #backyardwildlife #trailcam #trailcamera
October 28, 2025 at 4:21 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
Wonderful visit to Holden Arboretum yesterday. My phone video can’t capture the amazing feeling from the emergent tower above tree canopy (120 feet / 37 meters above the ground. Well worth a visit for those in northeast Ohio! holdenfg.org/attractions/...
October 26, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by Mike Benard
josephcox.bsky.social
New: a $60 mod to Meta's Ray-Ban glasses disables the privacy LED light. This is supposed to light when people are filming with the glasses. We bought the mod, verified it works. Now you can never be sure whether someone wearing Meta Ray-Bans is filming you or not
www.404media.co/how-to-disab...
A $60 Mod to Meta’s Ray-Bans Disables Its Privacy-Protecting Recording Light
Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses usually include an LED that lights up when the user is recording other people. One hobbyist is charging a small fee to disable that light, and has a growing list of customers ar...
www.404media.co
October 23, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Mike Benard
fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social
Update on the Paleontological Research Institution and their remaining need for donations to pay off their mortgage and avoid foreclosure
#savePRI please share; tag anyone you think might help🧪⚒️🦑

@lastweektonight.com @colbertlateshow.bsky.social @pbseons.bsky.social

www.ithaca.com/news/regiona...
Saving the Museum
After years of financial troubles and millions of funds raised in support, the Museum of the Earth is still struggling to bridge its multi-million dollar budgetary gap. It needs to
www.ithaca.com
October 23, 2025 at 3:47 AM
Reposted by Mike Benard
shannonskalos.bsky.social
Just look at the reductions to the USGS science centers in this document. An 80% reduction in staff is all the scientists. The only people left will be admin and IT staff who will be needed to shutdown the centers. The writing is on the wall for all other EMA science centers…
shannonskalos.bsky.social Shannon Skalos, PhD @shannonskalos.bsky.social · Oct 21
See for yourself. The releases court document outlines all the planned RIFs for competitive areas that include protected union members. Areas not included are not safe. They simply have no union members relevant to the TRO.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com
October 21, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Mike Benard
turtleecology.bsky.social
A tale in four photos…

This Green Heron took about 5 minutes to swallow this poor little frog! 🐸

Interestingly, the heron kept dipping the frog in water and rotating it so that the frog was facing the throat before swallowing it whole 😱
Green Heron picking up frog from water Green Heron with frog in its mouth Green heron with frog in its mouth Green Heron with open mouth while swallowing the frog
October 21, 2025 at 12:37 AM
benardmf.bsky.social
New from CWRU alumn Troy Neptune, with Diana Koester (CLE Metroparks Zoo) in @animalecology.bsky.social. Gray treefrogs use daylength as a seasonal cue to prepare for winter. Autumn daylength triggers frogs to accumulate 14-fold more liver glycogen than summer photoperiod.
doi.org/10.1111/1365...
Adult Gray Treefrog. A treefrog is sitting in brown, dead cattail fronds. The treefrog has a mottled pattern of light and dark green patterns on its back. Figure showing the amount of daylength in the three treatments from the start of the experiment (Day 0) to the end of the experiment (around day 90). The early treatment simulates breeding starting in april, and the daylength is about 12.5 hours per day, and goes up to about 15 hours per day. The average treatment simulates breeding in july, and simulates breeding starting in July and at 15 hours of light per day, and going down to around 12 hours of light per day. The late treatment simulates breeding in mid-august. Late treatment starts with about 14 hours of light per day, and goes down to about 10 hours of light per day. Plot of total glycogen in liver. The values are low (between 0 and 20) for frogs from the early and average photoperiod, but are much higher (40) for frogs from the late treatment. Figure showing size-corrected growth rate (grams per day) from the three photoperiod treatments. The late photoperiod treatment has the lowest growth rate, significantly lower than the average photoperiod, and lower (but not significantly different from) the early photoperiod.
October 19, 2025 at 2:14 PM
benardmf.bsky.social
Two little creatures found cohabitating under a log today. A common shiny woodlouse and a redback salamander. Northeast Ohio.
Close up photo of two organisms on a brown/red dirty background. To the left is a shiny woodlouse. It is an oval, flat invertebrate, with its outer body composted of gray armor-like rings. To the right is the head and front of the body of a red-backed salamander. It has a red stripe down its back, and dark sides of its body.
October 19, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Reposted by Mike Benard
prosanta.bsky.social
Loved visiting the recreated wunderkammer or "cabinet of curiosities’ at the Houston Museum of Natural Science today. I always wondered what it was like to stroll through these early natural history collections so eclectically curated.

Also couldn’t resist a coelacanth selfie.
Museum section with taxidermies animals in old school 18th century style with lots of wood Me with a rhino head above and coelacanth among other curios Front entrance of cabinet of curiosities exhibit - crocodile above and taxidermy everywhere
October 13, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by Mike Benard
hydaticus.bsky.social
Baird's Ratsnake (Pantherophis bairdi) eating a bat! Val Verde County, Texas.

#herps #predation #snakes
A gray snake with longitudinal dark lines down its back and orange skin between the scales is coiled around a bat. The scene is inside a dark, rocky cave.
October 8, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Mike Benard
informative.ink
A broader view of that storm cloud and rainbow reaching toward the lone tree.
Detail of a photograph: a rainbow seems to pour directly out of a storm at a concave point in the dramatically shaded and brilliantly highlighted cloud, down through the horizon near a lone tree off from a large stand, with a copper-colored, partially in-shade field of prairie grass in the foreground. The sky behind and below the cloud ranges from pale turquoise to royal blue.
October 4, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Mike Benard
stephenbarten.bsky.social
Just a glimpse of an opossum carrying a bunch of leaves in her prehensile tail. She's bringing them back to line her nest hole, which must be close by.
#opossums #possum #backyardwildlife #trailcam #TrailCamera
September 24, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Mike Benard
rebeccarhelm.bsky.social
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
September 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Mike Benard
yardgonewild.bsky.social
Here he comes
my favorite boot inspector😄
September 22, 2025 at 6:58 PM