Biodiversity Heritage Library
LightNews LightNews
banner
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
Biodiversity Heritage Library
@biodivlibrary.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.5K following 200 posts
The Biodiversity Heritage Library provides free & #OpenAccess to 63+ million pages of #biodiversity literature online. 🔗 biodiversitylibrary.org
Posts Replies Media Videos
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
🕊️ The countdown continues! There’s still time to help #GiveBHLWings before BHL becomes independent on 1 January 2026. Your support keeps this global library flying high into the future. #ILoveBHL #BHLTransition 🧪 📖 🌏 🐟 💸
💚 Donate: ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL...
A black and grey gliding possum soaring from a tree.
December 8, 2025 at 3:31 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
💚 Thank you for helping us #GiveBHLWings!
Your support this #GivingTuesday brings BHL closer to independence on 1 Jan 2026 and keeps the world’s biodiversity knowledge open for all. #ILoveBHL #BHLTransition 🧪 📖 🌏 🐟 💸 ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL...
An historic illustration of a blue, green, yellow, black and red butterfly.
December 3, 2025 at 4:27 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
Happy #WorldCoatiDay! This coati is from "Dictionnaire pittoresque d'histoire naturelle et des phénomènes de la nature" (1833-1840), digitised for BHL by @nhm-london.bsky.social. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35962483 🧪 📖 🌎 #Coatimundi #ILoveBHL
An historic illustration of a coati (a brown mammal with a long stripy tail) standing in a green landscape with frees in the background.
December 3, 2025 at 2:31 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
💚 Just 2 days to go until #GivingTuesday! 🌿 BHL must transition to independence by 1 January 2026 – your gift can help #GiveBHLWings and keep biodiversity knowledge open and free. 🧪 📖 🌏 🐟 #BHLTransition #ILoveBHL #OpenAccess
🔗 ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL...
An adult puffin (a black and white seabird with a red beak and yellow feet) on a rocky cliff above the ocean, feeding a beak-full of small fish to a fluffy black and white chick.
November 30, 2025 at 3:31 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
#InternationalJaguarDay is celebrated annually on November 29 to raise awareness about jaguar conservation. In 1758, Carl Linnaeus described the jaguar in his Systema Naturae. He gave it the scientific name Felis onca: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726937 #SaveTheJaguar #Jaguar2030 #IloveBHL 🧪 🌎
November 29, 2025 at 2:31 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
It's #WorldTamanduaDay! Tamandua is a genus of anteaters. This northern tamandua (Tamandua mexicana) is from "Manual para el rastreo de mamíferos silvestres de México" (2012) by J.M.A. Sánchez, in #BHLib via #BHLMexico & #Conabio www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/49770915 #SciArt #OpenAccess 🧪 🌎 📖
An illustration of a Tamandua (a black and white anteater) walking along a branch.
November 29, 2025 at 11:32 AM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
Carnivorous plants obtain nutrients from animals or protozoans, which they trap & digest. This #SciArt of "insektenfressnde pflanzen" (insectivorous plants) is from "Meyers Konversations-Lexikon" (1890). Contributed to #BHLib by @uoftlibraries.bsky.social: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/55161008 🧪
An historic illustration of a pitcher plant above a marshy scene.
November 27, 2025 at 2:31 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
🐠 Help #GiveBHLWings. After nearly two decades under the Smithsonian, BHL must become independent by 1 Jan. Your donation helps us take flight and keep 500 years of biodiversity knowledge accessible. 🧪 📖 #GivingTuesday #ILoveBHL #BHLTransition 💚 Give today: ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL...
An historic illustration of a brown flying lizard
November 25, 2025 at 3:54 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are called the unicorn of the sea — for obvious reasons.
This illustration by Louis A. Sargent comes from "The wild beasts of the world", v. 2 (1909), contributed to BHL by @uoftlibraries.bsky.social: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19657038 #SciArt #ILoveBHL 🧪 📖 🌊
Three Narwhals (grey sea mammals with a long pointed tusk) diving down into a green wave.
November 22, 2025 at 12:25 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
Happy #WorldAnteaterDay! This Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) #SciArt is by Édouard Traviès for Charles Dessalines d'Orbigny, Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle (1849). Contributed to BHL by @ncsulibraries.bsky.social: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19538021 🧪 📖 🌎 🐜 #ILoveBHL
An historic illustration of a giant anteater, a brown and black mammal with a long snout and a huge fluffy tail held high.
November 19, 2025 at 4:27 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
This beautiful Fairy Shrimp #SciArt is by Christine Etiennette Pernette Jurine for "Histoire des monocles qui se trouvent aux environs de Genève" (1820), authored by her father Louis Jurine. Contributed to BHL by Ernst Mayr Library Harvard www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/10664230 #HerNaturalHistory
An historic illustration of a green and brown fairy shrimp (an aquatic invertebrate) surrounded by detailed drawings of parts of the animal.
November 13, 2025 at 2:31 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
BHL is experiencing intermittent technical issues that are affecting PDF generation. Thank you for your patience!
@archive.org
Image: biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14994771
Image of submissive terrier with red and brown fur.
November 13, 2025 at 1:58 AM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
Mary Cynthia Dickerson was the 1st curator of herpetology at @amnh.org. She authored "The Frog Book" (1906), describing North American toads & frogs. Explore it in #BHLib thanks to the @uoftlibraries.bsky.social Robarts Library: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31830673 #HerNaturalHistory #HERpers 🐸
A page full of illustrations of many different frog species.
November 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
November is #ManateeAwarenessMonth! This beautiful Manatee #SciArt is from Biologia Centrali-Americana (1879-1882), illustrated by Josef Wolf. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/570882 #ILoveBHL #OpenAccess #SaveTheManatee #SeaCow 🧪 🌎 📖 🌱
Two manatee (large grey sea cows) feeing on seagrass in shallow water.
November 8, 2025 at 6:32 AM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
All issues of Mycotaxon (1974–2024) are now digitised, #OpenAccess & discoverable in BHL! Thx to the work of Diane Rielinger & BHL’s Team #RetroPIDs, every article now has a DOI, connecting 50 years of #Mycology to today’s scholarly network. #Fungi 🍄 🧪
🔗 www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography...
The title page of a journal: orange background; black text.
November 5, 2025 at 1:24 AM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
Alfred Mayor's "Medusae of the world" (1910) attempted to describe all known forms from all parts of the world. The #SciArt is based on drawings, from life, by William K. Brooks and Louis Murbach. View it in #BHLib: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography... #WorldJellyfishDay #ILoveBHL
Historic illustrations of jellyfish Historic illustrations of jellyfish
November 3, 2025 at 7:40 AM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
Meet the Numbat, Australia's only truly diurnal marsupial. This beautiful #SciArt is from John Gould's "Mammals of Australia" (1863): "with its beautiful tail spread out to the full extent, it offers a great resemblance to the Squirrels". doi.org/10.5962/p.31... #InternationalNumbatDay #ILoveBHL 🧪
An historic illustration of a group of 5 numbats (black, orange and white striped marsupials with long bushy tails).
November 1, 2025 at 3:54 AM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
#InternationalGibbonDay is dedicated to raising awareness of our overlooked, under-protected "lesser" apes. This Hainan gibbon #SciArt is from the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1905). This species is now critically endangered. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31887889 🧪 📖 🌱
Two gibbons (a ape) one black, one while, sitting in a tree.
October 24, 2025 at 7:05 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
In celebration of #WorldKangarooDay 🦘, we present the first scientific description of "The Great Kanguroo, Macropus giganteus", from Shaw's The Naturalist's Miscellany (1790), which begins "the Kanguroo is a very anomalous and extraordinary quadruped". doi.org/10.5962/p.31... 🧪 📖 🌏 #ILoveBHL
An historic illustration of a kangaroo, standing on a patch of grass.
October 24, 2025 at 11:31 AM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
The Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia, originally Felis uncia) was scientifically described by Schreber in 1778. 🧪 ❄️ 🐆
Plate: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31064602
Text: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42529094
#SnowLeopardDay #23for23 #SaveSnowLeopards #ILoveBHL
An historic illustration of a Snow Leopard (a white big cat with black spots) standing on grass.
October 23, 2025 at 11:31 AM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
If you’re at #LivingData2025, visit us at the Biodiversity Heritage Library booth. Ask us about the 63 million pages of #BiodiversityKnowledge we’ve made accessible & discoverable online, and how we’re transitioning to become an independent, global and sustainable consortium. #ILoveBHL
October 22, 2025 at 7:59 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
For those eager to see @siobhanleachman.bsky.social's wonderful #LivingData2025 #Wikidata presentation (there was a technical hiccup at the conference), you can find it here: Video: youtu.be/ySyiwfIi_Wc
Slides: bit.ly/LivingDataEx...
Documentation: bit.ly/BHLWikidataW...
#DatosVivos2025. 📖 👩‍💻 🔗
October 22, 2025 at 4:53 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
Happy #WombatDay! "This animal has not any claim to swiftness of foot". This is one of our favourite quotes from the historic literature ("An account of the English colony in New South Wales", David Collins, 1804) biodiversitylibrary.org/page/45924805 via
#MuseumsVictoria #Wombat #ILoveBHL 📖 🧪
An historic illustration of a (very elongated) wombat.
October 22, 2025 at 4:25 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
Errata: the above illustration is from 1804 "An account of the English colony in New South Wales" www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/45924805. The 1800 link is for the original version from "A general history of quadrupeds: the figures engraved on wood": www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/25448864
October 22, 2025 at 4:20 PM
biodivlibrary.bsky.social
It's #WombatDay! The Wombat was first described in 1800 as "the largest of all the Opossums: size of a Badger: colour pale yellow: fur longish and sub-erect: nose strongly divided by a furrow" www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19632636.
(#SciArt 1798: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/25448864) 🧪 📖 🌏
An historic illustration of a (very elongated) wombat.
October 22, 2025 at 2:50 PM