2012-08-05

Hi! Today we're featuring a particular genus of the Canidae family that I'm... actually pretty surprised that I haven't really featured yet, especially considering how cute they can be.

It's everything under the genus Vulpes! And if you think that sounds a lot like Vulpix, they're all true foxes, so that would be why. There are 12 total members in this genus, so I'll try to give all of them a go.

( Fabulous foxes and super cute spiders! )

<img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4079/4912198605_b60a8d94e5.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/vaishnavisrinivasen/4912198605/">bengal fox</a>

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7177/6874306287_cb15bfb1bd.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/57999689@N02/6874306287/">blandford's fox</a>

<img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6162/6235684344_ceb1831dde.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rothdigga/6235684344/">cape foxes</a>

<img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2518/4008591254_9f37246ea4.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bzd1/4008591254/">corsac fox</a>

<img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2732/4295329531_b7fb6c1939.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/virginiazoo/4295329531/">fennec foxes</a>

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7182/6874308197_9a6f221739.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/57999689@N02/6874308197/">rüppell's fox</a>

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7115/7077212151_039f775423.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/blacktigersdream/7077212151/">arctic fox</a>

And of course...

For anyone who's wondering why so many of the spiders I feature are kind of cute: I'm totally cheating by using jumpers. Sure, they're very common spiders and kind of everywhere, but they're also very cute in general thanks to the giant eyes compared to many other spiders, which don't rely so much on eyesight for hunting. Other common spiders around the home are things like wolf spiders or huntsman spiders, which, despite being very cool to me, aren't what most people think of as cute. Which is a little sad, because wolf spidermoms are really great parents and have the funniest :B faces, and huntsman spiders are honestly a bit derpy as far as spiders go.

They're both very helpful to have around because of pests- and like I've always said, if you see a spider in the house and really don't want it anywhere near you, please don't kill it! Just upend a cup over it, slide a piece of stiff paper or cardboard underneath it, then let it go outside. Spiders help you keep things that literally bug you down, they are good! If also scared of you. Unfortunately this 'being scared' tends to result in a lot of frantic scuttling away and vanishing and reappearing elsewhere, which admittedly does not help make people less scared of them.

Speaking of jumpers, I'm sure many of us have seen this image before-

Now it's damn near impossible to find a source, but what I can tell you is that- yes, this is really what a baby jumper looks like, and it's very, VERY young. It's also a Hyllus Semicupreus, aka Hairy Jumping Spider, and grows up to look like this:

Note the fabulous eyelashes. Spiders are totally rocking it!

2012-08-05

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