Best Of MetaFilter

photo by Steve Wilson on Flickr

Are you drawn to any combination of interesting tidbits about Australia, fascinating flora and fauna, natural history, and huge, fierce, flightless birds with blingy plummage, funky headgear, deadly talons, and an hypnotic stare? If yes, may I refer you to chariot pulled by cassowaries' entire body of work? Today we have the felicitous birth of a VIP (Very Important Puggle).

The majestic Snowyoctopowl, perhaps?

In case you missed it, Brids, Sfish and other Amals, a fun browser toy by dng that mixes up Victorian animal illustrations to create amazing new hybrid animals every time you click.

Hey, it's the end of week and the day after a major holiday in the USA, so let's chill out with The 2023 Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards! Grab your favorite beverage and check out the link that wowenthusiast posted!

Amazon milk frog by hehaden (cc by-nc)

blue_beetle posted the Zoomable Tree of Life: All known species in one zoomable fractal.

the shallow breath of summer by Mitchell Haindfield (cc by)

Tehhund is seeking websites or accounts that document the changing seasons, such as "what annual things are happening in the natural world daily / weekly / monthly ... like different animals starting migration, different flowers blooming, etc." and, relatedly, dusty potato asks for books, apps, or curriculums to "guide me through nature."

Acting suprised by www.ownwayphotography.com (cc by)

If only I had a penguin... has introduced Post Your Animal Month in Metatalk: "If you have an animal in your username, post (directly, tangentially, barely-relatedly) about your animal over the next month." The animals have already begun to reproduce! (use tag "postyouranimal")

art by Bahman Farzad

How about some nice videos for pleasant watching?
-Candy-pulling around the world from Lexica
-Time-lapse of clouds in the Grand Canyon from clawsoon
-Time-lapse of a sculptor at work from not_the_water
-Shipwright builds a wooden boat from scratch from cubby
-Steam-engine hobbyist gently critiques an engine from cortex
-Soccer match: two pro football players vs. thirty 8-year-olds from Stark
-Karate in a Victorian dress from loquacious
-Thirsty farm animals, from the bucket's-eye view from ShooBoo
-Collection of art tutorial channels from Wolfdog

My VW Rabbit's 10 year birthday - by the date on the sticker. 168131 miles. by wbaiv (cc by-sa)

Mefites share their old Volkswagen stories, and animal-stuck-in-house stories

Maria Frostic - Main Iceberg Lagoon by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (cc by)

How fake is fake in nature documentaries? sciatrix on why scientists stage photos of their mice, and ChuraChura reveals that butterflies love pee.

What should I watch, from a huge archive of Russian films? gusottertrout recommends some movies: "One of the great pleasures of watching Soviet cinema is seeing the differences in attitude towards common film tropes."

The real work of fake tears - pseudostrabismus tells us what it takes to film a movie scene with two actors crying: "Frankly it's a wonder actors can cry at all."

Where do tv chyrons come from? Jahaza explains who decides which words appear on screen during news broadcasts.

Goat by www.metaphoricalplatypus.com (cc by)

In jessamyn's post about the man who lived in a huge secret apartment in the landmark historic theater he rescued, other stories of secret spaces including secret tunnels all over a city.

Gimme some stories of goats misbehaving!

...or some eerie spooky stories that aren't gross or horrible

...or some websites with fun interesting stuff for when the news gets me down.

Camping gear inside a tent in Florida by State Library and Archives of Florida

AskMe's got some camping hacks (pack a spare belt buckle, toothpaste in a contact lens case, and respect the all-important footcare)... But how to pass time on the trail?

Hassle the kids with rhyming phrases? Okey dokey, artichokey! Or we could teach them about picking their friends and picking their nose, in French.

We could swap stories of academic detective work, or the majesty of history's most destructive animal swarms. Or just noodle over what to put in my collection of glass bottles.

Antwerp dog-cart by seriykotik1970 (cc by-nc-sa)

Sangermaine speaks truly: Members sciatrix and Iridic put the cart before the hordes with great posts on the history of the dog cart and a glossary of carriages (in which we learn that a "dog-cart" is not a dog cart, except when it is).

Jumping-Spider,on-fish-hook-eyes_2012-08-02-16.13.51-ZS-PMax by Sam Droege (cc by)

The tough question of what it would be like to have animal eyes as a human got a great answer from member (and brain researcher) wyzewoman:

First, we have to consider the type of animal whose eye we're using. Mice, for instance, have remarkably poor acuity -- the world is a pretty big blur to them -- and I think a lot of that comes from the physical structure of their eyes, so the child would inherit this. However, there are predators with very good acuity, so let's assume we're using eyes from one of those. And of course there's the issue of color; most mammals can sense 2 rather than 3. Our hypothetical child wouldn't be able to get around this limitation.

Baby Tigers by futz

Member futz has some experience with baby tigers

I took care of 2 tiger cubs at my house for a 3 days. Had to bottle feed them every two hours. Yes, they are cute as hell but even at that young age it was really hard to deal with their claws.

Some photos.