u/cwningen95

Unfortunately, I'm not able to find her name or an exact date for these photos. The woman is seen wearing a guntiino (wrap dress) and a leather headband adorned with aleel (cowrie shells).

In 1969, nine years after Somalia's independence from Italy, the democratically elected President Abdirashid Shermake was assassinated by his own bodyguard. Siad Barre, Commander of the Somali National Army, overthrew the Somali Republic and assumed power in a bloodless coup, called such as he was unopposed. His Supreme Revolutionary Council established the Somali Democratic Republic, a one-party state based around the principles of scientific socialism. The early 70s saw Somalia undergo significant modernisation, including an intensive literacy campaign based on a new written script for the Somali language, which increased literacy from 10% to over 50% between 1974-75.

Women's participation in education, work, politics and the military also increased, with the 1975 Family Law restricting polygamy and ratifying equal rights for men and women in marriage, divorce and inheritance. Women were also prominent in Somalia's rising art scene, with female musicians said to draw even larger crowds than their male counterparts, with singer Khadra Daahir describing the 70s as a "miraculous era".

This arts scene was part of what drew an increasing number of tourists to Somalia's coastal cities, with many Italian holidaymakers in particular flocking to cities like Mogadishu to enjoy the thriving nightlife, pristine white-sand beaches, and unique mix of Somali, Arab and colonial Italian architecture. I've seen it speculated that these images might have been postcards.

It's worth noting that much— though not all— of this progress was confined to the cities, while the majority of Somalia's population were (and still are) pastoral nomads. It would also be a disservice to ignore the atrocities committed by Barre's regime, particularly in its later years following Somalia's crushing defeat in the 1977-1978 Ogaden War with Ethiopia. Barre was a dictator, after all, ruling with an iron fist, rife propaganda, and the swift "disappearance" of any opposition. The Soviet Union, which used Somalia as a Cold War proxy state, switched to supporting Ethiopia during this war, significantly reducing the regime's military prowess. Various guerilla movements sprang up across Somalia thereafter, formed around traditional clan alliances, leading to brutal retaliations from the state, including the Isaaq genocide that killed 50,000-200,000 civilians between 1987-89. Ultimately, the Somali Rebellion ousted Siad Barre in 1991, who fled to Nigeria; the power vacuum left in his wake led the country to fall into civil war, ongoing to this day.

The brutality and chaos of the civil war has allowed extremism to take hold, and now Somalia is sadly known as one of the worst countries in the world for women. However, there are many Somali women activists and civil society organisations both in Somalia and the diaspora working hard to change this.

(She's also purring ferociously)

To clarify the guy is Shiryu (eggplant)'s husband, they're in an open relationship because single fatherhood wasn't for him lol. The teenager (Amber) is the carrot heir.

So Popcorn, to his great displeasure, had his annual vaccination and check-up today.

I got him from a rescue in August 2023 when he was 11 months old and his teeth have always been fine, but this time the vet said that his molars are overgrown/sharp and could hurt his tongue if they got much worse. I booked him in for a dental which is going to be a lovely £300, not covered by insurance 💸

To be honest, I'm just wondering how on earth this happened. He gets unlimited orchard hay throughout the day (I'm allergic to timothy) and has lots of chew toys and cardboard. He's ALWAYS chewing! I feel like I've let him down and I'm also worried because this isn't something I'm going to be able to afford regularly 😰

So this morning I found this little fellow in one of my recycling bins.

I thought he was a frog and it's been really dry in the UK lately (rained yesterday for the first time in weeks) and my garden is pretty much 100% concrete without much shade, so I coaxed him into a tupperware without touching him and took him to a stream nearby, about a 10 minute walk. I couldn't reach the water since it's a steep slope so I let him out on the bank.

When I got home and looked up what type of frog he was, I came to the conclusion that he's most likely actually a common toad. Which, as far as I understand, means 1. he doesn't like water and 2. he probably shouldn't have been moved.

I thought back to a couple months ago (April/May) when I found, again, what I thought was a frog and took him to that same stream, though I didn't get a photo. I managed to get him to the water that time but he swam straight out. Now I'm worried it was the same toad and I just evicted him from his home again 😬 I probably should have looked it up beforehand but I acted out of panic thinking I was saving a frog from potential dehydration, roaming cats, etc (hence the paper plate cos I couldn't find the tupperware lid).

I know there's not much I can do about this poor guy now, but I'm wondering what would be a better approach if this happens again. I'm a big softy for animals so I hate to think I inadvertently hurt one.

And I shan't be taking it back

You'd almost think she didn't keep me up with her late-night zoomies

So I'm sure most are familiar with the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) of the Southeastern United States, but did you know China is the only other country with a native alligator species?

If this distribution seems random to you, it's actually an insight into how ancient the crocodilian order are. Our continents looked very different when crocodilians first evolved their wonderful selves around 83.5 million years ago, with Eurasia and North America joined as one continent known as Laurasia. As the continents eventually split, American and Chinese alligators settled into their respective territories and evolved separately from there.

Unlike their much larger American cousins, Chinese alligators only reach a fun-size 5-7ft long from nose to tail— that's an adult in the third image! Sadly, also unlike the American alligator, Chinese alligators are critically endangered, with an estimated 150 left in the wild. However, there are around 20,000 Chinese alligators in captive breeding programmes around the world, small numbers of which have gradually been released into the wild to boost population numbers. What remains of their range is strictly protected under the Anhui Nature Reserve for Chinese Alligators. Believe it or not, both the American alligator and the Australian saltwater crocodile were in danger of extinction by the 60s to 70s due to human activity, but then humans came together and brought them back from the brink, and now both species are thriving. Surely we can do the same for these little fellows, right?

Credits: Maryland Zoo / Chattanooga Zoo / Gu Changming / Ger Bosma

The gharial is a species of crocodilian native to the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. Its characteristic long, skinny snout, filled with 110 needle-sharp teeth, is specialised for hunting fish, hence one of its other names: fish-eating crocodile. The common gharial name comes from the South Asian ghara pot, owing to the bulbus end of male gharials' snouts, which is used to attract the ladies.

Over-hunting, over-fishing and habitat destruction have decimated the gharial population to critically endangered levels, with an estimated 98% decrease in population numbers since the 1940s. However, conservation, breeding and reintroduction programmes both within and outside their native territories have seen populations slowly but surely begin to recover; in 2023, they were sighted in the Punjab region of Pakistan for the first time in decades.

Gharials are unusual among crocodilians in that males are very involved in rearing their hatchlings, and have even been observed "babysitting" hatchlings that aren't their own, guarding them from predators while providing a crash course on how to gharial. Researchers have delightfully observed baby gharials hitching rides on their dads' or dads' friends' back, which you can see in the last photo.

Credits: Los Angeles Zoo / Smithsonian Zoo / Dhritiman Mukherjee / Jonathan Zander / Dhritiman Mukherjee

I've been jokingly calling this handsome man my indoor cat's gentleman caller because he sometimes has window visits with her lol. He belongs to my nextdoor neighbour but likes hanging around my garden and porch to get a bit of shade, and even meowed to get inside my kitchen before when it was raining, but he always runs away when I open the door. Lately he's been kind of stopping at the end of the garden and watching me, offering some slow blinks, but he's still quite wary.

We're having a heatwave in the UK so I was surprised to see him still lurking around. I left some water out for him earlier and went out again this evening to see him chilling on my recycling bags— and, for the first time, he accepted some scritches 🥰

EDIT: To respond to some of the comments — yes, he is indeed very handsome. But also, I didn't mean to give a bad impression of my neighbour. I know this cat belonged to her ex who moved out a while back (he told me the cat's name but I forgot it unfortunately), but I don't really know her, so I don't want to say whether or not she's purposefully or recklessly neglecting him. I do believe he's a Bengal cat, which are known to be high-energy and adventurous, so while I have a lot of feelings about cats free-roaming (especially in this kind of weather), she might not be able to give him the stimulation he requires without letting him out— I *can* tell you this little man has a ridiculously loud meow which I can imagine would drive her crazy lol.

What worries me is that she doesn't have a cat door (most people around here rent) and she doesn't always seem to be around when he wants back inside, I've heard him meowing at her door for quite a while before. I also definitely think she should at least leave water out for him. I'll try and catch her for a chat to let her know he'd probably appreciate some water and a shady spot in his own garden, and might try and subtly gauge whether she's considered rehoming him, but I'm not going to steal him or try and encourage him to move in, pet abduction can get you five years in prison here in the UK 😬 The fact he hasn't actually tried to get into my house (other than that one time) also tells me he's probably happy with his own home for now.

For now, my porch door is open so he can come lay on the tile if he needs to cool down, and I'll carry on leaving him water. I've put an old blanket in there too but he understandably hasn't shown interest in that yet lol

As a 13 year old, she normally loves the heat, but the British heatwave this week was too much even for her. She was so happy last night purring on me and rolling around on the bed, even letting me scratch her big orange belly 🥰