nateskittens:

waytoostrongforwaytoolong:

arrafrost:

syciaralynx:

dancinbutterfly:

annethecatdetective:

feminismandmedia:

excalibelle:

excalibelle:

excalibelle:

excalibelle:

I FOUND THE MOST AMAZING QUEER SHIRTS

at lookhuman.com

im not recommending bc I’ve never bought from them or even heard of them but i HAD to share my faves omg

I want so many of these and can’t afford them. 😭

I NEED THAT LAST ONE AAAAAAAAAHHHHH

I want every bi/pan shirt on here. All of them. Damn you monies, Atlanta Pride is on October!

@arrafrost there is a few on here you definitely need

I want so many of these omg

Hello, frequent buyer here and I definitely recommend this website to anyone who’s even a little bit queer. Great website for gifts, too! Buy matching shirts with your friends and all designs come in coffee mugs and pillows as well

I need the I’m all of the above and the pantastic one.

How did you cultivate your skepticism? I think of myself as fairly intelligent and yet I’m also exceedingly gullible when it comes to things I know nothing about. How did you train yourself to question instead of accepting what even a seemingly reliable/trustworthy source says?

lordhellebore:

earlgraytay:

pyrrhiccomedy:

I started and re-started my answer to this ask half a dozen times. Because it’s a really, really important question, but it’s also a hard question to answer in a useful way. I’m going to do my best.

Nothing is as important as what you believe is true. If I can control what you think, I can control every decision you make. I can control what products you buy, who you vote for, which of your friends you trust—and which of them you distrust; I can choose which social causes you apply yourself to, and how effectively you champion them; to a very great extent I can even decide what you’ll major in in college, who you’ll marry, IF you’ll marry, if you’ll STAY married if the marriage goes bad, what job you’ll go for, how well you’ll do in that job, how you spend your leisure hours, how you treat your children, how you feel about yourself when you look in the mirror, what you’ll eat for dinner, and if you’ll respect yourself in the morning.

EVERY DECISION YOU MAKE is based on what information you’ve accepted. So if I can make you believe what I want you to believe, I own you.

And make no mistake: my best interests are NEVER the same as your best interests. The most you can hope for from ANY source is that their interests and your interests align. If I’m a company, then it’s in my best interest if you buy my product. I am only interested in the quality and safety of my product to the extent that you will not buy it if it’s garbage, or too dangerous. If I’m a newspaper, believe me, my goal is not to make you a more informed citizen of the world. My goal is to sell newspapers.

However, it may be that my reputation is an important part of reaching my goals: and if I feed you misinformation, my reputation may be damaged. And so a degree of trust may be invested in sufficiently reputable sources, since their goal (“to maintain a high reputation”) and your goal (“to learn something”) are aligned. Be VERY CAREFUL when bestowing this kind of trust on a source, and NEVER let them act as your ONLY source. You can never know for sure how important that reputation really is to them, or for what ends they may be willing to compromise it.

“But this information is from a random Tumblr post, not a news corporation, or a professional blog. Nobody’s making money, here. So why would they lie to me?” Attention? Attention’s a big one. Those posts you see going around, full of SHOCKING CLAIMS, usually have tens of thousands of notes. Tens of thousands of people shocked – shocked! – to learn that feeding bread to ducks makes them sick, or that Charlie Chaplin was a Nazi, or that bleach mixed with baking soda can eat through concrete. It doesn’t matter that none of those things are true. It doesn’t even matter if the OP, or all of the people reblogging it, BELIEVE that they’re true. What matters is that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE had in their own interest something that was more important to them than “make sure the things I’m reblogging are accurate.”

Maybe they wanted the prestige of being the first to bring interesting new information to their social group. Maybe they were alarmed by what they read, and they wanted to keep their friends and loved ones safe. Maybe what they read reinforced some bias that they had, and so they disseminated it because they wanted it to be true. Maybe having this surprising intel on their blog made them feel more intelligent, or more socially conscious. There are lots of reasons, because there are lots of people, and every single one of those people had their own best interests.

And none of those interests are yours.

So because what you believe is SO important, and because you are the sole guardian of your own best interests, I think it’s downright reckless to accept any piece of information as fact without asking two questions first:

– Who is telling me this? Do I have reason to trust them? Should I trust them SO MUCH as to let them be the sole arbiter of what I believe on this subject?

– Who benefits if I accept it as the truth? THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. A lot of information masquerades as being in the interests of one thing when really it’s in the interests of something else. Really think about it.

When you choose to believe someone – anyone – about anything, you are giving them power over you. And skepticism is the only thing that protects you from giving that power to people who don’t deserve it.

When you choose to believe someone – anyone – about anything, you are giving them power over you. And skepticism is the only thing that protects you from giving that power to people who don’t deserve it.

And this is why we research outside of tumblr before reblogging posts that claim something as fact, and why we research by looking at more than one source.

trucbiduleschouettes:

catneylang:

sideisms:

broadwaytheanimatedseries:

pastel-patton123:

amazable01:

starsfightback:

alexross123:

anachronistic-cat:

fandomsandanythingelse:

imnotverycareful:

cthebooklover:

allthefandoms-hp-hg-pj:

feysand-rowaelin-worshiper:

highlady-of-slytherin:

aelinarcheroncursebreaker:

arz28art:

i-just-punched-malfoy:

katatles-the-fish:

ghostly-insane-artist:

aquilacalvitium:

dragon-of-creation:

kimmyhunter:

tmitidstuf:

sanderschilds:

neatatom:

veronicasummersfelton:

arielinthebluebox:

silverangel58:

spooky-daddy-jim:

twentyonepilotsfanblogg:

chileandeppresedteenager:

angsty-firefli:

briezyirwin:

ilovebender101:

sorta-phantastic:

alltimephanuniverse:

ifeelspecial-youare:

panfornoman:

dead-nightingale:

moudcloud:

existentailllama:

freakydemonclown:

gamerman2002:

liljujuchan:

clickstarcookie:

i-am-a-pile-of-trash:

suckmyicelandick:

constellation-salad:

dazzling-phan:

aufandomlover:

capri-sunqueen:

just-a-slytherin-with-salt:

tree-of-blue-squirrel:

snovolovac:

rattling-the-stars-in-a-tardis:

madamelibrarian:

soubidou:

multifandom-hoes:

iamatrashfan:

iamatrashfan:

monstersofmemory:

charliejamesnovak:

conniemcfalcon:

thegamerkangaroo:

m4dh4ttey266:

zaku-kazu:

mild-creativity:

ameliapondandrory:

ringo-smile:

yaoi-online:

janaya7609:

yaoi-totally-my-life:

ash-asr:

small-town-ink:

romanoscurl:

inafantasy-wby:

theartofwazzing:

maria-ruta:

bluetiesandflannelshirts:

maria-ruta:

hamburgergod:

maria-ruta:

schottishy:

m-i-y-u-k-i-nyaa:

daitoshi:

all-canadian-striderp:

cheese3d:

cheese3d:

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anyone please ask your crush out like this

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The thrilling answer

no they need to kiss out behind the school!!!!

oops my hand slipped

nexttttt pleaseee 😀

Come on guys add on to this tumblr needs this to be a comic series

I was asked for doing this, so I did

BAM!

I’m out of ideas! XD

next?

THIS IS TOO CUTE I CAN’T LEAVE IT ALONE I’M SORRY

OHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDD!!!!!!!

LOOOK ATT THIIIIS!!!!

LOOOOK ATTT THIIIISS!!!!

80

NEEEXT!!!!!

IT HAD TO BE DONE:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*O*

OH MY GOOD!!!!!

ThAT’S IT!!!!

#0o0#

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so yeah

I LOVE THIS

REBLOGGED THIS TWICE

I have a need…..I must add to this…

still waiting for the smut

C’mon guys… it needs some smut

THIS NEEDS TO CONTINUE

SOMEONE PLEASE CONTINUE IT

Not so perfect but still perfect first date

HOLY SHIT I LOVE THIS WITH MY ENTIRE HEART

O HECk IT GOT bETtEr

OMG, THIS IS PERFECT 💖

notes/letters=the most intimate gesture!

THERES MORE

I reblogged this like a year and a half ago and IT CONTINUES!? 

ITS BACK OMG

Omg it’s here!

THIS CUTE I WANNA CONTINUE IT

Ok I tried because this is so cute 

OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDFFDFF

IT GOT EVEN BETTER OMG

This has to be the most adorable thing I’ve seen today. 

This gave me so many happy and cute feels

every time this circles back there’s always more, I love you all 

this warms my heart on so many levels ❤

ITS BACK

I’m just sitting here

Hitting my knee

Squealing and smiling omfg

this is now a tumblr web comic, who knows when the next upate is, all we know is its gonna be fucking amazing when it happens 

best thing ever

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Traditional style (Sorry the picture quality is really bad) but here is my (super short) update!!

(The text says : Movie? I won’t be late!)

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my contribution!

This is beautiful

Love it

OMG I REMEMBER THIS!!! AND THIS IS SO LONG NOW AND SO ADORABLE!!! I LOVE ALL THE DIFFERENT ART STYLES!!

I love this so much. For multiple reasons. One all of the different art styles. Two I have been seen this post around Tumblr ever since I first came here. And three ever since I first came it’s been getting longer and better ever cents!

This is some cute shit

This has been here since the start of my blog and it’s one of my favourite posts that I had on my dash and it still is

Even after all this time I’m so invested in this

I

I AM SPEECHLESS

I love this so much😭😭😭

thiS IS THE ABSOLUTE MOST ADORABLE THING EVER XD

THIS IS SO CUTE I’M ACTUALLY SCREAMING

I’M SCREAMING

I’m crying and dying and screaming how is this possible

IT GOT BETTER!!!!!

BOI THIS IS SO FREAKING GOOD!

MY HEART

I want more

This definitely needs to be continued!!

Am I too late to join? 😀

@neatatom @apitnobaka @noknmni

@veronicasummersfelton why not?

My hand slipped 

MORE PLS!!!!!!

HOW DO I SUBSCRIBE TO THIS THREAD

my favourite thing, artists of tumblr untiting to create a comic about high school notes gay love story

MORE PLEASE!

tagging all my artist friends who need to see this @takaraphoenix @dragon-of-creation @spider999now @shirmir @shirmir

I don’t have self control

THIS IS THE CUTEST SHIT I’VE EVER SEEN! DO MORE DO MORE DO MORE!!

YES HELLO IM CRYING

itS BACK!!

There’s so much more AAAHHHH

I’m just gonna add something real quick 😆

Hurry someone add something please 😭😭

AHHHHH this is so adorable 😍

SOMEONE PLEASE ADD SOMETHING MY HEART IS SOARING THIS IS ADORABLE! 😍

THIS IS SO CUTE😍😍

@shirmir LOOK!! SO MUCH MORE CUTENESS FROM THE LAST TIME

This is the best

IT’S BACK

this was here when i first came and it’s back and better than ever

I WILL NEVER NOT REBLOG THIS!!!

*screeches*

I AM IN LOVE!!!

THIS IS STILL GOING ON I AM IN LOVE

I CANT BELIVE ITS STILL GOING ON PLZ SOMEONE ADD ONTO THIS PLZ

Muses Wishlist: The premise with the locker notes and one not having a cell phone.

fuck i love this thread

callmebliss:

shadesofmauve:

tinierpurplefishes:

the-ironhobbit:

dramatical-fangirl:

celticshenanigans:

aconnormanning:

maneth985:

fallen-angel-with-a-shotgun:

dajo42:

if you dont have me on facebook you are probably not missing out on any posts but the comment section is important too lmao

I went to the Renaissance faire dressed as a warrior.  I had a real sword with me, too.  I was standing (in character) next to a sword-fighting ring, where kids of all ages got the chance to pick up a sword and challenge the champion.  Some woman walks by, with her little girl.  The girl starts walking towards the ring, saying she wants to fight.  But the mom pulled her away hella sharply, and was like, “That’s for boys.”  You don’t want to be a BOY, do you?”    And the girl looked around and saw me.  I think she thought I was a boy; I had my hair in a ponytail, and was wearing a hood.  So she comes up to me and asks me, “Do you think girls can be fighters, too?”  And her mom looks like she’s silently gloating.  Like she thinks I’m going to say no.  So I take off my hood, untie my hair so that it flows freely, and kneel before her.  And I’m like, “Milady, anyone can be a fighter.”  I swear, the look on that mother’s face made my day.

This post was good but then it got better

Okay, this is a slight topic diversion, but in response to the above comment. I’ve volunteered at the CT Ren Faire for years now. For the last 5 or so I’ve worked in the game section, and we have a game similar to the above comment called “Smite the Knight”. I’ve been in the ring before, it’s a ton of fun getting to run around with the kids. The main goal is entertainment. Have a good shtick, keep the crowd engaged, and let the kids have a good time.

In both work and observing, I have learned something about kids. A lot of parents try to get their boys to go fight. Of the young ones that do, they tend to be shy. You get the ones who just swing the boffer swords around with no regard for life, but, mostly, they’re reserved. It’s adorable. I mean, they’re kids.

But the girls. THE GIRLS. Holy crap. I swear, the pinker the dress, the more taffeta and glitter…the more intensity. I remember, the first year I worked there, one girl came in, grabbed the biggest sword she could, and WENT TO TOWN on our knight. Lifted it over head, let out this primal scream and mowed him down. Homeboy is 6′2″, she was FIVE. And once he was in the fetal position (He was fine. It was for show.) on the ground, she stopped, put her foot on his chest, and yelled “I AM A FIERCE PRINCESS!!”. Later in the day when she walked by a couple of us yelled “Ah! It’s the fierce princess!” and she stopped and flexed. It was the best, and I will never forget that girl.

OH MY GOD IT’S BACK YES

This has improved since last I reblogged.

I taught karate for like 5 years, and the girls were always, pound for pound, better than the boys. Even the girls who didn’t really want to do it and were only there because their parents made them were better than like 95% of the boys.

I was playing fiddle at a ren faire, and two little girls were really enjoying our set. After quite some time one of them walked up to me and shyly offered me her star tinsel tiara, because she “didn’t have any money. And this protects you from trolls!” I said “Thanks, that’s really sweet – but what about you? Don’t you need protection from trolls?”

At which point this six-ish-year-old girl whips out her certificate from the axe throwing booth and says “Nah, I’m fine.”

I still have that tinsel tiara. It’s draped over my modem. I figure it’ll protect me from the most trolls that way.

I am not in the habit of reblogging a post and slapping an “it got better” on there BUT I SAY GOTDAMN

magic-metal:

awesomefacialhairhusbands:

thecooingcat:

iolanthee:

daydur:

lostinthoughtsandfeelings:

theironman:

iwantcupcakes:

armoredsoftie:

ironmess:

rdj kissing josh brolin on the lips is such a power move. the man doesn’t give a single fuck. he’s the male protagonist archetype of this century but he will kiss as many guys as he pleases because he can and there’s nothing hollywood can do about it

i love how the media has rdj as this manly hetero Man Of Iron™ but he lives on a diferent dimension where sexuality is whatever the fuck he wants it to be. he will kiss man and women as he pleases. he will dress in pink and yellow and not give a single fuck.

MIRA–

Y SU FAVORITO–

robert has always not given a single fuck for people’s views in what he should wear and how openly affectioned he can be with men. he’s not here for fragile masculinity and heterosexuality. he will continue to kiss, hug and shower them all with love.

😍

Since the photos above focus on him kissing men, I feel the need to also add a few examples of his i don’t give a fuck outfits:

1) he’s a fashion disaster

2) all the guys getting kisses from him are literally b e a m i n g . they love it. they want more

This is on my dash again and the only day I don’t reblog this is the day I’m dead.

THIS IS MY HOLY GRAIL 

This is back and oh my god is it better

thebritishteapot:

spacecores:

youlovelucie:

artwlw:

diyozas:

adventurotica:

three-course-dessert:

runicbinary:

la-mancha-screwjob:

sugar4ndroses:

narwhalsarefalling:

starlightandcrimescenes:

gin-and-eschatonic:

agrestenoir:

commanderfraya:

icouldwritebooks:

mirab3lle:

thomrainierskies:

mugsandpugs1:

hermionegranger:

autisticcole:

debrides:

I worked with toddlers and pre schoolers for three years. Sometimes I accidentally slip and tell a friend to say bye to an inanimate object (“say bye bus!”) & occasionally they unthinkingly just do it.

I’m glad there’s a teacher version of “accidentally called teacher ‘mom’”

when I worked at Medieval Times occasionally I would slip in real life and call people “my lord”

One time during family prayer, dad began: “our father who art in heaven, American Airlines, how can I help you?”

One time my dad went to the White Castle drive-thru and the lady (who was supposed to say ‘Welcome to White Castle, what’s your crave?’) asked, “Welcome to White Castle, what’s your problem?”

She apologized profusely while my dad proceeded to lose his shit laughing.

Yesterday I went to Wendy’s and the girl said “Welcome to McDonalds” and then just sighed

Somebody in the elevator asked me what floor I lived on, and I answered “please open your books to page eight”, and we just kind of stared at each other, blinking.

i work retail full time and my script gets frequently messy – ill ask the same question twice, or say “$2.60 is your total” while handing back their change, or say “how are you doing today?” instead of “have a good day!” like name it ive bungled it

but anyway, this lady came thru my line buying a book and the review on the front said: “few books are well written, fewer still are important, and this book manages to be both”

as i handed her the bag i was trying to say “thanks, youre all set” and instead my brain mashed up the review and i said “thanks, youre important”

there was this short pause in which i tried to figure out what the fuck id just said. she blinked and then said “oh thank you! youre important too!”

the real kicker was one of my coworkers. when i was relating this story later his response was “at least you said something NICE. last week i accidentally combined ‘youre welcome’ and ‘no problem’ into ‘youre a problem’”

one time, since I used to work as a daycare teacher with preschoolers, i was on my college campus in my gym, and someone was running in the weight room and tripped over a machine and fell, and instead of offering to help, I just stared and said, “This is why we use our walking feet.”

we both sat there for a while until the guy nodded and said, “yeah, okay, i should’ve done that.”

I’ve spent a good chunk of time working in kitchens, so I still will reflexively say shit like “behind” and “coming around” as I maneuver through spaces and around people.

Which, actually, not such a bad thing; I’m a big guy and can come across as imposing pretty easily. The position calls can help defuse that, and also help avoid collisions.

Less good is the time my brain was half functional and I let slip a “coming with a knife” while grocery shopping. THAT took some explaining.

I work in an office and send tens of emails to customers every day. Once my mum asked me to send her a train ticket I had bought for her. I emailed her “Hello mum, as agreed, please find attached the ticked you requested. Thanks, Alex”

i worked as a camp counselor, and i would have the kids tap somewhere on my legs if they needed something because im a pretty tall dude. today asked my cat if he needed something.

I have woken up in a cold sweat saying “is that for here or to go?”

Every time a friend thanks me, and I respond with “gladly” or “my pleasure”, I die completely 1000% inside

I work at a plasma donation center. When processing donors, we call them by name, they walk up to the counter, and then we ask for their name and donor number. One time, instead of saying “Robert” I hollered “Name and donor number!?” into a full waiting room. Three people started announcing their names and donor numbers before we all realized that I fucked up.

In college, I was a barista at Borders (remember Borders, you guys?!) I once drove through Taco Bell on my way home after a shift. When the cashier said, “okay, that’ll be $5.46!” I cheerfully responded, “Do you have a Borders rewards card?”

I have dealt with so many difficult customers over the years that I used to angrily call my dog “Sir” when I was mad at him.

My first job was at my nearest Panera, and after coming home from a ten-hour Sunday morning shift, I was exhausted; but when my mom called me to come downstairs, instead of replying in the grumpy teenagerish tone I usually would, I said in my cheeriest, fakest voice, “Not a problem at all, let me just check with my manager!” before realizing my mistake.

my coworker went to back up the cash registers one time and she had been at customer service right before. when we finish with a customer we have to sometimes get the attention of the next person and will shout “i can get the next person in line!” but instead of saying that she yelled “HI WHAT CAN I HELP YOU WITH” to everyone in the general area

I have told my dog “no thank you” so many times after working at a preschool

a couple of times i’ve gotten stuck in a hello how are you good how are you good how are you loop with an equally tired Fred Meyer’s cashier after a long shift but the best time was after a 10 to 10 post-holidays after they told me my total, I asked if they would like a bag today and after a confused few seconds they were like, “no… I have the bags”

Worked in a gallery where we asked people to take off their backpacks in order not to accidentally damage paintings. So when I went to the shop later and saw a guy in the line in front of me, I told him he had to remove his backpack. He probably thought I was politely trying to rob him.

zambiequest:

tyrantisterror:

muchymozzarella:

thecuckoohaslanded:

simon-newman:

theonewhocheeps:

sometimesihavequestions:

thecuckoohaslanded:

cn123017:

thecuckoohaslanded:

thecuckoohaslanded:

thecuckoohaslanded:

specsthespectraldragon:

thecuckoohaslanded:

I can’t stop thinking about crocodiles for some reason so here’s some cool pictures I found of probably the second largest one in captivity, his name is Utan:

isn’t he beautiful

listen to the SOUND when he bites

and that’s not even a real power bite, that’s mostly just heavy bone falling on heavy bone from his jaws and the air rushing out from between them

2000 pounds of Good Boy

you get me

I honestly expected like 5 notes, what HAPPENED here

More tags on this ridiculous post:

Wait, thats the 2nd biggest crocodile? Then what does the biggest one look like?

That would be Cassius, a very old Saltwater crocodile who is estimated to be around 114 years old and lives at Marineland Melanesia in Green Island, Australia.  His official measurement is 5.48 meters, which makes him the largest in captivity currently.  Because Utan is only slightly smaller and much younger, (only in his 50s), he will likely break Cassius’ record eventually.  But for now, Cassius holds the title:

He is NOT, however, either the largest crocodile ever captured in Australia OR the largest ever in captivity.

A slightly larger crocodile has been reported (though not yet comfirmed) to have been captured at 5.58 meters.

And while the famous Brutus of the Adelaide River was estimated to be just slightly larger than Cassius at 5.5m, he was driven out of his territory by a younger and even larger crocodile, who as a result has been given the name, The Dominator.  He is estimated to be just over 6m.

This is Brutus, with an appropriate caption:

It is believed that he lost that arm in a fight with a Bull Shark.  

The Bull Shark lost.

THIS is the crocodile who kicked him out.  The Dominator:

And that’s STILL not the biggest.  

The largest living crocodile ever reliably measured was Lolong, who for the 1.5 years between his capture and his death was the largest crocodile ever held in captivity, at a whopping 6.17 meters (20 feet 3 inches) and 1075 kg (2,370 lbs).  He had been feeding on both humans and very large livestock in the Bunawan creek in Agusan del Sur in the Philippines.  It took 100 people all night to drag him to shore during his capture.

And here’s why:

Also, to prevent credit from getting buried on a separate reblog, I have been informed that the above image of the crocodile with the cartoon eyes and halo was made by @rashkah!  (And it is wonderful and I would like to thank him for its existence, because it perfectly captures my feelings about terrifying giant primordial reptiles.)

@theonewhocheeps

Holy fuck

As far as Brutus is concerned I was led to believe that he lost that arm when relatively young.

Since then Brutus developed a habit of hunting and eating Bull Sharks.

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Here’s him with a prey.

And if you thought that you’ll be safe if you just stay out of Australia then think again!

Meet Gustave the Nile Croc.

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This crocodile became almost legendary for both it’s size and the habit of hunting both livestock AND humans.

So how big is Gustave?

No one is sure. Since he was NEVER captured.

His estimated size is of at least 5,5m  but some give him over 6m.

The terrifying parts are:

1) He is still growing having only about 60 years.

2) Adult crocodiles often perform a gesture of submission to him – something usually done by young crocodiles toward adults – Gustave is just THAT BIG.

3) His sheer size makes it difficult for him to catch agile prey Nile crocs tend to feed on – hence why he developed a habit of hunting either larger prey like Hippopotamus or creatures which are not good at spotting danger in the first place like livestock and humans.

And this is NOT ALL.

Gustave actually has a noticeable scars on his body – he was shot at east 3 times and stabbed with a spear or something similar at one occasion.

He lived to tell the tale – my question is:

What happened to that one dude who attacked Gustave with a spear?

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*Crocodile Dundee voice*  Mate, that’s not Gustave:

THIS is Gustave:

And he is the PERFECT CROCODILE.  He is the perfect example of what I mean when I talk about (as I do) how the morphology of extremely large crocodiles adapts to the changing physics of their bite.

This is a typical adult Nile Crocodile:

And THIS is a god among his kind:

This is it, folks.  The Final Form.  THIS is what peak performance looks like.

Crocodiles and physics have an interesting relationship.  Crocodiles have, by a CONSIDERABLE MARGIN, the strongest bite of any animal on Earth.  EVER.  Scaled up estimates (based on Nile and Saltwater crocodiles) give the extinct Deinosuchus an estimated bite force MORE THAN DOUBLE the recently updated Tyrannosaurus bite estimates.  Living crocodiles have bite forces measured in the range of 5000 pounds per square inch, for an individual around 15-16 feet.  It is estimated that modern crocodiles in the range of 18-20 feet would have bit forces around 7-8000 psi or more.

That’s a problem.

Because a crocodile’s skull is only designed to handle so much pressure.  Go beyond that limit and the force of impact when those jaws snap shut could literally shatter their own skulls.

But evolution has spent hundreds of millions of years perfecting crocodiles, so PHYSICS ISN’T GOING TO STOP THEM.  What ends up happening in the skulls of these extremely large crocodiles is they will increase dramatically in mass to compensate for the increased forces.  A crocodile’s skull is almost exclusively solid bone, with only minimal space for nasal passages, a surprisingly advanced brain, and some slightly porous looking framework that helps the bone distribute the force over a larger area.  The effect is by far the most pronounced in Nile crocodiles, which most regularly feed on larger prey and need to make use of all that power.

Compare, 26 inch skull:

vs 29 inch skull:

Both of those are Nile crocodile skulls (or rather, replicas thereof).

And just for fun, here are the skulls of completely different (and very extinct species), Deinosuchus:

and Purussaurus:

The bigger the crocodile (within a given species), the more massive the skull needs to be to compensate for that UNBELIEVABLE bit pressure.  This is one way to see from a distance whether you are looking at a normal sized crocodile:

and a truly extraordinary individual:

One of the things about Gustave that’s so impressive is how healthy his teeth look.  A lot of large crocodiles, in their old age, have very worn down and often missing teeth.  They do replace them many times over a lifetime, but when they get very old this slows down.  Gustave, at least in every picture taken of him, had teeth that were in very good condition.

Even crocodiles much smaller than Gustave’s reported size (probably similar in size to Dominator or Lolong) tend to have smaller or more worn teeth:

than the pinnacle of his kind:

Lolong! It means Gramps or Grandpa, because he’s a relic of an ancient world where crocs more massive than he was walked the earth. His body is on display somewhere right now though I forgot where.

Every time I see this post there’s more crocodiles.  It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

@laurangeblossom