Anyways, that's all for now, but you can check out previous #WildlifeWednesday posts starting here. I'm also always open to suggestions for future threads!

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Unlike lungs and gills, the tracheal system of an insect isn't related to the circulatory system. By contrast, your lungs deliver oxygen to your blood cells to move it around your body

Insects do something similar, except their exoskeletons aren't really as permeable to air as the skin of many other animals. Instead they have spiracles - tiny holes all over their bodies to let oxygen in and release carbon dioxide - connected to a complex system of tracheae.

Usually this is restricted to very small animals but, for instance, some species of lungless salamanders - which, as the name implies, only respirate through their skin - can reach lengths of over a foot! (Not this guy tho - this just happens to be the only photo I have of a lungless salamander)

But under the right circumstances, both lungs and gills are kind of optional. Lots of animals just... Breathe right through their skin, a process known as cutaneous respiration. Many animals do this in addition to breathing with their lungs or gills

(Fun fact: the only known multicellular animals that don't require oxygen are some species of Loricifera - multicellular though they may be, they are very, very tiny. Here's an illustration by Carolyn Gast. An environment without oxygen is called anoxic)

Pretty much all animals larger than a single cell need oxygen, but not all of them have lungs. In fact, probably most of them don't! Many animals breathe via gills, which are conceptually similar to lungs but for "breathing" water rather than air

I'm p sure the French have a committee but historically they've been slow enough on deciding things that the general populace tends to do it for them. Iceland also has a committee and is very fast at making Icelandic words for things but idk if they have gendered objects? That's the only 2 I know!

Ah that's such a cute fact! Sweets for little friends!

Oh this is so cute! Makes me wanna make little patchwork blankets

(I used to live around here but then I moved and sadly these little mischief makers do not live everywhere!)

And Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate that one!