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Maija Karala

@maijakarala.bsky.social

3.2K followers 470 following 400 posts

Illustrator, science writer and a bit of a crazy rat lady. Paleontology, biodiversity, animal behaviour.

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · Feb 7

Our @arador-innovations.bsky.social newest project is up for preorder now, both in English and Finnish!

After our acclaimed The Mind of a Horse comes a new book: The Mind of a Dog. Science Meets Comics! It's cutting edge animal cognition science packaged into a comic book story.

Digital drawing of a coarse-haired puppy holding a book in their mouth with little teeth showing. The book has a blue-and-white cover with the words "Koiran mieli" (Finnish for "mind of a dog") and two playfully leaping dogs on it.

Kuva kirjasta nimeltä "Koiran mieli". Kirjan kansi on sinivalkoinen ja siinä on kaksi leikkisästi loikkaavaa koiraa, toinen keltainen labradorinnoutaja, toinen valkoinen sekarotuinen. Kuvan yläosassa on teksti: ennakkotilattavissa nyt - arador.info/koiranmieli

Image of a book titled "The Mind of a Dog" with a blue-and-white cover featuring two playfully leaping dogs, one a golden Labrador retriever, the other a white mixed breed dog. On the top of the image, there's a text: Pre-order now - arador.info/mindofdog

A sample page of an upcoming comic book "Mind of a Dog". It features a part of a story in which adult dogs come to visit and socialize with four puppies on their owner's yard. One of the dogs - a dachshund - is scared of the puppies, and the illustration details the body language of his fear and defensive aggression. He gets to stay outside the fence. The other dog - a white mixed breed dog - is scared of strange adult dogs and barks at them, but she's friendly to puppies. There is also an illustration detailing the body language of her calm and friendly face.

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 1d

Nähdään parin viikon päästä Kirjamessuilla!

Arador Innovations @arador-innovations.bsky.social · 1d

Uutuuskirja ”Koiran mieli. Tiedettä sarjakuvana” @helsinginkirjamessut

To 23.10. klo 17–17.30 messujen Tiedetorilla: Miten koira ajattelee ja tuntee?

La 25.10. ja su 26.10.: Kirjan tekijätiimi tavattavissa Aradorin osastolla 7g135 klo 13–15 ja 16–18.

#koirat #tietokirjat #sarjakuvat #kirjamessut

Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 1d

Drepanosaurs have such character!

Drepanosaurus, a Late Triassic arboreal reptile not closely related to anything living today. #Sciart

Illustration of an angry-looking lizard-ish animal standing upright on two legs on a mossy branch. The animal is blue-green with orange eyes and very strong arms.

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you, it's lovely to hear that!

Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 1d

Much more than people usually realise! And also capable of deep affection. 🩷 But they are active animals that need to be able to do activities typical to their species. It's usually possible to arrange these even in a smaller apartment, but it takes a bit of thought and effort.

Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 1d

I missed World Animal Day, but here in Finland, it's an entire theme week. This year, it's about the welfare of small furry pets: rodents and rabbits. They make amazing pets when treated right - but they are not the "easy" children's pets often thought.

Could also be #Rattober 1 - Friend-shaped rat

A warm-coloured illustration of a large Siamese rat laying on his back gently held by a human hand, looking relaxed. The rat is licking the human's thumb while the other fingers are scratching his shoulder.

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Reposted by Maija Karala

KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 3d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 3d

Well, looking at this!

I went hunting for wild truffles and brought this truffle-scented tissue for the rats. Taika's first idea was to grab it and bring it to me.

Taika has such a keen interest in mushrooms I'm sure he would be an excellent searcher if I could take him into the woods safely.

Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 3d

Sad news: the kakapo population is down to 237 after a female bird called Solstice died of an infection.

According to the Kakapo Recovery Facebook page, she had
• 8 clutches
• 24 eggs laid
• 13 fertile eggs
• 6 chicks hatched
• 4 living offspring
• 27 descendants

Illustration of a kakapo - a large, moss-green flightless parrot with an owl-like face - sitting on a person's arm with just the arm visible. It has a circular framing depicting little scribbles of ferns and conifer branches. Behind it is a light brown background with pale lineart of mossy tree trunks and branches of New Zealand's forests.

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Reposted by Maija Karala

Professor Euan Ritchie @euanritchie.bsky.social · 6d

A lovely story about Dr Jane Goodall's career & legacy, from Rachel Fieldhouse & Mohana Basu, in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41.... Includes some comments from me about how researchers _can also_ be advocates and science communicators, and still be taken seriously (I hope)!

Vale, Jane.

Jane Goodall’s legacy: three ways she changed science

The primatologist challenged what it meant to be a scientist.

www.nature.com

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 5d

Another Triassic oddball: Hypuronector. This little one looks like he has an attitude.

Since the publication of a feather-like crest on related Mirasaura, it’s plausible to imagine other drepanosaurs also having something similar - perhaps they just haven’t been preserved.

Illustration of Hypuronector, a vaguely chameleon-like arboreal reptile from the Triassic period. The animal is blue-green with large spots on its large tail and a colourful crest on its back. It’s walking on a mossy tree branch, looking confident.

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Reposted by Maija Karala

CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @cosmicrami.com · 6d

I hope people spend days and days talking about her (she is 10,000,000 times more important than Charlie Kirk) and the amazing work she did.

This photo will always be so powerful and as defining of who we all can be.

Be like Jane Goodall.

Photographer: Hugo van Lawick

Jane Goodall crouched down and reaching out as a baby chimp reached out to touch her

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 6d

What a terrible loss: Jane Goodall has died.

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 6d

Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91

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Reposted by Maija Karala

Mikael Niku @mikaelniku.bsky.social · 7d

Selasin Meranon ja @persut.bsky.social pamfletin Suomen tiederahoituksesta (oikeasti: Akatemiasta). Kansi sanoo ”analyysi”, mutta pamfletti on osuvampi, ja kun kirjoittaja on sitä käyttänyt, mennään sillä. Luin nopsaan = ehkä jotain meni ohi, mutta nämä kantsii kirjoittaa selkeästi. 🧶

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 7d

The Triassic was a time of weird reptiles of every description.

This is one of the more recent finds: Mirasaura from France. It's one of the drepanosaurs, an odd group of arboreal reptiles with superficially bird-like heads and, in some cases, equally superficially feather-like appendages.

A slightly cartoony illustration of a Mirasaura sitting on a mossy tree branch. The lizard-like animal has a long snout resembling a bird's beak, large eyes and a massive crest on its' back somewhat resembling a birds' wing feathers, as if someone stuck an entire wader's wing into his back. The animal has large eyes and it looking behnd him at a passing dragonfly.

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 9d

#SciArtSeptember 29 - Foresight

On the darkest days of environmental and political news, one might find solace in weird things. Sometimes, I look at my pet rats and think "well, whatever happens, you guys will still be around in the future."

Black and white lineart drawing of a human skull in the middle of rubble, possibly from a collapsed building. There is a rat curiously sniffing at the skull, as well as plant seedlings reaching up from among the rubble.

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 10d

#SciArtSeptember 24 - Numbered

The kakapo is one of the few species on the planet whose population is known exactly. After nearly going extinct, they have been intensively protected and managed for decades.

After the recent death of Lisa, who was at least 50 years old, there are now 238 kakapos.

Illustration of a kakapo - a large, moss-green flightless parrot with an owl-like facial disc. The bird is sitting on the arm of a person. Kakapos have little fear of humans, as they are all tracked and regularly checked, and also naturally fearless, since they evolved in the absence of terrestrial predators.

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Reposted by Maija Karala

History Daily - This Many Years Ago @thismanyyearsago.bsky.social · 11d

63 years ago, on the 27th of September 1962, Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring was published. It handled the environmental harm caused by the pesticide DDT and the disinformation spread by the chemical industry. Carson managed to sway public opinion and even policy. #otd #history 🗃️

Rachel Carson photo credit: Science History Images / Alamy

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 11d

Cheers from the edge of a crater!

This is lake Lappajärvi, an impact crater formed in the Late Cretaceous, 78 million years ago. It’s fascinating to imagine dinosaurs roaming Finland at the time.

There’s a lakeside resort literally called ”Stone Drop” (Kivitippu) nearby. Always makes me laugh.

Panorama photo taken on a sunny autumn day on the shore of Lappajärvi, Finland. It shows a beach lined with birch trees, a large lake and sun shining through a thin veil of clouds.

Photo of seven whooper swans landing into the water at Lappajärvi, Finland. Some are white adults, others greyish young birds.

Landscape photo from the shore of Lappajärvi, with calm waters, dark line of trees and a bit eerie-looking sky with a thin veil of clouds turning yellow and peach near the horizon.

A very bright pink flower of Dianthus deltoides, a wildflower associated with open grassy places. Due to intensive agriculture, it’s classified as near threatened in Finland.

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Reposted by Maija Karala

Ville Sinkkonen @villesinkkonen.bsky.social · 12d

New @gutsickgibbon.bsky.social video with thumbnail art by yours truly ^^

youtu.be/CQvCzoOcQw8?...

New Australopith Just Dropped...What Does it Mean?

YouTube video by Gutsick Gibbon

youtu.be

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 11d

Yeah, but it's still very fascinating. And if they stop interbreeding, as seems to be the case with orcas, they will eventually become two species. It's biodiversity in the making.

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 11d

Thank you so much! It's great to hear a piece of art conveys the purpose or meaning it's meant for.

Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 11d

It sure is! Being scared is, unfortunately, a very reasonable reaction. The worth thing is, humanity is perfectly capable of stopping it, but we seem to choose not to.

Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 11d

#SciArtSeptember 22 - Fellowship

For as long as we have had imaginations and languages to convey them, humans have been seeing our fellow creatures as more than just food.

Here, an elderly neanderthal is pondering an unusual injured bird - a yellow-breasted bunting, today critically endangered.

Illustration of an elderly neanderthal man, seen from the chest up, with grey-streaked hair and beard, a large nose and scars, wearing a fur coat thrown on his shoulder and some hawk feathers. He’s holding a tiny yellow and rufous bird on his palm and looking at it closely. The bird looks ill, with puffed up feathers and half-closed eyes.

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 12d

This illustration was commissioned by professor Erin Saupe as a press release image for her group’s 2024 paper on the extinctions of marine animals across geological time - and what it can tell us about the consequences of anthropogenic climate change. www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/st-hughs-fel...

St Hugh's Fellow leads new study revealing insight into which animals are most vulnerable to extinction due to climate change - St Hugh's College

St Hugh's Fellow lead new study revealing insight into which animals are most vulnerable to extinction due to climate change

www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 12d

This is a generalized reef from the latest Triassic, not from a specific location. It features creatures that are still familiar today, like corals, scallops and snails, as well as now-extinct conodonts and ammonites.

The previous reef illustration cropped to show only the thriving Triassic side.

A pale version of the previous reef image with animals labeled in black handwriting.

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