300,000 Wondrous Nature Illustrations Put Online by The Biodiversity Heritage Library www.openculture.com/2026/01/3000...

💚 Thanks to our global BHL community, we reached our USD 50,000 #GiveBHLWings goal by 1 Jan 2026! These funds support BHL’s transition, staff, and infrastructure, keeping biodiversity knowledge open worldwide. Special thanks to our recurring donors. More updates soon. 🌍 📖 🧪 #BHLTransition

Since Jan 1st I've been celebrating the start Biodiversity Heritage Library's (@biodivlibrary.bsky.social) new era by adding structured data to their images in #WikiCommons. #BHLTransition

🌍 The #GiveBHLWings campaign is on the brink of reaching its USD 50,000 goal, just hours before the Biodiversity Heritage Library transitions to independence on 1 Jan 26. If BHL matters to you, please help us soar over the line. 💚 🧪 ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL... #BHLTransition #ILoveBHL

We're counting down the hours. Please help if you can. 🧪

⏳ Only days left in 2025! 🌿 BHL becomes independent on 1 Jan 2026. Help #GiveBHLWings and keep biodiversity knowledge open for future generations. 🧪 📖 🌏 💸 🌍 Donate to make a difference: ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL... #ILoveBHL

Who doesn't love a pineapple upside down cake? A little on the history of the pineapple upside down cake here: stewedpears.com/pineapple-up... And more on the history of the pineapple from the Biodiversity Heritage Library: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2021/01/pric... #food #foodsky #cooksky

Whatever you're celebrating today (or if you're not celebrating at all), please enjoy this GIFt of firefly light from the archives of @biodivlibrary.bsky.social Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta, v. 3, pt. 2 (1880-86). biodiversitylibrary.org/page/580274.

This is the most festive fish we could find to wish you a very merry #Fishmas from all of us at BHL. 🐟✨ Meet the Lena-Girawah, a spectacular parrotfish from Ceylon described in 1834 as “the most splendid of the class of fishes denominated Parrot”. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/38892308 #SciArt 🧪

Looking for a last-minute festive gift? 🎁 🌱 A donation to BHL on someone’s behalf supports open, global access to biodiversity knowledge — a gift that lasts far beyond the festive season. Give a gift with impact: 💚 ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL... #GiveBHLWings #Fishmas #FestiveSeason 🧪

🌍 USD 40,000 raised — 400+ donations from 35 countries! 🌏 With just 10 days until BHL transitions to independence on 1 Jan 2026, our goal is USD 50,000. 🌱 Help #GiveBHLWings and keep biodiversity knowledge open & accessible worldwide. 💚 ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL... #BHLTransition 🧪

Built a 2.5MB image classifier that runs in the browser in an evening with Claude Code. I used a dataset I labelled in 2022 and left on @hf.co for 3 years 😬. It finds illustrated pages in historical books. No server. No GPU.

BHL is growing! We’re thrilled to welcome University of South Florida Libraries @usflibraries.bsky.social: the 1st of the new BHL Members joining us during our transition to independence. blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2025/12/anno... More support news coming soon! #BHLTransition #GiveBHLWings 🧪 📖 🌏

A festive-season feast of crabs 🦀 This spectacular spread comes from Albertus Seba’s Cabinet of Curiosities, Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri (1734–1765). Consider this our contribution to #Crustmas ✨ #SciArt #NaturalHistory #ILoveBHL www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41072182 🧪

Calla & Poincetha [#poinsettia], by #ClarissaMungerBadger (American 1806-89), who died #otd, Dec 14. From Floral Belles from the Green-house & Garden, published 1867; via @biodivlibrary.bsky.social, www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5372342... #womenartists #artherstory #hernaturalhistory

Spix's night monkey (Aotus vociferans) is native to Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador & Peru. #SciArt by Dutch artist John Gerard Keulemans from "The Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London" (1872) via @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28611367 #NationalMonkeyDay

When European explorers arrived in Asia and Africa, they came across many wondrous creatures like the #pangolin. They believed the armored mammal resembling "a large animated spruce cone" was a formidable living tank that developed an impregnable shell "hard enough to turn a musket-ball" by old age.

It's a poisonous #FloraFriday + #FungiFriday! ☠️ 🍄🌼 A table of vegetable poisons" (1843) describes the characteristics, locales, and effects of poisonous plants & mushrooms found throughout the world. Find it in #BHLib via @@mobotgarden.bsky.social : www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/45450678 🧪

🌍 Almost USD 35,000 raised — from supporters in 35 countries! 🌏 Your global support is helping #GiveBHLWings as BHL prepares for independence on 1 Jan 2026. #BHLTransition 🌱 📖 Let’s keep biodiversity knowledge open & accessible worldwide. 💚 Donate: ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL... 🧪

🕊️ The countdown continues! There’s still time to help #GiveBHLWings before BHL becomes independent on 1 January 2026. Your support keeps this global library flying high into the future. #ILoveBHL #BHLTransition 🧪 📖 🌏 🐟 💸 💚 Donate: ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL...

These remind me so much of butterflies pressed in a book I helped transcribe with the Smithsonian Transcription Center called "Butterflies collected in the Shire Valley, East Africa". You can see the book in @biodivlibrary.bsky.social www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography...

If I can't find something I need in the Biodiversity Heritage Library, it's not available to me. Paywalls for 75-year-old papers are still a thing, sadly.

💚 Thank you for helping us #GiveBHLWings! Your support this #GivingTuesday brings BHL closer to independence on 1 Jan 2026 and keeps the world’s biodiversity knowledge open for all. #ILoveBHL #BHLTransition 🧪 📖 🌏 🐟 💸 ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL...

Happy #WorldCoatiDay! This coati is from "Dictionnaire pittoresque d'histoire naturelle et des phénomènes de la nature" (1833-1840), digitised for BHL by @nhm-london.bsky.social. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35962483 🧪 📖 🌎 #Coatimundi #ILoveBHL

🌿 It’s #GivingTuesday! Help the Biodiversity Heritage Library take flight as we count down to independence on 1 Jan 2026. Your gift helps #GiveBHLWings – keeping 500 years of biodiversity knowledge open & accessible worldwide. #ILoveBHL 🧪 📖 🌏 💚 Donate now:

On 1 January 2026, the Biodiversity Heritage Library will take flight, becoming fully independent after nearly two decades hosted by the Smithsonian Institution. Learn more on the #BHLBlog: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2025/12/give... #GiveBHLWings #BHLTransition #GivingTuesday

Please consider supporting Biodiveristy Heritage Library, which preserves so many key historical publications you can't find anywhere else online!

💚 Just 2 days to go until #GivingTuesday! 🌿 BHL must transition to independence by 1 January 2026 – your gift can help #GiveBHLWings and keep biodiversity knowledge open and free. 🧪 📖 🌏 🐟 #BHLTransition #ILoveBHL #OpenAccess 🔗 ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL...

The BHL must transition from the Smithsonian on 1 Jan. This #GivingTuesday we need your support to keep BHL afloat. BHL’s 63 million pages of #OpenAccess biodiversity knowledge come from 64 Australian organisations & 668 worldwide. Please donate. 🌱 🌏 📚 🦘

Thanks @strasser.bsky.social for this post. We should all do this after we use BHL images, then the work of the wonderful Biodiversity Heritiage Library would get around. @biodivlibrary.bsky.social

#InternationalJaguarDay is celebrated annually on November 29 to raise awareness about jaguar conservation. In 1758, Carl Linnaeus described the jaguar in his Systema Naturae. He gave it the scientific name Felis onca: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726937 #SaveTheJaguar #Jaguar2030 #IloveBHL 🧪 🌎

It's #WorldTamanduaDay! Tamandua is a genus of anteaters. This northern tamandua (Tamandua mexicana) is from "Manual para el rastreo de mamíferos silvestres de México" (2012) by J.M.A. Sánchez, in #BHLib via #BHLMexico & #Conabio www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/49770915 #SciArt #OpenAccess 🧪 🌎 📖

Clicking on it reveals that it's available in high resolution and under public domain. ♥️ And so I have my image without paying a dime to a stock image side, and instead, can use the money to donate to the Biodiversity Heritage Library! 8/9

Ok, definitely the last of these "pretty" experiments... the rather less colourful Icones plantarum biostor.org/issn/0269-3542, just a single volume from @biodivlibrary.bsky.social processed so far.

Carnivorous plants obtain nutrients from animals or protozoans, which they trap & digest. This #SciArt of "insektenfressnde pflanzen" (insectivorous plants) is from "Meyers Konversations-Lexikon" (1890). Contributed to #BHLib by @uoftlibraries.bsky.social: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/55161008 🧪

@biodivlibrary.bsky.social you’ve reminded me how grateful I am for all you do. Thank you so very much. Lx

🐠 Help #GiveBHLWings. After nearly two decades under the Smithsonian, BHL must become independent by 1 Jan. Your donation helps us take flight and keep 500 years of biodiversity knowledge accessible. 🧪 📖 #GivingTuesday #ILoveBHL #BHLTransition 💚 Give today: ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL...

We would have been astounded at his age if we had had all the opportunities for exploration… internet archive, biodiversity heritage library, etc. Whole volumes of ancient reference texts downloadable. .

Entomologia Terrae Novae is an unpubl. manuscript by Philip Henry Gosse (1833) on the insect fauna of Newfoundland. The ms (which has been digitized in the Biodiversity Heritage Library) was returned to Newfoundland a few years back.See the story and the link to the book at s.si.edu/2rjaVvV

Added over 400 articles to Journal of @entsocbc.bsky.social in @biodivlibrary.bsky.social. Articles are in BioStor biostor.org/issn/0071-0733 and should appear in BHL tomorrow #bhlsunday

Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are called the unicorn of the sea — for obvious reasons. This illustration by Louis A. Sargent comes from "The wild beasts of the world", v. 2 (1909), contributed to BHL by @uoftlibraries.bsky.social: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19657038 #SciArt #ILoveBHL 🧪 📖 🌊

Happy #WorldAnteaterDay! This Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) #SciArt is by Édouard Traviès for Charles Dessalines d'Orbigny, Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle (1849). Contributed to BHL by @ncsulibraries.bsky.social: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19538021 🧪 📖 🌎 🐜 #ILoveBHL

🌿 #GivingTuesday is coming! 💚 On 2 Dec, help us #GiveBHLWings and support the Biodiversity Heritage Library’s transition to independence by 1 January 2026. Your gift keeps biodiversity knowledge accessible for all. 🧪 📖 🌏 💸 #OpenScience #BHLTransition #ILoveBHL

Glorious Magnolia campbellii. Image via @biodivlibrary.bsky.social and @wikicommons.bsky.social Created by Joseph Hooker and William H. Fitch. Public Domain commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Il...

This beautiful Fairy Shrimp #SciArt is by Christine Etiennette Pernette Jurine for "Histoire des monocles qui se trouvent aux environs de Genève" (1820), authored by her father Louis Jurine. Contributed to BHL by Ernst Mayr Library Harvard www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/10664230 #HerNaturalHistory

BHL is experiencing intermittent technical issues that are affecting PDF generation. Thank you for your patience! @archive.org Image: biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14994771

Mary Cynthia Dickerson was the 1st curator of herpetology at @amnh.org. She authored "The Frog Book" (1906), describing North American toads & frogs. Explore it in #BHLib thanks to the @uoftlibraries.bsky.social Robarts Library: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31830673 #HerNaturalHistory #HERpers 🐸

November is #ManateeAwarenessMonth! This beautiful Manatee #SciArt is from Biologia Centrali-Americana (1879-1882), illustrated by Josef Wolf. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/570882 #ILoveBHL #OpenAccess #SaveTheManatee #SeaCow 🧪 🌎 📖 🌱

And this is why the global BHL community does what we do: so others can build on, use, and share 500+ years (63 million pages) of biodiversity knowledge & spectacular #SciArt. Over to you… 📖 🌏 🦆 🌱