There are few names as likely to bring me to a halt as I scan recklessly through my feedreader as that of the legendary "David Attenborough." Throw in the term "Instagram" -- which I have only recently begun to explore and which I already love because PICTURES! -- and I'm sure you'll understand why this Atlas Obscura post caught my attention as I scrolled merrily along.
Attenborough's shoes are probably unfillable, whether or Instagram or no. But it was certainly a collection of words guaranteed to pique my curiosity. A click or two later, thi
Aron Sanchez, on Instagram under the name Waterbod, posts pictures and videos of sea slugs, decomposing octopuses, venomous snakes, barnacles, and more animals of the squishy, spiky, and kinda-gross varieties. He is not a biologist and has rarely lived away from the coast of California—as a matter of fact, most of his posts are from Los Angeles and its immediately surrounding areas.
Yet his work is startlingly compelling: not whitewashed or staff-approved, sometimes goofy, always surprising and beautiful and strange.
There's something so wonderfully sci-fi-ish about those, right? Something that makes them seem so otherworldly. Interestingly, that's exactly why Sanchez started his account: To prove that they're not otherworldly (or even particularly rare). As the Atlas Obscure post (which I highly, highly recommend you read in full) says, he'd been fascinated by the natural world as a little child growing up in SoCal. And he's been depressed because he figured that there was nothing "cool" or "exotic" there. But then, he started to look more closely, and realized that cool and exotic creatures are everywhere. (And in that, he really does feel like Attenborough.)