The Hollow Journal

Jumping spider on a weathered garden rail near a person’s hand, illustrated in a black-and-ivory natural-history engraving style.
Do Jumping Spiders Bite? A Calm Field Note
Jumping spiders can bite, but they are shy visual hunters that usually retreat from people. Documented bites are uncommon and generally cause short-lived local symptoms. The spider would prefer to... Read more...
A Virginia opossum lying motionless in woodland leaf litter while canine tracks recede toward the trees.
Opossum Playing Dead: Why It Isn't Actually Faking
Why opossums playing dead isn't a performance, what thanatosis really is, and where the phrase playing possum came from. Read more...
A moth with feathery antennae rests beneath a weathered fence rail while a butterfly with clubbed antennae holds its wings upright above it.
Moth vs Butterfly: The Full Field Marks
Five real field marks for telling moths and butterflies apart, from antennae shape to cocoon versus chrysalis, expanded from the short version in Why Moths Fly to the Light. Read more...
Black-and-ivory linocut illustration of an opossum leaving a boarded wooden shelter and walking across patchy snow.
Do Opossums Hibernate? What the Winter Record Shows
Virginia opossums do not hibernate. They shelter during severe weather, reduce their activity, and emerge when conditions allow. The arrangement is less a winter sleep than a series of strongly... Read more...
Black-and-ivory linocut illustration of an opossum peering through a gap between weathered fence rails.
Do Not Perceive Me: A Field Guide to Creatures That Would Rather You Didn't
What "do not perceive me" actually means, where the phrase came from, and why its official mascot is always an opossum. Read more...
Black-and-ivory linocut illustration of a raven and a crow flying side by side, showing their different sizes and tail shapes.
Raven vs Crow: How to Tell Them Apart
Size, tail, voice, flight — the four honest differences between ravens and crows, plus the folklore each bird carries. Read more...
Black-and-ivory linocut illustration of moths circling a small glowing window in looping flight paths at night.
Moths Are Just Goth Butterflies: Why Moths Fly to the Light
Moth versus butterfly, why moths circle your porch light, and the old beliefs that made moths messengers of the dead. Read more...