Category Archives: Animals on land

Four of 10 quintillion

Posted on Saturday, 25 February 2012 by

That mind-boggling number is the estimated number of insects on the planet, according to E. O. Wilson. That’s supposedly 80% of the number of every species on Earth. The Entomological Society of America says: More than one million different species … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals on land, Insects | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Melbourne Museum

Posted on Monday, 20 February 2012 by

The Melbourne Museum is the largest museum in the Southern Hemisphere. It is “Victoria’s state museum of natural sciences, indigenous cultures, Australian history and cultural heritage”. I was impressed with it, even though it has the usual museum habit of … Continue reading →

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I can’t fly but I’m telling you …

Posted on Sunday, 29 January 2012 by

… I can run the pants off a kangaroo! (Old Man Emu, John Williams) He does have wings, but they are too small for flying. We don’t have any emus in our area, but in the national park near Woody … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals on land, Birds | Tagged | 6 Comments

A patterned moth

Posted on Saturday, 31 December 2011 by

I have no idea which moth this is, but I like the pattern. It’s on my shower curtain. Update: Thanks to Denis for the ID: Cosmodes elegans. I am astonished when I find such small but intriguing creatures – there … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals on land | Tagged | 2 Comments

Merry Christmas … and a batty New Year!

Posted on Thursday, 29 December 2011 by

My friend Cath has a squadron (is that the collective noun?) of microbats under her house. There must have been a couple hundred of these little cuties all snuggled up together. I admit ignorance of the species – there are … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals on land, Travels | Tagged | 7 Comments

The psychological benefits of snails

Posted on Tuesday, 13 December 2011 by

I just finished reading “The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating” by Elizabeth Tova Bailey. It is very charmingly written and one of those books where you learn lots painlessly – this time about land snails. The author did not … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals on land, Books, Molluscs | Tagged | 6 Comments

Phantastic phasmids

Posted on Tuesday, 15 November 2011 by

I’ve just spent a week on Lord Howe Island, about which I’ve posted before (here and here and here).  I’ll be posting about it a lot more as it is a naturalist’s paradise, and I took 800 photos, but to … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals on land, Insects, Travels | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Thoughtlessness can cost lives

Posted on Friday, 28 October 2011 by

I’d wanted to get photos of our local flying foxes, but not quite under these circumstances. I really hope it was not a malicious act, and I’m going to assume it was just thoughtlessness, when someone decided to light a … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals on land | Tagged | 7 Comments

Fighting or fornicating?

Posted on Thursday, 20 October 2011 by

Friends Peter and Linda took these shots of two red-bellied black snakes (Pseudechis porphyriacus) in action on their property in south-east Queensland. These snakes are highly venemous  to people but not particularly aggressive, prefering to slither quickly away. Peter took … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals on land, Snakes | 3 Comments

Koala sits in the old gum tree

Posted on Thursday, 6 October 2011 by

… to paraphrase an Aussie Girl Guide song. We’ve been hearing the braying of a male koala on dark for a couple of weeks now – it’s amazing how such a small creature can make such a big noise, echoing … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals on land, Koalas | Leave a comment