Beautiful Animals

Adult Eastern lubber grasshoppers – Romalea microptera – can grow up to eight inches in length. And these colorful insects can hiss, secrete foam and even regurgitate a staining brown liquid to thwart predators.

Although these grasshoppers have wings, they’re “incapable of flight and can jump only short distances,” according to the University of Florida Entomology and Nematology Department. “Mostly the lubber is quite clumsy and slow in movement and travels by walking and crawling feebly over the substrate.”

Lubbers have vibrant colors and patterns to warn off potential predators of their toxicity. As these grasshoppers feed on plants and substances that can be potentially harmful to other animals, predators – from birds to opossoms – can become violentally ill after eating a lubber. Additionally, these giant grasshoppers can secrete a foam, hiss, and regurgitate a brown liquid as means of defense.

Compared to other grasshopper species and when considering their sheer size, lubbers have remarkably small appetites. But they’ve been known to eat vegetables, flower gardens and even nylon screening – and these hoppers an be difficult to kill when wild population management is necessary.

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What's with this thread? It doesn't want to budge.

Japanese Macaques

Monkeys - Macritchie Reservoir, Singapore

Southern Masked Weaver

It's a new Able2BeDeceived feature. The thread has decided that it doesn't like you, so it has been given a coward's pass.

Mandarin Ducks

In my view, it is because it is a hugely long thread dealing for years with huge amounts of photos.

But - I could well be wrong.

Meantime, some of us love the thread a lot.

Wild Dog - Botswana

Those monkeys spend time in the hot springs during the winter months.

This elephant flipped the car on its roof. No one was seriously injured.

I'm saving that Wild Dog photo for a future avatar to be. Thanks Snood. Great shot!

I missed it last night but PBS had a Nature episode called Duckumentary. Can't remember what it was about....

Hope they replay it again this week. Or have it streaming on Netflix or Hulu soon.
http://tinyurl.com/d5cwwon

Not necessarily true. The photos issue I mean. This happens far more often with the word games. The ones without the photos. Even the word games that aren't too particularly old as well.

Oh, good. Glad to be wrong.

white tailed antelope squirrel

snood, Pelicans are amazing flyers and divers. Wonderful to see this guy taking off. Don't care much about whether an animal is a scavenger or not. They all have their place in nature. The Andean condor has the greatest wingspan of any bird. Magnificent sight. Soar, condor, soar. I believe that Japanese macaques are also known as snow monkeys. They live in cold climates and enjoy soaking in warm water. Love dem primates. The monkeys from Singapore appear to be mother and two kids--infant and adolescent. The mother has her hands full. Love dem boids, too. Great shot of the weaver bird and the nest she wove. The mandarin ducks are gawgeous. Wild dogs are fascinating animals. That is one great photo. Look at that face. Mercy bow coo for all the pics.

aspvenom, Tres cute. One with a black tail; one with a white tail.

firefly, Thanks for the grasshopper info. These are new to me. Beautiful and deadly. (Sounds like a B movie title.) Ain't bugs amazing?

edgar, The car looks like a toy next to the elephant. He must have been pissed about something.

tsar, I saw part of that episode. Can't remember what it was about either. Flying. Swimming. Something like that.

RH, You are clearly in squirrel mode. This one is a doozy.

Dragonfly:

What a gangly fella!


Meanwhile,