More weird animals and animan traits.

Other than the pygmy marmoset (adorable - where can I get one?) I have no idea why I looked through this thread. Bugs freak me out.

Unspeakably sad.

In light of my recent encounter with a black bear, here is a picture (not one I took unfortunatley):



I went out on my deck a few days ago to look for the Perseid meteors. I turned the lights off and waited, but the sky was too overcast to see anything, so I came in. About 2 minutes later I heard a crashing on my deck and turned on the lights quickly enough to catch a glimpse of a full grown black bear tearing down my bird feeder and running off with it. That bear was probably rummaging around under my deck when I was out there with the lights off {Shiver}. Meteor watching in the woods of New Hampshire can be dangerous

I didn't know that Black Bears liked Sunflower seeds, but apparently they do (I wonder if they eat them shells and all?). Bird Feeders are bear bait around here.

Rosborne: Sounds like a bad night. No Perseids and an encounter with a black bear. I've never seen a bear, but have seen their scats numerous times in Florida, some of which contained acorns. Some of the acorns were whole and completely undigested, so most of the sunflower seeds that wern't chewed probably would also pass through whole.

Squinney: I have no idea where you could get a marmoset or if they're even legal to keep. You might try a search engine.

Hi Coluber,

It was an exciting night. It would have been a bad night if I had stayed out on the deck 2 minutes longer. We probably would have scared the scat out of each other

I had never seen a *wild* bear up until that night either. Things take on a whole new sense of reality when they're tearing up things in your back yard on a dark night in the woods.

All those old platitudes about "a bear being more afraid of you than you are of him" start to seem pretty suspiscious when it comes time to test the theory against claws and teeth. I mean, they're *probably* right, but ya figure every rule has got to have an exception... it's just when and where.

Hawkmoth larvae.

Some hawkmoth caterpillars mimic viper's head to startle potential predators such as birds and lizards. When touched the caterpillar releases the anterior portion of its body from its perch and changes its shape to resemble a viper. It is capable of making fairly accurate, though harmless, strikes at its attacker.

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Hawkmoth caterpillar—Hemeroplanes ornatus. Range: Venezuela north to Mexico.

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Anyone met Mr Fossa before?

http://www.capitaloftexaszoo.org/images/fossa01.jpg

Adult female hawkmoth —Pheromones are released from organ at tip of abdomen to attract males.

These are cool. They look like cats, but they're not. They are more closely related to Mongoose.

My sister just ran into this in her garden.



A small wasp injects her larva into the tomotoe-eating worm and they eat their way out. The white blips are actually wasp crysalisis (sp?). This hosting pretty much puts the caterpillar out of commision.

This looks like it. The tomato hornworm parasitized by tachinid fly larvae. (Cocoons visible)

Now we know where they get puffed rice.

Ros, the Fossa looks like a cross between a dog and a cat. Its the top predator in Madagascar and is totally fearless and totally vicious, but fortunately very shy.

Two forms of the salt-and-pepper moth—Biston betularia. Typica is the light form, and carbonaria is the dark form.

This is a well studied moth that demonstrates cryptic coloration, which serves as camouflage protection from birds and other predators.

The two forms of this moth live in the same locality, the predominant color dependent on the substrate color—trees. In pre-industrial England the light-colored typica form was most common because they blended in with the lichen-covered trees. After 1850 when coal-fired plants were common and the trees were covered with soot, the dark-colored carbonaria form predominated.

Rosy underwing moth with partially opened wings—Catocala electa.

This demonstrates two defensive coloration strategies in one moth, cryptic and startle coloration. At rest during the daytime the moth holds it wings closed blending in with the background. When disturbed, however, it quickly opens its wings revealing the brightly-colored underwings which startle the bird predator long enough to make its getaway. While in flight many moths and butterflies are very difficult to catch.

Found one of these on the deck last month... (not a bear this time)

Rosy Maple Moth. a Very pretty moth:

Wow! That's about as exciting as a bear, and it won't bite your head off.

That makes me curious as to where you live and what else have you seen there. Some back yard you've got, Rosborne.

It's fun. I've got a lot of stuff wandering around my woods.

Here is a fox which came to visit:



Here he is just before he saw me...



And here he is just after seeing me...



Then he ran so fast I couldn't get any more pictures

Here's another critter. A Red Squirrel (The Menace). This little guy chewed through the aluminum top of my bird feeder to get to the seeds. I fixed that problem by putting a stainless steel bucket on top of the feeder. Then a week later, the bear came by and ripped the whole thing down.

Red Squirrel:



He is pretty aggressive, and chatters at me when I'm taking his picture.

And I have a whole bunch of birds. The HummingBirds are the hardest to get pictures of, but I caught a few quick snaps anyway...