I read that they live to be between 80 and 100 years of age on average. Guess I read the wrong sites.
Greater curassow (female):
Australian redback spider (female). The captions says she's eating a male of the species, but that doesn't look like a spider to me. What do I know? Not much.
yep, that's him... or <gulp> what's left of him...
wikipedia wrote:The redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti) is a potentially dangerous spider native to Australia. It resembles a Black widow spider. It is a member of the genus Latrodectus or the widow family of spiders, which are found throughout the world. The female is easily recognisable by its black body with prominent red stripe on its abdomen. Females measure about a centimetre in length while the male is smaller being only 3 to 4 milimetres long. The redback spider is one of few animals which display sexual cannibalism while mating.
Region Philbis wrote:yep, that's him... or <gulp> what's left of him...
wikipedia wrote:The redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti) is a potentially dangerous spider native to Australia. It resembles a Black widow spider. It is a member of the genus Latrodectus or the widow family of spiders, which are found throughout the world. The female is easily recognisable by its black body with prominent red stripe on its abdomen. Females measure about a centimetre in length while the male is smaller being only 3 to 4 milimetres long. The redback spider is one of few animals which display sexual cannibalism while mating.
You're probably right, reg. Maybe the male doesn't look spidery because parts of him have been devoured. Love hoits.
I guess you have to use your imagination.
alex, A chameleon, perfectly camouglaged! Am I right?
Thank you Roberta. They don't seem to believe me.
And who are they, alex? Not believe you? The noive of some people.
Thinking about soaring today. Just floating on the air. Thought of the Andean condor:
And thinking of big birds, here's a harpy eagle (aka flying wolf), not exactly soaring but in flight:
The turkey vultures have returned with the promise of spring. I saw one very close (very unusual) last weekend.
Thanks for the breathtaking photo, littlek. I think the scavengers are the most spectacular of the soarers. Sigh.
Roberta, I haven't been to the thread for so long and have missed it.
From the pics above, each of which is beautiful, my fav is the guy making sure mommy duck gets across the road safely, along with her chicks. I've seen that before and it is surprising and reassuring to see a busy person stop everything to help an animal of any sort.
Mama ducks are particularly regal with their babies and expect, with regal certainty, that all will stop for her crossing.
Diane, Good to see you here. You think that guy is helping? He looks PO'd to me. I especially like the little guy bringing up the rear.
Cayuga duck:
Red breasted goose:
Howdy, Roberta.
This morning the Today Show ran a clip from a BBC documentary which is supposed to be aired sometime soon on the Discovery Channel.
The clip is about
spying on tigers in the wild.
And here's a related clip of
a ten-week-old cub.
Roberta, I absolutely adore that chipmunk!
Rodents of the Americas....
Beaver:
Porcupine:
