Tag Archives: animals
L is for Leech
I think we’d all agree that we’d rather not become a meal for a leech – and I decided to spare you a picture of one, and draw you a cartoon instead, but leeches have been given rather a bad press, and hopefully this blog will at least make you feel a bit happier about them! Leeches are …
K is for Kea
This photo of the very beautiful kea parrot is by Sid Mosdell, on Flikr. Kea parrots are endemic to the south island of New Zealand, where they live in the mountains. They are quite big birds, as large as a small cat, which helps with insulating them for this habitat. They are the world’s only alpine parrot. …
J is for Jelly-ish
This incredible photo is by Henry Jager on Flikr. It is of a chain of jelly-like salps – such beautiful creatures, which can appear like pulsating jewelled necklaces in the water. They look very like jellyfish and propel themselves in much the same way, contracting their tube-like structure and expelling water behind them, in fact they have …
H is for Hewitt’s Ghost Frog
This gorgeous photo of Hewitt’s ghost frog was taken by Werner Conradie and is used by permission. Hewitt’s ghost frogs are beautiful, with a cross in their eyes and attractive markings – they have a flattened shape which allows them to hide in very small crevices, and strong back legs for swimming against the fast-flowing currents in their native, mountain streams in …
G is for Gibbon
This incredible image of a lar gibbon leaping is by Tontan Travel on Flikr. Gibbons are lightweight apes, lacking a tail, and are related to chimps, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans, and humans. Of all the non-human apes, they move bipedally (upright) most frequently. An estimated 10% of their time is spent moving along branches on two feet, …
F is for Fearful Owl
This excellent and very rare photo of a fearful owl was taken by Lars Petersson, and appears on his very interesting birdwatching and photography blog. The fearful owl, with its white eyebrows and lores (down the sides of its beak) which make a prominent ‘X’ on its face, and attractive, ochre colouring and black streaks, …
C is for Caecilian #A-Z Challenge
This photo of a caecilian is by Dick Culbert on Flikr. An extremely unusual sighting! Caecilians are mysterious creatures, they are very rarely seen as they spend their entire lives underground. They are limbless amphibians with a backbone and are most nearly related to newts, despite the fact they look very like worms! They inhabit …
B is for Bombardier Beetle #A-ZChallenge
This great close-up photo of a bombardier beetle is by David Hill on Flikr. Love them or hate them (I love them!), insects are the largest group of organisms on the planet – 900,000 of which have been described by science, leaving an estimated 30,000,000 still to be documented! At any one time there are …
A is for Albatross #A-ZChallenge
Welcome to the first post on my A-Z Challenge, 2016! This fabulous photo of a wandering albatross is by Ed Dunens on Flikr. Wandering albatrosses are huge, they have the largest wingspan of any bird – reaching up to 3.5m, or 11 feet. They use their wings as gliders, locking them into position at the shoulders – using specialist …
National Poetry Day, I Wasn’t Me Tonight
This is the start of National Poetry Day week, and to celebrate, here is a poem for Sunday! There will be a poem with light in every day this week read by people whose jobs are connected with light. This poem is read by Senior Keeper Emily Pugh, of Twilight World, Bristol Zoo (where, incidentally, you can …
lizbrownlee - poet 