Tag Archives: nature
R is for Rockhopper Penguin
Rockhopper penguins are not like other penguins – they live on rocky, inhospitable places, mainly around the antarctic, so inhospitable these penguins have no land predators. Here is a wonderful picture of one by Robert Orr: As well as being the kookiest-looking penguin, their behaviour is different. They do not slide around the place on icy floes, and neither do …
Q is for Quino Checkerspot Butterfly
This is a rare good news story on the sustainability front – that of the 3 cm quino checkerspot butterfly, here photographed by Adam Braziel: Adam isn’t sure if this is the quino or the Wright’s checkerspot, but after making my eyes go whizzy looking at both species’ photos, Wright’s checkerspot is a different species altogether, …
O is for Octopus
I adore octopuses – the most intelligent of invertebrates, their intelligence rivals that of the most intelligent primates. Here is a fabulous painting of one by Dru Marland – this is from a rather wonderful, fully illustrated book of poems, Inking Bitterns, available only from Gert Macky which I highly recommend, not just because I’m …
N is for Numbat
This engaging little creature, photographed by S J Bennett, is a numbat! Numbats are little marsupials that now only live in a few small colonies in Australia. They are unique – one of only a few marsupials that do not have a pouch – the 4 baby numbats, when born, make their way to the teats on the …
M is for Marine Iguana
This wonderful image of two marine iguanas on Espanola in the Galapagos Islands was taken by Vince Smith, and is on Flikr. Marine iguanas are fascinating animals, and there are two extraordinary facts about them. The first is that they are the world’s only marine lizards. Because there were no mammalian predators (until more recently) they …
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 …
I is for Ibis
This fabulous photo of a feeding sacred ibis was taken by Jeremy Thompson on Flikr. I only found two photos of such an excellence to illustrate the poem and post, the other is further down! Neither are creative commons and are used by permission. Sacred ibis are large wading birds, with beautiful white (but black edged, seen when …
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 …
lizbrownlee - poet 