I do spare a glance for other cruel killers too, you know. We’ve got one of these Cooper’s hawks living in my neighborhood, and I heard them making that high-pitched cry a few times already this morning.
Mary caught a centipede in the house, and I was going to take a quick picture of it…but it was way too active. So I had the bright idea of bringing it to the lab, and just carry it outside as I walked in. I had it in a large plastic container that I figured would provide some thermal insulation.
It was not enough.
Before I reached the end of the driveway, it was immobile — that was less than a minute. It took another 3 or 4 minutes to get to work, and it looked dead and frozen. I took a picture anyway. This is a sad, corpselike centipede. Whoops. I was pretty sure I’d killed it with surprising speed. I guess -20°C isn’t healthy for small invertebrates.
You might be tempted to stare deeply into this image, trying to puzzle out what it is you’re looking at, but that’s how they get you.
That’s Haliphron, the 7-armed octopus, holding a jellyfish it’s been nibbling on. Now that I’ve told you, I hope that has broken the spell, and you’ll be able to escape. If not, well, a cephalopod has got to eat, and it’s next victim will by baffled by the way those twisting arms surround your face.
It’s a barbaric practice, I know, but it does successfully draw in carnivorous dinosaurs of a large size.
If you’re just sitting around, digesting rubbery muffins like I am, may I recommend the Namib Desert cam? Right now there’s a herd of oryx hanging around the waterhole.
Awww, so cute.
Cicada-killers!
Yes, please, make yourself right at home. Do you have more family you can invite over? August is coming soon, and it’ll be time for a feast. Please do. Kill all those wretched noisy shrill shrieking beasts and dismember their bodies and chew on their guts, thank you very much.
Not a bright red cardinal on new-fallen snow, that’s for sure.
My wife’s butterfly garden is successful — I looked outside and the backyard was filled with Painted Ladies and bumblebees. I’m going to need to get some bigger spiders.
We went on a stroll last night, looking for spiders, and we didn’t find many…but I did stumble across this scene.
Does anyone else feel like ants are plotting something? I refuse to dig further. I’ve got enough on my plate with the spiders.
