Favoritos de misumeta

http://www.bibermanagement.de/Biber_im_Ueberblick/body_biber_im_ueberblick.html
http://www.bibermanagement.de/Europa/body_europa.html
http://www.bibermanagement.de/Biber_im_Ueberblick/Biologie_des_Bibers.pdf

Kanadischer Biber in Finnland:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/7121627
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6887190

Inquisitive Greenback

Always inquisitive and super snake-mobbers, but keeping to the densest undergrowth, they are difficult to photograph.
This one came looking at what insect I was trying to photograph.

Toppies^ afternoon feeding technique

I always wondered why so many Snout Bugs find themselves trapped in our kitchen yard. They're unable to launch effectively from the smooth tiled floor. They jump vigorously then open their wings and glide mainly. They don't appear to fly very effectively. Without traction, they're unable to launch and crawl pathetically about having to be saved from human and dog feet.

They congregate in their host plant, Bushman's Poison Bush (Acokanthera oppositifolia), growing beside the yard.

A pair of Toppies (Dark-capped Bulbuls) were going crazy in and around the Acokanthera. I assumed they were mobbing a snake or other interesting predator. But a careful scan of the tangled bush revealed nothing - except wildly leaping Snout Bugs. They caught and quickly ate several - on the tree, in the air and on the kitchen yard floor.

Sadly I failed to get any shots of the actual feeding - the Toppies were far too quick and the bush too thick.

The Toppies seem to have perfected this technique and have repeated it on several afternoons. Why they have to make such a noise about it i don't understand. Perhaps the bugs can hear the calls and they increase their panic. Maybe Toppies just like sharing their excitement with the world?

One of the 2 is fake - guess which one.

Solution for all who are still wondering: The plastic rattle snake has been put in the entrance of the camp kitchen as a deterrent against the local troop of Malbrouck Monkeys, which used to raid the stored food, and surprisingly they never ever entered the kitchen since then.

This skink, however, equipped with astounding cognitive abilities, shows off with his balls of steel.

Err, I think it's a female....

https://www.gbif.org/species/2175047

https://arthropodafotos.de/dbsp.php?lang=deu&sc=0&ta=t_2_ara_lab_sal&sci=Carrhotus&scisp=xanthogramma

https://araneae.nmbe.ch/data/1412/Carrhotus_xanthogramma

https://www.delattinia.de/node/671

http://www.spiderling.de/arages/Verbreitungskarten/Rekonstruktion.php?Art=127

https://atlas.arages.de/species/1219

https://kleintiergalerie.de/carrhotus-xanthogramma/

https://www.spinnen-in-bayern.de/species/368

https://www.makro-forum.de/viewtopic.php?t=159355#

https://www.rote-liste-zentrum.de/de/Detailseite.html?species_uuid=2bb9d6e3-f5b6-40bc-9d3d-e35664090273

https://mobile.jumping-spiders.com/drawings_fotos.php?id=788

https://arachno.piwigo.com/index?/search/223165

At Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, a team of rangers armed with assault rifles follows the herd of southern white rhinos around the park on foot 24/7 to protect them from poachers. At shift change, they will walk tourists in to see the animals enjoying their afternoon siesta. This was thrilling, especially since we were on foot, which lent it much more immediacy than being up in a safari vehicle. And it wasn’t even planned -- but when the ranger at the gate asked our driver if we wanted to see the rhinos, of course we piped up and said yes.

The kingfishers' quarry at this old basalt quarry seemed to be mostly frogs, which they would catch and bash against the rocks until subdued. Never thought I'd be able to ID the frog, but it seems to have claws, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this is my old laboratory friend Xenopus, the African clawed frog.

The Swahili for Brachystegia is "Miombo", a genus of trees from the legume family, known for their characteristics pods. Throughout springtime, they make loud popping noises as they explode to scatter seeds. Miombo is also the name of the open woodlands dominated by these and related trees. The trees produce a flush of dark red - pinkish new leaves. The red pigments protects the underlying chlorophyll of the young leaves, who's cell membranes are still thin, soft and easily damaged by the sun.

Herbaceous perennial vine growing from a large tuberous rootstock. Stem solitary, clambering over surrounding vegetation, leafless at flowering. Flowers male, corolla tube c. 2 cm long, corolla lobes reflexed, c. 2 cm long.

Growing in electrical power line leeway in sandy loam soil.