Wildlife December 2011

[Anthony Darby]

I'll start with a pic of an atlas moth (Attacus atlas) female with a 26 cm wingspan. Pic sent by a friend. I love the 'windows' in the wings used to disrupt the outline when view through dappled light in an Asian rainforest.

[Lesley Cox]

What a superb creature and surely an outstanding photograph.

[Anthony Darby]

Must see if I can get some eggs from Butterfly Creek?

[mark smyth]

wow those wings are huge!

[annew]

How utterly gorgeous.

[Anthony Darby]

Heard on the news that a pair of pandas have arrived at Edinburgh Zoo. Typical. The only thing worth visiting it for and I'm on the other side of the world! Heigh ho. Here's a pic of one of them en route.

[fermi de Sousa]

Heard on the news that a pair of pandas have arrived at Edinburgh Zoo. Typical. The only thing worth visiting it for and I'm on the other side of the world! Heigh ho. Here's a pic of one of them en route.

At least they didn't go cattle-class! WIth all that bamboo that one certainly looks stuffed.
cheers
fermi

[Anthony Darby]

Seem to be pandering to its needs.

[Anthony Darby]

The home grown fly farm is producing hundreds of blue bottles, so today I watched one of the Naultinus elegans snatch one. Neither it nor the fly was disturbed by me opening the fly hatch to add some fruit flies. That was when I spotted its interest in the fly sitting next to it.

[RichardW]

very windy here today but had lovely view of two Red Kites this morning very low over where I was working, the female Teal is still on the pond, seems happy feeding but very unusual for them to hang around, it only walks into cover so suspect it can't fly.

[arillady]

Anthony the Adelaide Zoo is a bit closer to see pandas.

[Anthony Darby]

Vivienne has cousins in South Australia.

[Anthony Darby]

I put a potted manuka plant into a cylinder cage for a small stick insect. I came back a hour later to find two mantids on the inside of the cage lid. I removed them. One was a tiny springbok mantis, the other was a New Zealand mantis (Orthodera novaezealandiae) in second instar. Here it is on a protea. It's just under 1 cm long.

[Lesley Cox]

Do mantises prey on stick insects? Or vice versa? Or do stick insects eat vegetation?

The NZ one, even if all green, would probably kick the springbok one into touch! (Don't want to talk about the cricket. I've cried enough this year. )

[mark smyth]

The Catalan regional Govt in Spain has licensed the capture of 60,000 finches this winter. It includes 46,800 Chaffinches, 6,500 Goldfinches, 3,600 Linnets and 3,500 Greenfinches. These are for the bird trade and probably the dinner plate
 

http://www.abc.es/20111130/sociedad/abci-parlament-autoriza-captura-pajaros-201111301606.html

Google translation says

The Catalan parliament on Wednesday approved a decree amending the law on protection of animals to allow the capture of more than 60,000 finch exceptional and temporary before the end of the year. The rule also prohibits the use of glue-League-to catch these birds, these species uncatalogs protected list and removes the limitation of capturing females protection in order to promote breeding in captivity.

 The decree has prospered with the broad support of CiU, PSC and PP, while it has been voting against-EUiA ICV, ERC, SI and C's. The Catalan government, in its decree, said that in a period of six months shall regulate the live capture, display, possession and breeding of these species, including chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch and linnet.

 Entities environmentalists have warned the 135 Members of Parliament that the authorization to hunt birds finches, Catalonia under the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Environment, contravenes the European and Spanish legislation on the subject. As a curiosity it is noteworthy that, in the parliamentary debate, Rep. of ICV-EUiA Hortensia Grau has left the lectern of the House Catalan wearing a blouse with a pattern of birds, while the deputy of C's Jordi Cañas has called the measure "birdlike holocaust."