Cutting Room Submissions!
Aug. 28th, 2009 06:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aggienaut This week's theme in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif){kind=small}
ljshootout is "wildlife." It just so happens that I'm quite fond of wildlife. In particular, insects seem to just come to me.
And so I present to you, insects landing on my hand, a continuing series
Part I (Previous to the allowable time window for this prompt)
(1)
I met a bumblebee on the beach
Oregon Coast
28th August, 2008
(2)
Giant dragonfly
Redwood National Forest, Northern California
3rd September, 2008
Part II (recent)
(3)
Yellowjacket (Vespula germanica)
8th July, 2009
(4)
Golden Umbrella Wasp (Polistes aurifer)
8th July, 2009
(4)
Keyhole Wasp (Trypoxylon sp?)
26th August, 2009
(5)
Now this one warrants a few words. Yesterday I came across the (relatively) rare and beautiful Tarantula Hawk wasp:
These things hunt tarantulas, hence the name (for those of you from far and wide, I don't know if everyone knows what a tarantula is, but its a hairy spider the size of a plate).
The sting of a tarantula hawk has been described as having "an immediate, excruciating pain that simply shuts down one’s ability to do anything, except, perhaps, scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these situations." and the lovely Shmidt Sting Pain Index I blogged about recently rates it the second most painful insect sting in the world. So knowing this, I of course had to have it pose for the traditional photograph on my hand.
It was running along the ground at the time so I put my hand in front of her and she hopped aboard! Unfortunately she was still moving pretty fast so I only got one kind of blurry picture before she ran all the way up my arm and disappeared behind my neck before taking flight.
Tarantula Hawk
27 August, 2009
Not the best picture but it at least gives an idea of the wasp's size.
Ants! (are also wildlife)
(6)
Behemoth ant (species unknown)
27 August, 2009
Now to appreciate the size of this giant fricken ant consider that tiny thing above it is a "normal" sized ant. Also that thing they're on is a regular garden hose. Picture an ant half the width of a garden hose. It was humongous.
(7)
View LARGE! Note that its a veritable carpet of ants!!!
27th August, 2009
See also, in video!
(8)
One last bonus. This isn't technically wildlife I guess becaues it's obviously domesticated whatever the hell it is:
Unholy Beast Of Some Kind
27th August, 2009
Is it just me or is this thing totally creepy!? I think it's because it looks kind of human ... just enough to be totally in the uncanny valley. Also it looks sinister, like it's staring into your soul ... with contempt!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2009-08-28 01:58 pm (UTC)Or, if that's not an alpaca, it's related to them in some form or another.
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Date: 2009-08-28 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 02:09 pm (UTC)Camelids do hold humanity in contempt. Many animals do. Wouldn't you?
I mean, monkeys?
.
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Date: 2009-08-28 02:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 03:24 pm (UTC)That was my thought before I read the paragraph under the pic - what a weird face! And the eyes! For some reason I was reminded of the sheep in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass". O_o
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Date: 2009-08-28 03:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 03:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 03:43 pm (UTC)No... I can't be...
A llama with a POODLE CUT?
That is wrong on so many levels.
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Date: 2009-08-28 03:48 pm (UTC)Tarantula Wasp!
Date: 2009-08-28 04:03 pm (UTC)I wish I got a better picture of that thing. It was a beautiful metallic blue with orange wings. Definately made my day (:
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Date: 2009-08-28 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 04:05 pm (UTC)bugs
Date: 2009-08-28 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 04:27 pm (UTC)Wonder where jellyfish fall on this.
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Date: 2009-08-28 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 05:24 pm (UTC)Also, that tarantula wasp is very scary! :-( I do not approve.
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Date: 2009-08-28 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 05:39 pm (UTC)Re: bugs
Date: 2009-08-28 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 05:54 pm (UTC)...they use llamas and alpacas here in sheep paddocks though to scare away the foxes...
/random fact of the day
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Date: 2009-08-28 05:58 pm (UTC)Also I believe that would be "llama lloafing" (:
bees and the beach
Date: 2009-08-28 07:53 pm (UTC)(:
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Date: 2009-08-28 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 11:16 pm (UTC)Tarantulas
Date: 2009-08-29 12:50 am (UTC)Yeah tarantulas are fun. Last year I went on a walk with my mum, who is a science teacher, with the goal of "finding a tarantula to have as a class pet." I don't think any of us were really sure we'd find one because while they ARE about they're not exactly something you run into every time you go for a walk. But sure enough we came across exactly one cute little (big) tarantula trundling down the dusty trail. Scooped him into a tupperware and he started a new life as a class pet. (:
You can pet them? I've always avoided that because I thought their hairs were barbed and designed to get stuck in things as a defense mechanism.
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Date: 2009-08-29 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 12:52 am (UTC)Yeah the location of a sting probably affects the pain.. I know face shots from honeybees are soo much worse than anywhere else.
Re: Tarantulas
Date: 2009-08-29 12:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 12:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 12:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-29 12:54 am (UTC)Re: Tarantulas
Date: 2009-08-29 01:04 am (UTC)Re: Tarantulas
Date: 2009-08-29 01:18 am (UTC)"AAAAAAH!'
Us kids: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
Re: Tarantulas
Date: 2009-08-29 01:31 am (UTC)Re: Tarantulas
Date: 2009-08-30 03:42 am (UTC)Re: Tarantulas
Date: 2009-08-30 07:45 am (UTC)Re: Tarantulas
Date: 2009-08-30 07:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-30 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-30 06:29 pm (UTC)Yeah it's definitely hard to visualize the sting of the tarantula hawk, the descriptions of it are quite.. impressive though. I'm picturing it literally feeling like someone just stabbed you.
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Date: 2009-08-30 07:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-31 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-31 09:01 am (UTC)