Au naturel

  

Isn't nature wonderful? Look at that little dog. Isn't he sweet? He is real you know! Not battery operated or just a stuffed toy. Not much of a guard dog, I'm afraid. 

I love nature and all the different species of animals, and birds, fishes, plants and so on. Don't you? 

I thought I'd devote a post every now and then to nature and share with you the wonders of the world in which we live.

 

Did you know for instance that the centipede when it is chased by a predator it detaches one of its legs and throws it at the predator? The predator stops to eat the leg whilst the centipede runs away to safety. Unfortunately, many centipedes die shortly afterwards when they return to retrieve their shoe.

 

Now the clever ones amongst you will have noticed that the picture above is not a centipede. It is in fact a sloth. A totally different creature altogether. Not an insect, but an animal. Now there is a reason why I put up that picture instead of a centipede. I just could not find a photo of a centipede.

 

Did you know that the sloth just hangs there upside down from a tree and sleeps for up to 18 hours a day waiting for humans to arrive and save him from extinction? Also, this hanging upside down for most of the day makes it very difficult when he has to go to the toilet. Silly sloth!

 

Let us now consider another creature.

The tarantula spider. Did you know that there are more than a 1000 different species of tarantula spiders? And that they live all over the world? South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and some parts of Europe?

 

Did you know they have urticating hairs on their legs? Urtica is the Latin word for nettles. The tarantula's hairs are like those on nettles or like bristles. They are part of their defence mechanism. Tarantulas can bite and poison people. But also they can shake themselves and those bristles on their legs would fly off and would cause a serious rash on your skin. Or if you breathe them you would cough and splutter onto the afterlife. Or they could blind a person if they stick to the eyes like tiny arrows.

 

Another thing about the spider. It has a symbiotic relationship with other creatures. It is almost telepathic. It sends messages with their brains to other creatures to warn them of danger or to ask for help. For example, you could be in the jungle and you've caught a tarantula captive. It sends its telepathic message to nearby creatures; and you are suddenly attacked by an elephant or rhinocerous from behind!

 

So always keep a look-out for wild animals whilst hunting for tarantulas.

 

Can you imagine if we humans had hairs like the tarantula's on our arms and legs? We could shake ourselves and attack everyone close by with thousands of little arrows flying everywhere. That would certainly keep me away from that girl in the mini skirt and sleeveless blouse on the dance floor! 

 

Also, did you know that silverfish can live for two to eight years unless you hit them hard with your shoe?

 

And the thorny devil lizard can absorb water through its skin like a blotting paper. Then it drinks the water by opening and closing their mouth - they drink through their scales like sipping through a series of straws. So remember, never let one of these lizards stand in your glass of wine or else he'll get drunk and start singing, "I did it my way!"

 

The cricket chirps at night depending on the temperature. If it is very hot it could chirp 30 or 40 times a minute. If it is a little cooler it would chirp perhaps 15 to 20 times a minute. In very cold conditions it does not chirp at all because it is frozen out of its tiny mind.

 

The fish cannot blink if it gets water in its eyes. And it can drown if not taught to swim properly. The shark on the other hand would only attack if threatened. You are more likely to be killed by a charging hippopotamus than by a shark. This is because there are no sharks in the middle of the jungle. Not unless you took one there in your luggage; in which case it serves you right if it bit you in the backside!

 

Leave sharks alone! That's my motto.

 

Coffee is not everyone's cup of tea. That's another of my mottos.

 

Don't cry over dropped ice cubes. It is water under the fridge. Yet another of my mottos.

If one motto does not suit you, invent another one. That's my latest brand new motto.

What's yours?