Wildife photos from Down Under

[Luddly Neddite]

37 Pictures That Prove Australia Is The Craziest

Love #3, the older couple removing the giant snake from the store. Just a day in the life of -

The giant centipede looks identical to one common in the desert southeast. A truly impressive critter and very difficult to photograph because they are so kinetic and fast. I have photos I took of them but videos are better.

 

[Noomi]

So basically, snakes, crocs, and sharks? And spiders. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Millipedes. Can't stand those disgusting things.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Oh yeah ... AZ also has huge millipedes that swarm every year. Freaky driving down the road and seeing them by the gazillions, all crossing one way or the other.

Another swarm we'd get were termites. Not the kind that eat houses. They would be a blanket of buzzing winged insects, maybe 50 feet across and miles long. The morning after the night before, there would millions of tiny wings in the house, in your cars, everywhere.

And toads the dogs would mouth or eat and die from. I had a dog would would mouth them to get high. And, giant caterpillars that drove the woodpeckers mad with glee.

And rattlesnakes and scorpions, yes, in your shoes. I was stung once. Hurt like hell. I got good at picking them by their stingers though. The big ones, not the little killers. Them, I scooped up with the dustpan.

And tarantulas, tromping across the roads and your front yard, all looking for love. And tarantula hawks - huge wasps with mahogany red wings that paralyze the spiders and lay their eggs in their still-living bodies.

Maybe Australia isn't all that bad, after all.

In all seriousness, I'd love to visit.

 

[bianco]

Funnel web spiders used to inhabit the yard of and come inside my childhood home...before they was anti-venom.
Not to be messed with, but there were precautions one could take to avoid death.

. never leave shoes or boots outside. If you had to, you would shake them and ideally put on a leather glove and ram it up inside the shoe/boot all the way to the toe.

. never leave clothes and shoes on the floor. Never leave clothes baskets with clothes in them on the floor.

. always have light coloured carpet, so the black spider could easily be seen.
When I'd be sitting in the lounge room doing my school homework at night, and the rest of the family watching tv or reading, the funnel web spiders would enter the room under the french type doors.
"Spider" went out the call if one was seen...then "whack" went the broom always kepy handy.
Not too hard a whack though, spider had to be just stunned and then a long handle shovel used to put into a glass jar with some holes punched in the tin lid, the spider then dropped off at a collection point and sent to the reptile park for venom milking and an anti venom vaccine developed...which did happen eventually.

 

[freedombecki]

Few mammals lay eggs. Mama Platypus is one of them. She usually lays 2-4 eggs. Here are some platypus eggs found online, though there sure are a lot of them!

Baby "platypups:"

Wikipedia: Platypus

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a semiaquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth. It is the sole living representative of its family (Ornithorhynchidae) and genus (Ornithorhynchus), though a number of related species have been found in the fossil record.
The unusual appearance of this egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it, with some considering it an elaborate hoax. It is one of the few venomous mammals, the male platypus having a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom capable of causing severe pain to humans. The unique features of the platypus make it an important subject in the study of evolutionary biology and a recognisable and iconic symbol of Australia; it has appeared as a mascot at national events and is featured on the reverse of its 20-cent coin. The platypus is the animal emblem of the state of New South Wales.[3]
Until the early 20th century, it was hunted for its fur, but it is now protected throughout its range. Although captive breeding programmes have had only limited success and the platypus is vulnerable to the effects of pollution, it is not under any immediate threat.

 

[freedombecki]

I found some tree-hugging nappers there...

Yawning...

Mama napping...

Lullaby..

<giggle>

Groovin'...

Do not disturb...

Life could be a dream... sha-bom, sha-bom...

 

[bianco]

Few mammals lay eggs. Mama Platypus is one of them.

Syd the Platypus was one of the mascots for the 2000 Sydney Olympics [which was 14 years ago!...oh how time flys by].

SYDNEY OLYMPIC GAMES 2000 - The Mascots