Tag: mr. nature

Take That, Bugs!

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I love the little American anoles, often called “chameleons,” which they’re not. They don’t have the magic tongues. They’ve got to sneak up on insects and quickly grab ’em before the bug can assess the danger.

All it takes is keen eyesight, patience, and superb muscular coordination.

Note: I passed up video of a savannah monitor lizard eating a rattlesnake. I had a savannah monitor once and I wouldn’t dream of feeding her rattlesnakes.

The best lizards to feed are iguanas. They can eat whatever you’re having for supper. Polish off a bowl of raspberries in seconds flat.

I wonder how many anoles you’d need to patrol your house and keep it bug-free.

Click Beetle Mania! (It Cures Ritual Baldness)

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Summer-time is click beetle time! Any child, cat, or dog could tell you that. My cat Buster could be entertained by a click beetle all day. Boing! Another click beetle springs into the air.

I am often asked if it’s possible for a human to learn how to spring high into the air from a prone position, like a click beetle. To get an answer to this question, send a check for $50 and a self-addressed stamped envelope… (that’ll be enough of that!).

‘Fun Stuff God Has Done: The Diplocaulus’ (2017)

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I recently heard about this anphibian named Diplocaulus and I think it's pretty cool. Btw, sorry for the bad quality. : r/badassanimals

Come home with this in your pail, and you’ll be famous!

Some fossils look so weird as to be not of this earth. The ancient amphibian Diplocaulus, with its boomerang-shaped head, is one of them.

Fun Stuff God Has Done: the Diplocaulus

Why did Diplocaulus have such a funny-shaped head? To discourage predators from swallowing him head-first? We really can’t know unless we find some live ones somewhere and observe how they live. But that’s always hard to do unless you’re in a movie.

 

Bonus Video: How Fast Can a Hippo Run?

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You’d think a hippo would be way too fat to generate any speed. Boy, would you be wrong.

The hippo in this video hasn’t yet opened his throttle all the way, but he’s already much faster than you will ever run. Hippos also tend to be irritable if they think you’re encroaching on their territory. Believe it or not, statistically hippos are the most dangerous animals in Africa.

Mr. Nature: Flying Fish Flying

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Posting a still photo of a flying fish made me want to see video of flying fish.

Jambo, Mr. Nature here. Flying fish are abundant and spectacular; but having never been to sea, I’ve never seen them. I used to be fascinated, reading Kon-Tiki, by these edible little fish who used to launch themselves out of the water and wind up in the frying pan.

God’s stuff–always a treat to see it.

P.S.–Stay tuned! When I get back from the bank and the supermarket, etc., I will have a huuuuge nooze item for you (another nice mess blown up in the bad guys’ faces).

Crows In, Predators Out

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Country diary: carrion crows construct their high-rise abode | Birds | The Guardian

Jambo, Mr. Nature here! And I haven’t seen any predators in our neighborhood lately. Especially hawks. Where have our hawks gone?

Well, we now have crows. Lot and lots of crows. And crows don’t like predators. Instead of just putting their names on a registry, the crows chase them out. This seems to work very well. Maybe the crows are smarter than we are.

God’s Stuff: Spring Peepers

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Before I get into any low-down, dreary nooze–if I get into it at all today–here’s a sure harbinger of spring: you can hear the spring peepers.

My editor, Susan, has a patch of boggy ground next door; and when the peepers come out of hibernation to mate and lay eggs, Susan calls me on the phone so I can hear the peepers singing.

God has not troubled Himself with giving them a calendar; He has created them so that they never miss their time.

God’s stuff always works. It’s our stuff that has all the problems.

Mr. Nature: The Giant Dragonfly

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Meganeura, a hawk-sized relative of modern dragonflies that lived during the Carboniferous : r/Naturewasmetal

Jambo, Mr. Nature here–with a dragonfly that has a two-foot wingspan. Sometimes a little more.

Meganeura is prehistoric, so don’t worry about one flying into your car while you’re driving on the highway. Once upon a time, some insects grew to spectacular size (although not to the degree celebrated in assorted 1950s monster movies). Scientists think it was possible for them to grow so large because there was more oxygen in the air then than there is today. Mixing the air is God’s prerogative.

Dragonflies, totally harmless to humans, eat mosquitoes. As far as I’m concerned, we can never have too many dragonflies.

Mr. Nature: Bagworms

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206 Bagworm Moth Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free Images - iStock

The first time I found one of these on Aunt Louise’s shrubbery, no one could tell me what it was. Eventually I learned it was a bagworm in its bag–a bag made out of bits of evergreenery.

These insects are a sort of moth, except the female is wingless and lives in the bag, where she will lay several hundred eggs. The bag is a winter shelter. They’re found throughout the eastern U.S. The males fly around, but you’d never notice them.

The caterpillar starts building its bag well before winter comes. When it gets cold outside, the caterpillar attaches its bag to a matching shrub and gets busy pupating.

(Another prayer request has come in, so I’d better get busy on that!)

Were You Asking for Spiders?

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Gee, who left this big clump of hair lying around outside? Maybe I’ll just pick it up and throw it away…

And it turns into 7 zillion spiders!

These daddy long-legs critters like to chill out in groups, the more, the merrier. I’ve never known them to do this in New Jersey, but it’s very popular among the daddy long-legs of Mexico. Mr. Nature says it’s a way of protecting themselves from predators. Like, you might be in the mood for three or four daddy long-legs; but a mouthful of a thousand of ’em might not be so appetizing.

Just so you know, these animals are completely harmless. Couldn’t hurt you if they wanted to.