Grasshoppers are insects of the order Orthoptera, suborder Caelifera. They are sometimes referred to as short-horned grasshoppers to distinguish them from the katydids (bush crickets) which have much longer antennae. They are typically ground-dwelling insects with powerful hind legs which enable them to escape from threats by leaping vigorously. They are hemimetabolous insects (do not undergo complete metamorphosis) which hatch from an egg into a nymph or "hopper" which undergoes five moults, becoming more similar to the adult insect at each developmental stage. At high population densities and under certain environmental conditions, some grasshopper species can change colour and behaviour and form swarms. Under these circumstances they are known as locusts.

Grasshoppers are plant-eaters, sometimes becoming serious pests of cereals, vegetables and pasture, especially when they swarm in their millions as locusts and destroy crops over wide areas. They protect themselves from predators by camouflage; when detected, many species attempt to startle the predator with a brilliantly-coloured wing-flash while jumping and (if adult) launching themselves into the air, usually flying for only a short distance. Other species such as the rainbow grasshopper have warning coloration which deters predators. Grasshoppers are affected by parasites and various diseases, and many predatory creatures feed on both nymphs and adults. The eggs are the subject of attack by parasitoids and predators.

Grasshoppers have had a long relationship with humans. Swarms of locusts have had dramatic effects that have changed the course of history, and even in smaller numbers grasshoppers can be serious pests. They are eaten as food and also feature in art, symbolism and literature.

CHARACTERISTICS

Grasshoppers have the typical insect body plan of head, thorax and abdomen. The head is held vertically, at an angle to the body with the mouth at the bottom. It bears a large pair of compound eyes which give all-round vision, three simple eyes which can detect light and dark and a pair of thread-like antennae which are sensitive to touch and smell. The downward-directed mouthparts are modified for chewing and there are two sensory palps in front of the jaws.

The thorax and abdomen are segmented and have a rigid cuticle made up of overlapping plates composed of chitin. The three fused thoracic segments bear three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings. The forewings, known as tegmina, are narrow and leathery while the hind wings are large and membranous, the veins providing strength. The legs are terminated by claws for gripping. The hind leg is particularly powerful; the femur is robust and has several ridges where different surfaces join and the inner ridges bear stridulatory pegs in some species. The posterior edge of the tibia bears a double row of spines and there are a pair of articulated spurs near its lower end. The interior of the thorax houses the muscles that control the limbs.

The abdomen has eleven segments, the first of which is fused to the thorax and contains the auditory organ and tympanum. Segments two to eight are ring-shaped and joined by flexible membranes. Segments nine to eleven are reduced; segment nine bears a pair of cerci and segments ten and eleven house the reproductive organs. Female grasshoppers are normally larger than males, with short ovipositors. The name "Caelifera" comes from the Latin and means chisel-bearing, referring to the sharp ovipositor.

Those species that make easily heard noises usually do so by rubbing a row of pegs on the hind femurs against the edges of the forewings (stridulation). These sounds are produced mainly by males to attract females, though in some species the females also stridulate.

Grasshoppers are easily confused with the other sub-order of Orthoptera, Ensifera (crickets), but differ in many aspects, such as the number of segments in their antennae and structure of the ovipositor, as well as the location of the tympana and modes of sound production. Ensiferans have antennae that can be much longer than the body and have at least 20–24 segments, while caeliferans have fewer segments in their shorter, stouter antennae.

PHYLOGENY AND EVOLUTION

The phylogeny of the Caelifera based on mitochondrial RNA of 32 taxa in six out of seven superfamilies is shown as a cladogram. The Ensifera, Caelifera and all the superfamilies of grasshoppers except Pamphagoidea appear to be monophyletic.In evolutionary terms, the split between the Caelifera and the Ensifera is no more recent than the Permo-Triassic boundary; the earliest insects that are certainly Caeliferans are in the extinct families Locustopseidae and Locustavidae from the early Triassic. The group diversified during the Triassic and have remained important plant-eaters from that time to now. The first modern families such as the Eumastacidae, Tetrigidae and Tridactylidae appeared in the Cretaceous, though some insects that might belong to the last two of these groups are found in the early Jurassic. Morphological classification is difficult because many taxa have converged towards a common habitat type; recent taxonomists have concentrated on the internal genitalia, especially those of the male. This information is not available from fossil specimens, and the palaentological taxonomy is founded principally on the venation of the hindwings.

DIVERSITY AND RANGE

The Caelifera includes some 2,400 valid genera and about 11,000 species. Many undescribed species probably exist, especially in tropical wet forests. The Caelifera have a predominantly tropical distribution with fewer species known from temperate zones, but most of the superfamilies have representatives worldwide. They are almost exclusively herbivorous and are probably the oldest living group of chewing herbivorous insects.

BIOLOGY

DIET AND DIGESTION

Most grasshoppers are polyphagous, eating vegetation from multiple plant sources, but some are omnivorous and also eat animal tissue and animal faeces. In general their preference is for grasses, including many cereals grown as crops. The mandibles chew the food slightly and salivary glands in the buccal cavity chemically begin to digest the carbohydrates present in it. The food is then passed via the oesophagus to the crop where it is stored temporarily and chemical digestion continues. Next it moves to the gizzard which has muscular walls and tooth-like plates which grind the food. From here, food enters the stomach, where six hepatic caeca add further enzymes and digestion is completed. At the junction between mid and hind-gut, several fine tubes known as malpighian tubules add the excretory products (uric acid, urea and amino acids) to the contents of the gut. Absorption of nutrients takes place in the ileum and any undigested residue is passed on to the colon. Here water is absorbed and the residue becomes solid. After storage in the rectum, the faeces are expelled as small dry pellets.

SENSORY ORGANS

Grasshoppers have a typical insect nervous system,[11] and have an extensive set of external sense organs. On the side of the head are a pair of large compound eyes which give a broad field of vision and can detect movement, shape, colour and distance. There are also three simple eyes (ocelli) on the forehead which can detect light intensity, a pair of antennae containing olfactory (smell) and touch receptors, and mouthparts containing gustatory (taste) receptors. At the front end of the abdomen there is a pair of tympanal organs for sound reception. There are numerous fine hairs covering the whole body that act as mechanoreceptors (touch and wind sensors), and these are most dense on the antennae, the palps (part of the mouth), and on the cerci at the tip of the abdomen. There are special receptors (campaniform sensillae) embedded in the cuticle of the legs that sense pressure and cuticle distortion. There are internal "chordotonal" sense organs specialized to detect position and movement about the joints of the exoskeleton. The receptors convey information to the central nervous system through sensory neurons, and most of these have their cell bodies located in the periphery near the receptor site itself.

CIRCULATION AND RESPIRATION

Like other insects, grasshoppers have an open circulatory system and their body cavities are filled with haemolymph. A heart-like structure pumps the fluid to the head from where it percolates past the tissues and organs on its way back to the abdomen. It circulates nutrients throughout the body and carries metabolic wastes to be excreted into the gut. The haemolymph and the circulatory system are not involved in gaseous exchange. Respiration is performed using tracheae, air-filled tubes, which open at the surfaces of the thorax and abdomen through pairs of valved spiracles. Larger insects may need to actively ventilate their bodies by opening some spiracles while others remain closed, using abdominal muscles to expand and contract the body and pump air through the system.

JUMPING

A large grasshopper such as a locust can jump about a metre (twenty body lengths) without using its wings; the acceleration peaks at about 20 g. Grasshoppers jump by extending their large back legs and pushing against the substrate (the ground, a twig, a blade of grass or whatever else they are standing on); the reaction force propels them into the air. They jump for several reasons; to escape from a predator, to launch themselves for flight, or simply to move from place to place. For the escape jump in particular there is strong selective pressure to maximize take-off velocity, since this determines the range. This means that the legs must thrust against the ground with both high force and a high velocity of movement. However, a fundamental property of muscle is that it cannot contract with both high force and high velocity, which seems like a problem. Grasshoppers overcome this apparent contradiction by using a catapult mechanism to amplify the mechanical power produced by their muscles.

The jump is a three-stage process. First, the grasshopper fully flexes the lower part of the leg (tibia) against the upper part (femur) by activating the flexor tibiae muscle (the back legs of the immature grasshopper in the top photograph are in this preparatory position). Second, there is a period of co-contraction in which force builds up in the large, pennate extensor tibiae muscle, but the tibia is kept flexed by the simultaneous contraction of the flexor tibiae muscle. The extensor muscle is much stronger than the flexor muscle, but the latter is aided by specializations in the joint that give it a large effective mechanical advantage over the former when the tibia is fully flexed. Co-contraction can last for up to half a second, and during this period the extensor muscle shortens and stores elastic strain energy by distorting stiff cuticular structures in the leg. The extensor muscle contraction is quite slow (almost isometric), which allows it to develop high force (up to 14 N in the desert locust), but because it is slow only low power is needed. The third stage of the jump is the trigger relaxation of the flexor muscle, which releases the tibia from the flexed position. The subsequent rapid tibial extension is driven mainly by the relaxation of the elastic structures, rather than by further shortening of the extensor muscle. In this way the stiff cuticle acts like the elastic of a catapult, or the bow of a bow-and-arrow. Energy is put into the store at low power by slow but strong muscle contraction, and retrieved from the store at high power by rapid relaxation of the mechanical elastic structures.

LIFECYCLE AND REPRODUCTION

Grasshoppers lay their eggs in pods in the ground near food plants, generally in the summer. The eggs in the pod are glued together with a froth in some species. After a few weeks of development, the eggs of most species go into diapause, and pass the winter in this state; in a few species the eggs hatch in the same summer they were laid. Diapause is broken by a sufficiently low ground temperature; development resumes as soon as the ground warms above a threshold temperature. The embryos in a pod generally all hatch out within a few minutes of each other. They soon shed their membranes and their exoskeletons harden. These first instar nymphs can then jump away from predators.

Grasshoppers have incomplete metamorphosis: they repeatedly moult (undergo ecdysis), becoming larger and more like an adult, with for instance larger wing-buds, in each instar. The number of instars varies between species. At the final moult, the wings are inflated and become fully functional. The migratory grasshopper, Melanoplus sanguinipes, spends about 25–30 days as a nymph depending on sex and temperature, and about 51 days as an adult.

Males stridulate, rapidly rasping the hind femur against the forewing to create a churring sound, to attract mates. Females select suitable egg-laying sites, such as bare soil or near the roots of food plants according to species. Males often gather around an ovipositing female; in some species she is mated as soon as she takes her ovipositor out of the ground. After laying the eggs, the female covers the hole with soil and litter.

PREDATORS, PARASITES AND PATHOGENS

Grasshoppers have a wide range of predators at different stages of their life-cycle. Eggs are eaten by bee-flies, ground beetles and blister beetles. Hoppers and adults are taken by predators including other insects such as ants, robber flies and sphecid wasps; spiders; many birds; and small mammals.

Parasitoids include blowflies, fleshflies, and tachinid flies. External parasites include mites. It has been found that female grasshoppers parasitised by mites produce fewer eggs and thus have fewer offspring. This is probably because the individuals concerned allocate resources in response to the parasitism which are then not available for reproduction.

Spinochordodes tellinii and Paragordius tricuspidatus are parasitic worms that infect grasshoppers and alter the behaviour of their hosts. The grasshopper is persuaded to leap into a nearby body of water where it drowns, thus enabling the parasite to continue with the next stage of its life cycle which takes place in water. The grasshopper nematode (Mermis nigrescens) is a long slender worm that infests grasshoppers, living in the insect's hemocoel. Adult worms lay eggs on plants and the host gets infected when it eats the foliage.Grasshoppers are affected by diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa. The bacteria Serratia marcescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa have both been implicated in causing disease in grasshoppers, as has the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana. This widespread fungus has been used to control various pest insects around the world, but although it infects grasshoppers, basking in the sun has the result of raising the insect's temperature above a threshold tolerated by the fungus, and the infection is not lethal. The fungal pathogen Entomophaga grylli is able to influence the behaviour of its grasshopper host, causing it to climb to the top of a plant and cling to the stem as it dies. This ensures wide dispersal of the fungal spores liberated from the corpse.The fungal pathogen Metarhizium acridum is found in Africa, Australia and Brazil where it has caused epizootics in grasshoppers. It is being investigated for possible use as a microbial insecticide for locust control. The microsporidian fungus Nosema locustae, once considered to be a protozoan, can be lethal to grasshoppers. It has to be consumed by mouth and is the basis for a bait-based commercial microbial pesticide. Various other microsporidians and protozoans are found in the gut.

ANTI-PREDATOR DEFENCES

Grasshoppers exemplify a range of anti-predator adaptations, enabling them to avoid detection, to escape if detected, and in some cases to avoid being eaten if captured. Grasshoppers are often camouflaged to avoid detection by predators that hunt by sight. Their colouration usually resembles the background, whether green for leafy vegetation, sandy for open areas or grey for rocks. Some species can change their colouration to suit their surroundings.

Several species such as the hooded leaf grasshopper Phyllochoreia ramakrishnai (Eumastacoidea) are detailed mimics of leaves. Grasshoppers often have deimatic patterns on their wings, giving a sudden flash of bright colours that may startle predators long enough to give time to escape in a combination of jump and flight.

Some species are genuinely aposematic, having both bright warning coloration and sufficient toxicity to dissuade predators. Dictyophorus productus (Pyrgomorphidae) is a "heavy, bloated, sluggish insect" that makes no attempt to hide; it has a bright red abdomen. A Cercopithecus monkey that ate other grasshoppers refused to eat the species. Another species, the rainbow or painted grasshopper of Arizona, Dactylotum bicolor (Acridoidea), has been shown by experiment with a natural predator, the little striped whiptail lizard, to be aposematic.

RELATIONSHIP WITH HUMANS

IN ART

Grasshoppers are occasionally depicted in artworks, such as the Dutch Golden Age painter Balthasar van der Ast's still life oil painting, Flowers in a Vase with Shells and Insects, c. 1630, now in the National Gallery, London, though the insect may be a bush-cricket.

Another orthopteran is found in Rachel Ruysch's still life Flowers in a Vase, c. 1685. The seemingly static scene is animated by a "grasshopper on the table that looks about ready to spring", according to the gallery curator Betsy Wieseman, with other invertebrates including a spider, an ant, and two caterpillars.

Symbolism

Grasshoppers are sometimes used as symbols, as in Sir Thomas Gresham's gilded grasshopper in Lombard Street, London, dating from 1563;[a] the building was for a while the headquarters of the Guardian Royal Exchange, but the company declined to use the symbol for fear of confusion with the locust.

When grasshoppers appear in dreams, these have been interpreted as symbols of "Freedom, independence, spiritual enlightenment, inability to settle down or commit to decision". Locusts are taken literally to mean devastation of crops in the case of farmers; figuratively as "wicked men and women" for non-farmers; and "Extravagance, misfortune, & ephemeral happiness" by "gypsies".

AS FOOD

In some countries, grasshoppers are used as food. In southern Mexico, grasshoppers, known as chapulines, are eaten in a variety of dishes, such as in tortillas with chilli sauce. Grasshoppers are served on skewers in some Chinese food markets, like the Donghuamen Night Market. Fried grasshoppers (walang goreng) are eaten in the Gunung Kidul area of Yogjakarta, Java in Indonesia. In the Arab world, grasshoppers are boiled, salted, and sun-dried, and eaten as snacks. In Native America, the Ohlone people burned grassland to herd grasshoppers into pits where they could be collected as food.

It is recorded in the Bible that John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey (Greek: ἀκρίδες καὶ μέλι ἄγριον, akrides kai meli agrion) while living in the wilderness; attempts have been made to explain the locusts as suitably ascetic vegetarian food such as carob beans, but the plain meaning of ἀκρίδες is the insects.

AS PESTS

Grasshoppers eat large quantities of foliage both as adults and during their development, and can be serious pests of arid land and prairies. Pasture, grain, forage, vegetable and other crops can be affected. Grasshoppers often bask in the sun, and thrive in warm sunny conditions, so drought stimulates an increase in grasshopper populations. A single season of drought is not normally sufficient to stimulate a massive population increase, but several successive dry seasons can do so, especially if the intervening winters are mild so that large numbers of nymphs survive. Although sunny weather stimulates growth, there needs to be an adequate food supply for the increasing grasshopper population. This means that although precipitation is needed to stimulate plant growth, prolonged periods of cloudy weather will slow nymphal development.

Grasshoppers can best be prevented from becoming pests by manipulating their environment. Shade provided by trees will discourage them and they may be prevented from moving onto developing crops by removing coarse vegetation from fallow land and field margins and discouraging luxurious growth beside ditches and on roadside verges. With increasing numbers of grasshoppers, predator numbers may increase, but this seldom happens sufficiently rapidly to have much effect on populations. Biological control is being investigated but with little success. On a small scale, neem products can be effective as a feeding deterrent and as a disruptor of nymphal development. Insecticides can be used, but adult grasshoppers are difficult to kill, and as they move into fields from surrounding rank growth, crops may soon become reinfested.

Grasshoppers, like the Chinese rice grasshopper, are a pest in rice paddies. Ploughing exposes the eggs on the surface of the field, to be destroyed by sunshine or eaten by natural enemies. Some eggs may be buried too deeply in the soil for hatching to take place.

LOCUSTS

Locusts are the swarming phase of certain species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae. It has been shown that swarming behaviour is a response to overcrowding. Increased tactile stimulation of the hind legs causes an increase in levels of serotonin. This causes the grasshopper to change colour, feed more and breed faster. The transformation of a solitary individual into a swarming one is induced by several contacts per minute over a short period.

Following this transformation, under suitable conditions dense nomadic bands of flightless nymphs can occur, producing pheromones which attract them to each other. With several generations in a year, the locust population can build up from localised groups into vast accumulations of flying insects known as plagues, devouring all the vegetation they encounter. The largest recorded locust swarm was one of the now-extinct Rocky Mountain locust in 1875, which was 2,900 km long and 180 km wide.

An adult desert locust can eat about 2 g each day so the billions of insects in a large swarm can be very destructive, stripping all the foliage from plants in an affected area and also consuming stems, flowers, fruits, seeds and bark. Locust plagues can have devastating effects on human populations, causing famines and population upheavals. They are mentioned in both the Koran and the Bible and have been held responsible for cholera epidemics, resulting from the corpses of locusts drowned in the Mediterranean Sea and decomposing on beaches.

The FAO and other organisations monitor locust activity around the world. Timely application of pesticides can prevent nomadic bands of hoppers joining together and proliferating before dense swarms of adults are built up. Besides conventional control using contact insecticides, biological pest control using the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium acridum which specifically infects grasshoppers has been used with some success

IN LITERATURE

The Egyptian word for locust or grasshopper was written snḥm in the consonantal hieroglyphic writing system. The pharaoh Ramesses II compared the armies of the Hittites to locusts: "They covered the mountains and valleys and were like locusts in their multitude."

One of Aesop's Fables, later retold by La Fontaine, is the tale of The Ant and the Grasshopper. The ant works hard all summer, while the grasshopper plays. In winter, the ant is ready but the grasshopper starves. Somerset

Maugham's short story "The Ant and the Grasshopper" explores the fable's symbolism via complex framing. The Canadian philosopher Bernard Suits retells the story with the grasshopper as "the exemplification of the life most worth living." Other human weaknesses besides improvidence have become identified with the grasshopper's behaviour. So an unfaithful woman (hopping from man to man) is "a grasshopper" in "Poprygunya", an 1892 short story by Anton Chekhov, and in Jerry Paris's 1969 film The Grasshopper.

The 1957 film Beginning of the End portrayed giant grasshoppers attacking Chicago. In the 1998 film A Bug's Life, the heroes are the members of an ant colony, and the lead villain and his henchmen are grasshoppers.

IN AVIATION

The name "Grasshopper" was used for light aircraft such as the Aeronca L-3 and Piper L-4 used for reconnaissance and other support duties in World War II.

WIKIPEDIA

The Postcard

A view of people during the Belle Époque enjoying themselves in the elegant environment of the Casino and Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo.

Note how people in the foreground of the photograph are sitting back from where people walk up and down - no-one has sat at the tables near to where people are walking. This form of behaviour would also be very much in evidence today.

Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo refers to an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco.

Monte Carlo (literally "Mount Charles") is situated on a prominent escarpment at the base of the Maritime Alps. Near the quarter's western end is the world-famous Place du Casino, the gambling center which has made Monte Carlo an international byword for the extravagant display and reckless dispersal of wealth.

It is also the location of the Hôtel de Paris, the Café de Paris, and the Salle Garnier (the casino theatre which is the home of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo).

The quarter's eastern part includes the community of Larvotto with Monaco's only public beach, as well as its new convention center (the Grimaldi Forum), and the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort.

At the quarter's western border, one crosses into the French town of Beausoleil (sometimes referred to as Monte-Carlo-Supérieur), and just 8 kilometres (5 mi) to its east is the western border of Italy.

Monte Carlo is host to most of the Circuit de Monaco, on which the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix takes place.

The Opéra de Monte-Carlo or Salle Garnier was built to designs of the architect Charles Garnier, who also designed the Paris opera house.

Although much smaller, the Salle Garnier is very similar in style, with decorations in red and gold, and frescoes and sculptures all around the auditorium. It was inaugurated on 25 January 1879 with a performance by Sarah Bernhardt dressed as a nymph.

Monte Carlo has featured in numerous films and television series, most recently in the 2011 movie of the same name.

Monte Carlo was the setting for the 1922 Erich von Stroheim silent film Foolish Wives, although it was filmed in California.

The casino featured in the James Bond films Never Say Never Again (1983), and GoldenEye (1995).

The Car Crash

To Catch a Thief (1954) was an Alfred Hitchcock film with Monte Carlo and its famous casino as the setting. It featured Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, the future Princess Grace of Monaco, as the stars.

There is a scene in the movie where the-then Grace Kelly drives a car very quickly—and dangerously—along the steep winding roads of Monaco that surround the heights of Monte Carlo; a tragic precursor to her actual fate in 1982.

On the 13th. September 1982, Kelly was driving back to Monaco from her country home in Roc Agel. She lost control of her 1971 Rover P6 and drove off the steep, winding road down the 120 foot (37 m) mountainside.

Her daughter Stéphanie, who was in the passenger seat, tried but failed to regain control of the car. Kelly was taken to the Monaco Hospital (later named the Princess Grace Hospital Centre) with injuries to the brain and thorax and a fractured femur.

Doctors believed that she had suffered a minor stroke while driving. She died the following night aged 52 at 10:55 p.m. after Prince Rainier chose to take her off life support.

Stéphanie suffered light concussion and a hairline fracture of a cervical vertebra, and was unable to attend her mother's funeral.

Notable Residents of Monte Carlo

Notable residents of Monte Carlo include:

Shirley Bassey (singer) United Kingdom

Bono (singer with U2) Republic of Ireland

Jenson Button (former Formula One driver) United Kingdom

David Coulthard (former Formula One driver) United Kingdom

Mohamed Al-Fayed (ex-Harrods owner) Egypt

Matthew Goss (professional cyclist) Australia

Philip Green (entrepreneur) United Kingdom

Stelios Haji-Ioannou (owner of EasyJet) Cyprus Greece United Kingdom

Lewis Hamilton (Formula One driver) United Kingdom

Justin Hayward (singer with the Moody Blues) United Kingdom

Gina Lollobrigida (actress) Italy

Helmut Newton (photographer) Germany Australia

Mike Oldfield (musician) United Kingdom

Paula Radcliffe (marathon world record holder) United Kingdom

David Shilling (milliner) United Kingdom

Ringo Starr (drummer with the Beatles) United Kingdom.

[group] Owls | [order] STRIGIFORMES | [family] Strigidae | [latin] Asio flammeus | [UK] Short-eared Owl | [FR] Hibou marais | [DE] Sumpfohreule | [ES] Lechuza Campestre | [NL] Velduil | [IRL] Ulchabhán réisc

Measurements

spanwidth min.: 90 cm

spanwidth max.: 105 cm

size min.: 37 cm

size max.: 40 cm

Breeding

incubation min.: 24 days

incubation max.: 29 days

fledging min.: 24 days

fledging max.: 29 days

broods 1

eggs min.: 4

eggs max.: 8

Status: A scarce winter visitor throughout Ireland and rare breeding species, mainly in the south and east. Favours uplands and coastal lowlands.

Conservation Concern: Amber-listed in Ireland due to its small breeding population. The European population is currently evaluated as Depleted due to a large historical decline.

Identification: The only Irish owl species likely to be seen hunting during the day. Very similar in appearance to Long-eared Owl in all plumages. Adult Short-eared Owls can be identified by their yellow eyes and very small "ear" tufts. The black steeaking on the body tends to be much coarser than on Long-eared Owl. Juvenile Short-eareds are identical to juvenile Long-eared Owls, but have yellow eyes.

Similar Species: Long-eared Owl, Barn Owl.

Call: Generally silent when seen in Ireland. Display includes a quiet series of hoots given in flight.

Diet: As for Long-eared Owl. Comprises small mammals, frogs and birds.

Breeding: Rare and sporadic breeding species in uplands throughout Ireland. The majority of the European population breeds in Scandinavia and Russia.

Wintering: Widespread winter visitor to coastal lowlands (dunes, scrubby fields, machair). Sometimes two or more Short-eared Owls can be seen hunting together at favoured sites.

Where to See: The Wicklow coast, including the East Coast Nature Reserve is a good area to look for Short-eared Owls in winter. Numbers fluctuate from year to year, so may absent from even optimal sites in some years.

Status: A scarce winter visitor throughout Ireland and rare breeding species, mainly in the south and east. Favours uplands and coastal lowlands.

Conservation Concern: Amber-listed in Ireland due to its small breeding population. The European population is currently evaluated as Depleted due to a large historical decline.

Identification: The only Irish owl species likely to be seen hunting during the day. Very similar in appearance to Long-eared Owl in all plumages. Adult Short-eared Owls can be identified by their yellow eyes and very small "ear" tufts. The black steeaking on the body tends to be much coarser than on Long-eared Owl. Juvenile Short-eareds are identical to juvenile Long-eared Owls, but have yellow eyes.

Similar Species: Long-eared Owl, Barn Owl.

Call: Generally silent when seen in Ireland. Display includes a quiet series of hoots given in flight.

Diet: As for Long-eared Owl. Comprises small mammals, frogs and birds.

Breeding: Rare and sporadic breeding species in uplands throughout Ireland. The majority of the European population breeds in Scandinavia and Russia.

Wintering: Widespread winter visitor to coastal lowlands (dunes, scrubby fields, machair). Sometimes two or more Short-eared Owls can be seen hunting together at favoured sites.

Where to See: Skerries, Rogerstown Estuary, Bull Island, the East Coast Nature Reserve is a good area to look for Short-eared Owls in winter. Numbers fluctuate from year to year, so may absent from even optimal sites in some years.

Physical characteristics

Short-eared Owls are medium-sized owls with mottled brown and buff plumage. Their facial disks are light, with dark patches at the eyes. They have short ear-tufts that are usually held down, out of view. They are light underneath, with finely streaked chests and bellies. Males are paler than females. Short-eared Owls have dark markings at the wrist on both the underside and upper side of the wings. In flight they can be hard to tell from the closely related Long-eared Owls, except by behavior and habitat.

Because they are active during the day, Short-eared Owls are easier to see than most other owls. They are especially active at dawn and dusk, and they perform dramatic courtship flights, complete with vocalizing and wing clapping, during the breeding season. They are chase-predators and hunt by flying low over an open area, with their wings at a slight dihedral, somewhat like Northern Harriers. Their buoyant wing-beats give them a distinctive moth-like appearance.

Habitat

Short-eared Owls inhabit open terrain in all seasons. They use shrub-steppe, grasslands, agricultural areas, marshes, wet meadows, and shorelines. They are often seen perched on fence posts or pieces of driftwood.

Other details

Asio flammeus is a widespread but patchily distributed breeder across much of Europe, which accounts for less than a quarter of its global breeding range. Its European breeding population is relatively large (>58,000 pairs), but underwent a large decline between 1970-1990. Although declines continued in a few countries during 1990-2000, they abated across most of Europe, and the species was broadly stable overall. Nevertheless, its total population size remains below the level that preceded its decline.

This owl inhabits a large part of Eurasia, North America and southern South America. In Europe, especially in the south, its distribution is increasingly fragmented. The total population of the European Union is estimated at 1500-3500 breeding pairs. It fluctuates according to rodent densities, but seems to decrease following mainly habitat loss, but also persecution and use of pesticides (especially rodenticides). Many birds are also killed along roads and railways.

Fluctuations in the Short-eared Owl population, due most likely to cyclical variation in the population of voles, make it difficult to determine long-term trends. However, declines have been recorded from many parts of the owls range, and Short-eared Owls are listed as an at-risk species by Partners in Flight. Development and agriculture, which result in loss of habitat, are the most significant threats to the population.

Feeding

Short-eared Owls eat small mammals, especially voles. They take other small rodents, shrews, rabbits, gophers, bats, and muskrats as well. Occasionally, they prey on birds.

Conservation

This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence 30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern. [conservation status from birdlife.org]

Breeding

Courtship and territorial behaviour is spectacular for an Owl. Males perform aerial displays by rising quickly with rhythmic and exaggerated wing beats, hovering, gliding down, and rising again, often 200 to 400 meters above ground. Wing claps, in bursts of 2 to 6 per second, are often made during this flight and some singing occurs. The flight can be ended with a spectacular descent where the male hold his wings aloft and shimmies rapidly to the ground. Two birds may engage in flight, locking talons, and fighting briefly. Often, a display where one bird flashes its light underwing towards another is used during territorial and courtship flights.

The Short-eared Owl nests on the ground, unlike most other Owls. Nests are usually situated in the shelter of a grass mound, under a grass tuft, or among herbaceous ground cover. Nests are loosely constructed by the female, who scrapes a spot on the ground and then lines the scrape with grass stems, herb stalks, and feathers plucked from her breast. Clutch sizes range from 4 to 14 eggs (average 5 to 7), with large clutches laid during years of high food abundance. Clutch size increases from south to north. Eggs are laid every 1 to 2 days and incubation commences with the first. Incubation is done largely by the female, with the male bringing food to the nest and occasionally taking a turn incubating. Young grow very rapidly after hatching, and begin to wander from the nest as soon as 12 days, an adaptation for a ground-nesting species to reduce the amount of time they are vulnerable to predation. Young fledge at about 4 weeks.

The Short-eared Owl routinely lays replacement clutches, because of high predation rates. In southern areas, it may raise 2 broods in 1 year. Because reproductive success is relatively poor, the ability to lay large clutches helps populations recover after periodic declines.

The Short-eared Owl is highly migratory, and nomadic, except in southern parts of its range. Movements of up to 2,000 kilometers have been documented. This Owl has relatively small nesting territories and home ranges, varying from 15 to 200 hectares (35 to 500 acres), and may nest in loose colonies in excellent habitat. Because of its nomadic tendencies, mate and site fidelity are very low. Breeders tend to wander until they find areas with high densities of prey before settling to breed. In winter, large numbers of Owls will occur in areas with lots of food. Communal winter roosts of up to 200 birds are known, with these birds ranging over nearby areas to hunt. Resident Owls will defend winter foraging territories of about 6 hectares (15 acres), before expanding the territory size during the breeding season.

Migration

Thought to be highly migratory in N part of range, though migration perhaps confused with nomadic food searches and juvenile dispersal; also, wintering areas may become breeding areas if food plentiful. Although present throughout year in middle latitudes, ringing data indicate seasonal N-S and W-SW migration: bird rings in Oklahoma recovered 1730 km SSE in California. In Europe and Asia, migratory in N of range: N populations winter from British Is, S Scandinavia and C Asia S to N half of Africa and parts of S & E Asia; known to breed in N China and winter in S China. Accidental Spitsbergen, Bear Is, Jan Mayen, Azores, Madeira and Cape Verde Is.

It still fascinates me, how different life forms, of many sizes and scales can create a micro-ecosystem directly relevant to the surface, temperatures, exposures etc. etc. etc.

Special Report from Alf Pissed and Vanda Navafag in Sub-Pannonia

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Shortly after dawn, I spotted this one opposite Super Li as I was walking home, after another gruelling (part train, part walk, part hitch-hike) three-hour overnight journey from Maribor to Ptuj (22km).

Congratulations for not drunk driving, mate, although I can't believe there isn't a tax on this in Slovenia. Strictly speaking he has built a hotel.

Now the local economic strategy is based on creating as many alcoholics with lung cancer as we can. 286 years after smoking was banned in Berlin, 69 years after Roffo showed a heavy smoker could inhale four kilograms of tar in 10 years, and 56 years on from Sir Richard Doll's epidemiological nailing of the tobacco coffin, what is the situation in Ptuj?

The situation is that drinkers, among them medical workers, economists, sporty types and teachers, bitter at the EU's indoor ban, can't wait for the pub's lock-in to begin so they can light up their torches of freedom* and show their powerful addiction to individualism.

--- + + + ---

Meanwhile, Years Per Life Lost (YPLL) per death resulting from the acute effects of alcohol accounted for relatively more mortality in younger persons, an average of 30 years of life lost for each death associated with excessive blood alcohol levels, in contrast with a YPLL of merely 12 for each death from alcoholic cirrhosis.

We hope this trend in favour of the sudden-splat type of death continues. A police car, ambulance and breakdown truck is much healthier for the economy than years of underperformance and months of long, slow, lingering expiry in hospital.

Statistically, you can see that alcohol is, in this way, helping to reduce the smoking deaths which take decades.

And deaths from house fires caused by unconscious, smoking drunks mean that smoking is cutting the alcoholism statistic.

So it's a win win. All we need now is something to cut the number of statisticians.

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With an average 72.6 road traffic accidents per 100,000 inhabitants from 1994 to 2001, Slovenia was among the countries with the highest in the WHO European Region. In 2000 Slovenia ranked second only to Greece (216.1 per 100,000) with 77.4 traffic accidents per 100,000, narrowly beating Croatia (75.7). You beat Croatia! Yay!

RTA deaths appear to have peaked in 2007 with a 27% drop in 2008. The number will probably now rise again unless better ways of counting can be found.

Otherwise those 2008 victims who are currently 27% less dead will experience increasingly less afterlife than under previous, more religious, governments.

With young people you can always rely on unquestioning herd behaviour - actually all people. Luckily any party poopers and physical wrecks over 25 who might spoil the fun are at home, in eerily quiet villages, in bed with the lights out by 9 o'clock.

So we're all going to die. And waste everybody's money doing it. Hurry up then, so we foreign devils can buy some more of your nice cheap houses!

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But while you're encouraging one another to stay out all night in pursuit of this premature/cancelled ageing (and there are other things to do) how about some fucking public transport when we've had enough of it?

Probably then we'd get a drunk bus driver. Or maybe anyone old enough and sober enough to drive weekend nights - when everyone needs it the most - just loves their family too much.

But typically creative, Slovenes have already hit on a solution to this dilemma.

The only time I accidentally entered the driver's compartment of a Slovenian train, I was surprised to find an entire family crammed into the tiny space.

Next to the wife and younger son was a boy about 7, sat on daddy's knee, helping him to drive the train, his hand on the dead man's handle as we sped through the tar-black night.

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Roffo, Z Krebsforsch 49, 588 (1940).

www.theslovenian.com/articles/sesok.htm

books.google.co.uk/books?id=Um7CfMZeAm0C&dq=nazi+war+...

*Zapeljive dame: Odkriti skrivnost kako si dobil svobodo izraziti

svoji značajski tukaj

NAREDITE KOT FANTA V FOTKI - POSKRBETI ZA SE!

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These pics were part of a series taken at a distance from the shore at Burghead. We were watching juvenile gannets diving for fish when we saw this one touch down in the sea and attack a long tailed duck. It spent several minutes wrestling with its victim apparently trying to drown it. A second gannet swooped in taking the attacker by surprise. The duck was dropped but it was impossible to tell whether it escaped as it was never seen again.

Natalia Fatale

Podiceps cristatus

I crossed the Cheshire - Staffordshire border yesterday and visited Westport Lake with the hope of seeing a Water Ballet.

I managed to catch this pair in rehearsals for the main event. The ballerina and ballerino were practicing the head shaking and bobbing as a cold wind blew across the lake.

I should think they have got this part well covered now and are waiting for a warmer and calmer day to move on with their routine.

From Wiki:- The great crested grebe and its behaviour was the subject of one of the landmark publications in avian ethology: Julian Huxley's 1914 paper on The Courtship‐habits of the Great Crested Grebe.

@Natures_Voice @BirdWatchingMag @BritBirdLovers @wildlife_uk @Birds_UK @iNatureUK

The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large species of lizard found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang, and Padar. A member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae, it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of 3 metres in rare cases and weighing up to approximately 70 kilograms.

Their unusually large size has been attributed to island gigantism, since no other carnivorous animals fill the niche on the islands where they live. However, recent research suggests the large size of Komodo dragons may be better understood as representative of a relict population of very large varanid lizards that once lived across Indonesia and Australia, most of which, along with other megafauna, died out after the Pleistocene. Fossils very similar to V. komodoensis have been found in Australia dating to greater than 3.8 million years ago, and its body size remained stable on Flores, one of the handful of Indonesian islands where it is currently found, over the last 900,000 years, "a time marked by major faunal turnovers, extinction of the island's megafauna, and the arrival of early hominids by 880 ka [kiloannums]."

As a result of their size, these lizards dominate the ecosystems in which they live. Komodo dragons hunt and ambush prey including invertebrates, birds, and mammals. It has been claimed that they have a venomous bite; there are two glands in the lower jaw which secrete several toxic proteins. The biological significance of these proteins is disputed, but the glands have been shown to secrete an anticoagulant. Komodo dragon group behaviour in hunting is exceptional in the reptile world. The diet of big Komodo dragons mainly consists of deer, though they also eat considerable amounts of carrion. Komodo dragons also occasionally attack humans in the area of West Manggarai Regency where they live in Indonesia.

Mating begins between May and August, and the eggs are laid in September. About 20 eggs are deposited in abandoned megapode nests or in a self-dug nesting hole. The eggs are incubated for seven to eight months, hatching in April, when insects are most plentiful. Young Komodo dragons are vulnerable and therefore dwell in trees, safe from predators and cannibalistic adults. They take 8 to 9 years to mature, and are estimated to live up to 30 years.

Komodo dragons were first recorded by Western scientists in 1910. Their large size and fearsome reputation make them popular zoo exhibits. In the wild, their range has contracted due to human activities, and they are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. They are protected under Indonesian law, and a national park, Komodo National Park, was founded to aid protection efforts.

ETYMOLOGY

The Komodo dragon is also known as the Komodo monitor or the Komodo Island monitor in scientific literature, although this is not very common. To the natives of Komodo Island, it is referred to as ora, buaya darat (land crocodile), or biawak raksasa (giant monitor).

EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY

The evolutionary development of the Komodo dragon started with the Varanus genus, which originated in Asia about 40 million years ago and migrated to Australia. Around 15 million years ago, a collision between Australia and Southeast Asia allowed the varanids to move into what is now the Indonesian archipelago, extending their range as far east as the island of Timor. The Komodo dragon was believed to have differentiated from its Australian ancestors 4 million years ago. However, recent fossil evidence from Queensland suggests the Komodo dragon evolved in Australia before spreading to Indonesia. Dramatic lowering of sea level during the last glacial period uncovered extensive stretches of continental shelf that the Komodo dragon colonized, becoming isolated in their present island range as sea levels rose afterwards.

DESCRIPTION

In the wild, an adult Komodo dragon usually weighs around 70 kg, although captive specimens often weigh more. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, an average adult male will weigh 79 to 91 kg and measure 2.59 m, while an average female will weigh 68 to 73 kg and measure 2.29 m. The largest verified wild specimen was 3.13 m long and weighed 166 kg, including undigested food. The Komodo dragon has a tail as long as its body, as well as about 60 frequently replaced, serrated teeth that can measure up to 2.5 cm in length. Its saliva is frequently blood-tinged, because its teeth are almost completely covered by gingival tissue that is naturally lacerated during feeding. This creates an ideal culture for the bacteria that live in its mouth. It also has a long, yellow, deeply forked tongue. Komodo dragon skin is reinforced by armoured scales, which contain tiny bones called osteoderms that function as a sort of natural chain-mail. This rugged hide makes Komodo dragon skin poorly suited for making into leather.

SENSES

As with other Varanids, Komodo dragons have only a single ear bone, the stapes, for transferring vibrations from the tympanic membrane to the cochlea. This arrangement means they are likely restricted to sounds in the 400 to 2,000 hertz range, compared to humans who hear between 20 and 20,000 hertz. It was formerly thought to be deaf when a study reported no agitation in wild Komodo dragons in response to whispers, raised voices, or shouts. This was disputed when London Zoological Garden employee Joan Proctor trained a captive specimen to come out to feed at the sound of her voice, even when she could not be seen.

The Komodo dragon can see objects as far away as 300 m, but because its retinas only contain cones, it is thought to have poor night vision. The Komodo dragon is able to see in color, but has poor visual discrimination of stationary objects.

The Komodo dragon uses its tongue to detect, taste, and smell stimuli, as with many other reptiles, with the vomeronasal sense using the Jacobson's organ, rather than using the nostrils. With the help of a favorable wind and its habit of swinging its head from side to side as it walks, a Komodo dragon may be able to detect carrion from 4–9.5 km away. It only has a few taste buds in the back of its throat. Its scales, some of which are reinforced with bone, have sensory plaques connected to nerves to facilitate its sense of touch. The scales around the ears, lips, chin, and soles of the feet may have three or more sensory plaques.

BEHAVIOUR AND ECOLOGY

The Komodo dragon prefers hot and dry places, and typically lives in dry, open grassland, savanna, and tropical forest at low elevations. As an ectotherm, it is most active in the day, although it exhibits some nocturnal activity. Komodo dragons are solitary, coming together only to breed and eat. They are capable of running rapidly in brief sprints up to 20 km/h, diving up to 4.5 m, and climbing trees proficiently when young through use of their strong claws. To catch out-of-reach prey, the Komodo dragon may stand on its hind legs and use its tail as a support. As it matures, its claws are used primarily as weapons, as its great size makes climbing impractical.

For shelter, the Komodo dragon digs holes that can measure from 1–3 m wide with its powerful forelimbs and claws. Because of its large size and habit of sleeping in these burrows, it is able to conserve body heat throughout the night and minimize its basking period the morning after. The Komodo dragon hunts in the afternoon, but stays in the shade during the hottest part of the day. These special resting places, usually located on ridges with cool sea breezes, are marked with droppings and are cleared of vegetation. They serve as strategic locations from which to ambush deer.

DIET

Komodo dragons are carnivores. Although they eat mostly carrion, they will also ambush live prey with a stealthy approach. When suitable prey arrives near a dragon's ambush site, it will suddenly charge at the animal and go for the underside or the throat. It is able to locate its prey using its keen sense of smell, which can locate a dead or dying animal from a range of up to 9.5 km. Komodo dragons have been observed knocking down large pigs and deer with their strong tails.

Komodo dragons eat by tearing large chunks of flesh and swallowing them whole while holding the carcass down with their forelegs. For smaller prey up to the size of a goat, their loosely articulated jaws, flexible skulls, and expandable stomachs allow them to swallow prey whole. The vegetable contents of the stomach and intestines are typically avoided. Copious amounts of red saliva the Komodo dragons produce help to lubricate the food, but swallowing is still a long process (15–20 minutes to swallow a goat). A Komodo dragon may attempt to speed up the process by ramming the carcass against a tree to force it down its throat, sometimes ramming so forcefully, the tree is knocked down. To prevent itself from suffocating while swallowing, it breathes using a small tube under the tongue that connects to the lungs. After eating up to 80% of its body weight in one meal, it drags itself to a sunny location to speed digestion, as the food could rot and poison the dragon if left undigested for too long. Because of their slow metabolism, large dragons can survive on as little as 12 meals a year. After digestion, the Komodo dragon regurgitates a mass of horns, hair, and teeth known as the gastric pellet, which is covered in malodorous mucus. After regurgitating the gastric pellet, it rubs its face in the dirt or on bushes to get rid of the mucus, suggesting, like humans, it does not relish the scent of its own excretions.

The largest animals eat first, while the smaller ones follow a hierarchy. The largest male asserts his dominance and the smaller males show their submission by use of body language and rumbling hisses. Dragons of equal size may resort to "wrestling". Losers usually retreat, though they have been known to be killed and eaten by victors.

The Komodo dragon's diet is wide-ranging, and includes invertebrates, other reptiles (including smaller Komodo dragons), birds, bird eggs, small mammals, monkeys, wild boar, goats, deer, horses, and water buffalo. Young Komodos will eat insects, eggs, geckos, and small mammals. Occasionally, they consume humans and human corpses, digging up bodies from shallow graves. This habit of raiding graves caused the villagers of Komodo to move their graves from sandy to clay ground and pile rocks on top of them to deter the lizards. The Komodo dragon may have evolved to feed on the extinct dwarf elephant Stegodon that once lived on Flores, according to evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond.

The Komodo dragon drinks by sucking water into its mouth via buccal pumping (a process also used for respiration), lifting its head, and letting the water run down its throat.

SALIVA

Auffenberg described the Komodo dragon as having septic pathogens in its saliva (he described the saliva as "reddish and copious"), specifically the bacteria E. coli, Staphylococcus sp., Providencia sp., Proteus morgani, and P. mirabilis. He noted, while these pathogens can be found in the mouths of wild Komodo dragons, they disappear from the mouths of captive animals, due to cleaner diets and the use of antibiotics. This was verified by taking mucous samples from the external gum surfaces of the upper jaws of two freshly captured individuals. Saliva samples were analyzed by researchers at the University of Texas, who found 57 strains of bacteria growing in the mouths of three wild Komodo dragons, including Pasteurella multocida. The rapid growth of these bacteria was noted by Fredeking: "Normally it takes about three days for a sample of P. multocida to cover a Petri dish; ours took eight hours. We were very taken aback by how virulent these strains were". This study supported the observation that wounds inflicted by the Komodo dragon are often associated with sepsis and subsequent infections in prey animals. How the Komodo dragon is unaffected by these virulent bacteria remains a mystery.Research in 2013 suggested that the bacteria in the mouths of komodo dragons are ordinary and similar to those found in other carnivores. They actually have surprisingly good mouth hygiene. As Bryan Fry put it: "After they are done feeding, they will spend 10 to 15 minutes lip-licking and rubbing their head in the leaves to clean their mouth... Unlike people have been led to believe, they do not have chunks of rotting flesh from their meals on their teeth, cultivating bacteria." The observation of prey dying of sepsis would then be explained by the natural instinct of water buffalos, who are not native to the islands where the Komodo dragon lives, to run into water when attacked. The warm, feces filled water would then cause the infections. The study used samples from 16 captive dragons (10 adults and six neonates) from three U.S. zoos.

VENOM

In late 2005, researchers at the University of Melbourne speculated the perentie (Varanus giganteus), other species of monitors, and agamids may be somewhat venomous. The team believes the immediate effects of bites from these lizards were caused by mild envenomation. Bites on human digits by a lace monitor (V. varius), a Komodo dragon, and a spotted tree monitor (V. scalaris) all produced similar effects: rapid swelling, localized disruption of blood clotting, and shooting pain up to the elbow, with some symptoms lasting for several hours.

In 2009, the same researchers published further evidence demonstrating Komodo dragons possess a venomous bite. MRI scans of a preserved skull showed the presence of two glands in the lower jaw. The researchers extracted one of these glands from the head of a terminally ill specimen in the Singapore Zoological Gardens, and found it secreted several different toxic proteins. The known functions of these proteins include inhibition of blood clotting, lowering of blood pressure, muscle paralysis, and the induction of hypothermia, leading to shock and loss of consciousness in envenomated prey. As a result of the discovery, the previous theory that bacteria were responsible for the deaths of Komodo victims was disputed.

Kurt Schwenk, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Connecticut, finds the discovery of these glands intriguing, but considers most of the evidence for venom in the study to be "meaningless, irrelevant, incorrect or falsely misleading". Even if the lizards have venom-like proteins in their mouths, Schwenk argues, they may be using them for a different function, and he doubts venom is necessary to explain the effect of a Komodo dragon bite, arguing that shock and blood loss are the primary factors.

Other scientists such as Washington State University's Biologist Kenneth V. Kardong and Toxicologists Scott A. Weinstein and Tamara L. Smith, have stated that this allegation of venom glands "has had the effect of underestimating the variety of complex roles played by oral secretions in the biology of reptiles, produced a very narrow view of oral secretions and resulted in misinterpretation of reptilian evolution". According to these scientists "reptilian oral secretions contribute to many biological roles other than to quickly dispatch prey". These researchers concluded that, "Calling all in this clade venomous implies an overall potential danger that does not exist, misleads in the assessment of medical risks, and confuses the biological assessment of squamate biochemical systems".

REPRODUCTION

Mating occurs between May and August, with the eggs laid in September. During this period, males fight over females and territory by grappling with one another upon their hind legs, with the loser eventually being pinned to the ground. These males may vomit or defecate when preparing for the fight. The winner of the fight will then flick his long tongue at the female to gain information about her receptivity. Females are antagonistic and resist with their claws and teeth during the early phases of courtship. Therefore, the male must fully restrain the female during coitus to avoid being hurt. Other courtship displays include males rubbing their chins on the female, hard scratches to the back, and licking. Copulation occurs when the male inserts one of his hemipenes into the female's cloaca. Komodo dragons may be monogamous and form "pair bonds", a rare behavior for lizards. Female Komodos lay their eggs from August to September and may use several types of locality; in one study, 60% laid their eggs in the nests of orange-footed scrubfowl (a moundbuilder or megapode), 20% on ground level and 20% in hilly areas. The females make many camouflage nests/holes to prevent other dragons from eating the eggs. Clutches contain an average of 20 eggs, which have an incubation period of 7–8 months. Hatching is an exhausting effort for the neonates, which break out of their eggshells with an egg tooth that falls off soon after. After cutting themselves out, the hatchlings may lie in their eggshells for hours before starting to dig out of the nest. They are born quite defenseless and are vulnerable to predation. Sixteen youngsters from a single nest were on average 46.5 cm long and weighed 105.1 grams. Young Komodo dragons spend much of their first few years in trees, where they are relatively safe from predators, including cannibalistic adults, as juvenile dragons make up 10% of their diets. The habit of cannibalism may be advantageous in sustaining the large size of adults, as medium-sized prey on the islands is rare. When the young approach a kill, they roll around in fecal matter and rest in the intestines of eviscerated animals to deter these hungry adults. Komodo dragons take approximately three to five years to mature, and may live for up to 50 years.

PARTHENOGENESIS

A Komodo dragon at London Zoo named Sungai laid a clutch of eggs in late 2005 after being separated from male company for more than two years. Scientists initially assumed she had been able to store sperm from her earlier encounter with a male, an adaptation known as superfecundation. On 20 December 2006, it was reported that Flora, a captive Komodo dragon living in the Chester Zoo in England, was the second known Komodo dragon to have laid unfertilized eggs: she laid 11 eggs, and seven of them hatched, all of them male. Scientists at Liverpool University in England performed genetic tests on three eggs that collapsed after being moved to an incubator, and verified Flora had never been in physical contact with a male dragon. After Flora's eggs' condition had been discovered, testing showed Sungai's eggs were also produced without outside fertilization. On 31 January 2008, the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, became the first zoo in the Americas to document parthenogenesis in Komodo dragons. The zoo has two adult female Komodo dragons, one of which laid about 17 eggs on 19–20 May 2007. Only two eggs were incubated and hatched due to space issues; the first hatched on 31 January 2008, while the second hatched on 1 February. Both hatchlings were males.

Komodo dragons have the ZW chromosomal sex-determination system, as opposed to the mammalian XY system. Male progeny prove Flora's unfertilized eggs were haploid (n) and doubled their chromosomes later to become diploid (2n) (by being fertilized by a polar body, or by chromosome duplication without cell division), rather than by her laying diploid eggs by one of the meiosis reduction-divisions in her ovaries failing. When a female Komodo dragon (with ZW sex chromosomes) reproduces in this manner, she provides her progeny with only one chromosome from each of her pairs of chromosomes, including only one of her two sex chromosomes. This single set of chromosomes is duplicated in the egg, which develops parthenogenetically. Eggs receiving a Z chromosome become ZZ (male); those receiving a W chromosome become WW and fail to develop, meaning that only males are produced by parthenogenesis in this species.

It has been hypothesized that this reproductive adaptation allows a single female to enter an isolated ecological niche (such as an island) and by parthenogenesis produce male offspring, thereby establishing a sexually reproducing population (via reproduction with her offspring that can result in both male and female young). Despite the advantages of such an adaptation, zoos are cautioned that parthenogenesis may be detrimental to genetic diversity.

HISTORY

DISCOVERY BY THE WESTERN WORLD

Komodo dragons were first documented by Europeans in 1910, when rumors of a "land crocodile" reached Lieutenant van Steyn van Hensbroek of the Dutch colonial administration. Widespread notoriety came after 1912, when Peter Ouwens, the director of the Zoological Museum at Bogor, Java, published a paper on the topic after receiving a photo and a skin from the lieutenant, as well as two other specimens from a collector. The first two live Komodo dragons to arrive in Europe were exhibited in the Reptile House at London Zoo when it opened in 1927. Joan Beauchamp Procter made some of the earliest observations of these animals in captivity and she demonstrated the behaviour of one of these animals at a Scientific Meeting of the Zoological Society of London in 1928. The Komodo dragon was the driving factor for an expedition to Komodo Island by W. Douglas Burden in 1926. After returning with 12 preserved specimens and 2 live ones, this expedition provided the inspiration for the 1933 movie King Kong. It was also Burden who coined the common name "Komodo dragon." Three of his specimens were stuffed and are still on display in the American Museum of Natural History.

STUDIES

The Dutch, realizing the limited number of individuals in the wild, outlawed sport hunting and heavily limited the number of individuals taken for scientific study. Collecting expeditions ground to a halt with the occurrence of World War II, not resuming until the 1950s and 1960s, when studies examined the Komodo dragon's feeding behavior, reproduction, and body temperature. At around this time, an expedition was planned in which a long-term study of the Komodo dragon would be undertaken. This task was given to the Auffenberg family, who stayed on Komodo Island for 11 months in 1969. During their stay, Walter Auffenberg and his assistant Putra Sastrawan captured and tagged more than 50 Komodo dragons. The research from the Auffenberg expedition would prove to be enormously influential in raising Komodo dragons in captivity. Research after that of the Auffenberg family has shed more light on the nature of the Komodo dragon, with biologists such as Claudio Ciofi continuing to study the creatures.

CONSERVATION

The Komodo dragon is a vulnerable species and is on the IUCN Red List. There are approximately 4,000 to 5,000 living Komodo dragons in the wild. Their populations are restricted to the islands of Gili Motang (100), Gili Dasami (100), Rinca (1,300), Komodo (1,700), and Flores (perhaps 2,000). However, there are concerns that there may presently be only 350 breeding females. To address these concerns, the Komodo National Park was founded in 1980 to protect Komodo dragon populations on islands including Komodo, Rinca, and Padar. Later, the Wae Wuul and Wolo Tado Reserves were opened on Flores to aid with Komodo dragon conservation.

Komodo dragons avoid encounters with humans. Juveniles are very shy and will flee quickly into a hideout if a human comes closer than about 100 metres. Older animals will also retreat from humans from a shorter distance away. If cornered, they will react aggressively by gaping their mouth, hissing, and swinging their tail. If they are disturbed further, they may start an attack and bite. Although there are anecdotes of unprovoked Komodo dragons attacking or preying on humans, most of these reports are either not reputable or caused by defensive bites. Only a very few cases are truly the result of unprovoked attacks by abnormal individuals, which lost their fear towards humans.

Volcanic activity, earthquakes, loss of habitat, fire, loss of prey due to poaching, tourism, and illegal poaching of the dragons themselves have all contributed to the vulnerable status of the Komodo dragon. Under Appendix I of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), commercial trade of skins or specimens is illegal.

On Padar, a former population of the Komodo dragon became extinct, of which the last individuals were seen in 1975. It is widely assumed that the Komodo dragon died out on Padar after a strong decline of the populations of large ungulate prey, for which poaching was most likely responsible.

IN CAPTIVITY

Komodo dragons have long been great zoo attractions, where their size and reputation make them popular exhibits. They are, however, rare in zoos because they are susceptible to infection and parasitic disease if captured from the wild, and do not readily reproduce. As of May 2009, there were 13 European, 2 African, 35 North American, 1 Singaporean, and 2 Australian institutions that kept Komodo dragons.

The first Komodo dragons were displayed at London Zoo in 1927. A Komodo dragon was exhibited in 1934 at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., but it lived for only two years. More attempts to exhibit Komodo dragons were made, but the lifespan of these animals was very short, averaging five years in the National Zoological Park. Studies done by Walter Auffenberg, which were documented in his book The Behavioral Ecology of the Komodo Monitor, eventually allowed for more successful managing and reproducing of the dragons in captivity.

A variety of behaviors have been observed from captive specimens. Most individuals are relatively tame within a short time, and are capable of recognizing individual humans and discriminating between familiar keepers. Komodo dragons have also been observed to engage in play with a variety of objects, including shovels, cans, plastic rings, and shoes. This behavior does not seem to be "food-motivated predatory behavior".

Even seemingly docile dragons may become unpredictably aggressive, especially when the animal's territory is invaded by someone unfamiliar. In June 2001, a Komodo dragon seriously injured Phil Bronstein, the then husband of actress Sharon Stone, when he entered its enclosure at the Los Angeles Zoo after being invited in by its keeper. Bronstein was bitten on his bare foot, as the keeper had told him to take off his white shoes and socks, which the keeper stated could potentially excite the Komodo dragon as they were the same color as the white rats the zoo fed the dragon. Although he escaped, Bronstein needed to have several tendons in his foot reattached surgically.

IN POPULARE CULTURE

Komodo dragons are used as a main theme in Komodo (1999), Curse of the Komodo (2004) and Komodo vs. Cobra (2005).

The comedy team of Bob and Ray performed a popular sketch entitled "The Komodo Dragon Expert."

The plot of the 1990 film, The Freshman, involves a university freshman, an aging mobster and a Komodo dragon.

In the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, one of the Chinese henchmen in a casino that Bond visits in Macau is overtaken, dragged off and presumably killed by a Komodo dragon.

WIKIPEDIA

St Aidan's Nature Park

Governments around the world are drawing on behavioural insights to improve public policy outcomes: from automatic enrolment for pensions, to better tax compliance, to increasing the supply of organ donation.

But those very same policy makers are also subject to biases that can distort decision making. The Behavioural Insights Team has been studying those biases and what can be done to counter them, in collaboration with Jill Rutter and Julian McCrae of the Institute for Government.

The report was launched with remarks from Alex Chisholm, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy.

Dr Michael Hallsworth, Director of the Behavioural Insights Team in North America presented the key findings.

The findings, their relevance to policy making today, and what they mean for the way governments make decisions were discussed by:

Polly Mackenzie, Director of Policy for the Deputy Prime Minister, 2010–15 and now Director of Demos

Dr Tony Curzon Price, Economic Advisor to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The event was chaired by Jill Rutter, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

#IfGBIT

Photos by Candice McKenzie

Nestlé Research Center studies behaviour to understand drivers of pleasure and healthy food choices.

7.6.2025.

RSPB - Bempton cliffs.

© Jonne Kingma Photography

Model: Marissa

22 February 2015. Stoneleigh Road N17.

In my opinion, our local street cleaners - working for Veolia - do a good job; collecting and bagging waste in the company's purple bags.

Which are supposed to be collected reasonably quickly.

But while the "official" bags await collection, they act like a "magnet" - tacitly encouraging a few people to add their own waste bags to the pile.

Album Title: Exotic Behaviour

Model: 虹羚

Photographer: Edwin Setiawan

Place: 士林官邸

Date: 2009/07/12

Just about Photography: edwinsetiawan.wordpress.com

Edwin Setiawan Photography: www.edwinsetiawan.com

Not what I had expected to be shooting yesterday although I do suppose it qualifies as "wild life". An amazing experience watching this guy navigate the rapids.

More photos of this adventure on my website www.melanieleesonphotography.com/Recent-Photos/White-wate...

Photographed for a personal project at Stephansplatz, Vienna, Austria. 21 September 2023

A candid street photograph showing a crowd next to Stephansdom (St Stephen's Cathedral), Vienna. A popular hotspot for tourists, it’s a common sight to see people photographing it, and posing for photos next to it.

A distant shot but at least with the action spread out you don't require such a drastic crop.

St Aidan's Nature Park.

Male Buffalo beetles use their wings to move between populations and search out females.

Video by Chris Boccia

Buffalo beetles forage on the ground, and are usually found feeding on fallen fruit and other vegetable detritus.

Video by Chris Boccia

Cromwell Bottom Nature Reserve

Models: Palvi Sharma & Sandy M

Makeup: Simran Sagoo - Hair Stylist & Make Up Artist

Jewellery: Accessoreez Bazaar

Outfits: Onitaa - The Essence of Asia Couture

Blend dos Jedward bem simples que resolvi fazer esta tarde. No Rip, o que acharam? :)

I've been thinking of so many different titles for this one... but I've decided to pass!

Hurled out of a passing chariot by wicked dogs, damn their eyes!!! We disposed of it in a nearby rubbish bin. In some countries they could be [if they were caught] heavily fined and had their miserable gurt great fat chariot summarily crushed.

Wood/Carolina Duck on Quarry Lake, Phoenix Park, Dublin

[order] Anseriformes | [family] Anatidae | [latin] Aix sponsa | [UK] Wood Duck | [FR] Canard branchu | [DE] Brautente | [ES] Pato de la Florida | [IT] Anatra sposa | [NL] Carolinaeend

Measurements

spanwidth min.: 70 cm

spanwidth max.: 73 cm

size min.: 47 cm

size max.: 54 cm

Breeding

incubation min.: 31 days

incubation max.: 35 days

fledging min.: 56 days

fledging max.: 70 days

broods 1

eggs min.: 9

eggs max.: 14

Physical characteristics

Wood Ducks are intermediate in size, between the Mallard and Blue-winged Teal; on average, males weigh 680 g and females weigh 460 g. From a distance, the male Wood Duck on the water appears as a dark-bodied, dark-breasted, light-flanked duck with a striped crested head and a light-coloured throat. At close range, its iridescent plumage, red eyes, and black, red, and white bill are conspicuous. A white eye-ring, light-coloured throat, and fine crest distinguish the female from both the male Wood Duck and females of other species. Both sexes usually show a downward pointing crest at the back of the head, and their long broad square tails are distinctive features in flight.

The wings of Wood Ducks are highly characteristic. The primary wing feathers, which are the 10 outermost flight feathers attached to the wing beyond the wrist, are dark in colour. The outer vanes of these feathers look as if they have been sprayed with aluminum paint. The Wood Duck is the only North American duck so marked.

In most cases it is possible to distinguish immature from mature ducks and to tell males from females by their wings alone. In the Wood Duck, as in other ducks, the feathers of that year's young are finer, more pointed and worn, and less colourful than those of adults. Females show a few small feathers on the upper surface of the wing that are purplish and have the same lustre as oil on water. These feathers are absent in males. The white tips on the feathers along the trailing edge of the wing are usually teardrop-shaped in the female, but either straight or V-shaped in the male. By studying the wings of ducks taken by hunters, biologists can determine the ratio of young to adult ducks in the population and thereby measure waterfowl production.

The Wood Duck is a distinctively North American species. Its only close relative is the Mandarin Duck of eastern Asia. Evidently the Wood Duck originated in North America, as fossil remains have been found only in widely scattered locations in the eastern part of the continent.

Habitat

Like other perching ducks, Wood Ducks nest in trees. Preferred nesting sites are holes in hollow trunks or large branches that result from broken limbs, fire scars, lightning and logging damage. They also use cavities created by large woodpeckers such as the Pileated Woodpecker. Nests are situated from 1 to 15 m above ground, in trees more than 40 cm in diameter. They are usually found close to water, although females sometimes select trees some distance from water.

Other details

In Canada, the Wood Duck nests in scattered locations in the southern parts of all provinces; however, there is only one breeding record for Newfoundland and Labrador. The most extensive breeding ranges are in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and British Columbia. This duck occurs over a much wider area in late summer and early autumn, as a result of post-breeding dispersal. Although most Wood Ducks migrate to the United States, a few may spend the winter in extreme southern Ontario and southeastern British Columbia.

The Wood Duck is much more widely distributed in the United States, where it nests in areas east of the Mississippi River, along the lower Missouri River into South Dakota, in eastern Texas, along the Pacific coast, and in a few other places. It winters mainly along the Atlantic coast from New York south, along the Gulf coast into central Texas, to the lower Mississippi River valley and western California. A few winter in Mexico south to Distrito Federal. In Europe all sightings are of escaped birds.

Feeding

The Wood Duck is mainly a herbivore, or vegetarian, with plant foods making up about 90 percent of its diet. Foods vary according to their local availability, but duckweeds, cypress seeds, sedges, grasses, pondweeds, and acorns are among the more important foods throughout North America. In recent years corn has assumed a greater importance as small groups of Wood Ducks engage in field feeding behaviour similar to that of dabbling ducks, such as Mallards.

Ducklings require a high protein diet for rapid growth. Invertebrates such as dragonflies, bugs, beetles, and spiders are important foods during the first few weeks of life, so high populations of these small creatures are essential in habitats where the young will hatch and develop.

Conservation

This species has a large range, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 6,200,000 km². It has a large global population estimated to be 3,500,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2002). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern. [conservation status from birdlife.org]

Breeding

The female Wood Duck breeds when one year old. She lines the nest with down, or fine feathers, taken from her breast, and lays eight to 15 dull-white to cream-coloured eggs. She incubates, or keeps the eggs warm, for 28 to 30 days until they hatch. During unusually cold weather, or if the female is away from the nest for an abnormally long time, incubation may require a few extra days.

Upon hatching, usually in June in eastern Canada, the young use their sharp claws to climb up the inside of the nesting cavity to its entrance, then jump and flutter to the ground, generally landing unharmed. The female guides them to the nearest water, where they will spend the next eight to nine weeks hunting for food together.

Shortly after the female begins incubation the male loses interest in family affairs and spends more time away from the nest. He joins other males, which eventually form large groups. As mid-summer approaches, the males begin the move to remote, undisturbed, sheltered places to moult, or shed old feathers. To reach these areas, they may travel great distances; many thousands migrate to southeastern Canada from breeding grounds in the northern states. On arrival the moult begins, and by August the brilliant spring feathers of the male have been replaced by a plumage similar to that of the female. Then, all at once, the flight feathers are moulted, leaving the male flightless for approximately four weeks while new feathers grow in.

Soon after the ducklings have fledged, or taken their first flight, usually by mid-August in eastern Canada, the females leave their broods, move a short distance, and undergo their moult. Like the males, they too seek out remote, undisturbed swamps and marshes and become flightless for a short period.

In late summer and early autumn, the young with their newly acquired powers of flight and the adults with their recently replaced flight feathers move in a leisurely way about the northern parts of their range. Their principal concern is to store up energy, in the form of fat, in preparation for the soon-to-come fall migration.

Migration

Wood Ducks migrate north to their Canadian breeding grounds, arriving there by April. Pair formation may occur on the wintering grounds before or during spring migration, or on the breeding grounds if one of the pair is lost. Mated pairs seek out secluded swamps or beaver ponds that provide water, nesting sites, brooding habitat, and feeding areas. Females often return to the same general area in which they were hatched.

By the first severe frost, usually in late September or early October in eastern Canada, Wood Ducks begin to head for the southeastern United States. Southern populations of Wood Ducks, particularly females, are less migratory. Populations in the interior of British Columbia migrate to the west coast, whereas Wood Ducks that live on the coast do not migrate at all. Has occurred Bermuda (regular), Azores and Alaska. Many sightings from Europe, presumed escapes.

"Human Behaviour" - Bjork

12" single

1993

St Aidan's Nature Park

( y màs abajo un gato... )

Black Headed Gull behaviour

"An otherwise normal person who have an addictive behavior or an obsession over an specific situation or thing, in a subjugated nature.

- Compulsión".

This is a series of photos that intent to portrait the nature of an obsession, taking it out of context and put it well beyond the normal social standard, far away of the comfort zone of most people. When you have a crave for something, and you can't go on without it you might have a Compulsión.

Haven't these mousers got work to do?

In truth, Macey (left) might be described as a vegetarian hunter. She captures leaves and presents them to us. Jasper would be more proficient were it not for the lack of a fourth leg.

Today the Hereios of the We're Here! group are investigating the Seven Deadly Sins (notwithstanding that they tend not to be deadly, a bit like our cats).

Leaf insects feed exclusively on leaves; in the wild, this species feeds on Eucalyptus. However, as Eucalyptus is less common in Canada, we tend to feed them raspberry leaves.

Video by Chris Boccia