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A lichen camouflaged grouse locust (Amorphopus sp.) from Sani Lodge Principal goes one step further; it's relatively sedentary lifestyle, and irregular surface architecture provides a hospitable growth environment for epizootic mosses.
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EE Legend
-Health injury/stress levels (scale 1-10-->☠️)
👣-Translocation
⏳-time in captivity
📷 -in situ
-studio
🎨 -Use of cloning or extensive post processing
↺ -Image rotation
🎼 -Playback
Photo from Sani lodge, Ecuador.
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EE Legend
-Health injury/stress levels (scale 1-10-->☠️)
👣-Translocation
⏳-time in captivity
📷 - in situ
- studio
🎨 - Use of cloning or extensive post processing
Photo from Sani lodge, Ecuador.
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EE Legend
-Health injury/stress levels (scale 1-10-->☠️)
👣-Translocation
⏳-time in captivity
📷 - in situ
- studio
🎨 - Use of cloning or extensive post processing
Photo from Sani lodge, Ecuador.
-----------------
EE Legend
-Health injury/stress levels (scale 1-10-->☠️)
👣-Translocation
⏳-time in captivity
📷 -in situ
-studio
🎨 -Use of cloning or extensive post processing
↺ -Image rotation
🎼 -Playback
I am designating the cockroach as the #SaniProject2017 official mascot (much to the chagrin of my partners), (I am looking into t-shirts being made :))
And herein we come to the crux of the matter.
At a glance, I could be mistaken for a cockroach fetishist, or at least a Blattodean sympathizer with all these photos and posts. And of course it's always easy to jest and treat with levity subjects that are either perceived as trivial or unpleasant.
However, the cockroach is a subject chosen with care and foresight as one of the first organisms to really be showcased by the #SaniProject2017. They represent beauty through understanding. They represent diversity. They represent what is underfoot, and what passes as invisible but which contributes in manifold and literally, untold ways. They represent the 99% of organisms which make up the rainforest ecosystem, and which are beholden to the 1% of the so-called banner species. And finally, maybe, they will come to represent disgust, confined to our own ignorance and intolerance.
So you can celebrate a diversity in all its forms, or else you can champion poverty through ignorance.
Ask yourself, "what to you is the cockroach underfoot?"
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Ask. Observe. Question.
Always
The #SaniProject2017 - An exploration into the beauty of biodiversity
Follow us at Destination Ecuador #Paulbertner #Sanilodge
Thanks to Gil Wizen for the ID.
Mark the dates on your calendars people, next Sunday the 5th you will learn to love the cockroach and images like this one will break your heart! A tribute and celebration to beauty, diversity, and complexity. Let's change the paradigm and revolt against revulsion.
A cockroach graveyard surrounds this cryptic owlfly. Cockroaches form a an important dietary staple and supplement for many insects, birds, reptiles and amphibians.
Changing hearts and minds one lowly and unevenly spaced blog entry at a time...
Photographed for the #SaniProject2017. Follow us at #DestinationEcuador #Sanilodge #Paulbertner #projectowlfly #cockroachesofSani.
This semi translucent fungus (Tremella fuciformis), several metres up a tree caught my eye as we were paddling down the river. Naturally I asked my guide to stop, row back upstream, and I climbed up to investigate further. I wasn't disappointed! It almost looks like glass in the proper light. A beautiful specimen (but aren't they all?!!!), just one of the amazing #FungiofSani.
Photographed for the #SaniProject2017. Follow us at Destination Ecuador #Paulbertner #Sanilodge.
Thanks to Susanne Sourell for the ID.
Bird's nest fungus (Nidulariaceae) from Sani Lodge Principal, Ecuador. What appear like eggs at the bottom of a nest, are spores, or 'peridioles', which are disseminated when water falls into the cups and displaces them.
Thanks to Susanne Sourrell for the ID.
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EE Legend
-Health injury/stress levels (scale 1-10-->☠️)
👣-Translocation
⏳-time in captivity
📷 -in situ
-studio
🎨 -Use of cloning or extensive post processing
↺ -Image rotation
🎼 -Playback
A pet peeve of mine is anthropomorphizing animals and attributing to them human emotions, sentiments and values. Not only is this very anthropocentric and narrow minded, it also cheapens the rich, amazing evolutionary journey these animals have trekked to get to their present form. So when my guide/understudy, a young, local Kichwa took me aback by saying that this grasshopper looked like Angelina Jolie's Maleficent, I felt the need to sit him down and give him a stern talking to. "You do realize that that movie only got 50% on rotten tomatoes, it's just your standard hollywood...I mean, the grasshopper's antennae have evolved over evolutionary time to appear as they do. Sometimes the odd shape is to disrupt a predator's search image, other times they serve a specific function, beyond the traditional sensory role. It is only through observation, study, and a rigorous application of the scientific method that we can tease out each animal's complicated story. And if you want to see a real movie, then go see Citizen Kane!" - I finished at nearly fever pitch, slightly traumatizing him.
The "Maleficent grasshopper" ;) photographed for the #SaniProject2017. Follow us at Destination Ecuador #Paulbertner #Sanilodge.
Treehoppers (Membracidae) can be plain and unassuming, even boring. And then you see one that looks a little like a thorn and you say to yourself, 'yeah, that's pretty cool but it's no wasp-mimicking bark louse (m.facebook.com/story.php…)'. Then you come to the tropics and you feel like you have stepped into an alternate reality. The so-called pronotal ornamentation (a modification of the pronotum, the first segment of the thorax) explodes in a staggering, and stupefying display of evolutionay genius/madness. Ranging from the ant-like bulbous appendages of Cyphonia spp. , to the wasp-like Heteronotus, and Zebra-like Zona spp.
At a certain point you take a break from drinking the water because surely someone must have put something in it. You give it 5 minutes....And then regardless, you drink some more because you just don't want this crazy ride to end.
A pretty normal membracid photographed for the #SaniProject2017. Follow us at Destination Ecuador #Sanilodge #paulbertner.
"You'll never be just an Ecuadorian poison arrow frog (Ameerega bilinguis) to me", he whispered softly into her ear..."
Gah, writer's block!
Poison arrow frogs are one of the true delights of the rainforest, and they bring together the houses - "Griffindor" - the mammal seekers, Slytherin - the herpetologists, Ravenclaw- the birdwatcher's and Hufflepuff - the losers...no, I mean...yeah, sorry they are kinda losers (I mean a badger as your emblematic crest, you couldn't do any better?). They are a delight to all is what I'm trying to say, and it's no wonder why. Colourful and charismatic. But there is still a fair bit of misinformation that surrounds these little jewels.
The poison in the poison arrow frogs is not uniform across all groups. There are approximately 28 different classes of lipophilic alkaloids (Batrachotoxins, pumiliotoxins, etc...), each with different attributes, and different levels of toxicity. It is this very biochemical diversity which has lent itself to potential therapeusis, ranging from non-addictive painkillers, to heart stimulants and muscle relaxants.
The Genus Phyllobates has the highest LD50 (Lethal dose in 50% of the population, a reproducible and quantifiable measure used in the laboratory to indicate toxicity) poison amongst the poison arrow frogs (and one of the most potent animal toxins in the world). This genus is the one that gives these frogs their name, and fearsome reputation. However, the majority of poison arrow frogs are only mildly toxic to humans, and the lipophilic nature of their alkaloids means that the poisons must be rubbed into ones eyes or mucosal membranes, ingested, or find ingress in a wound. Simply touching these organisms is usually insufficient to poison.
"But my Dad, Uncle, Best friend - told me that if you simply touch a poison arrow frog you can die".
-Did they belong to Hufflepuff? Yes, the golden poison arrow is said to kill by simply touching it. I haven't tested this and think that it is more a case of the sheer toxicity and low LD50 necessary to poison, and thus micro-scratching of the skin's surface would present a form of entry. I imagine that It would have to possess additional chemical constituents enabling the poison to migrate across the skin, which represents a rather significant barrier.
Moreover, the poison is secreted through glands in the back and behind the head in response to a threat. Since poisons/venoms are expensive to produce, they are only used when danger is perceived. This is why you might see poison arrow frogs hopping along someone's arm with no apparent harm coming to that person.
We discussed earlier 'de novo' vs. biomagnification of biochemical constituents to be used in toxic sequestration (specifically in the case of the ithomiine/heliconiidae). It is much the same here. Poison arrow frogs obtain the toxic alkaloids which form the structural basis of their poisons from their diet, ants and termites mostly.
So whether you're a Griffindor and appreciate the beauty, the Ravenclaw, appreciating the biology and biochemical complexity, the slytherin who makes it their purpose to study these organisms, or the Hufflepuff...honestly, I don't why you're still here...these amphibians are beauty. They are complexity. And they are hope for both the rainforest, and ourselves.
See more rainforest jewels at #amphibansofSani.
Photographed for the #SaniProject2017. Follow us at #destinationecuador #Sanilodge #Paulbertner.