Ten Animal Phenomena To See Before I Die (Part 1)

Usually, when you see things like this, they're on travel websites or in airplane magazines and it's like, "These are all the stuff you should do in your life and if you want to do all this stuff HURRY UP THERE'S A LIMITED TIME OFFER ON TRIPS TO THE GALAPAGOS STARTING AT $999999.99!"
Of course, then there are blog posts written by people who are either a) sponsored by said travel agencies or b) really have nothing else to do with their time. I have no idea who that could be... do you?
The Amazing Animals Society is not a travel website. Nor is it an airplane magazine. I am not in the business of telling people what do with their lives (well, most of the time, anyways). So this is a list of ten animal phenomena to see before I die. See? I'm telling myself what to do with my life. Not you. But if you want to take the hint, that's fine with me. And in fact, if you visit gotravel.com... that was a joke, by the way. I am not going to advertise anything.
Anyway. Back to the original point. Animal phenomena, i.e. cool stuff that animals do. I present you, ten animal phenomena to see before I die.

1. The Sardine Run

 There are a lot of reasons for this one. It's pretty darn cool. First of all, it's like SARDINES SARDINES SARDINES SARDINES. And you can get some pretty good pictures. Like the one above. And all the sardine are together, in this big, tightly packed mass. I've had some experience of that while scuba diving but those sardines? That's on a whole different level. But then comes the better part (if that's possible). All these predators follow these sardines as they migrate down the coast of Africa-- dolphins (squee!), sharks (double squee!), whales (megadruple squee!). Except that the thing is, this also presents a huge opportunity for fishermen, and the numbers on the sardine run are getting less and less every year. So, that's on the do-as-soon-as-possible-before-this-stops-happening to-do list.

2. Coral spawning

There are two types of coral reproduction. One is asexual, where the corals spring out branches that grow into totally different corals, and the other is sexual, where egg and sperm fertilize one another. That's what happens in this coral spawning. All at once, all the egg, and all the sperm, come out, and make baby corals. All at the same time, on the 2nd-6th day after November's full moon. You see the first picture up there? That's how it looks. From above. Yeah, those pink splotches are coral spawning. And the second picture is how it looks from the water. If you want an entire post devoted to this process because you want to know more, let me know in the comments!

3. The Wildebeest Migration

 What it sounds like. Where all the wildebeest migrate in one mega-herd across Africa. As well as the zebra. And lots of predators follow. So basically replace the sardine run with wildebeest and zebra. And the predators with lions, cheetahs, and leopards. So... pretty darned awesome.

4. The Monarch Migration

A lot of migrations, I know... last one. I hope. So this is a pretty famous migration that monarch butterflies make across the United States. However, the numbers of these beautiful butterflies are slowly declining, but not as fast as the sardine run. When they settle down, it's like a cloud come to rest; you're surrounded by orange butterflies, some dead in the undergrowth, but mostly just fluttering, fluttering, fluttering, till they all rise up in one big swarm. (I do not speak from personal experience-- see the title!)

5. Pfeffer's Flamboyant Cuttlefish

I am the Glasswing Butterfly, but I do not want to see this animal because of its cuteness. (It is toxic, you know.) I want to see this animal because of its miraculous color-changing displays. Like literally, colors flow through it, in wave after wave-- it's beautiful. (Again, no personal experience) It's actually a warning display because of said toxicity. It's as poisonous as the famous blue-ringed octopus. And that's our lesson for the day, folks: Cuteness can kill.

Also, Pfeffer? I want a last name like that!

The Glasswing Butterfly

To be continued... hopefully.

The Glasswing Butterfly - Greta Oto

After a long break of almost two months, I return with 10 (give or take a couple) facts every week about an animal or plant of your choice. I'm going to start with the pseudonyms of this blog's admins. First up, the Glasswing Butterfly!

1. Its name in Spanish is espejitos, meaning “little mirrors”. 
2. It can carry up to 40 times its own weight.
3. The glasswing butterfly lays its eggs on the poisonous nightshade plant, which makes both it and its caterpillars toxic to predators.
4. The alkaloid poisons in a glasswing butterfly are turned into pheromones and used in courtship by male butterflies.
5. Its translucent wings are made by lack of scales rather than translucent scales.
6. As well as feeding on nectar, glasswing butterflies feed on insect-eating birds’ droppings to get amino acids.
7. Its wings allow it to hide from predators, rather than scaring them off like other butterflies do.
8. There are many types of glasswing butterfly, including ones with translucent pink wings.
9. Even though butterflies do not typically migrate, glasswing butterflies do.

Do you want to see facts about your favourite animal or plant in a future post? Leave a message in the comments!

sources

• http://www.secretcritters.com/glasswinged-butterfly/
• http://www.arkinspace.com/2011/07/incredible-glasswing-butterfly.html
• http://aufait.hubpages.com/hub/Glasswing-Butterfly-Including-the-Pink-Glasswing-Butterfly
• http://amazinglist.net/2013/03/translucent-butterflies/

The Emu

THE GLASSWING BUTTERFLY IS A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!

First of all, a prominent thumbing to the Blobfish. With her usual lack of planning, he hasn't bothered to prepare anything before she left on vacation. So, don't expect any Pawsome Scribbles for quite a couple of weeks. Unless I move my butt and draw something, which is highly unlikely and will most probably not even be worth looking at. And onto my second piece of news:
I'M A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!
Happy happy happy happy happy happy dance!
Remember that very slightly hyperactive piece I wrote about the Common Birdwing earlier? I emailed someone at the Nature Society Singapore's Butterfly Interest Group about it and he asked me to write about it for the NSS newsletter... so I did. The Common Birdwing is a new location record in the area: Oh my god! Almost a month later, and as many emails, it's finally in the newsletter! Squee! Here's the link for all those that want to appreciate how awesome I am...
http://nss.org.sg/newsletter/1046d612-aNN%20Jul-Aug%202013.pdf
Also, I recently visited the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve so you do not have my permission to be bored at the prominently big-cat themed posts that will follow in a couple days.

The Glasswing Butterfly, Published Author (:D)

The Horticultural Gardens: Lepidoptera Philes

The Horticultural Gardens, to my knowledge, are usually not washing rooms. But it seems like people in Calcutta hadn’t got the message. The entrance to the gardens was covered in saris laid out to dry and in the distance, I think I saw people wringing out clothes. Trying to ignore the fact that this garden, despite being a public facility, was being treated like a private one, I walked on, eyes peeled for: you guessed it, butterflies. Despite flowers lining the paths and everything being very green not even the tiniest Lesser Grass Blue was in sight. Just need to get a little inside, I reassured myself, not very convincingly.

 “Come, let’s look at the bonsais!” called my aunt. I followed her like a good little niece. The bonsais weren’t overgrown, which showed evidence of maintenance, or of buying a new one every time it grew too high, and here I saw a couple of lepidoteras darting back and forth. None of which, of course, paid me the courtesy of settling. So impolite! Were they not aware that the Glasswing Butterfly, completely unknown blogger and lepidopteraphile, was passing by?

Emerging out of the little circuit lined with bonsais, my opinion of the garden still wasn’t very high. Sure, there were a lot of flowers. Sure, at least there was a garden. But in my mind, NO GARDEN IS COMPLETE WITHOUT A HEALTHY DOSE OF BUTTERFLIES! Keep that in mind, folks, unless I pay a visit to your garden and blog about it. And also, I just wasn’t getting why there weren’t any butterflies. Not much human interference… check. The place was deserted it, a far cry from Singapore’s botanic gardens. Flowers… check. Maintenance (as in lack thereof, since high maintenance will almost certainly kill caterpillars and cocoons)… huge check. Everything was overgrown. Apart from a few branches tied up, there was no evidence of gardeners at all. It was like we had stepped into the Secret Garden, minus the little robin and all the other birds. Here, all you could here was crows caw-caw-cawing.

Then a miracle happened. A butterfly settled. (Cue heavenly music and trumpets.) I rushed over and snapped. It was new to me, most probably a type of Glassy Tiger, and I was just so overcome with relief that a) butterflies actually settled and b) I could identify one. I turned back to my mother and aunt with a big smile, for the moment forgetting the fact that I was probably in the worst Horticultural Garden in the world.

            

Lepidopteraphiles: Relationship Advice

'Relationship advice' is a general term. If you came here for the best ways to break up with your boyfriend, firstly, I don't really care about your personal life, and secondly, you're not a butterfly. A Common Mormon, to be precise.

Here is the extent of my relationship advice:
If you're a male Common Mormon then basically my only suggestion is to flap your wings at the female you have a crush on. Seriously, it should work. At least, that's what everyone else does, right? Go with the flow. (Actually, the Blobfish and I are both strong advocates of breaking out of the flow, diverting its course, and if still people think they want to be the same as each other, hitting them over the head.) Well, whether you go with the flow at once, you're probably going to end up desperately trying to stay in the same place in mid-air next to a female that is sunning herself/preparing for mating on a leaf. It's a huge contrast. Male: Frantic flapping. Female: Total relaxation. The Blobfish and I saw this behavior exhibited this weekend at Bukit Brown (whole 'nother story). Followed are some pictures, with their Project Noah links (please create an account and favorite!)
Here is the link to the photos since STUPID BLOGGER won't let me UPLOAD the pics! *shakes fist angrily* *regrets hyperventilating*
https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/24568243

COMMON BIRDWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG.
OMG.
OMG.
I'm not usually one in favor of that particular acronym but for this situation it could not be more appropriate.
Sunday morning, I get up as usual. Regular day, ready to be freakishly hot (as always in Singapore). Then Kaladidi calls me from the kitchen. I come. She brings me to the back. And there, fluttering very weakly in a plastic, is a beautiful black and yellow 'moth'.
And that was when I started hyperventilating. Because you see, it wasn't a moth at all. It was a butterfly. And not just any butterfly. A COMMON BIRDWING!!!!
That's plain gibberish to you in-initiated lepidopteraphiles. So I will put it plainly. The Common Birdwing is Singapore's largest butterfly. Despite its name, it is not common at all. A popular prize for collectors, it is listed by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) and is threatened in Singapore.
Yes, an EXTREMELY rare species came to my house.
I would like to give a huge thank you to Kaladidi. She saw it while she was walking our extremely awesome dog and took it home to show me. Thank you so much!
So after taking loads of pictures of it, we gently placed it on some plants outside my window. And it kind of flopped to the side, like it was dead. But it wasn't. If you blew a little on it, its wings fluttered, very weakly. Its lower abdomen was faded, and some of its yellow on the wings was dirtied. Its colors were still quite vibrant, but otherwise it was not doing well. I thought it would die.
Then I went to have breakfast, but every two minutes or so I came to check on it. Finally one time its wings were fluttering really fast, like a hummingbird's. Slowly it rose up- and up- and then it fell. Then it tried again- up- flop. Finally up- up- up- up- up- a circle around the roof of the car park, and my cousin and I watched awestruck as it flew off behind the building, the image of the yellow and black body against the brilliant blue sky imprinted in our minds forever.

The Glasswing Butterfly

The Lepidoptera Philes

So this is going to be part of a series on my ongoing obsession with butterflies to highlight the amount wildlife there is in Singapore. 'Lepidoptera' is the scientific name for butterfly, for those not in the know. I regularly go out on butterfly expeditions, armed only with my camera and a butterfly field guide to find as many of these winged beauties as possible. I might descend into technical terms at times though so please bear with me then.
Butterflies forever!
Glasswing Butterfly