Rather than fleeing when danger approaches, this heavyweight and highly venomous viper often stays perfectly still, relying on its patterned skin to blend into its surroundings. Slow and normally sluggish until it has been disturbed, then its demeanour changes dramatically. Puff adders inflate their bodies and unleashes a loud warning hiss and, if necessary, can strike with astonishing […]
Tag: caterpillars
“When they use these spines, they puncture them really deeply into their attacker. They can deliver venom into the wound”
The name of these creatures immediately lets you know they’re not something to be messed with. Assassin caterpillars (Lonomia) are the larval stage of the giant silkworm moth and they are believed to be the deadliest caterpillars in the world. Found in South America, these creepy crawlies protect themselves with a very special coat of armour: their […]
Get set for a painted lady summer: big year for orange butterflies in Britain
If you’ve spotted a pale orange butterfly dashing at frenetic pace through streets, fields or gardens, you’ve noticed the new migrants that will add colour to the summer in record-breaking numbers. What is expected to be the largest arrival of painted lady butterflies in Britain for 17 years is under way after heatwaves and favourable winds ushered thousands if […]
Up to half the bird species using the African-Eurasian flyway are declining
Each year in May, World Migratory Bird Day draws attention to the billions of birds that migrate long distances with the changing of the seasons, a living braid of ecosystems separated by thousands — even tens of thousands — of kilometers. According to Kariuki Ndang’ang’a, BirdLife International Africa’s regional director, about 2 billion birds fly […]
“It’s up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide.” 10 most poisonous animals in the world, from frogs to sharks – and even butterflies. Yes that’s right…
It’s a tough world out there and many animals have had to arm themselves. One capacity that has evolved time and time again is toxic weaponry – venoms and poisons. Although oft confused, there is a clear distinction between these two forms of toxins. Whereas venoms are produced in specialised tissues and are delivered to predators or prey through […]
Beautiful Tortoiseshell Butterfly Recolonizes England Decades After Elm Disease Had Eliminated it
The butterfly-mad British are celebrating what seems to be a permanent return of this large and spectacular species after Dutch elm disease killed it off from the island. Unlike the small tortoiseshell butterfly, the large tortoiseshell butterfly hasn’t been a resident of the UK since the 1960s, but after several years of continuous widespread sightings, […]
Weatherwatch: How ecologists are helping birds adapt to climate crisis
How do you help a migratory bird adapt to the climate crisis? One radical solution, as a team of Dutch ecologists discovered, is to move them further north. Pied flycatchers are handsome black-and-white songbirds, which breed in deciduous woodlands across much of temperate Europe. Each autumn, they head south across the Sahara desert to overwinter […]
The fate of this beloved American creature is in Trump’s hands
In late 2021, I stood in a forest about two hours from Mexico City and watched as a river of butterflies passed overhead. They were monarchs — the iconic, Halloween-colored butterflies — and they were coming here from the US to rest for the cold winter months. Nearly all of the monarchs east of the […]