During our recent trip to Hwange National Park we spotted this beast. Can you see it?
You will agree with me that it was a rather easy find as the following video taken by Mabel shows:
This rather large flap-necked chameleon (Chamaeleo dilepis) resides in the dining area of the camp. One evening it was perched on the white canvas windbreaker almost as white as the canvas! THe following day it was spotted drinking water from the garden sprinkler! See it in action through another of Mabel´s videos below:
It was a good entertainment to see it almost daily and I hope it goes on living there undisturbed.
Driving around Robins camp in Hwange National Park we spotted this beast, the first one we have found in Zimbabwe. If you looked carefully you may have spotted somewhere in the picture. Below I present you with a close-up where you can see that it is an African Wild cat (Felis lybica).
The following (bad) picture shows some of the characteristic markings of this kind of cat.
I will further ellaborate on this finding in my next post on Hwange National Park.
Winter is not the best season to spot beasts at our farm in Salta, Argentina. Today was, however, an exception and we came across this beast that I would like you to spot and then I will give you more details about it.
To find the beast above is very difficult so I put a close-up to help you seeing it better:
I am quite sure that you have now find it. it is a Rococo toad (Rhinella schneideri) [1] that Mabel unearthed while shifting a pile of sand to build a carport at our farm. Luckily it was alive and unharmed but amazingly flaccid, clearly hibernating.
A cleaner toad for you to see better.“Side B” of the toad.
This rococo had buried itself at the start of the winter, probably in mid May as the winter started early this year and it will resurface when the warmer temperatures arrive in September/October. We re-buried it as well as we could and marked the site so that we can watch it emerging when the first warm days arrive.
The following short videos give more details of the find and the condition of the toad.
These are the pictures of an active toad found in the back patio of our farmhouse earlier this year that I used to illustrate my earlier post on this animal (see [1]). Apart from its rather impressive size, I find its clear eyes truly amazing.
The advent of the rains in our farm in Salta brings, like every year, an explosion of life. Today’s beast is not very common but rather spectacular (if you can find it…). At the bottom I include more pictures and videos of it for you to appreciate its beauty.
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It was an Imperial moth (Eacles imperialis) first described by Drury in 1773, clearly being too obvious to be missed!
This moth is one of the largest and most stunning of the Imperial moths. It is found from Canada to Argentina. Both larvae and adults are highly variable in coloration. They have a wingspan ranging from of 80 to 174 mm, the females being larger than the males.
Their immature instars feed on pines, oaks, maples, sweetgam and sassafras trees. Adults emerge before sunrise and mate after midnight and the females lay eggs singly or in small groups on both sides of leaves. Both sexes do not feed and are short-lived.
Some more pictures and videos below:
I found these moths a couple of years back and observed that they responded in this way to the touch. I filmed them as I found the behaviour interesting. I imagine that this behaviour could be useful the moths to survive while mating and laying eggs?
Checking my files I found this beast, one of my favourites. I am sure you will find as it is rather obvious.
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This “Spot” was just an excuse to show you how well this beautiful Greater Kudu male blended in the extremely dry environment of Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe.
While working on my next Ethiopian post that I promise will be interesting, I present you with this beast to see if you can find it. I must confess that it was difficult even for me to see it a few days after taking the shot!
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More pictures to give you a better idea of this moth:
On the road and without time to write the few final posts on Ethiopia, I present you with my last contribution for 2020 (although for some of you may be already the first of 2021) with my best wishes for the New Year during which I expect we will all avoid Covid!
Anyway, I found this at the garden and here it is. It seems straight forward but…
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Clearly, the ladybird was too obvious and a distraction! The real hidden beast is this small bluish-gren moth, a real delicate creature, well camouflaged among the leaves.
A Bushsnob in Africa 