Termites hard at work!
Category: Culture, Ecology, Lakes, Termites | Date: Sep 23 2009 | By: dududiaries
Termites hard at work at Lake BaringoDear All, Hello - greetings from the road here. Have been travelling through the Rift valley and Western Kenya looking at plants, birds and insects along the way. Many of you will be familiar with the massive termite mounds that are found on the East African savannahs and in the drylands. Here is a typical mound from the Rift Valley area near Lake Baringo.
It has been really dry, and therefore most insect life is lying low waiting for rain. Driving through the Rift and the highlands there are clouds building and it looks like the rains are finally on their way at least for this part of Kenya.A couple of nights ago as I was walking by a termite mound I heard a strange rattling noise. Like any good entomologist I went over and investigated. Peering down into the mound the most amazing sight greeted me. Thousands of termites were lining the walls of the main tunnel.
They trooped up in organized squadrons and settled down to work on repairing the mound. There were two different castes of termites present - the workers - who are the smaller ones in the pictures with pale bodies and the soldiers who are larger with their very big heads and jaws. It was the workers who did all the labouring while the soldiers stood guard. We often think of termites as a nuisance when they feed on wooden structures. However, they are the ultimate re-cyclers of the bush taking indigestible plant matter and converting it into nutrients with the help of fungi and other micro-organisms (more on this soon).Here is a video of a view into the termite mound and some close-up pictures of them too.
Tags: baringo, dino j. martins, Ecology, isoptera, Kenya, Termites
Butterfly eyes…
Category: Butterflies, Culture, Ecology | Date: Sep 12 2009 | By: dududiaries
Dear All, thanks for your kind comments about the Butterflion. If you are in Nairobi please go and visit him at the Sarit Centre outside the Text Book Centre. Here are some close-up pictures of butterflies that I took over the last couple of days. The pictures show their amazing compound eyes and mouthparts - which consist of a long tubular proboscis. More soon - enjoy the weekend!
Tags: Butterflies, butterflion, calotropis, Dino Martins, lepidoptera, papilio dardanus., pride of kenya
‘Robber’ attacks the Butterflion
Category: Butterflies, Culture, Ecology, Flies | Date: Sep 01 2009 | By: dududiaries
As I was putting the final touches to the Butterflion a few days ago before he was picked up by the people from Born Free, I noticed that there was a strange fellow hanging around the lion’s painted mane.
He swished back and forth in a very suspicious manner. I decided to stand as still as possible and watch to see who this interloper was. After several tense seconds, he showed himself, pouncing on one of the butterflies painted on the lion’s mane!
Stunned, as this butterfly was not a juicy piece of prey but a layer of acrylic pigment on some rather hard fibre-glass, the attacker sat there and obligingly let me take his picture. This is a Robber-Fly, a common predatory insect that often seizes butterflies from the air and when they perch. However, this time he was fooled!
More soon – the launch of the lions takes place tomorrow morning and I will be there. Many thanks to everyone for their kind comments especially Dana, Christine, Tonee and Sheryl.
Tags: , born free, butterfly, Dino Martins, pride of kenya, Robber-fly
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