Incredible!
Category: Culture, Ecology, Spiders | Date: Oct 14 2009 | By: dududiaries
Dear All – many thanks for the kind comments and I will respond to some of the questions soon. I just found and photographed the most incredible ‘creepy-crawlies’ in my house this evening.
As I was brushing my teeth, I noticed someone watching me quietly from the corner. The area around my sink is fairly sheltered and there are several regulars who hang out there: a cave cricket, moth flies, darkling beetles and a large wall spider. This evening I noticed someone new. It took me a while to register that there was someone there watching as the interloper did not move much.
I took at closer look and the little eight-legged fellow that peered back at me simply blew me away. Right there in from of my eyes was one of the most elusive and remarkable spiders in the world.
Everyone will be familiar with the typical spiders that construct webs and trap prey in them. This particular spider does things a little differently. This spider is commonly known as the Net-casting spider. Unlike most spiders who are simply content to sit and wait in their webs for some hapless bug to fly into it, these amazing spiders take the web strategy a step further. They weave a flexible net-liked web which they hold with the front legs. They do this dangling from a twig or some other promising perch. They support themselves using a scaffold of taut non-sticky silk that they lay down first. You can just see the lines of this scaffold in the corners in some of the pictures.
Enjoy the pictures of the Net-casting spider and I hope that you will be as amazed as I was…
When an insect wanders by, the Net-casting spider then throws the net over the prey! Truly, truly one of the most amazing spiders on the planet.
Tags: Deinopidae, dino j. martins, Kenya, net-casting spider, spider, spiderweb
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
Meet the Butterflion!!
Category: Butterflies, Culture, Ecology | Date: Aug 26 2009 | By: dududiaries
Hello!I’ve been meaning to share what I’ve been up to over the past few days. I have been painting a lion for the Pride of Kenya event, which is being organised by the Born Free foundation to raise awareness about the plight of Kenya’s lions and the need for their conservation.
Of course as an insect-lover you can guess what I painted on my lion…
The entire surface of the lion is covered in details from Kenyan butterflies and a few other bugs. There are a couple of pollinators – who are some of my favourite organisms and so important to farming and the survival of ecosystems.
There are also a few ticks and ants hidden here and there on the lion. This will be a small fun activity for children to locate all the ticks and ants that are on the lion.Painting one of the butterflies was done in honour of George Adamson and his incredible work for lion conservation throughout his life. The small, humble blue butterfly in the middle of the picture below is of a species that was found at Kora, where George Adamson lived his last years. This butterfly had been named in honour of him, Leptotes adamsoni.
I’ve gotten several requests for better views of the lion. Therefore, here is my amateur attempt at this by taking a video while walking around the lion and the result is below. Please enjoy the Butterflion and in appreciating the beauty and intricacy of these creatures spare a thought for all the wonderful animals and plants that we share the planet with and who need all the help they can get today to survive. And remember, without them our own survival on this fragile planet is tenuous.
Tags: born free, butterfly, Dino Martins, Kenya, lion, pride of kenya
Big female, tiny male…
Category: Culture, Ecology, Spiders | Date: Aug 25 2009 | By: dududiaries
Big female, tiny male!
On a recent walk through one of the coastal forests I came across this amazing example of ‘sexual dimorphism’. This is where there are striking differences in size, shape, colour and other features between males and females of the same species. In this case it is a striking example of size-based sexual dimorphism with a gigantic female and a puny dwarf male.
Orb-weaving spiders are common in the coastal forests – among the more striking are these magnificent Nephila, who hang their massive webs, often over a metre in diameter, along forest paths. These spiders are incredible creatures. They are not just large and colourful (this one here was about 7 inches from toe to toe!), but also highly intelligent.
I have actually seen some of them gather up their webs when they see a person or a large animal approaching. After you’ve passed, they drop the web back down into place. This means that the spider doesn’t have its web snagged every time some large bumbling mammal walks by.
While taking a closer look at the spider’s magnificent web and beautiful colours, I noticed that there was another creature clinging to the web beneath her. On closer inspection I realised that this was a male. These Nephila spiders have really tiny stunted males in many species.
The reason behind this is thought to be female aggression. The female Nephila are famously aggressive (even as I watched her from a safe distance she rotated her fangs at me like a pair of macabre bicycle pedals!). Males have gotten smaller and smaller through evolution so that they can sneak into the webs and mate with the females without getting eaten.
Males do compete for access to females, and therefore there is a trade-off: you need to be big enough to fend off the other boys, but not too big or else the female will notice you and take you for an intruder and despatch you before you can mate with her!
In many cases the males still get eaten after they mate with the female. In fact in some spiders the males actually somersault onto the females jaws after mating with her! Notice how in this pair of would-be lovers the male is keeping to the opposite side of the web until the female yields to his charms. Just in case he needs to make a quick escape! Talk about living life in the fast lane!
Many thanks to everyone for the kind comments. More from the wonderful world of bugs soon!
Tags: insects, invertebrates, Kenya, nephila, orb weaver, sexual dimorphism, spider, Spiders
Unexpected Diversity
Category: Butterflies, Dragonflies, Spiders | Date: May 12 2008 | By: dududiaries
This Saturday I visited the Kibera Slum in Nairobi with Paula of
WildlifeDirect and her remarkable sister Su Kahumbu, one of Kenya’s
most passionate organic farmers who is working very hard to raise
awareness about organic farming and other issues related to good
farming practices.
Isaak, a partial hearing child attached himself to me immediately
The Kibera Slum is probably not the kind of place you would ever
expect to hear about on a conservation blog. Many people associate the
slum with images of violence and chaos especially in the recent
violence that erupted in Kenya. However, given that a third of the
population of Nairobi lives in the slum (estimated at nearly 1 million
people!), the needs and hopes of the people who live there need to be
part of the big issues addressed by conservationists.
To those who livet here, garbage is just a part of the landscape. It is dumped in any open spaces, and is the unbelievable playground and hunting area for young children.
We went to look at a wonderful project that is literally, just taking
root, with a local Youth Group. A group of former prisoners are
cleaning up and restoring a piece of land that is basically a garbage
dump on the edge of the railway tracks. This piece of land is being
turned into an organic farm.
After one week the garbage had been cleared from the dump and neatly piled for erosion control, and soil prepared for planting
What impressed me about this project, apart from the incredible joy,
hope and determination of the people involved, was the way that life
itself – biodiversity – has made an unbelievable comeback on the land
being restored.
Sorrel and other plants grow wild here - the seeds come in the garbage
Negotiating the open sewers clogged with plastic bags and refuse, eyes
smarting from the fumes from endless fires burning everything from
dried fish to old batteries, one would be forgiven for thinking that
life barely survives here. But nothing could be further from the
truth. Given just a little breathing space to heal, Mother Nature has
begun to bounce back with vigour.
One of the first things was to restore the natural processes of decay
and nutrient cycling to the soil. And of course who better to do this
than those tireless soil-making machines, our dear little friends the
earthworms. In beds fed with scraps, the earthworms have been
established and are rapidly increasing in number (they are
hermaphrodites and can mate multiply!).
These children have hardly been exposed to natural vegetation or animals. On being introduced to worms the first child thought they were snakes and the first worm was hurled onto the railway tracks - the little boy believing he’d rescued us from a deadly bite!
As I walked over the soft, fragile soil, carefully raked clean of
debris, a brief rapid fluttering caught my eye. Intrigued, I followed
the tiny grey fleck as it whirled through the air. Finally, after
several frustrating minutes, it settled on a piece of paper lying on
the ground. I peered closely and was very pleasantly surprised. This
was a Woolly Legs – a strange and wonderful butterfly whose
caterpillars are carnivorous and feed on scale insects and other
similar pests! This makes them a useful insect and a cherished friend
of farmers who need to control scale insects on their crops.
Later, as the sun warmed the red soil, another flash of colour swirled
around coming to rest on a rock. Here was a newly arrived Painted Lady
– a migrant species, that has come to the tiny patch of land to start
a new generation of butterflies. She sat sunning herself on the rocks
in between the freshly dug furrows. Her choice of this spot also
indicates that the land is healing and welcoming to living things. The
herbs now allowed to sprout freed from the suffocating piles of
rubbish will bring in more and more insects. We saw 15 different
species of butterflies on the farm over the rest of the day –
absolutely amazing and wonderful.
Butterflies were not the only creatures making a comeback. We saw five
different kinds of bees, including honeybees, feeding from the small
patch of flowers at the edge of the little farm. These will be
important pollinators once the crops are established. A number of
dragonflies were also patrolling the area. They too are friends well
worth having as they feed on pesky flies and mosquitoes. Even the pile
of plastic bags raked out of the plot, piled up and planted on as an
erosion barrier was beginning to attract creatures – several small
spiders had taken up residence here.
As the land continues to heal and more and more plants are established
the numbers of creatures is bound to grow and I look forward to
visiting again and seeing who else has come back to live on the farm
and help the farmers keep the land healthy and productive. This also
goes to show you that life can thrive absolutely anywhere – we just
have to give her a chance!
The children were absolutely amazing, funny, happy and healthy! They have been incorporated into the project for future generations. They had the privilege of being the first to plant seeds in the seedbeds.
Tags: Kenya, Kibera, organic farming, slum upgrading
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