Hello folks who wonder if insects call infants dressed in halloween costumes: creepy crawlies,
Who doesn't like Mickey Mouse? This love for the iconic disney character lead some folks to bring a plant native to South Africa and put it in their backyard in Australia. Little did someone realize that the birds found the fruit really attractive and started consuming it and pooping the seeds in forests well away from the parent plant. That is how the Mickey Mouse plant came to power and is starting to take over the the Australian landscape just like how Disney is starting to take over our entertainment space.
This plant has red sepals which remain after the fruit forms and bend back towards the stem. The fruits are glossy green at first, turning black as they ripen.
Below is the fruit of the mickey mouse plant. I am still not convinced why they call it that, maybe the same drunk sailors who thought manatees looked like mermaids named this plant.
Aah, just needed to look at them at the right time, when the berries ripen and some are eaten or fall down. This still looks like the Mickey Mouse who lost his house and job, whose wife left him just because he wouldn't kick his crystal meth addiction.
Or maybe a Mickey Mouse who forgot to use sunscreen during the Australian summer. Or maybe both.
When you think of bats, you immediately think of flying mammals that echolocate and start their late night shifts after the rest of the world goes to sleep. Bats use their ability to echolocate i.e. they generate sounds and use the resulting echoes to determine prey and flight path. But not all bats follow that norm. Bats can be classified as microbats and megabats. Below are some differences:
In a a suburb outside Sydney, one can see about 15,000 of these macrobats, affectionately called flying foxes. They are pretty noisy during the day when they are trying to sleep, hanging on trees.
In a a suburb outside Sydney, one can see about 15,000 of these macrobats, affectionately called flying foxes. They are pretty noisy during the day when they are trying to sleep, hanging on trees.
Below are some of Grey-headed Flying-foxes asking their friends to keep their voices low as some of them are trying to catch a few winks.
Death is inevitable and this flying fox has departed to meet its maker. It is easy to see why it got the name "Grey-headed Flying-fox" which is the largest bat species in Australia. A recent increase in extreme heat events in Australia due to climate change has caused fatalities to thousands of these bats from the searing heat.
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