G'Day Robin
I had my first encounter with a stick insect today (er yesterday). Of
all places it was in the 4th floor toilets in the maths building here
where I work!
I took some video of it and have attached some of the captures from it.
It was at least 6 inches long, and it's camouflage isn't quite as
effective when it's hanging on a black wall. I gave it a little tap and
it gently swayed back and forth. I took it out of the toilets and showed
it to some of the female staff, much to their displeasure :-) I actually
joked about keeping it as a pet, but I put it outside which I thought
would be best. For reference, the width of that magazine box that the
walking stick is on is 11cm. In hindsight, a brown box was perhaps the
worst colour choice I could've made.
I gather that it must have come in to get out of the cold 18 degree C
daytime temperatures. I'm wondering though how it could make it up to the
4th floor. It doesn't seem to have wings for flight, and I thought it may
be a bit risky for it to climb the outside of the building in terms of
exposure to predators (I guess birds would go after it). And I don't
think it's coordinated enough to use the lifts :-)
I have never seen anything like it before first hand!
I found it so mesmerising just watching the way it was moving around on
that box with those huge legs.
On the insect front again, on my recent trip to Darwin I caught a close up
of a praying mantis cleaning itself (I think) much like a cat does. You
can find the captures here at the bottom of the page:
http://www.maths.monash.edu.au/~robert/Weather/Dawex/Day8/today.html
It may be a bit slow to load up as there is quite a bit on the page. My
real interest is in clouds and storms, but I had time to kill during work,
hence the insects pics. Day 7 (link at the bottom of page) has a 7cm
long grass hopper, and a close up of a smaller grass hopper.
Cheers
Robert A. Goler
School of Mathematical Sciences
Monash University
Clayton, Vic 3800
Australia
http://www.maths.monash.edu.au/~robert/