Species Spotlight

Nature's Web

Nature's Web

When we hear the word mushroom, most of us picture an umbrella shaped vegetable that we either loved or hated as a kid. However, you may not know that what you find in the supermarket is only the fruiting body of a much more complex fungal network known as mycelium. Mycelium are thread like structures that branch into underground networks. Often quoted the Earth’s natural Internet, mycelium create a link between plant roots which allows for widely separated plants to stay connected.

Species Spotlight: Giant Tortoises

Species Spotlight: Giant Tortoises

  “Esio Trot, Esio Trot, 

                                          Teg Reggib, Reggib.

                                                              Emoc No, Esio Trot.”
                                                                                                Roald Dahl


Species Spotlight: DeciCentiMillipede

Species Spotlight: DeciCentiMillipede

 “Some people come by the name of genius in the same way that certain insects come by the name of centipede -- not because they have a hundred feet, but because most people can't count above 14.”
                                                                                                Georg C. Lichtenburg


What is the air-speed velocity on an unladen swallow?

What is the air-speed velocity on an unladen swallow?

Well, the most obvious answer- you might think- is “An African or European swallow?” But this is, indeed, where film culture begins to diverge from real life. Because in actual fact, none of the 47 swallow species found on the continent directly bears its name. We might consider the West African swallow, or the South African Cave swallow, however a choice between these two would be completely arbitrary- and neither is sufficiently studied to provide the data we need…

Friend or Foe?

Friend or Foe?

Revisiting an old chapter in the story of human-animal conflict

“Emus are little more than feathered stomachs borne on mighty legs and ruled by a tiny brain. If an emu wants one of your sandwiches, he will get it, and then run away.
He cannot help you with your sudoku.”

Richard Fortey