milewski's Favorites

A fox killed by a porcupine (cf. Mammalia http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/mamm.ahead-of-print/mammalia-2013-0126/mammalia-2013-0126.xml ; ScienceMag http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2013/11/scienceshot-license-quill).

This porcupine was climbing on a tree, and wondering around on the ski slopes. It had a white belly. The top was a mixture of brown, grey, black and white. It was acting calm and collected. The porcupine looked to be around 2-3 feet long.

This adult and hatchling lacertid lizard were observed during the day near Hobatere (60 km WNW of Kamanjab). The juveniles of this species are mimics of the local 'eye-squirting' beetles in coloration and behavior (they raise the posterior portion of their bodies and rock side to side). As they age, their coloration changes and they no longer mimic the behavior of the beetle.

Ant air conditioning - whats going on here?

On a quick walk on a very hot afternoon I noticed these little mounds with wet "peaks" (pic4). The tube, probably from a broken nest, is about 4 cm. Taking a closer look, I could see some activity going on. Small black ants were scurrying around in the opening - one can just be seen circled in pic 3 but my cellphone camera could not catch them in action. The termites seem to have been pushed out. The one in pic 5 was alive but not very perky. A few other mounds in the vicinity also had wet "peaks". I would love to know what is going on here. It was really hot and dry - where did the moisture come from? Why do those termite bodies look so dry....?