Kallie's ark... err... bedroom!

This is an account of all of the creatures that slept in Kallie's room the other night (that she knows of):

- 100+ silkworms
- unknown quantity of aphids
- 4 ladybug larvae
- 2 stick insects
- teddies (Remus, Hendrik, Fredrik, Petruchio, Pingu the Burnt, Plucka)
- Desperado
- Kallie

Her excuse? It was too cold for them outside.

And because I haven't done one of these in ages:

What type of insect are you? Firefly You may seem drab and uninteresting to other people, but in reality you have amazing hidden talents.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

That's right. I'm special.

Surprisingly good

When Sam gave me a series called British Isles: A Natural History admittedly I wasn't that excited.

I mean... England. They have pollution. They have rain. They have green paddocks and sheep. They have stony places they mistakenly call beaches. Yeah. I partly descend from the Brits. My ancestors must have left that place for a reason.

I confess I was wrong! It turns out there is a whole lot more to this group of islands off the European coast. The scenery is surprising in its beauty and diversity. There are Bahama-like golden beaches on the Isles of Scilly, old pine forests of Scotland, the moors, the woodlands, the meadows, the extensive coastline, marshes, rocky islands. And then there are the wildlife- wildflowers, beautiful trees, animals like pine martens and puffins... it was as inspiring as it was beautiful.



Presented by Alan Titchmarsh, the series journeys through the history of the British Isles and examines how its current state is the product of an amazing variety of events, from ice ages to desertification, tropical rainforests, volcanic activity, sea inundation, connection to the European continent, and of course anthropogenic impacts. Alan Titchmarsh made it interesting and accessible to anyone and you could really tell that he was enjoying what he was doing.

My favourite part was when Alan saw a swallowtail butterfly and confessed that he always wanted to see one ever since he was a lad. I loved that emotion in his voice. As a fellow nature-freak, that's what it's all about. That... feeling... when you see a beautiful animal in the wild (I imagine that if I saw wolves or tigers or orcas I'd probably be so overcome I'd just sob!- seeing them in the zoo isn't the same).

I really enjoyed this, even more than I enjoyed watching David Attenborough's The Life of Mammals. It was amazing to see how much the British Isles have changed even in the last few thousand years, and while Titchmarsh speculated on the (possibly devastating) changes yet to come, there was always an underlying optimism in his message and this real sense that we have a responsibility to take care of the gorgeous surrounds we have been given, and it is indeed a heavy but worthwhile burden to carry.

How can this be?! =(

I have been watching The Life of Mammals, a beautifully made series on, surprise surprise, mammals. And it is beautiful, visually and in the approach it takes to looking at the diverse range of mammals in existence. Not to mention it's narrated by David Attenborough. I love that man.

I was really excited when I reached episode 5, Meat Eaters. I love carnivores even more than I love David. Seriously, some of the most gorgeous, intelligent and charismatic animals ever are fluffy with sharp teeth. I find there is something dangerously attractive about wolves, tigers, foxes and so on. And this episode was awesome. It even included a section on African wild dogs, which have absolutely amazing social structures and hunting skills. They are the most successful of all mammalian hunters, with a kill rate over 80% (wolves only have about a 10% kill rate, I think).

Sorry, I'm getting sidetracked. Anyway, everything was awesome until David started talking about hyenas. AND HE MADE AN ERROR! He said that hyenas belonged to the dog tribe. Actually, hyenas belong to the cat suborder (shocking but true).

Hyenas are more closely related to cats than dogs. A bit of reading confirmed that David Attenborough was in fact wrong. Below is a diagram of the truth:


If you don't trust the awesome phylogeny I drew, google search "hyena phylogeny" and you will see that I am right.

Anyway, despite being wrong, I still like David, I still loved that episode, and I still look forward to watching the rest of the series.

It's a boy! And a girl! And stuff!

Congratulations to Sam, who is the delighted mother of 10+ babies, each weighing a healthy 2-5g! Their proud father, Kallie, was shocked by their arrival into the world.

"I didn't even realise Sam was bringing them home," she grinned. "They're very beautiful. Some are stripey. It's awesome."

I questioned how this growing abnormal family planned on functioning.

"It's harder than with stick insects. I mean, the boys were easy to provide for. I fed them. Sam educated them. Our new babies are a lot fussier, so it means we both have to work to meet their needs. I imagine Sam will still take them to school. I'll read them Thomas books!"

Photos of the new arrivals to follow soon.

Exceptions

Kallie the animal freak loves animals, even the weird ones. Seriously, she has a crocodile skull she has named and feels very attached to, she went to a seahorse farm and happily touched a Port Jackson shark, she's smuggled wolf spiders back to Melbourne to keep as pets, and she was going to smuggle scorpions too but decided they might not survive the plane trip. Freaky kid.

Anyways, turns out even the animal freak has animal fears. Here are the animals she loathes:

1. Cockroaches
They disgust her. They freak her out. Watching that dude accidentally eat half a cockroach in The Mousetrap didn't help. One day there was a massive cockroach in her room, but thankfully a handsome hero came and saved her by picking it up with his bare hands.

2. Earwigs
They look evil.

3. Click beetles
This one mightn't make sense, but her sister used to pick them up and throw them at her.

4. Leeches
Argh! Eek! Scary! X.x
She just had field work in the rain. Upon arriving at the field site Matt kindly told them, "The leeches are out in force today" and then within 5 minutes they saw one climbing on him. Ten minutes later, after stumbling through the wet undergrowth, Kallie felt something weird on her arm. It was a massive leech! She screamed like a girl (to her embarrassment!), brushed it off and then crushed it into the ground about 50 times to make sure it was dead and its zombie wouldn't be able to haunt her.
"Well, at least it isn't spiders," Bryant pointed out.
"Bring on the white tails," Kallie muttered darkly. "I'd much rather be covered in spiders."

Killer whales and giant waves

There were killer whales in Sydney Harbour!

How cool is that!?!! That is amazing! I love killer whales. I want to see them in the wild. Then I could die a happy mouse.

The family

Sam and Kallie are proud parents of two handsome, well-mannered "boys" (possibly girls).


Above is the eldest son, Elvis, resting on his father's hand. He has become a godzilla of a stick insect, and is nearly an adult. He's very lazy but cute.


And this is Billy Talent. He's only just become an angsty teenager. Previously he was a hyperactive child, but adolescence has calmed him down a lot.

Sam, their mother, makes sure they go to school and receive an education. Kallie, their father, provides habitat and nutritious food for them.

They are much loved by their parents.