The Astonishing Annual Red Crab Migration
Each year millions of bright red land crabs leave their burrow homes on Australia’s Christmas Island and start a long, laborious trek toward the sea. They descend cliffs, climb banks and maneuver around obstacles to reach the shoreline and lay their eggs, eventually returning to the island’s central plateau with their offspring in tow. The synchronized migration resembles a crimson-colored river undulating across the island and can last up to 18 days. The event typically takes place in November or December (the crabs will only move when it’s raining) and coincides with the turning of high tide and the arrival of the waning moon.
A 1.5m long goanna gave a man a fright when it scaled the outside of his home. Eric Holland had been working in his shed in Thurgoona, New South Wales, when he saw the unexpected visitor darting across his property. Holland, who managed to snap a picture of the goanna, said: “I saw movement as I came out of the shed and I had a look and thought, bloody hell what is this thing? When I recovered from the shock I went inside and got a camera.” Goannas are often found in eastern Australia but generally live in the bush. They are typically wary of humans but are considered potentially dangerous on account of their bite. This one, thought to be a lace monitor goanna, hasn’t been spotted since it scampered away. A spokesman for the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage said the lace monitor could grow up to two metres in length and weigh up to 20kg.
Your Telephone Of Tomorrow: Fairly accurate prediction from September 1956, and source of the *ahem* top image.
P.S. We get notifications of new followers from time to time, and we like to see who you are, so we stop by your blogs out of curiosity. Our readers are an eclectic mix of all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities and nationalities. We’ve known this for years, courtesy of WordPress, RevolverMaps and other sources.
That said, here’s the website of a recent follower, both disturbing and fascinating at the same time. NSFK except as a warning to those who choose to tread a similar path.
(West Poondongwalla, Australia) – Strutts News Services
Only the wealthiest of the wealthy were able to keep their lights on when the entire power grid of Australia failed just days ago, and no one knows why the continent now glows blue. Some locals blame global warming, while others point accusatory fingers at The Mayans for their probably prophetic Calendar of Doom that caused the utility companies of Oz to hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete simultaneously and just for the hell of it.
In any case, the well-to-do panicked wisely and moved inland to avoid the rising seas that subsequently swamped the coastal regions.
[There’s more info here that can’t possibly be true. Related post here.]
Creatures big and small had their footprints dipped in ink and imprinted on paper at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, as part of a new elephant conservation project in Thailand’s Kui Buri National Park on June 26, 2012. Animal handlers at the Taronga and Western Plains Zoo plan on collecting the footprints of 4,000 animals when all is said and done.