A very poorly made video about this came up in my ‘YouTube‘ feed last night. I had not heard of this. I thought it was recent. This morning I looked it up on Google. Stories like those shown above turned up. I DID NOT CHECK THE DATES! So, OLD news — sorry. But, still quite the story.
I kind of knew that elephants were good and strong swimmers. There is speculation that this might not have been a total accident — i.e., the elephant MIGHT have gone swimming on its own. There is also comments that elephants are know to go out as much as 9 miles. WOW.
Well, I had to SHARE. But, I am SORRY it is old news. I will try to do better — but I am old too.
As with the previous one, I had NO hand in this. So, I am not accepting any blame or credit. I don’t know whether hatching them, indoors, in a plastic bottle is good or bad. Yes, I should look it up. OK. I just looked it up. Kind of what I expected. It is, however, not a TOTALL ‘NO-NO’. Of that I am glad. Plus, the plastic bottle was well cleaned out before the new caterpillar was put in. So, they got that part spot on. [Plus, as you can see from two pictures above, the caterpillar has produced plenty of waste. So, he/she must have fed well on the leaves that were provided.]
The last caterpillar was rescued at the start of the month. So, I am kind of surprised that there is a 3-week ‘window’ (so to speak) — i.e., all the eggs obviously do not hatch at the same time. I guess that this is a good thing. Spread the hatchings out. That would explain why the caterpillars are staggered. Nature is amazing. Well, I will keep you posted. It is already getting ready to chrysalize. You can see that it has started to hang upside down (so to speak). I will keep you posted.
NOT my doing & I am NOT taking any credit for this. All I am doing his documenting it.
‘They’ (& we will NOT mention any names) found the caterpillar while I was away on the ‘Bold Coast‘ at the start of August. When I came home the caterpillar had already become a chrysalis. Hence why I have no pictures of the caterpillar — but start with the pupa.
In 2019 we did rescue an injured monarch & nursed him for 10 days. We had used the same BIG plastic bottle.
This morning I noticed that the butterfly had emerged. It could NOT have been out for long.
Per the norm of the day, ‘Google’ provided guidance as what to do next. Again, I was not involved.
We do have a fully enclosed, covered deck brimming with plants. It makes a perfect, temporary, very safe, V. LARGE butterfly sanctuary. The butterfly was put in there. It is supposed to rest for 24 hours. So they brought in the recently hand-painted, hanging butterfly house from outside & put in inside the deck — with a collection of fresh flowers. They also cut some fresh fruit for it. We do look after our critters (or at least do our best). You can see these efforts in the last set of photos.
In a few days we will let it OUT. Set it FREE. That was always the goal.
Rowen, our 9-month Newfie was totally uninterested (which was good). Tied her to a nearby mailbox (of a friend). She did not impede.
Saw it on the road at the start of my morning amble. It was tiny. But, most days I miss little given that my eyes are always on the lookout for photographic opportunities. Could see that ‘she’ was in distress. Moving a bit but not making an attempt to fly. I was only 100 yards from home BUT couldn’t leave her in the middle of the road. 9-month old Newfie was totally uninterested (which was good). Tied her to a nearby mailbox (of a friend).
Called wife. Two folks walking their dogs saw that I was stopped & was up to something. They knew that that was atypical. They paused & then, luckily, decided to go back the way they had come. Then a BIG truck came rumbling by. I stepped in the middle of the road & motioned for them to go around me. They did. The bird was spared.
Wife came with a box lined with tissue paper. She took her home & I continued my amble with the Newfie. I gather that after about 1/2 hour in the house & sun the bird started getting more active & when left on our deck jumped out of box & FLEW AWAY.
I spotted it, on its back, on my walk this morning. It was a hot morning & the paving was hot. From a distance I thought it was dead. When I got closer I could see that its feet were ‘pedaling’ furiously. It was trying to right itself but having no luck. I think it was the hot paving.
My first concern was to prevent Rowen from trying to eat it. I got her under control & far enough away so as to not impede my efforts.
I didn’t want to use my hand. OK. Truth me known I am kind of squeamish when it comes to any insects. I can kill them, but I don’t like touching them unless I am really forced to. BUT, there was another reason. Touching it by hand could have harmed it. I know that we have oils on our hands (even when we are not sweating (as I happened to be)) that can harm their wings. Plus, my touch might have been too ‘strong’. So i went looking for a suitable, small stick. I found one.
Only took one expert flick. It was back on its feet. The pictures tell the story. it seemed to be fine. After letting me take a couple of pictures it flew off. I was happy. I like dragonflies.
