Jolty the Joltik - August 13th, 2012

13 August 2012 @ 01:37 am

[ 0056 ]

Well, since I always say I'll try to take on any request... today and tomorrow are featuring things that people have asked for. Even if some of the pictures might not be cute, I'd hope that they might at least be interesting, or show a side of certain animals that aren't normally seen.

...So! Today we're going to look at spider food. And spiders.

( Flies! And spiders, what eat flies and other things. )

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3293/5789822954_a80a528a42.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/41321016@N05/5789822954">flower fly</a>

<img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5049/5265304275_8da9963c0c.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42961215@N00/5265304275">horse fly</a>

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3451/3737729288_b243838e0e.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7539598@N04/3737729288">robber fly</a>

<img src="http://farm1.staticflickr.com/38/122523233_7bc657a7dc.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/65304419@N00/122523233">blowfly</a>

<img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4008/4701494044_157c61ac33.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67055100@N00/4701494044">greenbottle fly</a>

<img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6188/6045358206_8cacdb46d9.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/86937948@N00/6045358206">snipe fly</a>

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3510/4080302480_d637926823.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28403062@N08/4080302480">green long-legged fly</a>

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7147/6481465807_c2cb445af1.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/63933727@N06/6481465807">lauxaniid fly</a>

And there we are! You might be asking why certain 'flies' aren't featured here, like, say, damselflies or dragonflies or even fireflies. That's because (since anon didn't specify) I figured I'd focus on flies that fall under the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly">Diptera</a> order, aka 'true flies'. Not that I wouldn't mind featuring the others as well, but they'd have to have their own spot.

Anyway, spidertime!

Take a look at this colourful spider! It's Cosmophasis umbratica, and the gorgeous iridescent colouring it has only shows up on the male spiders when it's exposed to sunlight. Females don't do the whole rainbow thing, but they're still quite pretty, though!

13 August 2012 @ 11:23 pm

[ 0057 ]

Hello! Another request today that I had fun finding pictures for. I've featured raccoons before (and might do so again in the future) and I've featured dogs more than once, so it's about time there's a post on raccoon dogs. These lovely creatures are also known as tanuki, and they're indigenous to East Asia.

While they might definitely bear quite a lot of similarities in appearance to raccoons, they belong to the Canidae family. Raccoons are Procyonidae, instead, and they're really not that closely related at all. In the present day, they also live in various parts of Russia and Eastern Europe, to which it was introduced during the early to mid-20th century, and can even range until places like Germany and Sweden.

Let's take a look at what they're like now!

( Raccoon dogs (which are neither raccoons nor dogs) and spiders today! )

<img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5213/5725818380_fb79a3c029.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/48846810@N03/5725818380">source</a>

<img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4113/4997185610_9643e6e293.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11821713@N00/4997185610">source</a>

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3503/3768781871_954328df87.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40945723@N03/3768781871">source</a>

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3588/3371484094_baba6eea63.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30244915@N08/3371484094">source</a>

<img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6170/6185549500_7cffc100c7.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/24256658@N06/6185549500">source</a>

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7076/7241063966_644fb7bdf9.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30244915@N08/7241063966">source</a>

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7086/7214190636_dfb486e9f9.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30244915@N08/7214190636">source</a>

<img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5302/5689705185_f466a5ec78.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/46274038@N00/5689705185">source</a>

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6647230333_40e53a9b4d.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/46274038@N00/6647230333">source</a>

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3553/3371484556_c5e6889b27.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30244915@N08/3371484556">source</a>

<img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2773/4373367634_10f4be3d6d.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/19535828@N00/4373367634">source</a>

<img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5280/7214173082_2e9897edb3.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30244915@N08/7214173082">source</a>

There we go!

And as for today's spider...

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3230/5716866862_23069c538b.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/53102073@N04/5716866862">source</a>

Here's a stunning little spider for you! This is Heliophanus auratus, and as I'm sure you can tell by now, it's a jumping spider. This one's a male, and at its largest it only measures about 3mm long. They're found in Britain and across central and southern Europe, and live along the seaside. The most characteristic feature they have would be the black and gold colouring, with a bright stripe across their backs.

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2551/5716271553_ba7078eae2.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/53102073@N04/5716866862">source</a>

That's actually a normal sized fly. It is about the same size- if not bigger- than the spider.

<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8025/7318909372_3451e0e2dc.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shimie1/7318909372/">source</a>

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