Perhaps you've heard of a batesian mimicry - a species mimicking itself as dangerous or distasteful species to ward off predators, or a species mimicking to resemble their environment, object ( such as plants ) like an stick insect.
But have you seen this kind of mimicry before ? Name this species and guess what it's trying to mimic
( picture shot in a temple near genting Highlands )
One of my favourites - The king of Venomous Snakes, the King cobra !
Despite having a hood and looking like an oversized cobra, King cobras are not true cobras, but they are indeed related. True cobras belongs to the Genus Naja.
Used to be a monotyoic genus, recently split into 4 distinct species. In Malaysia, we have the Sunda king cobra - Ophiophagus bungarus
When threatened, King cobras don't hiss like other snakes, instead they growls like a beast - making a low grumbling sound to ward off predators
Although not the most venomous snake in potency out there ( that title belongs to the Australian Inland taipan ) they are however the largest/longest venomous snake and has the highest yield of venom in volume, making up for its milder venom and enabling an adult of this species capable of killing even an adult Asiatic elephant in a single bite.
They use this venom not to target birds, mammals and other animals, but it's after other snakes.
King cobra's are snake eaters - hence The genus Ophiophagus ( Ophio - snake, phagus - to eat ) they eat all types of snakes, include other king cobras. Not only are they venomous, but they're also resistant to all other snake's venom. Truly, the dominator of snakes.
Prosopocoilus taronii , no common name yet.
They are covered in tiny golden fuzz over their rufous exoskeleton
Hi, it's my first time posting here. For this occasion I'll post some OC I've created back in my early teen year ( when I was 14? ) don't remember, it was too long ago, haha.
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Here's a pair of Gijinka mythical creature - Phoenix ( back ) and Griffin ( front ) i randomly doodled during class. Cheerios
I caught this Crested goshawk lackin' when it caught this brown rat lackin a few years back.
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I shot these picture with my old phone and somehow the first image came to be, natural lighting ( plus some adjustment ), creating my favourite bird pic.
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Completely meme worthy. What's your favourite bird/animal pic?
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From the previous ongoing poll I've made, It seems like there's an overwhelming favouritism towards mammals in this sub-reddit, which quite surprised me and thought it'd have been more evenly spread. Yet I just found out no one has ever shared this intriguing mammal in this group before.
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Here it is! A slow loris. I believe many had heard of it's name before but have never seen them in person. And that's normal.
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The Sunda Slow Loris ( Nycticebus coucang ) are from the suborder Strepsirrhini, the "wet-nosed primate" a more primitive branch of Primates which included the lemurs, galagos, pottos and the slow loris, as opposed to the Haplorhines , the "dry nosed primate" which included the Tarsiers, new and old world monkeys , and Apes ( us! ).
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The slow lorises are nocturnal and are shy in nature, so most people may live their life in celibate without knowing they ever existed. And maybe some of you already know that the slow lorises are also well know for them being the only few mammals in the world to posses venom, you heard that right, venom! They have a special glands near thier armpits , they would lick it there and mix the oils produced by the gland and produce a venomous compound, which they then deliver a venomous bite through their specially grooved teeth, like a venomous snake!
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They're actually quite common, but due to their secretive and nocturnal nature, seldom have seen them. Not for me though, I'm the REAL night owl. I've personally seem them quite a few time. But this is the only time one was caught lackin in the open, climbing on the electric cable near a rural area, so I consider this encounter lucky ! Despite called the slow loris, they're actually surprisingly fast when they need to be. But of course not as agile as a monkey.
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Others includes: ( Ran out of poll options )
- MOLLUSCS ( octopus, snails, slugs )
- ECHINODERMS ( starfish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers )
- CNIDARIANS ( jellyfish, corals, sea anemone )
- & other oddballs I didn't mention? Comment below to let me know and why you choose your answers!
Other than the stereotypical idea that butterflies eat leaves as caterpillars and drink nectar from flowers as adults ,
many butterflies, like flies, love to "eat shit" too.
This action is named "mud puddling". There are several types of mud puddling and varies from species to species on their preferences. Have you ever seen group butterflies staying near riverbank and hovering near something while you're in the nature ? Yeah, that !
Most Swallowtail butterflies (such as common mormon butterfly and white dragontail ) primarily puddle near water sources such as river banks and waterfall, Whilst Nymphalid butterflies love to puddle on animal excrement such as the Dung and urine, and dead animals and carrions.
Butterflies amongst other Insects perform mud- puddling on animal excrement and carrion to supplement their diets with vital salts, minerals, and nitrogen in the form of urea, that are otherwise not found from their herbivorous diets, and relying on gut symbiotic bacteria to break down ingested urea. These beneficial bacteria convert the nitrogen from urea into essential amino acids that the host insect needs to survive and reproduce.
The more you know!
( putting spoilers because people might not be comfortable seeing poop )
Who said Malaysia don't have beautiful butterflies ?
There are more than a thousand species of butterflies that can be found in every habitat on land, some of which are endemic only to Malaysia.
Here are some of the prettiest butterflies ( from the richness of the colouration ) I've photographed and will share with you all today.
From Left to right
Glorious begum ( Agatasa calydonia )
Constable ( Dichorragia nesimachus )
Left- Common nawab ( charaxes bernardus ) middle- plain nawab ( Polyura Moore ) right - Jewelled nawab ( Polyura delphis )
Here's a lesser known viper from Malaysia -
Trimeresurus nebularis , otherwise known as the Cameron Highlands pit-viper. It is a beautiful and magnificent arboreal viper endemic to western Malaysia's montane cloud forests.
As the name suggest, this viper can only be found on Cameron Highlands and several other high altitude localities, and can't be found anywhere else with altitude lower than 1300-1500m+ ASL as other lowland vipers fill the ecological niche in their own respective environment.
They likely also required moist and cool average temperature ( ~20°c ) and can't survive hotter temperature that is in the lowland.
They primarily feed on smaller reptiles, rodents and birds just like other vipers related to them.
A venomous bite from this species might send one straight to the hospital as they posses complex Hemotoxic venom just like other Trimeresurus sp. Although specific studies of the venom of this species, like how it severe it effects human health, is still not quite available. ( anyone wanna volunteer ?)
Due to habitat loss, this species' population has been shrinking, especially at localities like Cameron Highlands where many ancient montane cloud forests home to many endemic and special critters are cleared for more economical and agricultural developments.
The next time you visit Cameron highlands, beside glamping with your family and friend and picking strawberries in a farm, also cherish the moment when beautiful species like this snake still exist in the forests you drive-by, before they're gone forever.
Do you like Phrogs? Many people think they're icky, eerie, and scary... or maybe even tasty, I dunno.
but I think they're the most silly, pretty, and dearie creatures.
Frogs comes in all shapes and sizes, some dull and some with pretty colours, some cool and some funny looking. Here are some lovely silly Phrogs I've photographed.
( From Left to right, top to bottom )
He's a humble little guy.
Stares menacingly, but nothing is in his mind.
He looks like he's named Bob.
"you can't see me", especially if it's concealed within the fallen leaves.
One of the most underrated species of lizard in Malaysia's forest.
The dusky earless agamid lizard gets it's name for its scale-covered earhole. They're a common diurnal and arboreal species that lives in the understory of Malaysia's mature primary forests.
During the day, they're difficult to spot because they're either hiding in plain sight or climbing high-up to hunt some insects. At night however, they're usually sleeping on the most obvious spot and easily spotted wigh the help of a flashlight.
The reason why I call them "Mini Godzilla" is because... Check comments!
Aside from animals, I sometimes take picture of plants as well, especially very interesting ones like this peculiar and rare pitcher plant that I've encountered once.
Nephentes mcfarlanei/ulukaliana.
- a ghostly pale upper pitcher plant growing in nutrient deficient soils high up in a moist, mossy, high altitude cloud forest. The pitcher is quite large compared to it's low land cousins.
This species is interesting because aside form this white form pitcher that grows high up on the plant, the lower part or the plant produces a rounder, more reddish pitcher, and hangs closer to the ground, which I was unfortunately unable to find.
One of my all time favourite Malaysian butterfly. The malayan dead leaf butterfly - Kallima limborgii
Underside of the butterfly looks like unassuming dead leaf, but what's hidden beneath was shining sapphire blue and two streaks of flame orange.
My first post ever. Hope you guys like my collage of lizards found across Malaysia.
( left to right, up to down )
Pseudocalotes larutensis - Larut Hill false blood-sucker
Draco quinquefasciatus - Five lined flying dragon
Pseudocalotes drogon - Fraser's Hill false blood sucker
Cyrtodactylus quadrivirgatus - marbled bent toed gecko
Cyrtodactylus bintangrendah -Bintang lowland bent-toed gecko
Cyrtodactylus pulchellus - penang Island bent toed gecko
Gekko ( Ptychozoon ) cicakterbang - Malaysian parachute gecko
Cnemaspis kendalli - Kendall's rock gecko
Gekko smithii - smith's forest gecko