Tuesday, 28 August 2012

a lord howe stick insect hatching



This video is the Lord Howe Stick Insect (Dryococelus Australis), which was thought to be extinct by 1930, but was discovered on  The Lord Howe Island group in 2001, and has been bred, notably at Melbourne Zoo, where the above video was taken.  That however, is not the only amazing thing about them.  The video goes on for a while, but it is worth the time viewing it, as the hatching of them is unbelievable.  How on Earth they manage to fit inside their shells before hatching beats me, and even after seeing it emerge, you still can't believe what you have seen.  They certainly can't have been comfortable, no matter how flexible they are.  Nature - it can be freaky.
More information is at Discovery magazine.

toodle pip

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