I feel like I should post one of those warnings you see on some TV shows...."Viewer Discretion is Advised; some images may be disturbing to some viewers". After some of the road kill images that are posted on iNat perhaps this is not too bad. At least it was completely natural, unlike the slaughter caused by vehicles on our wildlife.

Between 1996-2005, I was a bird guide on 13 trips to Antarctica. During those trips I saw lots of Leopard Seal attacks on penguins, but none stands out in my mind more than this one. This adult Chinstrap Penguin had somehow escaped from the jaws of a Leopard Seal, but was mortally injured. The penguin was virtually "de-gloved" whereby its skin was almost removed from its body. The penguin struggled ashore where it stood still for 10 or 15 minutes, much to the distress of several tour participants I had with me. As the penguin stood there, several Brown Skuas began to gather about, waiting for the inevitable to happen. Slowly the penguin walked farther away and out of immediate view, with 4 or 5 skuas walking along behind it. I did not follow, but rather decided to allow the scene to unfold without my observation and intrusion. It was a reminder that nature can be tough and brutal.

Image 4 shows a small portion of the Chinstrap Penguin colony at this location.

image scanned from 35 mm slides
Bailey Head,
Deception Island,
Antarctica
29 January 2002

Kleinmond Charaxes egg to adult

We were sitting on the lawn when suddenly a white barred Charaxes butterfly fluttered noisily into the garden, visited a dog poo, deposited an egg on our tiny red alder tree, and disappeared. On closer inspection I discovered many eggs on the alder, which also is home to one of our million or so newly hatched rain spiderlings. I noticed that the little caterpillars quickly disappear so now there are five in a tub on my desk. Not sure if the spider is responsible for the disappearances; it's a tough world out there.

***

I eventually ended up with only two of the original lot, Wormie the smaller and Worm the larger of the two. Please see notes in the photo titles (hover over the photos) for details of their progress.