Here are the latest bird photographs from Pauline which she took during her recent travels in Kent, England.

You can view all of her previous pictures by clicking and then further selecting from:

https://worldanimalsvoice.com/?s=pauline

Thanks Pauline as always for your great photos to share with us;

Regards Mark

There was a party this weekend (4/6/22) at ‘Buck House’; or Buckingham Palace as it is better known.

Why ? – because Her Majesty the Queen is celebrating her platinum jubilee – a celebration held to mark an anniversary. Among monarchies, it usually refers to a 70th anniversary.  So 70 years as the head of the British Commonwealth and all its people.  There have been big events all over the UK and many other commonwealth nations to celebrate this rather amazing event.

Her majesty joined in the fun by having Paddington Bear to tea, complete with marmalade sandwiches !!

Our great animal advocate Brian May of ‘Queen’ started the party as always; and it was especially great to see him in his Badger suit; having done so much in recent times to help stop the badger cull.

Setts, Drugs and Rock n Roll by Dr Brian May:

England: Setts, Drugs and Rock n Roll. Dr Brian May Speaks In Defence of Badgers at Oxford University.

Here is Brian in his badger jacket – right hand breast pocket area:  https://youtu.be/RvNYGDQiNWg

As the darkness arrived, the palace became a huge ‘screen’ showing an amazing record of the life of the queen, and a section given by Prince William on the environment and the importance of working to stop climate change and help protect the animal species of the world.

See the princes speech here – and you can see how the palace became an environmental screen for a few minutes on this issue – it was impressive !

Personally, for me, there was just one person who was missing; and that was Princess Diana, the people’s Princess.  If she were still here today then she would have played a major part in the protection of the environment and animals – that was the kind of person we had in her.

Regards Mark

Butterflies and moths have numerous behavioral and physical differences.

Say the word “butterfly” and a brilliant, orange-and-black-winged Monarch butterfly may fly through your mind. Say “moth,” meanwhile, and the brain may conjure up an image of a dull, brown-winged pest that nibbles holes through clothing.

But is appearance really the main difference between these two types of winged insects? What exactly is the difference between moths and butterflies?

It turns out the difference is more than wing deep.

Moths and butterflies both belong to the order Lepidoptera, but there are numerous physical and behavioral differences between the two insect types.

Related: How do mosquitoes sniff out humans to bite?

First of all, moths are much more diverse than butterflies. There are about 160,000 species of moths, according to the Smithsonian Institution(opens in new tab), versus about 11,000 of butterflies.

Both types of insects have scales on their wings. But moths tend to have drab, brown or beige wings, while butterflies are typically more brilliantly decorated, Smithsonian Institution notes. 

This coloration difference may in part be due to behavioral differences between the two types of insects. Moths are nocturnal and try to camouflage themselves during the day on dark objects like bark and leaves. 

Butterflies also camouflage themselves in this way, but they are diurnal, meaning they spend the daylight hours flitting from flower to flower sipping nectar. Their brightly colored wings are often an attempt to tell predators that they contain nasty-tasting chemicals, according to Reiman Gardens at Iowa State University(opens in new tab).

Another behavioral difference between the two is that butterflies usually fold their wings back to rest, while moths flatten their wings against their bodies, BBC’s Science Focus reported(opens in new tab).

Their pupal stage (between the larva and adult stages) is slightly different, too. Moths make cocoons wrapped in silk. Butterflies, on the other hand, form chrysalises, which are hard, smooth and silkless, according to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden(opens in new tab) in Henrico, Virginia.

Other physical differences abound. Butterfly antennae are thin with club-shaped tips, compared with the feathery or comb-like antennae of moths. 

In addition to the difference in wing coloration, with butterflies sporting more vibrant colors, moth wings, unlike butterfly wings, have a structure called a frenulum, which joins the forewing to the hind wing.

Though these various traits usually distinguish a butterfly from a moth, there are numerous exceptions to these rules. The comet moth or Madagascan moon moth (Argema mittrei) sports brilliant yellow wings dotted with bright red spots and is active during the day, according to the National History Museum(opens in new tab) in London. And the endangered Schaus swallowtail (Heraclides aristodemus ponceanus), which lives in Florida’s swamps, has rather boring brown coloration, speckled with some white spots, according to the University of Florida(opens in new tab).

Regards Mark

Today we’re taking a walk through the clouds to visit one of the most beautiful and biodiverse places on the planet. Costa Rica’s Monteverde Cloud Forest is in the Tilarán mountain range 5,000ft (1,524m) above sea level. Hundreds of different animal species and thousands of insect and plant species call the forest home. Diligent nature lovers could count nearly 700 types of butterflies and 500 species of orchids during a visit. Famous in the scientific community, the forest also attracts more than 70,000 tourists a year.

You may be wondering, what exactly is a ‘cloud forest?’ They’re forests high enough above sea level to be covered by persistent mist and fog generated by the forest’s own evaporating moisture. This makes for a damp and humid, yet cool environment. Generally tropical, they’re pretty rare. Only 1% of the current global woodland is considered true cloud forest. They are entirely dependent on an area’s local climate, so many of the 736 current ‘cloud forest’ locations are expected to change in the coming years. Monteverde, in fact, is where the first climate-related species extinction was recorded. In the 1980s, the golden toad fell victim to a parasitic fungus that spread into the area due to the changing climate.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve – Bing images

monteverde costa rica – Search (bing.com)

Regards Mark