Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Show-off males, in every species.

A male Australian Peacock Spider expands its colourful fan and throws up a pair of legs to impress a nearby female.
This was taken by Jurgen Otto of New South Wales and is a finalist in the Animal Behaviour category of the ANZANG Nature photography contest.
Visit  here to see more fantastic photos in the competition.


Elephant's Child and River should be taking notes for next year's competition.

9 comments:

River said...

If I'd known about the competition I could have entered a couple of photos I already have.
How do I find out more about it and how do I enter?
I saw some of this years entries in our Saturday paper. Or maybe it was the Sunday paper.

Elephant's Child said...

The link was having a hissy fit and wouldn't let me play. I adore the Peacock Spider. Thank you. And am more than flattered at your suggestion that my happy snaps could compete.

R.H. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JahTeh said...

River, I'd never heard of the competition either but then I take atrocious photos and you wouldn't get me near that spider in a fit.

EC, it was on the ABC news website and my favourite photo was of a penguin that had four flippers but it actually was two penguins together snapped at that one moment they put out the flippers.
I loved your photo of the little silver eye bird.

Robbert, have you noticed how men and women have gone mad on tattoos? I must be getting old, it's not a good look to me but I hate beards as well.

R.H. said...

Middle-income is mad on anything working class right now, get tattooed and say fuck. Tattoos were a lower-class badge in my youth, like owning a bull terrier is now. But we were fair dinkum lower-class, that's the difference.

JahTeh said...

But even working class didn't go in for the full or half sleeve stuff we see now.
Besides I don't like the colours, blue and red or black, no pinks or purples.

R.H. said...

Beg your pardon, I knew blokes with them all over their legs as well, and some with a single large tattoo covering their backs; a bloke in the pen had a crucifix across his back. We were young, unsupervised, knew no better, nobody said: "Don't do that!" And some of us had beautiful skin, disfigured permanently.
I had a large tattoo on each arm. They were removed at a Doc Edelsten clinic about twenty-five years ago. It's done by laser and you smell your flesh burning. They encased my arms in special bandages for about three weeks, the bandages were filled with fluid. There was constant pain, but a few times it got so bad I went down on one knee. When the bandages were removed there were bright red wounds where the tattoos had been, these developed into pale scars, very noticable, shaped like the tattoos. I have a third tattoo but it's on the left bicep and usually not visible, so I left it.
I got the tattoos put on when I was sixteen because other kids my age were doing it. Part of the idea was to startle the type of people who now think it's groovy. They're cracked. It's a widespread mental illness, but that's what fashion is. And tattoos - or the scars, are forever.

Everyone, don't do it.

JahTeh said...

I've heard it's more painful to get them removed than have them done. I really can't understand women wanting them on their body.

R.H. said...

It's exactly ten times more painful.