Falconry

This is our newest pet.  I think it is a grey goshawk.  His name is Ninja.  I am studying falconry and will train him.

Poop and Fangs

we didn't have a camera with us so we borrowed some pictures

 

this is where I got bit

 

I got bit by a Green Tree Python the other day. It bit me on the hand while I was trying to pick it up.  They are very annoying because they are almost always pooping.  These snakes live in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia.  They are not poisonous, they are constrictors.   

 

 

Killed by Feathers

On my 7th birthday, I was living in a tribe in the jungle.  That was the day that a friend of mine brought a baby cassowary over to my house to play.  I got to pet it, it felt more furry that feathery.  We would go out to the jungle to find bugs for it to eat.  After feeding it, it would follow us everywhere.  We ran around the helicopter pad and it would chase us and play.  It came back many times after that.

Cassowaries eat fruit and bugs. They live in Papua New Guinea and Australia.  They can grow to be almost 6 feet tall.  This one was being hand fed by the tribal people so that they could shoot it with a bow and arrow and eat it one day.

They are an endangered species. 

This cassowary was safe to play with because it was hand fed and young.  If they are older they can be dangerous.  There used to be one that would live near a trail we went down often.
In World War 2, the American and Australian troops that were stationed here in PNG were warned to stay away from them. 

Monster Caterpillar

 

When I was six I found a really big caterpillar.  Sometimes spiky hairy caterpillars will give you a rash.  There are caterpillars that have venom in their spikes, so watch out for those.  

Spiders

This is a Golden Silk Orb Weaver.  I like to catch them.  I also like to eat them, roasted over a fire. It's venom is a powerful neurotoxin similar to the black widow, but it is not lethal.  This is a female.  The Latin name for this spider is edulus which means edible.

Spider Catching Tips:

•  No need to approach it slowly, just don't bump it's web while coming in for a catch.
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• Use a stick to break the straight line support strands of it's web. 
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• When it falls, use your fingers to grab it by the neck, just behind the head.  (This is harder if they smaller in size than an American quarter)
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•  If you grab them this way, they are unable to turn their head and bite you.
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• If you want to eat it anyway, just squish it's head.  That is what the old ladies in the our tribe taught me.  If you eat a spider and die, it is not my fault.  Don't sue me.

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I see and catch these orb weavers

These are huge.  They lived in my house in the jungle and one bit my mom

This is a jewel spider, this kind bit my brother

This is a close up of the Golden Silk Orb Weaver

I like to catch these

Lunch

Hornet Fighters

This is the wreckage only moments before the attack

A month after I turned five, I got stung over forty times by hornets.  We had hiked into the jungle to see a World War Two bomber plane that had been shot down.  When we got to it, my brother climbed on top of it get his picture taken.  He stepped on a nest that the hornets had built in the plane.

The hornets came flying out.  There were about 600 of them.  They were mad.  We ran away as fast as we could, but there were thorns and the jungle was swampy.  My dad dropped his backpack and camera, grabbed me and my brother and we ran.  He put us down two minutes later and wacked the hornets away. 

I ended up having to drink a lot of water to flush flush out the venom, but I was fine. 

Dance Party with My Cockatoo

If I start being crazy and dancing, my baby cockatoo starts screaming and dancing too

 

Bosavi Silky Cuscus in the Grocery Store

Today I went to the grocery store and a man inside the store sold us a female baby cuscus.  It can go at about the same speed as a sloth.  This is a Bosavi Silky Cuscus, a species that was only discovered in 2oo9.  It is an arboreal, (lives in trees) nocturnal, (active at night) marsupial (has a pouch for babies) that is an omnivore (eats meat and plants).  It usually eats eggs, small creatures, fruit and nuts and leaves.  She is very cuddly and friendly.

Her name is Midnight

Guinea Pig Pups

 

My Guinea Pig had two babies last night.

 

When the mothers are pregnant, you are not able to hold them, because you may kill the babies.  When they are born, sometimes they will eat lettuce and vegetables, but they feed mostly off of their mother's milk.  They usually have 1-6 in a litter.  The biggest litter ever recorded was 17 guinea pig pups.

Moths

I found this moth today

When you catch or hold a moth or butterfly:

1. Don't touch the wings because it takes off the powdery scales that are all over it's wings.  It could make it unable to fly.

2. If it is injured you can just hold it in the palm of your hand without closing it. 

3. If it is healthy then just catch and cup your hand over it so that it is enclosed inside but not squished.

How do you tell if it is a moth or butterfly???

Butterflies put their wings up folded together when they land.

A moth rests with its wings open