Oz Life (III): Bugs (OJG)
Compared to the UK there are definitely a lot of bugs in Australia, I am not even going to try and say anything to the contrary. What I will say is that the vast majority of these are completely harmless, and mostly small.
Being someone that probably has the slightest shiver of a phobia towards bugs, and probably double that shiver when talking about spiders, being thrown into Australia has done me the world of good. It's like the saying goes, we are afraid of what we don't know. Well I am getting to know them, and my confidence with them is growing exponentially.
Having said all that, we have been driving all over the outback, and even though I have been searching at the roadhouses, I have thus far found only one dangerous bug; a red back spider. She was not easy to find!
In the city, the worst we saw were cockroaches, which seem to be in most areas. Of course Mosquitoes are also in big supply but they get their very own blog entry later.
In the outback, flies are a nuisance, but nothing more. A hat and a few whacks will usually discourage them from bothering you for too long. Of course whilst you are trying to change a tyre in the afternoon heat, that nuisance can escalate!
In some of the outback toilet areas I have seen huge beetles, giant ants with wings, enormous cockroaches, and large grass-hoppers. In all cases the bug was clearly trying to get away from me, I guess a potential predator!
One last bug I have to mention is the Goliath Stick Insect that we saw in a glass enclosure at the Desert Park in Alice. I can remember seeing, even playing with stick insects during biology classes when I was 12, perhaps like many of you. This stick insect (herbivore by the way) must have been 20 times the size (they can be over 25cm long)... I suddenly felt like I was Jason and Argonauts, and that some terrible special effects were being used to make it look bigger than it actually was... it simply could not be real. It was.
Being someone that probably has the slightest shiver of a phobia towards bugs, and probably double that shiver when talking about spiders, being thrown into Australia has done me the world of good. It's like the saying goes, we are afraid of what we don't know. Well I am getting to know them, and my confidence with them is growing exponentially.
Having said all that, we have been driving all over the outback, and even though I have been searching at the roadhouses, I have thus far found only one dangerous bug; a red back spider. She was not easy to find!In the city, the worst we saw were cockroaches, which seem to be in most areas. Of course Mosquitoes are also in big supply but they get their very own blog entry later.
In the outback, flies are a nuisance, but nothing more. A hat and a few whacks will usually discourage them from bothering you for too long. Of course whilst you are trying to change a tyre in the afternoon heat, that nuisance can escalate!
In some of the outback toilet areas I have seen huge beetles, giant ants with wings, enormous cockroaches, and large grass-hoppers. In all cases the bug was clearly trying to get away from me, I guess a potential predator!One last bug I have to mention is the Goliath Stick Insect that we saw in a glass enclosure at the Desert Park in Alice. I can remember seeing, even playing with stick insects during biology classes when I was 12, perhaps like many of you. This stick insect (herbivore by the way) must have been 20 times the size (they can be over 25cm long)... I suddenly felt like I was Jason and Argonauts, and that some terrible special effects were being used to make it look bigger than it actually was... it simply could not be real. It was.
1 comment:
haven't you come across any wolf spiders yet! big and hairy! bit like oly!!!
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