I'm going to post-pone part II of the Great Barrier Reef for a week to take a bit of break for Hallowe'en. Below the fold are a bunch of scary looking critters. A lot of biologists and environmental types attempt to de-scarify snakes, spiders, etc. This is a valuable thing to do - it saddens me to see people so cut off from the natural world that their response to any organism is (unjustified) fear, horror, or disgust.
And yet...
Once, long ago, I made a comment to a friend (also a biologist) about the dark and mysterious forest. She was mildly indignant - the forest wasn't dark and mysterious - it was wonderful place full of cool organisms.
I told her that I liked the forest being dark and mysterious. As well as being a wonderful place full of cool organisms. I like organisms that evoke the weird or the vaguely sinister. It makes the world a richer place.
So here are some scary looking beasties. And a few other things as well.
Night time in the forest - home of Blake's infamous tyger
Paw print of 'el tigre' in the forest
Night time seldom reveals the immortal symmetry of the top predator. Most likely just a glimpse of eye shine or a pale shadow at the edge of your light.
What it will reveal is a host of creatures that have the unearthly look of faery.
Some look like they come from another world entirely
Others are shocking in their unfamiliarity
and a few wait silently for something to make a mistake
or luring and trapping unwary passersby.
and fewer still are interested in us as a meal
Coleridge wrote of the Ancient Mariner being stranded on the silent sea, an alien world, filled with strange things. Below the surface of any body of water is an alien world from which can come monsters both big
and small
but the sea holds the strangest of all - strange creatures that hide from the light in shallow water
And pale gibbous creatures from the depths
That have never seen the light of the moon