The oceanic whitetip shark is a large
requiem shark inhabiting tropical and warm temperate seas. It has a stocky body with long, white-tipped, rounded fins. The species is typically solitary but can congregate around food concentrations. It is found worldwide between
45°N and
43°S latitudes in deep, open oceans. Bony fish and
cephalopods are the main components of its diet. Females give
live birth after a
gestation period of nine to twelve months. Though slow-moving, it is opportunistic, aggressive, and reputed to be dangerous to shipwreck survivors. The shark was once extremely common and widely distributed; up to the 16th century, mariners noted that this species was the most common ship-following shark. The species has now been
listed as critically endangered, and recent studies show steeply declining populations worldwide as the sharks are harvested for their fins and meat, like many other shark species. (Full article...)
Dictyophorus spumans, the koppie foam grasshopper, is a species of
grasshopper in the family
Pyrgomorphidae, indigenous to southern Africa. The name "foam grasshopper" derives from the insect's ability to produce a toxic foam from its
thoracic glands, using a combination of
hemolymph with air from the grasshopper's
spiracles. Adult males are typically 4.5 to 5 centimetres (1.8 to 2.0 inches) long, and females typically 5 to 7 centimetres (2.0 to 2.8 inches), but individual grasshoppers can grow up to a length of 8 centimetres (3.1 inches). This grasshopper of the subspecies D. s. spumans was photographed in the
Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden in
Roodepoort, South Africa.
The oceanic whitetip shark is a large
requiem shark inhabiting tropical and warm temperate seas. It has a stocky body with long, white-tipped, rounded fins. The species is typically solitary but can congregate around food concentrations. It is found worldwide between
45°N and
43°S latitudes in deep, open oceans. Bony fish and
cephalopods are the main components of its diet. Females give
live birth after a
gestation period of nine to twelve months. Though slow-moving, it is opportunistic, aggressive, and reputed to be dangerous to shipwreck survivors. The shark was once extremely common and widely distributed; up to the 16th century, mariners noted that this species was the most common ship-following shark. The species has now been
listed as critically endangered, and recent studies show steeply declining populations worldwide as the sharks are harvested for their fins and meat, like many other shark species. (Full article...)
Dictyophorus spumans, the koppie foam grasshopper, is a species of
grasshopper in the family
Pyrgomorphidae, indigenous to southern Africa. The name "foam grasshopper" derives from the insect's ability to produce a toxic foam from its
thoracic glands, using a combination of
hemolymph with air from the grasshopper's
spiracles. Adult males are typically 4.5 to 5 centimetres (1.8 to 2.0 inches) long, and females typically 5 to 7 centimetres (2.0 to 2.8 inches), but individual grasshoppers can grow up to a length of 8 centimetres (3.1 inches). This grasshopper of the subspecies D. s. spumans was photographed in the
Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden in
Roodepoort, South Africa.