Red Sea Underwater Village

I found this to be very interesting as I had never heard of it before yesterday. This underwater village in the Red Sea was built by Jacques Cousteau in the 1950's to discover whether humans could ever live underwater. This video shows some of the village as it's visited by his grandson Philippe Cousteau.



Happy trails!

Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly

I was out in the yard doing some yard work today and I noticed a butterfly I had not seen in a long time. I couldn't put my finger on what the name of it was so I looked it up in my butterfly book and going by the colors of it, I found it rather quickly. I double checked online to make sure and sure enough, I had the right one.

It's called a Spicebush Swallowtail and it's one of four Florida butterflies that mimic the toxic Pipevine Swallowtail to gain protection from predators. I never knew that before today. Adult Spicebush's are strong agile fliers with a wingspan of 3 to 5 inches, but this butterfly rarely strays far from its preferred woodland habitat. A true lover of flowers, the Spicebush Swallowtail readily ventures out to nearby open areas in search of nectar. These butterflies continually flutter their wings while feeding. Larvae create shelters by curling up the edges of leaves with silk. They rest motionless inside when not actively feeding. At maturity, the larvae turn yellow and search for a site to pupate.

I was going to take some pictures of it but you know how that goes, if you want something bad enough and you run inside to get the camera, it will be gone by the time you get back and sure enough, it was gone. Once I found what it was, I just grabbed a picture of it from a nature site I often visit. I hope they don't mind. lol

Happy trails!

20 Facts About Rabbits

20 facts you need to know about rabbits if you were planning on getting one or just curious about them:

- A male rabbit is a buck.
- A female rabbit is a doe.
- A baby rabbit is a kit.
- They aren't rodents by any means! The are Lagomorphs.
- The gestation period is 30 days, gave or take a day.
- Their teeth never stop growing.
- They can be litter trained.
- Pet rabbits can live as long as 10 years.
- They purr much like a cat does.
- Domesticated rabbits can't breed with wild rabbits.
- Domesticated rabbits are born without fur.
- They require hay to assist the digestive system.
- They eat their own night droppings. (yuk!)
- The droppings make for a great garden fertilizer.
- They have 28 teeth.
- They love to chew.
- They groom themselves.
- They start breeding as early as 3 months of age.
- They sweat only through the pads on their feet.
- Never leave a rabbit in full sun as they can have a heat stroke.

Happy Trails!

Back From The Wild

I can't believe it's been over a year since I was last on my own blog. That's embarrassing! I have been very busy though and not one minute of that time away from here was wasted. Time to turn over a new leaf on here and get back to what I used to love to do, that being this blog. :)

Since my last post, I have traveled to China again for 4 days, been back to Ireland for 10 days, spent 6 months in South Africa, and about to start another round of classes in college at the end of this month. Oh joy......

My time in South Africa was spent at a wildlife refuge and I plan on returning there one day as I learned a great deal about what my future is going to be. I've always wanted to be a veterinarian and that dream is almost complete. I'm working part time as a veterinarian assistant and along with my classes and my time at the wildlife refuge, which I got credit for, by this time next year, I will be free of the learning phase and venturing out on my own. I look forward to that very much.

My freedom will only last so long, as my ultimate goal is to be a wildlife surgeon. I want to be able to travel the globe and help wildlife animals that are in need of help, no matter what it is. Far fetched? Maybe, but I was always told to follow my dreams and that is what I'm doing. The animals need me and I need them. :)

More soon......Happy trails everyone! :)