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Pictured above is one of several “flying saucers”.
Apparently, all were abandoned, shortly after landing.
They were recently discovered and photographed by Pelican Yoga’s Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence Unit.
If you believe this – let alone the endlessly-repeated but false claim that Perth is the world’s most isolated city/capital city/ substantial city – please discuss further with Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny, Donald Trump, and the Tasmanian Tiger of your choice…
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This little series concludes in northern Namibia, with a very elegant species of Antelope.
In the 1950s General Motors appropriated its name.
The “real thing” bears zero resemblance to any lumbering, oversized, grossly inefficient “Yank Tank”.
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Reportedly, this species – a southern African arid/semi-arid savannah/grassland specialist – will sometimes fly 120 kilometres from its nest, in order to find water.
Happily, for many Burchell’s sandgrouse this is no longer necessary; boring humans – well, humans who sink bores – have proved a boon to Pterocles burchelli.
Named after an English naturalist, they are somewhat pigeon-like in appearance…but not in their abilities and behaviour.
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As you can see in the image above, when a predator is not obviously present, the level of vigilance/alarm/nonchalance exhibited by its prey can vary greatly, from one individual to another.
This is true even within a small, close-spaced, single-species group.
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You can see this post’s species in Australia too, but not with such a spectacular, snow-capped backdrop.
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The birds pictured above were formerly known as “pied stilts”, and considered an Australasian subspecies of Himantopus himantopus, “yesterday’s heroes” – see #10 in this series.
This post’s heroes are now generally considered members of their own species, Himantopus leucocephalus.
Their “preferred” common name: white-headed stilts.
Each of these three individuals has the full complement of two legs.
Stilts, however, often prefer to stand on one leg, with the other one neatly folded and tucked into their lower feathers.
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Two questions arise when considering all three birds in today’s featured image.
The obvious one: “clearly, their wings are not black, so how do they merit their name?”
The other one: “why is Himantopus himantopus in the Guinness Book of Records?”
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This post’s Tibetan Plateau location is higher and wilder than was true of #8 in this series.
The Chang Tang – also rendered into English as “Changtang” – is a very harsh environment, mostly grasslands at more than 4,000 metres above sea level, punctuated by mountains.
Much of it is protected in one of the world’s largest national parks, but climate change’s impact – here, mostly negative – is proving particularly extreme, rapid.
Goa – or Tibetan Gazelle – live here in still-considerable, but declining numbers.
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Dead yaks reputedly provide rather more than half of the food eaten by Gyps himalayensis, but many members of Homo sapiens have also been devoured.
“Live” humans, fear not!
These very large raptors are scavengers, not hunters.
For countless human generations – via so-called “Tibetan Sky Burials”, in which religious rites are meticulously conducted, but the recently-deceased are not buried – Himalayan Griffon Vultures have done high-altitude humans a valuable service.
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For #6 in this series, the number of stripes on the bodies of the featured threesome was self-evident: 3 X 5 = 15.
The number of stripes on today’s heroes is an enormously higher number, not self-evident: 3 X ? = ?…my head hurts…
All members of Equus quagga have many stripes.
Each has his/her own unique pattern.
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