Hello folks who wonder if kids in the future will just listen to audiobooks in their parent's voices instead of being read the book in person,

People like other animals are so predictable.

Show a kid a candy and it will eat it without a second thought. Show an adult a candy and they will moan about how they are "on this low carb diet and cannot enjoy life" spiel.

Keep a bag of chips open in the kitchen and turn off the light. Then, after 2 minutes, turn it back on and see it swarming with roaches who will run for their lives as soon as the light turns on.

Give any cat a belly rub and watch your face get scratched.

Give any dog a belly rub and it doesn't want you to stop.


One of the reptiles that we often see running around in our parks and backyards is the Western Fence Lizard. I usually have a hard time catching them unless they run into a dead end.


Because no one likes being touched without their consent, they will get angsty and try to make a dash for freedom. But freedom comes at a cost, while trying to escape my hand, at the last moment I will try to get my fingers on anything I can to keep my prize from escaping. Sometimes though, I will grip it by its tail. And then it prematurely ejects it. Naughty. I know.


You see, lizards have developed this ingenious self-defense mechanism that allows them to drop their tail at will to distract their predators or an over zealous naturalist. I have covered the pros and cons of a lizard dropping its tail in a previous blog postBut a limp tail is of no interest to predators, since being limp indicates no life or energy. So, lizard tails after being severed will cause the nerves to keep firing which in turn will keep the muscles moving. Hence the severed tail will keep on wiggling and jiggling in random motion with no rhyme or reason. This show will keep on going till the muscles run out of fuel which can be anything from 5 to 30 minutes.


This is what the lizard looks like after ejecting its tail. Was it worth it, I ask?



Which makes me wonder if lizards ever stumble into this problem.


And finally, have you been in a situation or seen someone when the nearest toilet is one mile away but your body cannot hold it any longer inside. How would you walk the longest mile of your life? Probably by clenching your butt cheeks together. But then that will affect your gait, making people wonder what's the deal with you. One fine morning, I spotted this Oriental cockroach walking in a similar way, but instead of answering the call of nature, it was carrying an egg case called ootheca which will have up to 50 babies emerge after a few weeks.


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