Day 132

I couldn't help myself--I had to go back and try to measure that orb weaver I found yesterday.  Armed with a ruler and sellotape, I trekked back out into the rainforest alone.  The spider was busy eating lunch, some type of beetle, I believe.  More spider photos!

Yum yum?

Omnomnom.

Look at all those pesky scavenging males.

I taped the ruler to a stick and held it up as close as I could to the spider.  I even hit the web a few times, so this is really right next to the spider.  I then copied, pasted, and opaqued sections of the ruler from each photo to give an accurate measurement.

Body length is 2 inches in this photo, but the spider is tilted--the body is actually a bit closer to 2.5 inches, I estimate,
but for the purposes of this experiment we'll stick with 2 inches.

The first two segments of the leg measure out to exactly 2.5 inches, and the third segment is 1.5 inches.
That's a 4-inch long leg, ladies and gents.

So with a 2-inch long body and 4-inch long legs, and noting that the legs are basically all attached in the same place, this spider is a minimum of 8 inches long.  However, due to the spider's tilted position and not-so-straight legs, I think it's safe to say this gal is a bit bigger than that.  I'm sticking with my estimate of 10 inches!

Also, I saw a few sulfur-crested cockatoos.

Do those eyes remind anyone else of the eyeball candies that ice cream places stick on kids' cones?

I really don't understand why people like these things as pets, they're obnoxiously loud and their eyes are scary!

After my scientific experiment, I headed over to the aquarium to pick up my bright-yellow crocs (I love those things, but they're so ugly that I never get to wear them anywhere!) and took a few shots of Snappy, our resident crocodile.  He's a baby, and he thinks he's a ferocious predator.  Adorable!

He likes to sit at the front and watch you--probably thinking about eating you.  Awww.

Weird double vision.

Snappy's itty-bitty baby teeth!

Looking more like a real predator now.

Crocodile eyes are pretty cool.  They have two sets of eyelids:
a clear set to see underwater, and a normal set to close their eyes.

Look at that eye!  Makes me want to sing "Eye of the Tiger" for some reason.

I've started packing everything up, taking down all my decorations, and making bags of trash and donations.  You never really realise how much stuff you've got until you try to fit it all into two suitcases.

I leave for my liveaboard in two days, so I probably won't post anything new until I come home.  I promise lots of neat pictures of underwater stuff!  :)

Cheers,
Ashton