Tag: Nature

Whirligig beetle

 

Little black beetle

gyrating circular dance

pond life acrobat.

 

by Scooj

Northern white rhinoceros

.

Farewell dear Sudan

your tough skin was not enough;

the end of the line.

.

by Scooj

  • On the news that the last male northern white rhinoceros was put down yesterday he is survived by his daughter and granddaughter. His passing is a loss that is emblematic and the world will feel a little bit less complete. A sad day indeed.

Duck billed platypus

 

Extraordinary

eclectic cluster of the

Animal Kingdom.

 

by Scooj

Coelacanth

 

Most ancient order

of lobe-finned fish enwrapped

with thick scale armour.

 

by Scooj

Spider crab

 

Spiny long legs and

decorated carapace;

harmless omnivore.

 

by Scooj

  • Atlast, after years of looking, I have found another transposable animal name. The first was goose barnacle/barnacle goose, now I can add to it spider crab/crab spider. Phew.

Hare

 

Slender herbivore

tall ears and like a rabbit

but not a rabbit.

 

by Scooj

Antlion

 

Great gladiator

conical dust arena

jaws at the ready.

 

by Scooj

 

Goose Barnacle

 

Attached to flotsam

a curious crustacean

and filter feeder.

 

by Scooj

  • Occasionally one can be lucky enough to see these fascinating creatures washed up on driftwood. They really are most unusual.
  • I like the name, because if you switch the words you get barnacle goose, which is great wordplay. I test myself regularly to see if there are any other such animal names that can be transposed in this way. I haven’t found one yet. (Sadly there is no such thing as a monkey spider…for example.)
  • It was named because it was thought (before such things were understood) that barnacle geese were created from them as their nests and chicks were never seen in Northern Europe. The goose barnacle has a long ‘neck’ and the main part of the body resembles a head and beak.

Zebra

 

Conspicuous stripes

infectious, inflected bray

grazer of the veldt.

 

by Scooj.

 

  • The challenge of choosing an animal and then writing a haiku  about it is actually much harder than I thought it would be.

Pangolin

 

Peculiar beast

sporting ‘globe artichoke’ scales

and sixteen inch tongue.

 

by Scooj

 

  • I challenged myself to write a haiku about the first animal I could think of. I think I might make this a series…any suggestions welcome.