Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus!)

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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus!)

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Ladies and Gentlemenschs,

here's the second installation of my two-part post filled with random Borneo photos (first part here).

Asian Forest Scorpion ([Heterometrus longimanus). This was the first time we ever saw a scorpion in the wild (in Taiwan they only exist in the extreme south), and it blew our minds. Not only did we find it in a manicured park in downtown Kuching, with more park benches and rowboats than trees, but, as you can see, it was also sitting in a tree, about three meters from the ground. While I was photographing it, it suddenly disappeared from my lens view, not to be seen again. We thought he'd jumped into the grass, and we searched the area, but nothing doing. Later, on the way back, we passed that tree once more, and there he was again! As soon as he saw us, he did his disappearing trick, and this time we saw his escape route: he lived in that tree hole right behind him! After years of seeing pix of ground-bound desert scorpions here on FHF, a frickin' tree in the middle of a city park was the last location we expected to find a scorpion....especially such a huge one.
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Silvered Leaf Langur (Trachypithecus cristatus)
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More light!
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Nepenthes are one of the many reasons I moved to Sarawak, and they can be found in a lot of places. For the non-initiated, N. ampullaria pitchers in captivity rarely exceed the size of a small pigeon egg, and they never climb, either. The plants on the ground shown here are the ones where we found Microhyla nepenthicola during our first night walk about a month ago.
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Clown-Faced Daddy Longlegs
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The Golden Gate Bridge, it ain't....
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One Sunday morning I was hanging out with the local rock climber bunch at the Batman Wall outside Kuching, watching my son struggle up the limestone cliff, when suddenly a little snake hurried across the ground between us. A closer look revealed four small legs attached to the snake, and we managed to catch the Grass Lizard (Takydromus sexlineatus) just in time. The tail of this species can be up to three times longer than its SVL. I wonder why...
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TNWJackson
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Re: Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus

Post by TNWJackson »

Wow, the tail on that Takydromus is very impressive.
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Ribbit
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Re: Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus

Post by Ribbit »

I’ve always wanted to see one of those crazily long-tailed lizards, sweet. And the photo of light streaming through a gap in the canopy is really beautiful.

Must … visit … Borneo!

John
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Ribbit wrote:Must … visit … Borneo!
Do it. It's nice this time of the year....and all the rest of the year, too :-)
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Martti Niskanen
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Re: Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus

Post by Martti Niskanen »

Daddy longlegs. What are they all about? http://youtu.be/qsXyRVQN70U
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Martti Niskanen wrote:Daddy longlegs. What are they all about? http://youtu.be/qsXyRVQN70U
Here you have it: hard evidence that the German government went too far when they decriminalized cannabis.
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moloch
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Re: Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus

Post by moloch »

Great stuff, Hans. Always interesting and entertaining.

Regards,
David
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Cole Grover
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Re: Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus

Post by Cole Grover »

Another sweet post, Hans! I, for one, am glad you took the move to Borneo!

Oh, and that video about the Daddy Longlegs was one of the funniest things I've watched in a while! Holy hell... "It's like a Q-Tip head..."


-Cole
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Thanks, folks!
Cole Grover wrote:that video about the Daddy Longlegs was one of the funniest things I've watched in a while!
You wouldn't laugh if you had grown up amongst these people :-)
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Martti Niskanen
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Re: Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus

Post by Martti Niskanen »

Hans Breuer (twoton) wrote: You wouldn't laugh if you had grown up amongst these people :-)
German humour is massively underrated.
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chrish
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Re: Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus

Post by chrish »

The tail of this species can be up to three times longer than its SVL. I wonder why...
In java I frequently found this species climbing in tangles of vines or long grass. I have always thought it was an adaptation for climbing.

Loving the Borneo posts. Looking forward to more.
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

I observed a treeshrew (probably Tupaia gris) this morning, eating berries on a tree (duh, where else?). I had a good long look at it, but failed to take a picture (the beast ran away when I took out the Pentax). There are ten different species on the island!!

I love this place :-)
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frogshot
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Re: Borneo Dispatches #10: Jungle Medley 2 (Bonus Takydromus

Post by frogshot »

Fantastic, the Takydromus sexlineatus is such a strange creature, love the head shots.
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