Hunting serval momentarily stops to look and listen, in the early morning light! Masai Mara, East Africa.
Tags: Serval Masai Mara East Africa
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Martinselkonen, Finland, July, 2022.
We recently returned home from an amazing photo tour in the wild Boreal forest of Finland. The trip with Bearphoto certainly lived up our expectations with countless mother bears frequenting the area accompanied by their adorable young cubs.
It was mostly overcast when we were in the Forest hide but on the odd occasions there were some short periods of lovely sunlight coming through the trees.
Tags: 2022 Bears Brown Bears Finland Martinselkonen
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Boreal Forest, Finland
I've 20,000 images from two trips to Kenya I need to deal with, but this mother and cub from six days in Finland last week jumped the queue.
Sony A1, FE 100-400 GM OSS
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The white basket fungus is found in Australia, New Zealand, Tanzania and South Africa. The Māori people called them "ghost droppings" and "house of the devil". The brown spores covering the inside are smelly and attract insects which spread the spores. Basket fungi are part of the stinkhorn family (Phallaceae). The basket fungus in the photo has just unfolded and become detached from its egg-like covering where its development took place with another one on the right waiting to "hatch".
Tags: Basisidiomycota Basket fungus Fungi Ileodictyon cibarium New Zealand fungi Phallaceae Wenderholm Regional Park White basket fungus stinkhorns #140 Explore
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Bird's nest fungi's fruiting bodies resemble tiny egg-filled bird nests. They are easily overlooked because of their tiny size (7mm or 1/4 inch across). Young specimens have a thin layer of tissue covering the cup's top. It wears off at maturity to expose the disc-shaped spore parcels within. The smooth inner walls of the fruiting body and the combined effect of the crucible shape and internal wall angle produce a good splash action. The force of the falling water splashes out the "egg" uncoiling and snapping the funiculus, the cord that connects it to the fruiting body. As the egg continues its flight, the cord extends to its full length. The sticky end of the cord may adhere to a leaf or a twig some distance away, and the egg may end up being wrapped around or hanging down the object to which the funiculus is stuck. The spores can germinate when the thick outer wall of the "egg" wears away, or the egg may be eaten by a herbivorous animal, and ultimately passed through its digestive system. Recently New Zealand collected specimen of C. laeve had the name changed to C. simile. I have not caught up with the rationale for this.
Tags: Common Bird's Nest Fungus Crucibulum Crucibulum laeve Fungi Nidulariaceae bird's nest fungi Crucibulum simile
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