The Ark In Space

The Gelada: Unique Primate from the Roof of Africa

Sunday, 5 July 2026

High up in the Ethiopian mountains lives the Gelada. It lives nowhere else and although its closest living relative is the baboon, with its hairless face and short muzzle the gelada looks more like a chimpanzee. Isolated in these remote Ethiopian Highlands (often called The Roof of Africa) this primate has developed a way of existence (one might call it a culture) all of its own.

Image Credit Flickr User A Davey

Image Credit Flickr User Photo Shoot

To begin with the gelada is a graminivore which means that it only eats grass. Fortunately, the highlands in which they live are cooler and a lot less arid than many parts of Ethiopia and they rarely experience any kind of food shortage. They will also become granivorous when the grass is in seed. In fact, they actively prefer the seed to the grass – it is probably a welcome change.

Watch this Chameleon Give Birth to Live Young

Sunday, 29 March 2026

The South African Dwarf Chameleon has to contend with a problem. It can sometimes get cold where it lives and that means that if it laid eggs, they probably wouldn’t hatch. So, evolution came up with a neat solution to that – instead of laying eggs, this chameleon carries it young like a mammal. In order to properly incubate her eggs, she finds the sunniest spots in which to bask and enable them to grow. When it is time for them to be born, she gives birth from fairly high up in the branches. Fortunately, the young do not drop to the ground. They are born with a membrane that temporarily encloses them – and the membrane is sticky and so attaches itself to a branch on the way down! Once the newborn has dried off, as it were, it is ready to pursue life in the branches.

Watch the amazing video, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, below:

Monarch Migration – Staggering Spectacle of Nature

Saturday, 19 June 2021

Monarch butterflies are renowned for their migration. Yet no single monarch has ever completed the 2,000 mile round trip – it is generational in nature because of the sheer distance involved. There being safety in numbers this leads to what is surely one of nature’s most spectacular sights – that of millions of monarchs congregating together.

Image Credit Flickr User Pablo Leautaud

In North America the butterfly begins this massive yearly migration in August. Monarch butterflies fuel up on nectar in the northern States and Canada - it is time to leave as the coming winter will be so cold it would inevitably kill them. Unlike their great-grandparents they have never flown more than a few hundred meters in their lives but they head out over vast northern lakes with no hesitation. This is the first leg of one of the world’s greatest migrations.

The Wolf Eel: The Old Man of the Sea

Monday, 27 May 2019

Picture one of those double-take moments when you have to look again in a mixture of curiosity and alarm. Then imagine that you are thirty meters underwater when that happens. Over the years, divers off the coast of California have had many such moments when they suddenly come across the huge face of an old man peering at them from the rocky reefs below. Yet this is not anything approaching a subaquatic nightmare: it is the face of an extraordinary creature, the wolf eel.

Image Credit Flickr User cwilso

Becoming - Watch a Single Cell become a Complete Organism

Sunday, 24 February 2019

This is just amazing – one cell becomes two, two becomes four – and so on until a complete organism is there in front of your eyes. In this case it is a newt tadpole that emerges but is the process that is fascinating. It may sound like a long time to wait to see a tadpole swim off but believe me, you will be entranced by this little creature’s process of becoming.

A film by Jan van IJken, Becoming just became the one thing that made my day. Enjoy!

Avian Architecture – the Precarious Nests of the Stork

Sunday, 3 February 2019

Image Credit Flickr User Max xx

Storks make their nests high. To us they look remarkably precarious structures, not exactly a desirable residence – the ‘des res’ of your dreams. The stork, however, thrives at height most of us would avoid like the plague. Take a look at some amazing nests of the stork.

Image Credit Flickr User Lorentey

Although many Europeans encourage storks to nest on the roof of their home – it is supposed to increase the fecundity of the householders – many would gasp at the inherent danger that lies in building one’s home on top of a deadly current of electricity. In Denmark, however, the stork is not a welcome guest and so this would be considered appropriate alternative housing. The Danish believe that if a stork builds a nest on top of your house then someone who lives there will die before the year ends. These parent storks, however, will not be on the nest for great periods of time. This stork in Hungary is flying back to the nest to feed its offspring. The visit will need to be fairly quick though – stork chicks can eat anything up to sixty percent of their body weight each day. That is quite a few fish and frogs.

The Astonishing Eggs of Alien Nations

Sunday, 25 November 2018

They may look like they come straight out of a science fiction film, but these eggs are real - they come from the stink bug. It’s life, but most certainly not as we know it. Take a look at the astonishing eggs of the alien nations all around us.

Image Credit
Lacewing eggs are attached to a leaf or a stalk by a slender piece of silk to place them, hopefully, out of harm’s way. What hatches, however, is the stuff of nightmares. The larvae immediately molt and then go on something approaching a feeding frenzy. As their senses (except that of touch) are not well developed they will essentially attack anything living that they touch in the hope that it is food. Once they are attached to their prey they will inject it with a digestive fluid – the insides of an aphid can be liquefied by a lacewing larva in an astonishing 90 seconds.

Watch an Amazing Murmuration of Starlings

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

It’s a great word, isn’t it, murmuration? Whoever invented it to describe a huge gathering of starlings needs a special medal for eccentrically but lovingly mauling the English language. No one really knows why starlings do this. Some say it is for protection, others to indicate a roost is nearby. Or maybe it’s just because they can. This staggering murmuration was captured in Brighton (UK) by the film making partnership of Sim Warren and Mia Xerri, The Contrast Collective.

Frostie the Snow Goat

Monday, 26 May 2014

Frostie has been taking the internet by storm, to say the least.

He was recently taken in by Edgar’s Mission a farm sanctuary in Willowmavin, Kilmore, in the state of Victoria, Australia.

When young Frostie was taken in he had the worst case of lice that the folks at the farm have ever seen. He was severely dehydrated too. Yet these two conditions could be dealt with quite easily.

Frostie also had something far more serious.

He also had a condition called joint navel ill an incredibly nasty infection which enters the body via the umbilical cord soon after birth.

The bacteria had spread through Frostie and had made its home in the joints of his hind limbs. This meant that the little guy could not work – and his body was full of horrible toxins.

In order to flush them out he was pumped with antibiotics but a way had to be found to help the blood circulate.

As you can see, necessity is the mother of invention and this remarkable wheeled contraption now helps the wheelie kid get about.

He was soon ready for a big adventure!

Humpback Whale Performs Amazing Act of Appreciation After Being Freed From Nets

Sunday, 11 May 2014

Michael Fishback and his family visit the Sea of Cortez, photographing whales to track them and observe their behaviors.

However, on one of their trips they had the opportunity to help save a trapped humpback whale. They took this incredible footage which shows you exactly what happened.

The young whale at first appeared to be dead. The group floated next to it for a few minutes and saw no signs of life until it exhaled. Michael eased in to the water to assess the situation and found that the whale was terribly tangled in fishing net.

Both pectoral fins were pinned to its body and it looked as if the whale would probably die unless something was done soon – and there was no time to waste. When you watch this amazing film you will see what happens next – and this time it is a happy ending. Once the whale is free though, it does something amazing – it shows its appreciation of the family and their endeavors to save him by giving them a show they will never forget.

Luna Moth - Beautiful and Mysterious

Sunday, 25 September 2011

Until he took this picture, Flickr Photographer Urtica was pretty sure he had never photographed a luna moth. It was on a short list of things he had decided if he ever did photograph, he would simply have to just retire the digicam.

Joking aside, he had the mercury vapor lamp and the white sheet out, and this little guy was hiding between the sheet and the shed door - he didn't find him until after he was breaking down the setup for the night. Patience it seems has its own rewards!

Life in the Blue - Remarkable HD Footage

Sunday, 17 July 2011

The BBC has been making nature documentaries for over half a century so it isn’t any real surprise that they have some of the best shots of life in the oceans that you could see. Their Life in the Blue collection portrays an astonishing selection of submarine species in their most natural surroundings.

It was filmed with the remarkable visual invention and skill of a feature film or advert, with perfect composition and lighting, all while trying to keep the animals unaware of the camera's presence.

I can’t help but think that some of the sharks, at least, were aware of the presence of the cameramen in these clips – and I am not sure I am that envious of their job, either! However, Life in the Blue was filmed by one of the most renowned oceanic cinematographers in the world and these are its hand-picked gems.

I Have My Eye On You

Friday, 8 July 2011

Image Credit Flickr User Tambako the Jaguar

Don't get too close - you might make a tasty snack for this crocodile. If he does take a bite from you - then be afraid, be very afraid. Each jaw contains twenty four extremely sharp teeth which are designed to do pretty much anything else but chew. They will grasp you, crush you and splice/dice you but they won't chew. Mastication just isn't their thing, you see.

They don't need to worry as we do when we get older, about losing their teeth. If one is knocked or falls out then it is replaced - throughout their lives. Strangely enough when the jaws close the pressure exerted is huge. When they are opened it is virtually non existent. In fact a good strength elastic band will keep the jaws of a large crocodile closed.

Robins: 4 Eggs, 4 Weeks

Tuesday, 31 May 2011

Fred Margulies is a lucky man. A pair of robins decided to nest in a flower basket on his porch. Being a film producer he captured this wonderful footage over the next four weeks. Add the most appropriate soundtrack – When the red red robin comes bob bob bobbin’ and you have something magical.

Compare The Meerkat - For Real

Friday, 23 April 2010

We are all pretty much agreed here at Ark In Space that the Meerkat is one of the coolest animals on the planet. They are, however, much maligned in the advertising industry and their image has been used and abused to further the ends of a certain insurance company. Actually, we love those adverts too (even though the latest ones are bordering on the extremely silly or maybe because of this...).

However, if you want to take a look at real meerkats, then look no further (as it were). Click HERE or on the image above to find out all sorts of fun and interesting facts about these amazing animals.

Image Credit Flickr User Tambako The Jaguar

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