The Ark In Space

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:

Watch a Lord Howe Island Stick Insect hatching

Monday, 21 July 2025

We have already told the story of how the critically endangered Lord Howe Island Stick Insect was brought back from the edge of extinction in the animation Sticky. Of course, there is still much work to be done. This entrancing video shows – for the first time – the hatching of a young stick insect. It was captured by zoo keeper Rohan Cleave at Melbourne Zoo. The eggs incubate for over six months and, until now, the hatching process has never been seen.

This goes to show - yet again - the invaluable conservation work that is done by zoos across the world. Watch the video below. If this doesn’t bring a smile to your face, then it’s unlikely that anything will!

Spider Mom

Sunday, 21 March 2021

This is one of the most remarkable pieces of film I have seen for a long time. Sure, we are all used to macro photography these days, showing all aspects of insect and arachnid life close up. Yet while that sort of photography needs time and bags of patience this must have been a labor of love indeed.

Funnily enough labor is quite an appropriate word here. This remarkable piece of film shows a spider laying its eggs. Scientifically speaking I should have said a spider ovispositing its egg sac but now you have that you know what it means in everyday speak!

The detail here is stunning – quite remarkable – you can see the eggs inside the spider before their sack is oviposited. Not only that it shows the care that the spider gives its young before they are born and even takes us to the birth itself.

This outstanding footage was taken by Alvaro Mendoza Productions, otherwise known as Amprods, a Spanish production company specializing in nature documentaries and, more specifically, in filming animal behavior.

The Tarantula Hawk Wasp - Ruthless ‘Raptor’ of the Insect World

Sunday, 26 August 2018

Image Credit Flickr User Crume

They are among the largest species of wasp and their name is taken from both its prey and a ruthlessly efficient killing machine, the raptor known as a hawk. Yet the Tarantula Hawk Wasp gains its fearful name and reputation from the simple urge to care for and nourish its young.

Image Credit Flickr User Ethan Lundgaard

Growing up to two inches (5cm) in length the sight of a tarantula hawk would send the average entomophobic in to a state of palpitations. So, perhaps if you are already frowning squeamishly, your knuckles rapidly whitening, then you should not read on.

King Penguin Crèche - The Biggest Day Care Facility on the Planet

Sunday, 19 August 2018

If you have children you will no doubt have experienced the heart stopping moment when you realize the little one has wandered off and you cannot see them anywhere. You might imagine, then, how the average King Penguin parent might feel when they return to feed their chick. Yet it is all part of the King Penguin’s master plan for the survival of the next generation.

Image Credit Flickr User Liam Q

Dragonfly Delight: A Life Cycle in Superb Macrophotography

Monday, 23 July 2018

The sight of a dragonfly on the wing is one of the more remarkable that nature has to offer. Here, with the help of some astounding macrophotography, we take a look at the life cycle of the dragonfly as well as its remarkable and unusual physiology.

Image Credit Flickr User JerryHsu

Image Credit Flickr User Vicki's Nature

The gorgeous colors of a dragonfly – these majestic insects of the air, have been a source of inspiration – and fear – to people for thousands of years. The order to which they belong is called Odonata. Many people regularly go ‘oding’ just as others go birding or butterfly collecting. Their life is cycle as unusual as their looks are striking.

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.

Baby Wolf Spiders

Thursday, 16 September 2010

The maker of this video, Vimeo user Byron caught several adult wolf spiders and was taking care of them and studying them. Two of the spiders produced egg cases and carried them around with them for several weeks, even constructing little web-nests where the mother and egg case would sit, motionless, protected from the world.

Sadly, the mother spiders died, leaving their egg cases behind for Byron to take care of. Normally, the mother spider will open up the egg case and let the spiderlings out when they are ready to hatch; so after three weeks Byron opened them with tweezers and the baby spiders jumped out!

Wolf spiders are unique among spiders in that they provide parental care: the spiderlings will jump on the mother's back and ride on top of her for a week.... if one falls off, the mother will wait until it jumps back on again.

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