The Ark In Space

Weaver Ants Show Their Teamwork Skills

Saturday, 2 August 2025

When you are building a new home sometimes you need some help. A little teamwork goes a long way and these green tree ants (or weaver ants) from Australia could teach us a thing or two about that. Their own task may, to begin with, seem almost impossible but with some supreme acrobatic skills anything, it seems, is possible.

Image Credit Wikimedia

Jaçana – The Big Foot of the Bird World

Friday, 22 November 2024

The tropical zone of planet Earth contains many wonderful species which have adapted over time to their environment. The Jaçana (the c is pronounced like the one in façade) consists of eight species; all are found within the tropical zone and all in possession of something quite special which equips them take best advantage of their habitat. At home in shallow lakes with lots of vegetation, the Jaçana has evolved enormous feet and claws. They are, literally, the big foot of the bird world. Once seen, never forgotten.

African Jacana - Image Credit Flickr User David Cook

The vegetation which floats upon many shallow lakes in the world’s tropical zone contains a veritable smorgasbord for any bird able to reach them. Most are home to a huge variety of insects and other invertebrates. Yet the vegetation which houses this feast is what disables access to it. Now, if only a bird could walk on the vegetation without submerging it (and itself) with the weight, all this food would be theirs for the taking. Enter the Jaçana.

Welcome to the Bee Hotel

Sunday, 18 September 2022

This remarkable structure can be found in Place des Jardins in Paris and is known as a bee hotel. You may be wondering what bees need a hotel for, when they make their own hives. The truth is that many species of bees are solitary – the do not live in hives but instead construct their own nest. The main reason for this is because in these species every female is fertile and this would not make for comfortable communal living in a hive.

Image Credit Flickr User Versinia

Image Credit Flickr User Joe Thomissen

Bee hotels are necessary for a number of different reasons. To begin with bee populations have been on a decline in recent years. Part of the problem is that their natural habitats have been cleared to make way for intensive agriculture. Pesticides have also been instrumental in their decline.

The Hyrax – The Elephant’s Cousin

Thursday, 17 February 2022

The Hyrax may look like a guinea pig to the casual observer but looks can be very deceptive. It has even been called the rock rabbit but its family tree is much stranger than you might expect. Its nearest living relatives are the elephant and, bizarrely, the sea cow.

Image Credit Flickr User Rainbirder

Hummingbirds in Flight

Saturday, 1 January 2022

Nothing can quite prepare you for the exquisite sight of a hummingbird on the wing. Nature has truly spoiled us with this astonishing spectacle. Take a look as ten different species take flight in their search for food and marvel at the aerodynamics of one of the world's truly astonishing species.

Image Credit Flickr User Ingrid Taylor

Image Credit Flickr User kukkurovaka

This beautiful specimen is known as an Anna’s Hummingbird and was named after Anna Messina, the Duchess of Rivoli. It is found along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Arizona. Males perform remarkable display dives during the courtship season. The male, when his territory is threatened, rises up around a hundred feet before diving on to his rival. The dive is so fast it produces an “explosive squeak” as the wind rushes through the tail feathers.

Unexpectedly Funny Things to do with Hamsters When You're Bored

Thursday, 28 October 2021

Hamsters – they’re adorable and surprisingly good company too. Here we take a look at some unexpectedly funny things you can do with hamsters when you’re bored – and throw in some cool facts about hamsters at the same time!

1. Amuse Him With Your Office Anecdotes

Hamsters love to hear what went on at the office. In fact they like nothing better than a long and intense monologue. Start with the time you got to work and give him a blow by blow account of the day’s activities. You can even tell him those secrets that you can’t tell anyone else, like who is having an affair with the boss. Hamsters love gossip!

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 Extraordinary Pink Katydid

Flamingos aside, you do not get to see the color pink in the animal kingdom a great deal. A notable exception is the pink katydid. Yet this is by no means a separate species – this coloring affects around one in 500. You may have already guessed that the condition is something similar to albinism.

Image Credit Flickr User janetandphil

Image Credit Flickr User MGJefferies

Known as erythrism, the condition causes a curious reddish pigmentation. It can affect the body of an insect as well as its skin, and it is so rare that it was not noticed by western scientists until 1887. The reason for this oversight was perhaps due to the inclination of the insect to remain perfectly still during daylight hours.

The Largest Pigeon in the World – The Victoria Crowned Pigeon

Due to the demise of the Dodo, the mantle of the world’s largest pigeon was passed on to the Victoria Crowned. If you associate pigeons with the types that we see in our cities and towns – altogether a pretty unimpressive lot – then you are in for a surprise.

Image Credit Flickr User hjhipster

The Gelada: Unique Primate from the Roof of Africa

Tuesday, 6 April 2021

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.

Synchronized Swimming in the Animal Kingdom

Sunday, 21 March 2021

While some sports are popular in the human world it seems that it is synchronized swimming which is really taking off among the animal population...

Image Credit Flickr User xanboozled

Image Credit Flick User Turkinator

The Incredible Glasswing Butterfly

Saturday, 13 March 2021

A butterfly with transparent wings? Surely not. Yet there is a species that exhibits this trait. Take a close look at the incredible Glasswing, an enchanting species that confounds science.

Image Credit Flickr User Hans s

Meet the Black Squirrel

Sunday, 17 January 2021

Image Credit Flickr User Bobolink

You have probably seen the grey. You may even have encountered or at least heard of the red. However, have you ever seen a black squirrel? Take a look at this small but dark beasty of the forest.

This is the black squirrel. Out of the squirrel population of the United States and Canada perhaps only one in ten thousand is black. However, this is not a separate species in itself. It is in fact a sub-group of the grey squirrel and, little by little their numbers are growing. In fact in some areas they outnumber the greys. However, this black coloring is not a recent trend among the squirrel community – research indicates that in the days before the European settlement of the America the black squirrel was probably much more numerous than the grey.

Image Credit Flickr User James Martin Phelps

Image Credit Flickr User afamiliarletter

Image Credit Flickr User tree-species

Instead of being a separate species, the black squirrel is in fact what is known as a melanistic subgroup. Midwestern North America is their stomping ground although there are groups to be found in the UK (more of which later). Melanism is caused by an increased level of black pigmentation, a compound which determines color called melanin. This subgroup of the Eastern Grey has stacks of melanin and these melanistic traits are the opposite of albinism which occurs when flora or fauna have a lack of the compound.

Great Egret Rising

Wednesday, 13 January 2021

Image Credit Flickr User Wolfpix

With its all white plumage that can often reach a meter in height, the Great Egret is a sight to behold as it soars up in to the sky. Considered safe, only a century ago the species was highly threatened. Read on to discover how and why the species was able to make a dramatic come back.

Image Credit Flickr User Mike Baird

Planet Lemur: 10 Beautiful Little-Known Species

Saturday, 12 December 2020

Image Credit Flickr User Tambako the Jaguar

Most people have heard of the Ring-tailed Lemur (above) and could suppose that it is the only species. However, there are many varieties of Lemur, a lot of which are beautiful and incredibly rare. Take a look in to the planet of the lemurs and discover for yourself the wonderful diversity of this lesser known family of animals.

The Red-ruffed Lemur

Image Credit Flickr User Ucumari

This exquisitely colored species is critically endangered and part of its habitat in Madagascar has recently been made in to a National Park. This may at least ensure the survival of some of the species but as it is unable to tell where it is safe for itself, many of the animals live outside the park’s boundaries and are still prey to humans as ‘bush food’. Who could possibly bring themselves to eat this delightful animal in the full knowledge that it is nearing extinction?

Dolphins in the Wild - Photo Special

Sunday, 20 September 2020

Dolphins – those special marine mammals – are the subject of this photo special. All the pictures here are of wild dolphins, some of the almost forty species that are found worldwide. They are a recent evolutionary adaptation, having first appeared on this ark in space around ten million years ago. Intelligent, curious and fearless, they embody many of the qualities that we admire and to which we aspire. Welcome to the world of the dolphin - free, physical and wild.

Image Credit Flickr User Mike in Thailand

A Sea Slug Symphony

Saturday, 4 January 2020

The nudibranch is a soft bodied marine gastropod mollusk – but many people simply refer to them, perhaps somewhat unfairly, as sea slugs. You can see why they gained this nick name (even though it is often taxonomically inaccurate too!) but compared to the land bound version they are an explosion of color and grace. Here are just a few of the 3,000 species. (Image Credit Flickr User CW Ye)

Image Credit Daniel Kwok

This beautiful creature is found in the Western Pacific. A rich pinkinsh purple color, they have a white border on their mantle. They would be startling enough without, but their rhinophore clubs are an orange-yellow color that is a startling juxtaposition with the rest of their bodies. This exquisite creature is formally known as Hypselodoris apolegma.

How Spiders Escaped the Pakistani Floods

Sunday, 30 June 2019

When the floods hit Pakistan in 2010 the first thing that many people did was to head for higher ground. So too did countless millions of animals, among them spiders. To escape the rapidly rising waters the spiders did the sensible thing and climbed up trees.

The flood waters took quite a while to recede. The result was that the temporary arachnid shelter became semi-permanent – and a spider has to do what a spider has to do...

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

The Biggest Dogs in the World - There Be Giants

Sunday, 24 March 2019

Let’s face it, some people like their pets big! If you are looking for a large dog there are a number of breeds which are generally referred to as giants. Be careful, though – you should only consider these breeds if you have lots of space, lots of time and quite a deal of money. The Ark in Space takes a look at the giants of the canine world.

The English Mastiff

Image Credit Flickr User Claudio Genari

The English Mastiff, in terms of mass is the big daddy of all dogs and its dimensions particularly that of the male are something to be believed. Every inch of this dog gives off strength and power – if the planet Krypton had a dog then this would probably be it. The world record holding breed for weight, this dog can weigh up to two hundred and fifty pounds for a male and around fifty pounds less than a female. The breed has been around for a long time – the name probably derives from the Anglo-Saxon word for powerful –masty. It is generally recognized to be the oldest dog breed in the UK.

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