Getting back to the land

Amethyst deceiver

This is one of thirty stunning photographs of mushrooms.  View the rest of the collection here.

Pacu Jawi

Pacu Jawi is an annual event held to celebrate the end of the harvest season in the Minangkabau Highlands of West Sumatra, Indonesia.  It is essentially the racing of cows in muddy rice fields.

Read more about the Minangkabau culture here.

Pemba Flying Fox

Pemba is an island 50 miles off of the coast of Tanzania.  On Pemba (and no other place in the world) live fruit bats with a wing span of over 5 feet- the Pemba Flying Fox.  Roosts can contain over 800 bats.

Used as a food source for the local population their existence was threatened when hunters started using shotguns.  By the 1990's the bats' numbers were reduced to a few hundred.  The banning of shotguns and the introduction of ecotourism has resulted in their numbers increasing.  By 2007 they estimated there were 20,000 bats on Pemba.  Additional information available here.

Just a simple loading task

Edit (5/29/15)  

Apparently I was deceived by the video and for my protection and yours it was removed from youTube.  It was hard to believe, but was very entertaining.....

Silkworm

Sometimes you just need a hug