“God did All the Hard Work”
“I Just Pressed the Button.”
Are you thinking about or looking for that special gift for someone.
But you have not the slightest concept of what to purchase.
Ask yourself these questions? Does that particular friend, neighbour, a relation or even a work mate, who is leaving work.
Like nature, the outdoors, animals, travelling, seeing the great wonders of the World?
Try something different.
Any tangible gift you could find the hard part. What?
A flash of memory the answer appeared before my eyes. The website called Speady’s Travels, with those very appropriate Words:
Photos courtesy of www.speedystravels.com
Speady needed some help. He has a fabulous lady client who keeps buying his odd photos, as the colours blend into her own paintings. This lady has been eyeing the “elephant’ s eye’ over the last four weeks and now she stipulates that she buy “The Elephant’s Eye” is Speady could give her a story to blend with painting. So Speady rang me and asked if I could make a story for his client.
Before I could say yes or no, he has this man who bought a photo of a “Dragonfly for his Sister’s birthday from Speady. Could he frame same, which Speady was happy to for his client.
Could Speady also make up the semblance of a story about Dragonflies? So Speady contacted the Jamman to do both stories for his lady and the gentleman’s sister.
The Eyes of the Elephant.
The Eye of the Elephant
There was song back in the eighties, called “The eye of the Tiger by Survivor.” As there were no photos of the eye of the tiger, available at the time the photographer was forced to use. ‘The wonderful eye of the Elephant.’
The only request made by the elephant was to only show his left eye, as his right eye was slightly red as a result of drinking some liquid last night.
The Elephant facts to be considered!
The trunk has more than 40,000 muscles in it, which is more than a human has in their whole body. A human being only has 639 muscles in total. An elephant’s trunk is both strong and very agile. It can perform multiple tasks from pushing over heavy trees to picking up the smallest twig. An elephant uses its trunk to pick up and throw. An interesting feature of the elephant’s trunk is it both an upper lip and an extension of the nose with two nostrils running through the entire length.
The elephant’s body is adapted for their survival in the rugged conditions of their habitats in Africa and Asia.
Their sharp tasks carry heavy objects or fighting. Their large ears, which when flapped keeps the elephants cool, whilst there are able to swish their tails and send those annoying low flying flies into a distant land far away.
When danger threatens the elephant raises its trunk to smell the air and detect the smell of what is the threat and where it is coming from. This trunk is so important and vital to the elephant’s life, that it would be almost impossible for it’s survival if it ever was damaged. Elephants can store up four litres of water in their trunks.
The African has two prehensile fingers at the tip of the trunk, whilst the Asian only has one finger.
The difference between an African1-04.The Eyes are missing Asian body structures are; the African is much larger and the ears are bigger, as well as height and length. Both male and female African elephants have tusks, however, only the male species of the Asian elephant has them.
Elephants have very elongated incisor teeth and do not have any canine teeth at all. Both male and female African elephants have tusks, however, only the male species of the Asian elephant has tusks and they continue growing for most of the elephant’s life. They are an age indicator – much like the elephants feet, the age of the elephant can be estimated by observing their tusks. The size of an elephants tusks is an inherited characteristic, however, because of ivory hunters, it would be quite rare today to find and elephant whose tusks weigh more than 100 pounds.
There are some elephants born without tusks and causes differences in their muscular structure of head and neck.
Although up to 50 % of the Asian males have no tusks. They are known as “Makhnas.
Elephants are either ‘left-tusked’ or ‘right-tusked’, just like a human being might be ‘left-handed’ or ‘right-handed’. The favoured tusk is usually shorter than the other due to constant use. Male elephants tend to have heavier, longer and much stouter tusks than the females do.
Elephants are born with only 35% mass, the brain of an African Male elephant is some where of 4.2-5.4 kilograms and they are one of the more intelligent animals. The female’s brain weighs in at 3.6- 4.5 Kilos.
Humans are born with small brain masses and so are elephants. As a human brain grows and develops, so does an elephant calf’s brain. Likewise, the learning ability of a human, increases with growth, so does that of an elephant calf. It is not surprising that elephants are such intelligent creatures. Although the female elephant brain is smaller than the male elephant brain, this does not suggest that the male is more intelligent than the female. Studies have revealed that the female elephant is equal to or even more intelligent than the male. Given the fact that female elephants are generally smaller to male elephants, the brain mass in proportion to the male is normally smaller. The female brain and consciousness of the female elephant is very different than that of a male; as they are reared and interact with their mothers in very different ways right from birth and while the females form a very close knit bond with each other which is constantly maintained, the males are more solitary and independent.
Elephant Ears
The African elephant has ears that are at least 3 times the size of the Asian elephant’s ears. The African elephant uses its ears as signalling organs. Ears are also used to regulate body temperature and are used as a protective feature in the African elephant to ward off potential threats. Each elephant’s ear is unique and different to any other elephant’s ear. They are used just like fingerprints on a human as a type of identification. The ears serve several important functions in the elephant. If a threat is perceived; by the elephant, the ears are spread wide on each side of the head, which produces a huge frontal area.
As the elephant is such a large bulbous shape and their organs are larger, their insides generate tremendous heat, particularly the digestive system. The surface area of an elephant is a lower ratio compared to the elephant’s volume. Therefore, there is not enough skin area to cope with the heat that needs expelling. So elephants use their ears to perform this function. When an elephant flaps its ears, it can lower their blood temperature by 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Both the African and Asian elephants use their ears for this purpose although it is more effective in the African elephant due to the larger ears.
The wider surface area of outer ear tissue on the African elephants ears consists of a vast network of capillaries and veins. The hot blood in the arteries, are filtered through these and cooler blood is returned to the elephant’s body.
The apparent age of an elephant’s death is somewhere between 60 and 70 years of age as the teeth gradually wear down, an elephant has 24 teeth and by the time they reach their sixth molar and that wears out, the elephant begins to starve to death.
Dragonflies around the World
Dragon Fly. Anchorage, Alaska.
Dragonflies (Anisoptera) and Damselflies (Zygoptera) are easily recognised and commonly seen around bodies of fresh water or in open areas such as parks and gardens. These insects belong to an ancient order. Dragonfly fossils have been found that are up to 220,000,000 years old and the basic design has changed little since then, but they have shrunk a little over time – the oldest known fossilised specimens had wingspans of 60cm.
Dragonflies and Damselflies both have long, slender bodies – dragonflies are usually larger than damselflies - and two pairs of heavily veined membranous wings. At rest, dragonflies hold their wings out at right angles to their bodies, while most damselflies close their wings along the top of their bodies. They have large compound eyes and triangular, mobile heads with mandibulate (chewing) mouthparts.
Dragons and Damsels are predators and are very adept at catching their prey on the wing. Their nymphs that live in fresh water are also predatory, feeding on other aquatic invertebrates.
The nymphs stay under water where they moult up to 15 times while developing. This can take from a couple of months to a couple of years. Finally, they crawl out of the water and shed their last nymphal skin and emerge as fully-fledged adults.
Dragons and damsels can be difficult to photograph due to their skittish nature, and great patience is required at times. I have sat and waited for up to half an hour just to get one picture. It has always been worth the wait.
A dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera “uneven wings”, due the hind wing being broader than the forewing. They are characterized; by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body. Dragonflies are similar to damselflies; the fact that the wings of most dragonflies are held away from, and perpendicular to, the body when at rest can differentiate the adults. Dragonflies possess six legs but most of them cannot walk well. Dragonflies are some of the fastest insects in the world.
Dragonflies are valuable predators that eat mosquitoes, and other small insects like flies, bees, ants,wasps, and very rarely butterflies. They are usually found around marshes, lakes, ponds, streams, and wetlands because their larvae, known as “nymphs“, are aquatic. Some 5680 different species of dragonflies are known in the world today
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Dragonflies culture difference.
For some Native American tribes they represent swiftness and activity, whilst the Navajo symbolize pure water.
They have also been used in traditional medicine in Japan and China. In some parts of the world they are a food source, eaten either as adults or larvae; in Indonesia, for example, they are caught on poles made sticky with birdlime, then fried in oil as a delicacy.
In the United States dragonflies and damselflies are sought out as a hobby similar to birding and butter flying, known as oding, from the dragonfly’s Latin species name, odonata. Oding is especially popular in Texas, where 225 different species of odonates have been observed. With care, and with dry fingers, dragonflies can be handled and released by oders, as can be done with butterflies, though it is not encouraged.
In Europe, dragonflies have often been seen as sinister. Some English vernacular names, such as “devil‘s darning needle” and “ear cutter”, link them with evil or injury. A Romanian folk tale says that the dragonfly was once a horse possessed by the devil. Swedish folklore holds that the devil uses dragonflies to weigh people’s souls. The Norwegian name for dragonflies is “Øyenstikker”, which literally means eye-poker and in Portugal they are sometimes called “tira-olhos” (eye-snatcher). They are often associated with snakes, as in the Welsh name gwas-y-neidr, “adder‘s servant.” The Southern United States term “snake doctor” refers to a folk belief that dragonflies follow snakes around and stitch them back together if they are injured.[9]
“God did All the Hard Work”
“I Just Pressed the Button.”
