Island Hopping

Here is one more from the island series. A millipede (Paeromopus angusticeps) from the woodpile. Millipedes are a fascinating creature. They are the slow moving garbagemen of the forest. They are detrivores eating decaying leaves and other dead plant matter of of the forest floor. They protect themselves by curling up into a spiral or a ball and emitting a foul smelling chemical. Watching all of their legs moving with such precision is quite fascinating. It's like little waves moving down the sides of their body. Pretty cool. God's love and blessings upon your day, chis This image was created with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF-S17-85mm lens at 41mm. The camera settings used were Manual mode,ISO 100, F 13.0 at 1/80th of a sec. Lighting was provided by two Alien Bee studio lights fitted with 2' x 4' softboxes.#TeamCanon

Marvelous Millipede

When I was taking Badger the Wonder Dog for a walk down the road on Saturday I spotted a millipede sauntering along on the edge of the road way. Not wanting him/her to be smunched by a passing car I scooped it up and brought it home. It was a pretty good sized one so I photographed it next to a yardstick before I let it go in the forest behind the house. What a cool looking creature. How do they keep all those legs organized and traveling in one direction? If you look closely at the image you can see evenly spaced groups of legs that are out of focus because they are moving faster than the shutter speed I used. There are waves of motion that travel down each side of the body to go forward. It is quite fascinating to watch. God created such a marvelous little creature. Have a wonderful evening and God bless, chris

Detrivore

This morning I went to put out the dogs for their morning constitutional. As I was stepping back into the house I noticed a rippling movement down by my feet. Down on the deck there was a a Millipede making it's way around the corner of the house. Millipedes are a very cool creature. They live on the forest floor and eat rotting vegetation. As a result of this diet they are part of a group of creatures called detrivores. They eat the detris of the forest.Watching one travel is fascinating. Their legs move in waves that travel down the length of their body as they move forward. They can travel in reverse as well! Naturally I picked it up and photographed it on some leaves before I released it back into the forest near the house. God bless, chris