Buggy beauty

Fueled by a concern for nature and a scientific curiosity, Japanese artist Hiroshi Shinno creates ikimono (life/living) sculptures of imaginary insects out of metal and resin. Shinno intends for these fantastical forms to remind us of the wondrous variety that is found in the natural world. Even insectophobes have got to be onboard with that!

Shinno keeps an Insect Diary, in which he sketches ideas for future works. Take a look!

Science!

Lap snail!

Have you ever longed for a snail you could hug?

Here’s a beauty, a Giant African Land Snail. What would you name him/her?

For tons more snail love, check out exoticsnails.eu

Outsider art

Scottish sculptor Andy Goldsworthy heads into nature to create works of art by arranging leaves, sticks, rocks, and ice into dazzling patterns.

His art is transient. Wind can blow it away. Movement can scatter it. Heat can melt it. But for a short, precious time it brings beauty, order, and innovation to the wilderness.

“When I make something, it may vanish, but it’s part of the history of those places,” he says.

See more of Andy Goldsworthy’s amazing art here. And check out his books. They would make wonderful holiday presents!

Forever green

In a field in Danvers, Massachusetts grows the oldest cultivated tree in North America. The Endicott Pear Tree was brought over from England around 1630. “I hope the tree will love the soil of the old world and no doubt when we have gone the tree will still be alive,” proclaimed John Endicott to his children when he planted it on his Danvers farm. The pear tree took to its new home like nobody’s business. Here’s a pic of the Endicott Pear Tree in 1879.

American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow praised the tree, saying, “To those who ask how I can write so many things that sound as if I were as happy as a boy, please say that there is in the neighboring town a pear tree, planted 200 years ago, and it still bears fruit not to be distinguished from that of a young tree in flavor. I suppose the tree makes new wood every year, so that some parts of it are always young. Perhaps this is the way with some men when they grow old. I hope it is so with me.”

Here’s the Endicott Pear Tree today.

It is still producing sweet, sweet fruit!

To learn more about the Endicott Pear Tree, visit wimp.com That’s where all these pics came from!

Happy Easter!

Bringing its A game to this year’s Easter festivities is…

the Automeris larra caterpillar, from South America!

Photo © Marco Fischer

This one gets all the Easter colors in one festive package…and isn’t afraid of showing it off.

Later, it brings it down a notch, changing from an eye-popping caterpillar to ride out the Spring as a simply  stunning moth. Well done, Automeris larra!

Image found at Wikipedia

Trees housed

Hey, want to build a house? Or a playground? WELL, THIS TREE WAS HERE FIRST, so you’d better build around it! It’s only polite.

Photo found at BoredPanda

Photo: Smartforever

Photo: Tezuka Architects

Living with a tree sounds swell to me. They’re always good company. And great listeners!

Sloths welcome here

Sloth-crossing signs are a familiar sight in Costa Rica, where the slow-moving creatures abound. Injured and orphaned sloths have found tender loving care at the Sloth Sanctuary, run by Judy Avey-Arroyo, Luis Arroyo, and their family.

Since 1992, the Sloth Sanctuary has rescued more than 500 sloths, treating and releasing as many as it can and providing a permanent home for those unable to survive in the wild due to disability or other issues.

And what to the sloths have to say about that?

Home

Spring has sprung, and that means one important thing to our feathered friends. Time to build a nest!

The weaver bird shows off impressive beak-knitting skills.

Bald eagles need room. And lots of it.

Hummingbirds just want a cozy nook.

White storks like roof access.

Swallows prefer a wall. And some mud.

Eurasian coots like a waterfront view.

And this is what it’s ALL about. These beautiful sparrow’s eggs couldn’t ask for a homier dwelling.

Knitwear in nature

These fashionable penguins in Australia’s Phillip Island are wearing jumpers hand-knitted by 109-year-old Alfie Date from New South Wales.

Alfie Date learned to knit in 1932. After an oil spill, Phillip Island’s Penguin Foundation put out the call for knitted jumpers to help prevent the pengies from swallowing the oil when they cleaned themselves, and to help keep them dry.

Alfie got right on it, and with style. These pengies know they’re runway ready!