Lemma Wild

Wildlife, insects and small strange things I find outside.

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

Some people can just walk barefoot in the water, but this little menace is exactly why I will never do it.

If you’ve ever accidentally stepped on one of these, you already know this picture is a certified nightmare fuel trigger.

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

This is a male driver ant, and he has a miserable life. (Also he has 5 eyes - see photo in thread 🧵)

I didn’t care about him at all until I looked closer at this photo I took a few weeks ago. I had no idea these things fly off to get killed.

His sisters are the opposite of him. Millions of them on the ground, blind, tiny, 2mm to 8mm. He got the big eyes and the wings. He only has those so he can fly to another colony and mate with their queen.

Meanwhile his family is one of the most brutal things alive. 20 million ants moving together, blind, eating everything they cross, roaches and snakes included. Their own queen is up to 8cm, one of the biggest ants on the planet, and she lays 4 million eggs a month.

He flies off to find that other colony. He lands, their workers rush him, rip his wings off, and drag him inside to mate. That’s it. He does that, then he dies.

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

@Hillary_Ebube0 Yes .. two compound eyes + three ocelli (simple eyes on top of the head)

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

This is a male driver ant, and he has a miserable life. (Also he has 5 eyes - see photo in thread 🧵)

I didn’t care about him at all until I looked closer at this photo I took a few weeks ago. I had no idea these things fly off to get killed.

His sisters are the opposite of him. Millions of them on the ground, blind, tiny, 2mm to 8mm. He got the big eyes and the wings. He only has those so he can fly to another colony and mate with their queen.

Meanwhile his family is one of the most brutal things alive. 20 million ants moving together, blind, eating everything they cross, roaches and snakes included. Their own queen is up to 8cm, one of the biggest ants on the planet, and she lays 4 million eggs a month.

He flies off to find that other colony. He lands, their workers rush him, rip his wings off, and drag him inside to mate. That’s it. He does that, then he dies.

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

The queen he dies for lays 4 million eggs a month and can live 10 years. Him? He gets a few days. He leaves the colony, flies off to find her, mates, and that’s the end of him.

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

Chameleons are harmless, but somehow they have some of the wildest rumours around them.

What did you grow up hearing about chameleons?

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

Saw this beautiful little insect the other day.

I’d never seen one before, so I thought you might like it too.

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

@MartMhlanga “Poisonous bite? They can’t even bite 🤦‍♀️

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

Chameleons are harmless, but somehow they have some of the wildest rumours around them.

What did you grow up hearing about chameleons?

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

Saw this tiny insect yesterday and thought you’d like it.

Those bright colours are a warning. A young, naive bird or lizard may try eating one once, and remember that pattern for a very long time.

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

This brown hyena is the closest I’ve seen a hyena come to looking like someone’s missing German shepherd.

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

She can leap 9 feet (2.7 meters) straight up into the air and 13 feet forward

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

You have to trust one animal to get you home through rough country.

Who are you choosing?

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

Messi 🐐😆

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

This is a cotton stainer.

It gets the name because some of them feed on cotton and leave yellow-brown stains on the crop.

Once you start literally touching grass, you notice so many beautiful little creatures you’ve walked past for years. I saw these on a path I use every day, and somehow I had never seen them before.

Gorgeous. ❤️

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

@Gorilla9c Nah they just ate too much meat 😂

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

Somewhere out there is the person who’s always been right beside you like this.

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

Also they have incredible speed. At full sprint across the sand, their eight legs move so rapidly that they look completely blurred.

[Lemma Wild @lemmawild]

A solifuge, often called a camel spider, will sometimes sprint straight toward a person in the desert.

You might run thinking it is coming for you, but it is usually chasing your shadow, trying to get out of the heat.