#though the last ones I saw in person were a different even larger cousin species than mine so I have a slightly warped expectation

[dracolizardlars]

Also took the opportunity to get a decent shell size comparison photo

Their relative sizes definitely correlate with how often I see them each eating. They're about halfway to average adult size now

[coeurdastronaute]

Either/Or: Krypton 7

Previously on Krypton

“Are you nervous?”

“Why would I be nervous?”

At the very idea of it, Lena balked, though that was more of a true statement than either could admit. It was nearly completely dark in her room, but still she was afraid Kara saw the look on her face. She didn’t look down at the girl between her legs, just felt the steady circles of her fingertips on her chest and her cheek against her ribs. There was a warmth there, to it all, Lena thought, as she played with the curly ends of Kara’s hair.

“Is it because tomorrow I’ll be going up to something called The Matrix, and I’ll be doing something, though no one can tell me what, and it will decide if I’m the right person for you to spend forever with?” Lena listed quickly, her words running together as she ran out of air. “Or that there are not only personal, but very political connotations to the idea of whatever it is? Or that it could tell me I’m trash and don’t deserve you and then we’ll be done and this could be my last few hours with you adoring me so completely that I feel different? I can’t imagine why I’d be slightly nervous, though I’m totally not.”

“Totally not,” Kara agred emphatically with a grin that spread with how worked up the overthinking girl from Earth truly got.

They sat in the quiet as Lena caught her breath. Kara pressed her ear against Lena’s sternum and heard each gust of wind. She yawned slightly and adjusted her legs.

“I don’t know if I can sleep.”

“You have to sleep. You love sleep.”

“Everything changes tomorrow,” Lena sighed.

“Like what?”

“Well.... everything, of course.”

“Right, right, but like what?” Kara asked curiously.

The head at the top of the bed tilted to the side and considered it before deciding what the best course of action was for the obstinate blanket that refused to see such severity.

“Tomorrow, I’ either alone or I’m with someone forever, and I don’t know which is more terrifying.”

“Why would forever be terrifying?”

“It’s very different from what I anticipated.”

Worried fingers moved along Kara’s shoulder and finally settled on Lena’s ribs where she intertwined them and waited. Numerous words and thoughts were inhaled deep where they buzzed around, swirling in the tornado in her lungs before being exhaled in an annoyed sigh of inability to put them in a cohesive order or confession.

“When you go to the Matrix, you will comune with the universe, and you will see where you’re supposed to be.”

“Someone should really market that.”

“I’m not worried,” Kara insisted again, resting her cheek against Lena’s stomach and adjusting further, putting the discussion to rest with her comfort.

“You should be,” Lena murmured. “You might end up with me forever.”

“There are much worse fates,” she smiled and closed her eyes as Lena’s fingers massaged her scalp.

“I don’t know about that.”

XXXXXXXXX

The day was uncharacteristically warm for the season. The sun was out despite the morning, and the moons crested to the southeast, full in their quarter of the sky. Not a cloud could be seen across the entire expanse of the planet, and Kara knew it was a good omen-- if she were to believe in such things as superstitions.

At an early age, she  decided to never pay too close attention to the little sayings and folklore her mother told her, about omens and monsters and the past and the future. She didn’t listen, but she heard it all and embedded it innately in her DNA, so that despite herself, she couldn’t help but remember that no clouds was an auspicious thing on a day of worry.

For the briefest of moments, there was some solace there. And standing atop the Capitol building, Kara peered out until she saw a speck of a cloud, just a wisp of a thing at the very edge of the world. She shook her head and pretended to not believe in superstitions.

Slowly, Kara made her way down the large staircase to the interior of the building. It was open on all sides, and the day’s heat hung through the halls and toward the interior. Large portraits of those gone by, of the times before, of the formula that governed mass thermodynamics on their planet as a way to harness its power. The entire city was created to function as an example, a conglomeration of the ideals brought back from other worlds. It was preserved buildings from the beginning of time, and it was brand new advanced buildings that defied all expectations.

As she made her way to the ground level, Kara thought about all the city she saw through Lena’s eyes, and how perfect it’d been through the past few weeks. Everything made sense, and had its place, when Lena saw and had questions, it only made Kara think of how well she fit into this world, her world, her life.

The thought made Kara content and then sullen a moment later. She didn’t even see her cousin as he sat on a bench and read the recent updates  on his tablet. Like everyone he was curious about the idea of someone from earth using their Matrix. So intrigued, he made the trip from another town just to see what happened with his own eyes.

“You’re pacing,” Kal admonished after a few moments.

“I am not.”

“You are walking back and forth in a relatively straight line while anxiously rubbing your hands together. I think that’s textbook pacing.”

“I’m not pacing.”

“She’s been in there for almost four hours,” he finally acknowledged. “You can pace. It makes sense.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re going to wear out the floor though, but by all means.”

Kara huffed and crossed her arms as she finally stopped moving. She set her jaw and flared her nostrils for a moment, not sure what to do now that she wasn’t moving. If she was moving, she had something to do, and now that she didn’t, she felt the worry crash into her.

For a second she debated. She bit her lip and she stared out at the horizon without really seeing anything as her brain toiled along until she got annoyed at herself for proving her cousin right, and she flopped down on the bench beside him in a tiff.

“I’m sure it’s going fine,” Kal sighed as he continued to read. “What's the worst that could happen?”

“I can’t even begin to calculate it. Death, probably. Followed by an unfavorable outcome for myself. A human has never interacted with the Matrix. They are an unknown species in its files.”

“Well, it’s been hours, so it’s safe to say she’s interfacing.”

“That’s true,” Kara nodded, somewhat relieved by that notion.

Kara sat on the bench in the quiet halls as time trudged forward at such a slow rate that she wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Each breath felt like it took six hours. She lived entire eternities in a few seconds.

“You want to Choose her?” Kal finally asked. “Are you certain? This isn’t something you can come back from. This is forever.”

To her credit, his cousin looked like she was thinking about it. She furrowed and bit at the inside of her lip while she stared quite bitterly at the lone cloud that whafted across the horizon, much larger than it first appeared and heading toward her at a direct angle.

“She’s perfect because she’s hugely imperfect,” Kara smiled, finally relaxing for the first time in twenty some odd hours. “She appeared and I can’t remember what life was like before her. Lena is smart. She’s very smart. She’s kind and fierce and beautiful. I feel like--- I feel like-- I feel like I’m at peace. I feel very happy when she’s around.”

“You have a lot to consider, with your standing.”

“She fits well with the family.”

“You’d have to go to the professors in Atomic Town to have children.”

“We are far away from that.”

“You should think about it. It’s important to our family name.”

“I have to make sure she gets to stay, first.”

“Would you leave?”

“I hadn’t…. I don’t know,” she shook her head.

“You still have a lot to think about.”

“It doesn’t change anything.”

“No, I guess it doesn’t.”

The two sat there and didn’t say anything else. The cloud passed across, the shadow trailing behind it across the city. Kara closed her eyes and tilted her head back with a large sigh.

“Excuse me,” a voice came from farther down the hall. “But they’re finishing.”

XXXXXXXXX

The crowd outside grew, though it was no way a huge riot. Kara’s family stood around while a few of Lena’s closer friends from the Earth delegation joined, nervous and still trying to figure out what all of it meant. In some form or another, all of the foreigners fell in love with the new planet. Homesickness was at a minimum and only felt if it was willed into existence. For the most part, minus daily reports and figures sent back and forth to help with the problems, Earth was a distant memory and an abstract concept.

But Lena Luthor took it a step further and fell in love not with Krypton, but with a Kryptonian, which was still foreign to the newcomers.

The large doors, gilded and wrought, loomed ahead of the park where the group waited impatiently. Kara stood in the middle of it, anxiously peaking at the doors as often as possible while still holding a polite and strained conversation with her father.

The sun began to set, its slow descent took hours, but it still triggered something in Kara that left her feeling even more exhausted, more aware of how much time had passed since the girl she thought she loved disappeared.

The dull murmur of the guests stopped as soon as the thick doors creaked open enough for Lena to squint and make her way outside. Kara’s mother stood behind her, careful to shut the door.

The first person Lena saw was Kara. Face slightly long and muscles taunt and waiting, her eyes darted over Lena’s face for a clue as to what was going to happen. The only thing that occurred, however, was Lena smiling and launching herself into Kara’s arms, squeezing her neck as tight as she could and inhaling as if she’d never breathed before in her life.

“You have to tell me,” Kara whispered, holding Lena to her, hiding the words in her shoulder.

“We’re a match,” Lena sniffled slightly before laughing. She kissed Kara’s cheek and clung to her so close she couldn’t kiss her, though she wanted to badly.

It wouldn’t have mattered. As soon as those words were understood, Kara cheered and swung Lena around by the waist, unable to contain her own excitement.

“We’re a match?”

“A match,” Lena nodded, finally set down again on her own feet. “I fit into Krypton somehow.”

“With me.”

“More than that. It’s like… it’s like I was meant to be here, with you,” she explained, shaking her head slightly as she tried to come up with words to articulate what happened in an accurate way though no words seemed right.

“I get to keep you,” Kara sighed, her smile unable to be anything less than blinding.

With a bit of a lurch, Kara leaned forward and finally kissed the girl she loved.

“Forever, if you want.”

“Let’s get until next week and go from there.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Lena grinned.

The entire crowd cheered happily, overjoyed for their friends and loved one, overjoyed at the spectacle that was true love, overjoyed by the idea that this was fated by high powers. It was a lot of things to consider, but most didn’t think of anything other than how happy the two looked together.

[intergalacticsuperstar]

Extraterrestrial | Alien!Tom Holland AU | Part 4

Here’s part 4! Hope you all enjoy! Let me know what you think by commenting or leaving me an ask. I can also answer questions if anyone is confused by anything. 

Series Summary:

You had been waiting for something exhilarating in your life to happen for as long as you could remember. It was easy to get bored when you live in a small town, live alone, and work in a grocery store. You dreamed of living an exciting life, and your wishes were about to come true. One day, a naked glowing boy shows up in your backyard speaking about things that are simply out of this world.

Words: 1887

Warnings: None

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Part Four

When you returned from your trip to the store, Tom was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t in the living room, not in the kitchen, nor in the bathroom.

“Tom?” You called out.

You heard shuffling coming from your bedroom, so you walked over to your door. When you stepped inside you saw the top of his head peeking up from the other side of your bed. He was sitting on the ground with his knees pulled up to his chest.

“Tom? Are you alright?” You asked him, concerned as he looked quite terrified.

He sighed in relief. “You're finally home! I was so scared.”

“Why? What happened?”

A bunch of bad things came to mind of what could have happened. What if the government found out you were hiding an alien in your house. What would the government even do? Hide him away in area 51 or would the United Nations handle this? Either way, you grew increasingly worried about the reasoning behind the alien’s fear.

“Well, firstly, there is another species in this household! It made a scary noise at me and glared at me with its teeth! Also, there is something banging on the house making a low rumbling noise! I have hardly been on this planet for one of its days and it is terrifying!” Tom spoke surprisingly fast.

You let out a sigh of relief. No government officials were hiding in your bathroom.

“You surely mean Nico, right? My cat? And the other noise you heard was probably just the air conditioning unit turning on. Everything is fine.” You reassured him, holding back an amused smile. Perhaps you shouldn’t have left him alone, you thought.

Tom stood up with the blanket around his shoulders. “I am unsure of what this term ‘cat’ you speak of is, but if my context serves me right, you are referring to the evil menace that almost killed me!”

Although the situation was undoubtedly funny to you, you couldn’t help but feel sympathetic for the alien. He had gone through a lot in the last 24 hours and you were sure that adapting to a new planet was difficult.

“Nico is not evil. He’s a sweetheart and completely harmless,”

Tom just shook his head at you like you were the alien on his planet.

“Anyways,” You started, “I got you some clothes.”

You held up the bag so he could see. You laid out the boxers, the pants, and shirts for him to look at on the bed. He stepped forward to see, but then looked at you in shock.

“I am meant to wear that?” He asked incredulously.

You looked at him with a strange look. They did wear clothes, right? What else as he supposed to wear? But, then you thought of different era’s clothing styles on this world and suddenly someone from a different galaxy having an entirely different taste in clothing didn’t seem that strange.

“Well, yeah. What do you usually wear? You do wear clothes right?”

“Yes, I wear clothes. However, they do not look like that. Mine appear much more comfortable and loose compare to those things.” He said while pointing to the pants.

Who knew? A high maintenance alien.

“Why don’t you just try them? I got a few different sizes. We can return the ones that don’t fit tomorrow and you can pick out some clothes of your own.”

The alien reluctantly agreed. You instructed him on how to put on the clothes and gave him his socks and shoes. You really went out of budget with the shopping, but you figured it didn’t matter since you were returning them the next day. When you got him dressed as comfortably as you could, although he thought every bit of it was uncomfortable, you gave him a tour of your house.

You started in the places he had already been to. The living room he seemed most comfortable in. He told you that he played around with the TV and was oddly shocked at how simple it was. He thought our technology would be more advanced than what it was, but he was questioning our entertainment choices. He didn’t get the point of watching TV, but he enjoyed seeing real humans and what they looked like. All the different colors, sizes, and shapes, he said, he found intriguingly beautiful. This warmed your heart to the alien.

He asked about everything. The lamps, the couches, the pillows, the rug, the coffee table, the coasters, the mirror, the little figurines you had scattered around. He wanted to know how everything worked, what materials made it up, and what the purpose was. His favorite thing by far was the record player you had on a stand in the corner. You and he listened to different music from different decades as he asked questions about instruments, artists, and genres.

His curiosity of your world, only made you want to know more about his. But, you refrained from asking him questions. You wanted him to feel comfortable and if that meant answering a billion questions about the living room alone while waiting to ask yours, then so be it.

“I just wanted to express my thanks to you,” He said as you entered the guest bedroom after showing him around the kitchen and the bathroom.

You turned and smiled, intrigued by his sudden appreciation. “For what?”

“I know at first I was tentative, but you allowed me into your home and bought me clothes and you are surprisingly calm and collected throughout all of this. I can only imagine that you are bewildered by the situation.”

You smiled. You felt as though not enough time had passed for the alien to trust you already. When you were in high school, making friends was not easy. You were a bit of a loner, and if you did find someone who liked you enough to not walk away immediately, no immediate friendship was formed. You had to work hard for your friends, but with Tom that didn’t seem to be the case.

“The situation is pretty strange, but I’m really happy to help.” You pause, looked down and sighed, and then looked back up at him. “I know this sounds strange, but I’ve been waiting for something exciting to happen my whole life, and this is pretty cool.”

He grinned at you and then walked into the guest room where he began to ask questions once again.

“I assume this where I am meant to sleep.” He asked while pointing at the bed.

You nodded your head. “Yep. This is your bed for the time being. Is it alright?”

“Not exactly like the ones from back home, but it will be just fine. Thank you.”

Finally, you let the curiosity get the best of you. “What type of beds do you have at home?”

You both sat on his bed. You with your legs crisscrossed and his with one leg under him and one dangling off the bed. The feeling was very casual.

“Our beds are more… flexible. The best way to describe them is to imagine floating on liquid, but without any effort and without getting wet.”

“Well, that sounds awesome.”

He laughed at your awed face, and suddenly, like he finally realized your obvious curiosity about him, he asked “You’ve been answering questions for me all day. Do you have any other questions you would like to ask? You must be curious.”

You leaned back on your arms and thought. What should you ask? There were a million questions running through your mind, but what to ask first?

“Do you have a family?”

He smiled at this question and said, “I do.”

“Tell me about them.”

He shifted so his body was facing yours. “I am the oldest of my siblings. I have three brothers, Haridias and Samdion, who are as I believe you refer to them ‘twins’ and Padxon, the youngest. They are my best friends. Them, and my cousin, Marcadias.”

His face was gleaming as he spoke of his brothers, but when he spoke of Marcadias his face faltered and he stopped talking.

“What’s wrong with Marcadias?” You asked carefully, noticing it was a sensitive subject.

Once again, he gave you a look over. Although he seemed so trusting of you earlier, this subject was obviously something he didn’t share with every person he met.

He sighed and said “He’s sick. Very sick.”

“Oh.” Was all you said, because you didn’t want to push him.

“Anyways, they are my best friends. My parents are quite strict sometimes, but nonetheless supportive and love me.”

You smiled, noticing the hasty subject change. “They sound lovely.”

His adorable smile somehow grew larger.

There was a comfortable pause as you thought about what to ask him next, but then it hit you.

“How do you speak English?”

You knew that when he first woke up he didn’t know what language he was speaking and this had seemed very odd to you. How could someone not know what language they were talking in? That was absurd.

His eyebrows perked up at the question. “The people that originate from my planet are very special. Because we are the biggest planet in our galaxy, we have visitors from other planets and galaxies all the time. This has somehow built up a defense mechanism that allows us to speak any language that is needed in case we travel to another planet, or someone from another planet comes to us. This is also why we change forms. You saw me while transitioning, yes?”

You nodded and he continued, “Our natural forms are much more comfortable, but our disguises help us blend in and understand the place we are at better.”

“Everyone on your planet can do this? What else can you do?”

He shrugged and said, “Not much, but we do shoot laser beams out of our eyes.”

You stared at him in shock with your eyes open wide and mouth hanging low. He stared at you in all seriousness making you believe him full heartedly, that is… until he started laughing.

“I am only kidding, earthling. But, it was fun to see your reaction.”

You wanted to get mad at him for tricking you and calling you ‘earthling’ (what was up with that?), but you couldn’t deny how funny the situation was. Here you were with an alien from another galaxy that’s cracking jokes left and right.

“Ha-ha.” You laughed dramatically until joining in with sincere giggles.

You continued to talk for awhile, about Earth and Maxmirius, but mostly just trying to figure out this crazy situation. He wanted you to explain what it was like to meet an extraterrestrial for the first time.

Throughout your conversation, you laughed a lot. More than you had in a long time. And you realized for the first time, that not only are you excited that you have an alien in your house, but you are excited that it is this alien.

As the conversation died down, you noticed that it was about time for dinner and that you and the alien hadn’t eaten all day.

“Are you hungry?” You asked.

“Yes, I was wondering when you would mention food.” He perked up excitedly. “So, what type of delicacies does Earth have to offer?”

Thanks for reading! Next part will include a very interesting deal that will be made between Y/N and Tom!

Taglist: @casualprincess77

[galacticbugman]

Recent Reptile and Amphibian encounters

I am not much of a herper I am more of a bug person more than anything now and days. However I fancy myself as a generalist when it comes to nature. No matter if it flies, creeps, crawls, leaps, gallops, slithers, swims; I will photograph it. I love to keep a diverse life list and love to keep a track of all that I see in the natural world. It is just something fun to do; it is like a game of hide and seek but when you seek out a new creature you log it and then keep it to a list. It can often jog fond memories of the places you saw the creatures and sometimes the people you were with. For me even the old wild friends you see with often lead to more memories and sometime you learn something new about the creatures when you encounter them over and over again. This occurred just over a few weeks. I went out to River Legacy to try and get a boost in observations for my iNaturalist account. I have been going out there a lot more because it has been really rainy and great for fungus and bugs. Here are a few old friends that I took photos. 

Okay in the photo above it is kind of hard to see. What you are looking at is one of the most common of the snakes at River Legacy. This one I have posted all too often but I got this Copperhead in a position I have never photographed before. This guy was pointed out by one of my friends who works at the science center. She saw it right off the bat but I had a hard time trying to spot it. You will notice in some of the other photos they are more of a tan and orange color and sleeker. This one was much more brown and dulled out. This guy is gong to shed soon but he had not quite gone into blue yet. Okay what does that mean going into blue? Well when snakes shed the skin is solid and even covers the eyes for it makes a scale over the eyes when it is time to grow. They gain a bluish tint on the eyes and when they are like that Look Out! They will strike at anything and everything. You just have to make sure to give it it’s space. I fed a couple that had gone into blue; they may have been non-venomous but still they are more alert to everything since they are practically blind. This guy was all coiled up by this tree waiting for a meal to pass by. I think that the Copperhead is one of the most beautiful snakes in the state of Texas. They are a very attractive snake in my opinion. There skin when freshly shed is so beautiful. Before I get on one of my long winded speeches let us look at another herp that I found recently. 

A couple of weekends ago I went out on the longer trails at River Legacy one Sunday on one of my weekend nature hikes. A lady on the trail was with her family and pointed this guy out to me. This little cutie may look cute but he will grow up to be one of the kings of the pond. This is the Common Snapping Turtle. Now there are two kinds of Snapper in our area. We have the Common which is this guy and we have the Alligator and both have two different feeding habits. I used to feed animals at the Fort Worth Nature Center as one of my volunteer jobs and I had the pleasure to feed both species of turtle. This one is the active hunter. That neck may look small but don’t let size fool you this guy can extend it and it will whip around and try to get you if you pick this one up. I learned that babies are not as ready to bite but when they get a few years old they become more bite happy. They will go out of their way to chase down a meal but; The Alligator Snapper (which I don’t have a photo of) that guy is more of a ambush predator. On their tongues are made like a fishing lure and when a fish comes into close...WACKO! I love snapping turtles. I used to love it when kids would come into the reptile room. I would teach them the feeding behavior of the turtles. I loved their reactions when they would snag a fish or bite one in half. They are the true meat cleavers of the of the pond. 

Here is another one that was pretty cool. It was found just this weekend right when the Copperhead was found. This guy is one of the hardest lizards to photograph. This is the Little Brown Skink. Not a snake although he is snake like. He is long and slender and pretty small. This guy is about the size he will remain forever. These guys normally are on the move. You will hear them rustling in the leaf litter and most of the time they are gone before you see them. You have to sneak up them but they are quick to run. This guy was the exception however. My dad and my friend both pointed this out to me. It is good to always have extra pair of eyes on the trail. I do have pretty sharp vision but even I miss things that are hiding in plain sight. This guy was sitting as still as could be not moving a muscle. You had to watch him very closely because his head would twitch every so often. These are one of my favorite lizards. I have managed to catch a much larger skink at River Legacy but the thing with skinks is they can be pretty bitey and boy did I get it the day I wrangled a Common Five-lined Skink. I was showing it to a few kids and it had enough and bit the base of my ring finger on my left hand. It didn’t draw blood but he told he that he had enough of that. The bit isn’t that bad in some cases normally a quick release. They may pinch and you can feel their needle sharp teeth but it depends on the size if they will draw blood. There are some huge skinks in the world that can take a plug out of you but the ones we have here are small potatoes compared to some and are nothing to worry about in terms of getting bit. You just have to understand that it is their only way to tell you; you crossed the line and it is time to go or to PUT ME DOWN!” Still I love skinks they are cute little lizards. Lets look at another one sshhhallll wee

Okay so not my best shot but still a really good one. This is known as a Southern Leopard Frog. This is a fairly large species we get here in Texas though is considerably smaller than our giant Bullfrogs. This guy was on a bit of refuse down near the Red Bridge where most of the shots were taken in these slides. This guy was sitting as still as could be; possibly looking for a nearby snack. I don’t always see these kinds of frogs. I mostly see Bullfrogs and Blanchard’s Cricket Frogs along with their cousins the Green Tree Frog, and the Gulf Coast Toad. I have not seen a new species of frog to add to my list. I don’t see these all too often because they blend in so well with their environment. This is my second one to photograph in recent years which is kind of odd. Frogs and other herps are not my strong suit but I do carry around a make shift herping tool. It is a BBQ skewer that I converted into a double pronged herp stick. I don’t use it too often by I have been known to use it. I use it mainly to flip over logs and if you dare do this in person be warned and wear some snake proof boots or your best pair of hikers for it is pretty risky business sometimes. The thing is when out in the wilderness you want to wear a pair of jeans and a good pair of boots. You never want to be out in shorts. It is the one thing that I was taught early on before I signed up to be a Texas Master Naturalist. It is just something to take head of because there are plants like Bull Nettle that will get you and not to mention the mosquitoes. 

Here is my last observation for this herp post. This guy was found as it was being swept down stream in a current near where the Leopard Frog was. This guy is not venomous even though its name might conjure up another master predator of North America. This guy is called the Diamond-backed Watersnake. this guy was a big one. These guys are known to get pretty good sized around and in length. These are said to be more common than another species of Watersnake we get called the Plain-bellied Watersnake also known as the Yellow-bellied Watersnake. In the herp world there have been quite a few changes to the Taxanomic Nomenclature which is kind of causing a lot of mixed feelings and causing a few upsets in the science community. Some of the snakes have been hit hard by this. I have seen quite a few of these on my travels to many North Texas parks. These guys are quite fun to look for. I don’t mind snakes they don’t bother me at all. They used to bother me something fierce but after years of learning to better understand the beauty of the reptile world mainly from watching Steve Irwin tapes and things I have since changed my attitude toward these misunderstood creatures. For some reason I love the misunderstood animals. I guess I have always been one to stand up for the little guys. To better appreciate these creatures is to learn how they live and what they do to survive. Their is beauty in the ways in which these creatures live. Sure they may not have fur or make pleasing sounds but the world of herps is a special one. They are an indicator in our ecosystems that tell if it is healthy or not. If you have these guys the area is a good one. If you don’t see many of these then you don’t have such a good ecosystem. Many species are known as indicator species and this goes hand in hand with many of the insects and even with the fungi. Everything is connected one way or another. For this is the way of nature and the connection it makes with us. It calls to us for we came from it.   

In closing remarks: 

Remember being a naturalist may not cost too much to get started but when you start working you way up the ladder you might want to invest in better equipment. Learning about nature in the field is fun but field investigations are only part of the equation. In the iNaturalist gig you have to go out and get your observations but then you have to go back home and study your findings just like in a lab situation. Learning about nature is fun and very rewarding. If you have an interest in wildlife or nature don’t be afraid to let that small spark start a life time of wonder and self discovery. Being an wildlife photographer and a hiker and a naturalist has helped me find my voice, my strengths, and my weaknesses. I always had a hard time conveying natural ideals to people but now that I have been out more and have spent time with people who are like minded and people who share some of the same ideals I have been able to speak more on the things I love the most. Nature is a wonderful thing on this planet. There is no other place I would rather be than losing myself in a forest, mountain crest, or oceanic area, or heck a dark cave studying the beauty and the majesty of Mother Nature. I often see this quote that really speaks to me “Not all who wander are lost.” This is something I have really taken to heart. Nature is something I really connect with and love. I love it so much and it makes me sad just how far away we have driven ourselves from it. It is something that we can’t replace and must be protect for our future generations to appreciate and enjoy. Making contributions by volunteering for your local nature park or nature center or heck even donating is a great thing. Nature was made for us to lose ourselves and explore. So until we meet again I am Zachary Chapman AKA Galactic_Bug_Man and I will see you on the trail.