Speaking for Animals

This is a Vancouver Aquarium Logo, I DO NOT claim it as my property. For more information, please contact the aquarium at http://www.vanaqua.org/


Hey, dear readers! This post is an update post on my own personal plan and thoughts for the animals this year.

As an animal lover ever since I was a little girl, I have always thought of being a vet or an animal behavior expert, but due to moving around the world throughout my whole life, I went into art program for finishing up my schooling instead. But, luckily, I was fortunate enough to get back in touch with my main interest and enrolled myself to the Vancouver aquarium as a volunteer, where I'm happily serving my time around animals.

But this year, after I saw on the news in Taiwan, just one the day I came back to Vancouver, that taking fur off animals are usually from animals who are still alive and kicking and they feel every second of pain while being skinned. After seeing this footage, I have decided to join up an organization on fighting against animal cruelty, including illegal hunting, fur and skin trading and so on. Or at least do something about it.

Of course, I can't do all that alone, since I'm only one person and I can't change the world by my own power, it would really help out if anyone can show some kind of kindness, of any sort, for our furry friends by donating things like used pet toys, pet beds, pet food.... to your nearest animal shelter near you, or even doing some volunteering work will help a lot as well.

As for planning on getting yourself a pet, please consider adopting, instead of buying, because buying a pet is usually comes from an animal mill where a mom is always giving birth to children, which is quite harmful to the animal mothers and also getting our living community over populated with unwanted animals. Of course, adopting is giving an animal a second chance of a good life, they aren't there by choice or they have something wrong with them, it's usually the owners can't afford taking care of them, due to traveling, working and so on.

Having said all that, please think ahead for the animals before buying a piece of leather jacket, or buying, instead of adopting, a pet from a pet store. Please, be kind to animals. Thank you!

Butterflies: The Large Tree Nymph

I would like to make an apology for taking so long on updating my blog. It has been a very exhausting trip back home to Taiwan for Chinese New Year. But now I'm back and the animal blog continues.


Butterflies are probably one of the few insects that are pleasant to watch and to be around with. Of course, I'm also one of the human population who enjoys their existence and beauty. This picture was taken in the Taipei Zoo when I visited there.

Like bees around the world, butterflies actually play an important part for the environment, such as spreading pollen from flower to flower, so that the flowers can produce its fruits and so on. This particular butterfly is called the Large Tree Nymph, it is the largest butterfly in Taiwan, considering the fact that it's wing spread go to up to nearly 13 cm.. It is a such a slow flying butterfly, even in the wild, that it requires very little effort to fly its wing beats are very slow, so slow that the individual movements of each wing can be easily observed. Imagine the difference in the wing movement between those butterflies to the Humming Birds!! Speaking of which, I guess I will write something about Humming Birds for my next blog!

Anyway, the Large tree Nymph spends most of its time on flying and hovering in the high tree canopies (A canopy means like a top cover, like a lid for a pot or like a shelter. On the topic of trees, I guess it means the top of a luscious tree.). However, much like a sloth, who also lives on trees all the time, moves slowly but they do come down the tree from time to time, the Nymph also descends to ground level to feed and to breed, but does not rest on the ground, due to safety reasons of being attack and eaten by birds and such. It usually rests on the ends of dead branches or twigs.

By the way, just out of curiosity, do you think you're romantic when it comes to dating? At least I think I'm romantic when it comes to it. Animals can also be quite seductive and very sexy if the time of love is in the air. When mating season the male and female fly together for an hour or more (it's like a Spanish tango of seduction.) before mating, which occurs at ground level. The male releases a hormones sent, called the pheromones, and other chemicals from its hair pencils to stimulate the female. These include danaidone, a poisonous substance that helps to protect it from predators, which is later passed on to the eggs.

The early stages of life of the Ceylon Tree Nymph are not well recorded. One account by naturalists Lionel de Nicéville and Manders dating from about 1900 describes the larva as "velvety black with four pairs of long filamentous tentacles" with each segment of its body marked with a pale yellow band. The record further mentions that it has twelve segments and that the sixth segment has a "large oval crimson spot". Its head and legs are black.