Critically Endangered
I am unsure about a good bit with these. They were declared extinct in 1996 and then rediscovered sometime before 2016. Most of what I found about them came from articles talking about newly discovered species, and it seemed they implied these were new, but the articles were written in 2016, and we know these were discovered long before then. It could very well be that I am reading things incorrectly. This is my second version of the painting (my bff Ladybug says she likes this one better than the first). Initially I was basing it off of one description but I found another one that I trusted more, and it had a different opinion on how many legs these have. I had also found lots of photos, but some of them that I was looking at which seemed to be this species I'm pretty sure were not. So, I had been basing the number of legs off what I'm pretty sure was incorrect information. I do not know for certain how big these are either. One site said approximate 1/3 of an inch long, but was talking about several velvet worm species and it was not very clear if all of them were this size, or only one, and which one. Velvet worms are usually pretty small, but the largest species can get up to 9 inches long. These are a nocturnal animal some call a living fossil. They are from forests in a small area of South Africa, and the forests in that area are vanishing. I suggest looking up velvet worms as a type of animal, they really are an interesting type of creature. In the painting, what you might think are the eyes, the lumps on the side of the head below the antennae, are not eyes. Its eyes are the tiny black dots above there. Those lumps are where they shoot out what looks like a sticky slime version off silly string! It ends up trapping their prey which is usually small insects and spiders (lots of people think spiders are insects, but they aren't). Then they inject the trapped creature with digestive juices so they can eat it. They also have retractable claws! They sort of feel as if they were made when someone said a caterpillar is cool, but maybe we can add a cat's claws, some spider bits, and a party favour or two, and that will be even better!
Only one more week of school for my youngest. I am always so happy when it is summer and we can relax and spend time together. We don't have to worry about getting to bed early, we can spend time outside every day. Even though I avoid the sunshine as much as I possibly can because I burn so easily, and even my redhead child tans better than I do, I still love being outside. One of the things I'm hoping to do this summer is make a fountain. I'm thinking of making it out of cement. I want something that could work as a bird bath for any potential crows that might end up at our house, be shallow enough and not really splashy so that it is safe enough for bees as well. I need to figure out a safe spot and design so that the blind dog doesn't fall into a pond and have a hard time figuring out how to get out of it. The way my bff Ladybug's fountain works would be good I think. The main reservoir is under a grate of some sort, and the grate is covered by river rocks. That gives you the nice splashy sound from the pool of water below the rocks, but it is not something that our dog would fall into. I need to go visit again and really look at it for ideas. I don't think I want to put it by the voodoo lily flowers just because if I want to sit by the water feature, when they are blooming it won't be fun. Our backyard is a sort of upside-down square U shape with almost the same amount on each side of the house as is directly in the back of the house. I want to create a place for us to relax, but also help any wildlife in the area. Even though we live in a town, there are still animals and I want to make our yard comfortable for human and animal visitors.
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