No big mammal for this week’s wildlife photo, instead it is a little butterfly.
Monarch butterflies are arguably the most famous. and common, butterfly found in North America. A Canadian summer doesn’t seem the same without seeing them, yet they don’t stay in Canada all year. These butterflies are the only ones in the world to do a round-trip migration similar to what birds do.
When weather starts to turn cold in Canada, they begin a journey south towards Mexico, where they stay until spring before returning to Canada. With more than 100million butterflies making the migration, Monarchs are known to congregate in huge numbers when they arrive in Mexico, often covering entire trees and turning them ‘orange’.
Monarch Butterfly at Bon Echo Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
One of Africa’s ugliest creations, the Warthog somehow finds a soft spot in most people’s hearts. Perhaps it is the rough look of these creatures that makes them lovable, either way they can be fierce and have even been known to chase off Hyenas and Lions.
Able to go for months at a time without drinking any water, Warthogs have adapted well to the harsh conditions of the African savannah. The Southern Warthog is the subspecies of the Common Warthog that is found in Chobe National Park, Botswana. It was a rainy day when this mother and youngster were out grazing. Wet, muddy and dirty; this photo seemed to personify these ‘cute’ creatures quite well.
Southern Warthog Mother and Baby in Chobe National Park
The largest living bird in the world, the Common Ostrich has a number of subspecies, this one is the Masai, or Maasai, subspecies.
Males Ostrich tend to have dark black colour feathers and a reddish neck and legs that get brighter during mating season. Female Ostrich have duller, grey and brown colour feathers.
This one was photographed in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania.
Dodo birds may be extinct, but thankfully we still have the whimsical and wonderfully weird blue-footed booby birds.
Without a care for visiting tourists in the Galapagos these birds freely put on mating displays and build nests in the middle of hiking trails. Their impressive diving capabilities are a stark contrast to their somewhat clumsy shuffling they do when walking on land. The big blue feet apparently are good for scratching too.
A Blue-Footed Booby striking a pose on Espanola Island, Galapagos
The Mule Deer gets its name from the large mule-like ears it has, much larger than most other species of deer.
This one was photographed in Yellowstone National Park. A handful of Mule Deer were wading through shallow waters in a brushy area. They can be found throughout the park and their coat of fur changes from rust to orange to grey and white depending on the time of year.
