toad hopping

toad hopping
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

The last couple of weeks have been spent working on cane toad physiology. We've been measuring a whole battery of physiological measures - oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, endurance on a treadmill, hematocrit, blood cell count, lactate levels, muscle enzyme activity, blood cell volume, hemoglobin levels, etc.). This is Keith running a toad on the treadmill until he was exhausted (the toad, not Keith). The bloody things run forever. This guy was the champion. He hopped for over 2 hours before tiring out. And he recovered after 15 min. No wonder these things are taking over northern Australia, and expanding their range at a rate of 80 km per year.

Big moth

moth 1
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

I found this guy in the Science Building today.

...with my hand for scale

moth 2
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Loo with a view

loo with view
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Darwin has a few of these high tech ExeLoos. They play soothing music at you, clean themselves, and open automatically after 10 minutes. They have numbered instructions for how to use them ("push for soap, push to rinse, push to flush", etc.). Apparently, they cost about $100,000 each. This one has a particularly nice view of the ocean.

Namib rocks 1

Namib rocks 1
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Some of the rocks I picked up in Namibia, after they were tumbled. (mostly agates, quartz and verdite)

Namib rocks 2

Namib rocks 2
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

More of the rocks I picked up in Namibia, after they were tumbled. (mostly agates, quartz and verdite)

November sunset

November sunset
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Another spectacular sunset from the balcony.

Mango madness

November mangos
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

We're nearing the end of mango season here now. This photo is from a couple of weeks ago, at the peak of the season. It's hard to eat this many mangos in a week, but somehow Sarah and I managed to do it in about a week and a half. Of course, about a dozen of these ended up chopped up and in the freezer, but that's okay. We'll be happy to have them in a couple of months. We were going through about a case a week for a while, but now the supply is slowing, and frankly, I'm a bit tired of mangos for now. But oooh, they were gooooood!