On 14th February 2009 Leang and I were “spicing up” our Valentines night by attending a concert in Chiang Mai, Thailand which was billed as “Romantic Italian and Spanish classical guitar serenades”.
However, when parking the family truck at the concert hall, we suddenly both looked at each other, as across the road from us there appeared to be a “gantry” being set up on the University entrance drive-way. In unison we said, “That must be a start/finish line for a race event.”
St Valentine's widow spider
In honour of Valentine’s Day this post will look at the wonderful world of courtship in the spider genus Latrodectus, more commonly known as the widow spiders. Readers of my previous post will recall this genus includes species such as the American black widow (Latrodectus mactans), the Australian redback (L. hasseltii) and the New Zealand katipo (L. katipo), all
Margaret Stoddart, Roses, 1920s
In Europe during the 1300s February 14th was thought to be the day when birds paired off to mate. This date was originally an ancient Greco-Roman pagan festival, and was later called St Valentines Day Feast by the Church. Since the 1300s, on February 14th each year, roses (and flowers in general), have been widely accepted as gifts and Saint Valentines Day is now
Join Te Papa’s curators for a fascinating array of talks on New Zealand’s natural history. The six titles published in the Te Papa Te Taiao Nature Series have been […]
“I want to do something splendid...something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it and mean to astonish you all someday.” - 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott
