Babel School in Taiwan

Not many people go to the zoo to observe creepy crawlies, but we do ... Our nature class took us to the less frequented part of the zoo, the wild and overgrown part where many insects and other creepy crawlies hide. The most interesting thing we saw were the two larvae stages of  Asian swallowtail - Papilio xuthus - 柑桔鳳蝶 It's amazing how the caterpillars change and what later becomes of them... Unless you want to get a bad rush keep away from this beautiful, hairy caterpillar. Cocoa tussock moth caterpillar - Orgyia postica - 小白紋毒蛾幼蟲  暗點燈蛾 - Lemyra imparilis Asota heliconia zebrina  - 圓端擬燈蛾 This caterpillar looks like  Asota heliconia zebrina - 圓端擬燈蛾 ,  but I am not sure if it's really that ... A very young  Lebeda nobilis - 大灰枯葉蛾 For pictures of more bugs from the zoo you can go to my post from a year ago .

This week the nature class took place in the zoo. We were going to the part where Taiwanese animals and insects were. We got to the zoo a bit earlier so Ania and her friend could see other animals - pandas and the African animals. The weather on that day was very nice, although a bit chilly. Some of the animals probably didn't like the cold so they stayed indoors. The two Big ones that Ania wanted to see - zebras and hippos - were outside so she could enjoy observing them. The lion and lioness were basking in the sun. That was probably the first time we could see the lions out in the open  and this close to us. Rhinos also came out into the sun: Chimpanzees were resting peacefully:  One hyena was resting and the other kept looking at us: Elephants strolled majestically: Formosan serow was having sweet potatoes for his late lunch: Taiwanese macaques were also having a fruity meal: Overa...

We were supposed to go somewhere else, but because of the strong winds and rain we ended up in the zoo. To my surprise we explored a part of the zoo that I have never been to before. We went to the Insect Valley. Kids kept asking if it's really a zoo, as there were no (big) animals, only insects. So we walked on the path where we were able to spot many caterpillars: Cocoa tussock moth caterpillar - 小白紋毒蛾幼蟲   -  Orgyia postica 巨網燈蛾幼蟲 - Macrobrochis gigas 暗點燈蛾 - Lemyra imparilis Not a very good photo, sorry. Geometer moth caterpillar - 尺蛾幼蟲 - Geometridae  -  Gąsienica motyla nocnego z rodziny miernikowcowatych ？ Of course all the kids wanted to know which caterpillars are safe to touch and which we should avoid getting in contact with. W spotted not only caterpillars, but adult insects too, although not many as they must have been hiding from the rain: The plant on the photo below produces some sweet ...