Most pitcher plants are climbers with some of their leaves modified into pitchers. A pitcher is a container with a hood over it. The hood, the rim and the inner wall of the pitcher are often attractively coloured. Even as the pitcher is formed, it contains a clear liquid. The pitchers of the different species of these plants vary in shape and size.

 Nepenthes sp.

The nectar producing glands are scattered along the rim of the pitcher and needless to say are very inviting to insects. The unsuspecting insects come to the pitcher to feed on the nectar and often stray away from these glands into the pitcher. The pitchers are designed to assist movement of the prey downwards while offering little help for upward movement!

The prey moves closer to the liquid, finally falling into it having lost its foothold. Digestive acids and enzymes are secreted to breakdown the proteins. The end product of digestion provides the plant with the much needed nitrogen which is absorbed by the walls of the pitcher.

Pitcher plants are found in the Asian tropics. They occur in India, Malaysia, South-east Asia and Queensland in Australia. They are also found in Ceylon and Madagascar. Of the sixty or so known species, India has only one representative of the pitcher plant, Nepenthes khasiana. A sanctuary has been set up for the conservation of this endemic plant in the north-eastern state of Meghalaya.

Nepenthes khasiana

These squirrels can frequently be seen chasing one another, grooming each other and at times sunning themselves on cold days on the branches of trees. They can be seen carrying away empty ice-cream cups to salvage whatever little is left in it; or they can be spotted cautiously carrying a huge ball of fibre to build their nest which is placed in tree holes, amid branches of trees, in holes in the walls, or even in the ventilator of a residence! These rodents are bold and often come close to humans only to scamper away at the slightest threat. However, some individuals are bold and do make a meal of goodies right out of one’s hands. Perhaps due to these and other antics, this squirrel is endearing to all of us.

Fruits, nuts, nectar, tender shoots, flower buds, bark, insects and food put out by humans are all consumed. A morsel of plain cooked rice put out by my mother and meant for crows, is eaten regularly by these squirrels at my residence. Having obtained something edible it often sits on its haunches and uses its forelegs to manipulate food.

The Three-striped Palm Squirrel is predominantly found in peninsular India while its cousin, the Five-striped Palm Squirrel Funambulus pennanti is common in North India. Both these are associated with man and cities, while other related species of striped squirrels as also the Malabar Giant Squirrel, Grizzled Giant Squirrel and the nocturnal Flying Squirrels are forest dwellers.

Not all spiders build a web and wait patiently to trap their meal! There are some that pounce on their prey and rely on their keen eyesight to catch their prey. These are the jumping spiders.

The jumping spiders are wary of anything that happens in their vicinity. One can observe them respond even to slight movements close to them. The jumping spiders are able to do this due to the four pairs of simple but special eyes they possess. One pair is large, pointing forward, giving it a sharp sight. In fact, at a distance of about one foot, these spiders can distinguish between prey, predator, etc. Alongside is one other pair that is smaller and pointing forward. The other two pairs are placed further behind and are strategically located.

Jumping spiders are active hunters. Once a potential prey (mainly insects) has been identified, they advance slowly and stealthily towards it. When within jumping distance, they jump on the prey and grab it. Before they jump, they secure a strand of silk as a lifeline to the substrate. This way they can crawl up to safety if the jump is a failure!

There are more than 4000 species of jumping spiders in the world with over 180 of them recorded from India. Most of the jumping spiders are small - most measuring under a centimetre. Perhaps, they are among the most colourful of spiders with some of having shining metallic colours.

The arrangement of eyes, their shape, stout bodies, short legs, their behaviour and habits are very characteristic of these spiders. Being such a large and diverse group, it is but natural to find variations in the base plan. For eg. the ant-mimic spider which resemble ants and others which have markings that mimic wasps.

The jumping spiders are solitary like most other spiders. They are fond of sunshine and are active during the day. At nights and on cloudy days, they return to the safety of a silken nest made in crevices, under stones and other such suitable places. They can be seen on trees, amid grass, rocks, and even on walls of our homes. In the environs of our homes they can be seen feeding on flies and other insects!

See more pictures of Jumping Spiders

Most ants live in a society like we do, and also indulge in activities that are familiar to us. Did we know that ants are hired as security guards by caterpillars belonging to certain butterflies?

The larva of the Common Cerulean butterfly enlists the services of certain ants for its protection. The ants take care of the larva and even get a payment for the services rendered in the form of a sweet tasting liquid that the larva produces.

Ants also have a very similar relationship with aphids and treehoppers (small insects that feed on plant sap). The ants herd the aphids and ‘milk’ them for the sweet liquid.

Ants share relationships with plants too. A classic example is the relationship with the African Bull’s Horn Acacia. The ants make a hole in the stout thorns of this tree. They use the hollow so created, as a nest. Since just one hollow is not sufficient for the entire colony, they use the thorns over much of the tree. The ants feed on the nectar provided by special glands on the acacia’s stems. In addition, the ants also feed on the small packets of nutritious food provided by the acacia placed and on the tips of the trees leaflets. In return for this favour, the ants patrol the entire tree and rid the tree of lodgers and parasites while also keeping grazing animals at bay!

If only we took a little time to look for and tried to understand these relationships, we can enjoy many of these instances even in our own little gardens.

The adult wasps use the same raw material that we use to make paper – wood.  They use their strong mandibles to scrape wood from barks, stems of trees or for that matter any other source. The raw material so obtained is chewed and mixed with their saliva to form a paste like material.  Out of this they shape their paper nest.  Inside these upturned little paper pots, are hexagonal cells. These cells will house larvae which will go on to form the next generation of wasps.

One can see these paper nests in cities too! The nests are usually attached to branches of trees or some sheltered place.  In fact, the above picture was taken in a residence in Bangalore. I have also seen them in the forests that clothe the hills of Chikmagalur and at Nandi Hills.

Related to the paper wasps are a group of wasps known as the potter wasps. These creatures use mud as the raw material. So, what results out of their efforts are beautiful tiny mud pots! These wasps also use the pot as a nursery for the next generation. The pots can often be seen in the corners of buildings, in tree crevices and similar places. Very often we may have even passed a pot for a lump of mud.

Wasps build a variety of structures. It can be the simple wall built across the opening of a electrical socket in our homes by that tiny black wasp to the complex structures described above.

If ever you have an opportunity to observe one of these hardworking little creatures – do not miss the it. It can be a fascinating experience to observe the wasps building their nest.

Click here to see 2 more pictures of wasp nests : Wasp Nest -1; Wasp Nest -2

I was very tired and quickly fell asleep. I had but slept a couple of hours when I was woken up by a curious sound. I lay on my back hoping to hear it once more. There it was again - ‘one more bottle’ … … ‘one more bottle’!. It was indeed the call of the Indian Cuckoo. From this point onwards, I was kept awake for most of the night by the pleasant but incessant calls uttered a few times every minute. In the silence of the night, the call was loud and clear. This, to me, also suggested some sense of well-being. The sweet sounds of the night kept me awake and excited right through. All my tossing and turning with the hope of falling asleep were in vain.

When a wee bit of light trickled through the curtains, I checked the time. It was early in the morning; my watch indicated 5.30 am. It was about this time that the Common Hawk Cuckoo with its ‘… brainfever, brainfever …’ call joined in. I finally decided to get out of bed and get ready for the safari into the forest.

The morning was very still. There was a hint of mist and all else quiet but for these two birds calling. There was enough light to discern the outlines of the trees that surrounded my tent. Just when it was getting brighter, the Jungle Owlet came up with its lengthy raucous call, which increased in tempo as it progressed and ended abruptly, as if it were handing over charge to the diurnal birds until sunset later in the day.

At this point of time the Malabar Whistling Thrush seemed to take over eagerly. Its long string of mellow, fluty whistles that sounded almost human was a treat to the ears. It was such a surreal experience that I will not even venture to describe. All descriptions would fall short and not do justice. It would be best to personally listen to and experience this call. However, I think it is only right to mention that Salim Ali – father of Indian Ornithology has aptly likened the call to a school boy whistling joyously when returning home from school.

When I was enjoying the song of the Malabar Whistling Thrush, the Crow Pheasant pitched in with its booming ‘whoop, whoop, whoop …’ call and soon, several other birds joined in. The Small Green Barbet came up with its guttural ‘kutroo, kutroo, …’ call which it continued for a good part of the morning. The little Tailor Bird added the ‘tuwee, tuwee, tuwee, …’ call for a short while.

Then the Spotted Babbler burst into its morning song that consisted of a long series of short whistles before it trailed away. It later settled down to its usual monotonous ‘I beat you’ call. The shy and secretive Slatyheaded Scimitar Babbler decided to make its presence felt as well. The hollow sounding ‘hut huhuhu’ call of the male repeated three or four times was very characteristic.

Albeit a little late, the Grey Junglefowl, ushered in dawn with the ‘kru kooo kurru kuk kuk’ call and went silent after calling a couple of times. The male Koel added its loud ‘kuoo’ repeated several times. From a nearby tree, a Quaker Babbler gave out its melodious ‘daadee give me toffy’ joining the seemingly ever-growing list of birds announcing daybreak.

I got ready and came out of the tent only to be treated by a Magpie Robin sitting pretty on the wooden stake outside my tent and uttering the shrill ‘sweee, sweee, …’ call. The mist slowly lifted and the Magpie Robin flew away too!

All the birds were out there announcing their presence and location to members of their own kind and perhaps to others too. It seemed as if they were playing their little part in the orchestra played without a conductor. Nevertheless, what an orchestra it was! It was perfect - a symphony that I will never forget for a long time to come.

As the name suggests, the social spiders live in a group. In this respect they are different from all other spiders (most other spiders are solitary). Each colony of the social spiders is a silken dormitory accommodating all members of that colony. The members of the colony are not divided into different castes. All members of the colony participate in all the work required to keep the nest and colony functional.

The social spiders are crepuscular and nocturnal. Therefore, members of the colony can be seen coming out to tackle the prey trapped in the web as a group. Very often the prey is taken into the colony for feeding. Though I did not have the opportunity of observing these spiders feeding, the remains of a few insects were seen on the web.

However, a regular watch on the nest continued. After several days, I was in for a surprise. The nest had several young spiders crawling all over the inside of the nest! Only a few days lapsed before the nest fell prey to vandalism and did not permit for further observation.

The praying mantis often referred to, as a “gin trap” is truly an amazing predator! This picture depicts just this ability of the praying mantis to catch prey larger than itself. And, for this purpose, it is very well equipped. If one takes a close look at the first pair of legs of a praying mantis, the spines on its legs become obvious. The spines on the two sides of the “knee” are complementary thereby making escape for the captured prey almost impossible. Besides, many species of praying mantis have colours that help them blend in with their surroundings. All this makes a praying mantis a formidable predator.

Some species of praying mantis commonly referred to as “flower mantis” have a stunning resemblance to the flowers amidst which they hide. They have protrusions on their body to give them their flower-like appearance. By doing so, they make a meal of the insects like bees and butterflies which visit flowers.

So the next time you manage to locate one of these little creatures pay attention to all the characters that make them perfectly adapted for a predatory life.

The stinkhorn mushrooms are typical in having a stalk with a mesh-like veil draped over the entire stalk. The veil is mostly held like a skirt around the stalk. Over this is a wrinkled cap. This cap has a foul smell earning this mushroom its name. The cap is also covered with a slimy substance. This smelly head has a very important role to play as it contains the spores (seed equivalent) of the fungi. This foul smell though repulsive to our nose, is very attractive to insects, particularly flies. They visit the cap of the mushroom since it smells like some rotting organic matter – a favourite haunt of flies. They move about on the cap of the mushroom exploring it and feeding on the slime. During this process, spores stick to their legs and mouthparts. These then get transported to other places which the flies may visit – most often places that may be suitable for the growth of a new stinkhorn mushroom! This is an interesting association where the fungi use insects as carriers of the spores.

When I sat down to photograph a spider wasp, little was I planning to sit rooted to the spot for over 2 hours witnessing one of the most fascinating dramas unfurl in front of me. The setting – The River Tern Lodge managed by Jungle Lodges and Resorts Ltd. a resort at the edge of the Western Ghats; the season - monsoon.

It was about 0930 hours; I had finished breakfast and stepped out of the dining area. The sun was bright. The lush wild growth was too inviting to resist. Armed with my camera I stepped out only to be taunted by a butterfly which would sit still only for a brief moment at any given place and not giving me a shot. I followed the butterfly through the brush for a while and reached a small clearing just a few paces from the dining area. Here, my attention was drawn by a black coloured wasp with orange wings. She was carrying a limp signature spider (Argiope sp.).

She placed the spider down and scurried around the area as if scouting for something until she reached a small hole. It dawned upon me that she was busy ensuring the safety and food supply for the next generation. She must have stung and paralysed the spider that she was carrying. She inspected the hole and returned to the spider. I was hoping that she would drag the spider into the hole and that I could get a good picture.

For reasons best known to her, she decided to abandon this hole. She scouted around and tried digging a fresh hole at a few places. Finally, having selected the spot she started digging rapidly with deft, coordinated movement of her front legs and hind legs. Between bouts of digging, she quickly visited the paralysed spider time and again as if to size up the spider. Before long, the hole was deeper than the length of her body. Now again, I was wishing to see the spider being dragged to the hole.

To my dismay, she scurried around located another spot and started digging again. The whole process of energetic digging and visiting the spider continued. During one of the regular visits to the spider she dragged in closer to the site of excavation. The digging continued. Here again she dug a hole deep enough to conceal her entire self. This done she came out and looked around. I got ready hoping to capture the act of dragging the spider into the hole. She in one swift move reached the spider, grabbed it in her mandibles and dragged it into the hole. This happened so quickly, that I failed to shoot the proceedings.

She came out briefly and went into the hole abdomen first. This entry into the hole, I presume was to lay her egg.

The wasp came out and started shoveling the excavated mud back into the hole. Having shoveled some mud, she packed the soil with rapid taps of her abdomen. This she did until the hole was almost full. Then she swept away, meticulously all the unwanted material away from the site. Subsequently, she dug some mud from the surroundings and covered the hole before venturing a few inches farther from the hole to gather small stones and debris to cover the nest.

Why the two tunnels that the wasp excavated were abandoned still remains a question in my mind. There was no reason that was obvious to me. This question was still wandering in my mind when something most unexpected happened.

The female had almost finished the job that she had started when another larger individual of the same species came by. A fight between the owner and the intruder ensued.

They would run into and grapple with each other before going their own way. This was repeated several times. The intruder tried digging up the hole on a couple of occasions when the owner was busy gathering material to give finishing touches to her nursery.

Finally, the owner of the hole was vanquished. She spent a little time in the vicinity before she was gone. During this time, she seemed to be very confused and was often seen trying to tackle stones too large for her. Whether this was a displacement behaviour or not would be difficult to say.

The intruder started digging up the hole again in a great frenzy. Having reached the spider, she, like the owner went into the hole backwards and emerged out after a brief moment. She repeated the entire process of filling up the hole and packing the soil well with her abdomen. Like on the previous occasion the taps were audible to my ears. Having completed her act, she too flew away. I was so engrossed watching the whole event unfold that I almost forgot that I had my camera in my hand in spite of the weight of the equipment trying to compete with the wasp for attention. I left the site to catch up with the work on hand.

The next morning, I packed my bags and as I walked past the stage where the drama was enacted the previous day, I decided to quickly check out the nest. I was in for a big surprise. The nest hole was dug up again with no wasp in sight! What transpired during the rest of the day when we left is anybody’s guess.

This whole episode left me perplexed. I had never heard of something happening nor had I witnessed such behaviour in the past. This will be something that I shall remember and recount for a long time to come.