Macro Monday

This week is the last of the series from the Butterfly Palace in Branson. These are not butterflies, obviously, and will not be morphing onto butterflies. As a little added attraction there is a small exhibit there called the Rain Forest. Most of these colorful critters are from such environments.

All of these animals/insects were in plexi-glass exhibits so it was difficult to get clear shots. Actually, when you see some of these, a little bit of blur might be a good thing!

This frog (or toad, I don't know) was very tiny. His body a little more than an inch long. His color is so vivid that I can only imagine that if he is interested in camouflage the environment must be very vivid as well.

The lizard below was also quite small, but made up for it with his scowl. He perched himself on that rock and nearly dare anyone to come close.

A praying mantis isn't all that exotic --- I had one on my back deck last night --- but these gave visitors a chance to see a real one after seeing a very wicked mantis in the 3-D movie we saw earlier in the tour. In the movie a mantis ate a beautiful butterfly --- up close and in 3-D --- so many visitors were heard hissing at this exhibit!

Frog or toad, again I don't know, but it was the most beautiful blue and black! I can't imagine what his natural habitat would look like. He was much larger than the green one, about a 3 inch body length.

Huh, yes, these are cockroaches of the rain forest type --- a huge pile of them! (Thank goodness for plexi-glass) But the next time you see a cockroach, keep in mind that these buggers were 4 - 6 inches long. eeeeeiiiiuuuuwww!

Next week I promise no cockroaches. But there just might be more butterflies in the future! For the holidays the Butterfly Palace is hosting thousands of the Paper Kite butterflies. They are white with black stripes (I posted photos of some earlier) and appear as snowflakes in the holiday-decorated pavilion. The exhibit is called White Flight. I can't wait to see it!

Join us in our Monday Macro! Post your macro/close-up shots, then go over to Lisa's Chaos and leave a link and comment. Be sure to check out the others' blogs, too. You'll be glad you did!

P.S. Some information about the blue frog: In her comment Kath thought they are poisonous so I looked it up and yes, they certainly are. They are in the category of poison dart frogs and the poison is on their skin. I the information at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Apparently our pretty little yellow-green frog is also a poison dart frog, in fact it is the most poisonous!