Obviously, I said yes. I had no idea that JCU even had an aquarium, and apparently most people don't know it exists either. It isn't really an official labeled proper type of thing, but it is still SO COOL! There is a super huge tank with all sorts of fish and one shark (only about 2 feet long or so) and sea cucumbers and anemones and rocks and plants and more fish. There were lots of tanks, inside and outside, full of all sorts of excellent and strange marine life: corals, jellyfish and jellyfish polyps (including some Irukandji jellyfish polyps, which are the ones that are the size of a fingernail and can KILL YOU), rockfish, unknown species of anemones, clownfish, a 5 foot white-tip shark, crabs, lobsters, parrotfish, mantis shrimp (which have to be put in thick glass tanks because they can run at the glass and CRACK it. A shellfish!), and lots of other crazy things that I cannot remember (ugh, should've taken notes).
*Side note* I feel like this post is being overly dramatic, and I apologize for that and my gratuitous use of CAPS LOCK, but I just get SO EXCITED about COOL NATURE THINGS. And I may have had a few too many cups of tea today :D
(Also John, if you're reading this, please feel free to correct me on anything I got wrong)
After the aquarium tour, John had to go feed the spiders and scorpions. He is studying to get his Master's degree in Entomology and is in charge of a lot of creepy crawly things. I hesitantly went along.
Until this summer, I thought that I was perfectly fine with spiders, but then I discovered a HUGE BIG FAT YUCKY spider in a box of stuff in my room and had a sweaty freakout high-pitched voice shivery moment where I put on heavy shoes and garden gloves as to better combat the dark purple spider of death that was OH MY GOD crawling around in my personal space. Yeeerughthgfhhhhhhhh.
But I digress.
Anyway, so I followed John and he started off by taking out a large glass container full of bark and newspaper and spider food. AKA cockroaches of varying sizes. They really do scatter when light is turned on. Anyway, next, various boxes containing spiders and scorpions were removed from the temperature controlled metal refrigerator-like apparatus where they spend most of their time. I learned that scorpions (at least the ones JCU has) glow turquoise/teal under black lights, and nobody knows why they do. However, I think that if they were turquoise all the time, they would be much less creepy.
He fed and watered the scorpions, then moved on to the tarantulas. There were a few different kinds, all equally disgusting and fascinating. There was one baby tarantula only about an inch long and I hate to say it, but it was super cute. However, it is a good thing I remembered to put on deodorant that morning because I may have been sweating about three times as much is normal.
THEN, he discovered the shed exoskeleton of one of the adult tarantulas and pulled it out of the box. And then let me keep it to freak out my friends and family :D
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| You can see the FANGS (sorry, not in this picture). It's AWESOME. |
Now, I'm off to Thai food with Katie, and Ladies Night in Cairns!
(the spider exoskeleton will stay behind in my room)
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Song of the day: At the Bottom of Everything by Bright Eyes
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