{"id":17951,"date":"2020-10-05T14:27:54","date_gmt":"2020-10-05T14:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/?p=17951"},"modified":"2020-10-05T14:27:54","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T14:27:54","slug":"spiders-n-snakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nevilleronan.com\/blog\/2020\/10\/05\/spiders-n-snakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiders ‘n Snakes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As I drove to Jax’s house last night to meet Bungie, her newest little creature, the old Jim Stafford song Spiders ‘n Snakes played around inside my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bungie is a female Regal Jumping Spider and while gorgeous in my eyes, is not for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a miserable grey rainy late-afternoon and so my excuse for not getting really great pics was already established before I even left my driveway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add to that fact, that Bungie was not prepared to sit still for me but wanted to explore her surrounds. So, trying to get good pics of a small moving target in imperfect light, meant that my efforts were most definitely handicapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps if I had picked a different lens and used zoom from a distance, they would have been more in focus, but at the end of the day, they are what they are. My own performance was definitely questionable but I hope you enjoy them anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are at the end of the blog but beware arachnophobes …. these images might not be for you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a real thrill to meet her and she jumped several times, so I can see where she gets her name from. At one stage I had the pleasure of her walking up along my arm, wrestling with each hair as she moved from wrist to elbow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afterwards, Jax brought me around the back to show me the six black racer eggs that she is waiting to hatch. These are really fast snakes and I love watching them as they speed without effort across my yard occasionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve even had the pleasure of a couple coming into my office through the open door and the joys of removing them before they or the cats got injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But these babies aren’t born yet, so I hope to return for some pics when they are hatching. Fingers crossed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I drove home, I smiled at how excited I was and yet how horrified Inna, Carrie, and Morgan were when I told them where I was going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I only told three people and all three gave identical ewwwww type responses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Jim Stafford’s line “I don’t like spiders ‘n snakes” kept repeating and left me musing over “why”?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is it that so many people have developed phobias or distaste, or even disgust, for certain types of creatures, while the ewws turn to oohs when a puppy enters the room?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That we so willingly vilify certain creatures is a sad reflection on our appreciation of the natural world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of this comes from religious preachings … where the temptation and sin is represented by the snake in the bible, or the demons are banished into the unclean pigs, or the devil himself is portrayed as a goat type figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other creatures are maligned in books and movies, such as the shark in Jaws, the bats as vampires, and jackals, well as jackals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We assign hero status to dogs, wisdom to owls, and strength to lions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All for what purpose?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we demonize some and glorify others?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There seems to be a flawed logic among humans to perpetually want to place creatures into boxes. Particularly good and bad boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We love to categorize. It keep things neatly organized in our little brains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it also allows us to discriminate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It creates an us and them, black and white, type world, where we revere the good\/white and mistreat the bad\/black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to discriminating between humans, people follow patterns of belief that are handed down from generation to generation. And frankly, I don’t ever see it changing. In most cases though, humans that are discriminated against will eventually rebel and their voices will be heard (such as Black Lives Matter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But animals don’t have a voice. They will never be able to rebel to where they are witnessed as equal creatures on this planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we will continue to step on, shoot, abuse, deride …. whatever creature fits into our “bad” box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are so many examples of wanton cruelty by humans to animals, that I don’t even need to mention them here. We have all witnessed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it saddens me greatly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If our own evolution brought us to a stage where our feeling of superiority allows us to mistreat so-called lesser creatures, then that is not evolution in my opinion. But devolution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we can be as proud as we want about how intelligent we are, how dominant we are, and how righteous we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the truth is our effect on the planet and the creatures around us tells an entirely different story. Parasite might be a better word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

… just a thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n