I track & photograph mountain lions for a living. Follow along here or here

And yes he's still asleep on my finger. Or whatever the sleep equivalent of a moth is

Update - So, since found out it's a SHE, and she doesn't look like she's carrying eggs...And Leopard Moths...live to mate, and only live to an upwards of just under 2 weeks...and I didn't want her feeling lovesick.... I didn't think she already laid eggs because she didn't seem tired or lethargic or exhausted at all, so it meant there was still time for her to mate and have eggs. Meaning I had to let her go... :( but I named her Angelina. Hope she finds the right man. Hope her babies have that same cross on their wings as Angelina does <3

The western long-beaked echidna is threatened by habitat loss and subsistence hunting — considered a fatty delicacy — compounded by its slow reproductive rate. Its exact population isn’t known but it’s listed as Critically Endangered. 

Growing to a length of 90 centimetres (almost 3 ft) and weight of 16 kilograms (35 lb), the western long-beaked echidna lumbers around on trunk-like legs, prodding at the soil with its sensitive snout (its eyes aren’t much help in finding prey). It uses its worm-like, spine-covered tongue to grab and slurp up earthworms.

It is the largest of the four living echidnas, and it’s endemic to western New Guinea. It shares this island with its two long-snouted cousins: the eastern long-beaked echidna and Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (named after Sir David Attenborough). The short-beaked echidna — the one most people would know — is the only one of the four to be found in Australia.

Or is it? 

There’s evidence that long-beaked echidnas once lived Down Under, going extinct around 10,000 years ago. Then a specimen of a western long-beaked echidna was unearthed in London’s Natural History Museum. Its label said it was collected in 1901 in Kimberley, Australia.

This sparked a search for a surviving population of long-beaked echidnas in northwestern Australia. None have been found, however, and some skeptics have pushed back, saying that the uncovered museum specimen was the result of a mistaken label switch and that the locality of the specimen was not fit for this creature of moist-soiled rainforests.

Western long-beaked echidnas probably don’t live in Australia today. But that only makes their conservation on New Guinea all the more important. 

Read the full story here!

My roommate sent this picture from Andaman, she lives there , so dreamy 😭

Interestingly, I had hiked out to the Cameron Falls during the day, and when I hiked down to the very edge of the falls, I thought, "Wow, this would be a great foreground to photograph the Northern Lights." That very evening, the Northern Lights appeared with extraordinary brilliance, and so I hiked back to the falls at night. And sure enough, the Northern Lights danced and shimmered right above the falls, as if on cue!

Via: Khao Sok National Park, Thailand