(a blog as Halloween approaches…)
Could there be devilish creatures on the prowl….?
You feel something brush past your foot – a large, black beetle pauses to stare at you with its huge dark eyes. The devil’s coach horse beetle likes to roam around under cover of darkness, on the lookout for those unlucky enough to stray within reach of its ferocious jaws. Don’t annoy it, or it might squirt you with a foul smelling potion from its upturned tail. Hurry off before it curses you!
The hot desert shimmers in the heat – could something sinister be hiding out there? Is that a strange spiky head sticking out of the arid sand? Then another head appears! The thorny lizard looks like it has two! Which is the real one?! It’s a tough beast – it’s so hard that it can survive without even taking a drink! It hunts in the hellishly hot heat of the day, shovelling up desert ants with its tongue. Now you see it, now you don’t – it changes colour and disappears from sight.
Wait! Do you hear that demonic howling? Supernatural sounding cries fill the air…the infernal sound comes from a Tasmanian devil. It emerges to hunt for its midnight feast and once it’s found its victim, it gobbles up every last bit until there’s nothing left! It dwells alone, as non-other can bear its foul temper – it flies into a frightening rage – yawling, snarling and gnashing its teeth. Even climbing a tree offers no escape, because it can follow you up there!
More unearthly cries fill the night time air. What mysterious secret does the forest of Sri Lanka hide? The devil bird! Few have spied this frightening fowl, with its horn-shaped feathers surrounding those huge all-seeing eyes. Its cries sound almost human! Could the legend be true that a woman, distraught at having lost her son, ran into the forest and was magically transformed into this bird, destined to call out forever for her missing child, late into the dark night?
Take care in the ocean depths, for here, too, hellion beings await you. Lurking under a rocky crevice is an armoured assassin that carries a diabolical weapon. The devil reef crab’s poison is so strong that its fatal within the hour. Its hypnotical patterns warn of the danger that lies within – death from even the merest bite!
Beware too of what hides just under the surface of the sand – a satanic swimmer might be skulking under cover on the sea bed! The evil looking spiny devilfish bristles with viciously venomous needles that deliver pure pain at just one touch to those who tread too close – stay away!
You never know what’s lurking out there!
Candy Hunter 