Down the rabbit hole

No - I've not been to see the new Alice in Wonderland. However, when I first saw this creature in Sedgefield's Swartvlei lagoon, I thought I must have fallen down a rabbit hole. I'd never seen anything like it before.Doing a bit of research, it turns out that this is a Shaggy Sea Hare (Bursatella leachi) and is a fairly rare creature. Oddly though, there were hundreds of them in the river mouth. It would appear that their distribution pattern is shifting south, because they were first glimpsed in Plett in 2007, and this was their first appearance in Sedgies that my in-laws could remember.

They're fascinating little creatures - to me at least. They're about 10cm long, green, with black spots (you can't really see the spots unless you get up good and close) and these pink tassels. They filter out algae from sand and have an internal shell. They are thus very soft to the touch, and slightly slimy. I discovered afterwards that they usually release a purple or black ink when disturbed, so I guess I must have been pretty gentle with them. Some of them (not this species though) release sulphuric acid when disturbed! That's a definite "DO NOT DISTURB" sign, if you know what to look for.

Children's Zoo & walking

Yesterday we took Nellie to a local children's zoo, which was fabulous despite the wet weather. Her favourite animals were the lemurs (because they performed beautifully for her - leaping and playing games with each other), the Giant British Rabbits (which were anything but giant!) and the Bantam chickens (because both were smaller than she was)

and the sheep (because she thought their wool was just like the carpets in Mommy and Daddy's room).

She was slighly afraid of the goats, but at least not so terrifying that she didn't want to try to touch them. Of course, the ducks were a hit, but they always are, so that doesn't really count.

When we got home, she then proceeded to take 2 steps all on her own. Again, as soon as I got the camera out and tried to get her to do it again, she refused, so sorry - no video of that yet. THEN, this morning at church, she took 3 steps all on her own!! I'm guessing that if she continues at this rate, she'll be walking before Christmas!