Friday, February 24, 2012

Life on an Island


Every year, I am lucky enough to visit Sanibel Island, Florida, where my family has been vacationing since I was a child.  It's funny, as a part of my Biomimicry Professional program, I get to travel to distant lands to learn about their flora and fauna, but many times animal life is hard to find.  But when I come to Sanibel Island, within ten minutes of arriving at the natural beach, I've seen five pelicans swarm within 10' of a dolphin, studied lizards and spiders, and collected more amazing artifacts that wash up on the beach.  I'm going to start advocating that the BPro coursework take a trip to Sanibel to study the natural beaches and the amazing Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge!

Some of the many amazing forms of life I saw on one trip to the beach:


  • pink sea vegetables which freaked out my daughter
  • some squishy blob that looked like a spineless sea urchin
  • another conch breeding placenta
  • dolphins looking for food and completely unfazed by humans
  • pelicans swallowing their prey and water seeping out of their pouches
  • lizards colored to match the twigs and brown debris at the bottom of the floor
  • mangrove trees trapping sediment and living in water
  • rainbow colored fish scales
  • spiders at the center of the web doing housecleaning by removing leaves from their web
So many exciting forms of life to explore and discover!


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