Photographer's 'amazing' find in national park takes Aussies inside 'hidden world'
The peculiar and often unseen world of Australia wildlife is finding a new generation of admirers.
Herman Moller is always on the look out for tiny life that most Aussies wouldn't ever notice.
On a trip to the Kuranda National Park north of Cairns, he managed to do just that, coming across and photographing an unusual scene of three arachnids in what's been described as a "spectacular" and unique shot.
"My dad and I had just started our walk when we came across it on the hand rail of a bridge," he told Yahoo News Australia. "Which made it much easier to spot compared to where they normally are on trees and between the leaf litter."
What he spotted was a mite saddled on the back of a scorpion which was in the process of eating a spider.
"It was only after we took some photos that we realised the scorpion was already eating another spider which made the scene that much more special," he said.
"It is possible the mite was looking to grab a quick bite of the scorpions meal but it never did."
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"I was extremely fortunate to get all three of these arachnids in the same shot. I had to hold my camera upside down over the edge of a bridge to get the shot but with high risk comes high reward," he wrote on social media when sharing the image recently.
The photo generated more than 5,000 reactions with users labelling it "amazing" and "awesome".
"Wow that is too cool," one person wrote. "One of the best shots I’ve seen!" another agreed.
The Queensland bug photographer started out taking photos of well known animals, but to his surprise, he soon became enamoured with a much less visible domain of the animal kingdom.
"I started out taking photos of birds and mammals not knowing of the hidden world right under my feet," he told Yahoo. "As soon as I saw the sheer diversity and beauty in the insects and spiders I was hooked. I love going out into nature and sharing what I find for other people to enjoy."
And that's exactly what he does, sharing his macro photography on his social media pages and in groups filled with other insect enthusiasts.
Macro photography is all about capturing an extreme close-up of something small, making the subject appear much larger than it is in real life, giving the viewer an otherwise unseen view.
"I don’t have any formal training in entomology but I’m slowly starting to learn from resources like iNaturalist, various Facebook groups and other people who share in the hobby," Herman said.
And he's far from alone in his interest. An Entomology group on Facebook where he shared the national park find has nearly 450,000 members.
Meanwhile the more peculiar facets of our wildlife are finding a new generation of admirers with the bloom of a rare titan arum, a type of carrion flower, featured in the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens becoming a global social media phenomenon. Some 27,000 people showed up and waited for hours to see the foul smelling flower unfurl last week while 1.7 million people watched the live stream. It was the biggest public event in the Sydney gardens' 209-year history, according to its director of horticulture and living collections, John Siemon.
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