Pangolins are insect eating mammals native to China, South Asia and Africa. Mercilessly hunted in recent years, several species are CITES listed as critically endangered. Often called the world's most trafficked mammal, one seized shipment contained 130 tons (hard to imagine) of pangolin product including scales, apparently that equating to some 400,000 individual creatures.

There are a few thousand species of cicadas found worldwide and several hundred in Australia. Some are annual species, others emerge every few years but the 'famous' 13 and 17 year periodic cicadas in the US are particularly remarkable.

Silent Spring was published in 1962, it basically challenged the widespread use and acceptance of synthetic pesticides. She had grave concerns that mankind would create a world with a "silent spring". A bleak future, devoid of bird song and with a hugely depleted biodiversity. She called for a change in the way humankind viewed and tried to alter the natural world.

Rachel was born on a farm in Springdale Pennsylvania in the USA. Her mother encouraged a life-long love of nature and the living world. She studied zoology and was a marine biologist by profession, becoming, in 1936, only the second woman employed by the Bureau of Fisheries.

Her first book was The Sea Around Us, published in 1951. It became a bestseller and won the US National Book Award. She published other books and numerous pamphlets and articles, but she is best known for Silent Spring. It is said the mix of "scientific knowledge and poetic writing" helped Silent Spring reach a wide audience and despite considerable attacks on her work by chemical companies it did eventually lead to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides in the US.

Carson herself made it clear she was not just about banning everything as was often claimed – but wanted to ensure responsible and carefully managed use of chemicals and an awareness of their impact on entire ecosystems.

If you google her it is quite amazing how much trouble this book stirred up both legally and politically in its day. Rachel certainly made the use of pesticides a major topic of public interest. She helped launch many environmental organisations and increased awareness and grassroot support of environmental issues.

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The developing paradise fly individuals live underground where they feed on roots as they grow and moult. Little is known about how long it takes them to develop, is it months or years – no one knows. Little is also known about what roots are preferred as fuel for their development, we found ours amongst banksia and eucalypts on the coastal plain just north of Perth. The non-feeding adults emerge mainly in autumn looking to mate.

Adult males and females exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism – the sexes look very different. The male is tiny and can sit on the end of your fingertip. The female is a large grub like creature and can be over 5cm long. Once mated the female climbs up a tree or other suitable surface and using a glue exuded from her own body sticks herself into place. She then transforms, retracts her abdomen into to her body which forms a pouch like structure into which she will lay between 1,000, and 5,000 eggs depending on the species. This marks the end of her life and her gradually drying body helps protect the eggs until they hatch. The tiny legless nymphs called crawlers then climb down or drop to the ground below, where they enter the ground in search of a suitable root system upon which to feed.