Entomologist Dr. Jürgen Otto films the Peacock Spiders of Australia, and they are super fun to watch. Though they are not well documented, there are 20 known species of these small jumping spiders. They have huge eyes, grow to about 5mm, and the males have colorful iridescent flaps that they use to attract females.  

GrrlScientist has written more about Dr. Otto and these unique little creatures, and you can see more photos (and an interview) on 1000 Natural Wonders.

via Bug Girl’s Blog.

Watch this BBC clip of fish and frogs living out of water, featuring the lung fish, a burrowing desert frog, and the thorny devil lizard.

Koalas running. Koalas eating. Koalas clinging to legs. Koalas nose to nose. Koalas being ridiculously cute.

In an ongoing series, Koala Hospital, National Geographic travels to Port Macquarie, Australia, a few hours from Sydney, to visit the 40-year-old refuge for wild koalas. Volunteers there are clearly delighted at the chance to frolic with the fluffy marsupials, who cling adorably to tree branches and human legs alike. If you can’t make the trek but you want to contribute, you can adopt a wild koala via the hospital’s website, or help them plant a food tree, to counteract the koalas’ loss of habitat. 

via The Atlantic.

Greg the Gardener in Queensland, Australia, shows how he harvests a large bunch of almost-ripe Lady Finger bananas.

Want to grow your own? SFGate has a quick starter guide for growing the dwarf variety indoors, with lots of related links…

From the BBC’s Life series, two weedy seadragons dance into the night: 

Living off the coast of south Australia, weedy seadragons (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) are the only known species along with sea horses and pipefish - where the male carries the eggs. Although the eggs start out in the female, she lays about 120 of them onto the tail of the male where they are then fertilized and develop until they hatch. 

Feeding on plankton, larval fishes and small shrimp-like crustaceans, seadragons resemble swaying seaweed making them difficult to find in their natural habitats, even though they can grow to about 46 cm in length.