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International Rock-Flipping Day

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


As I am sure you are aware, September 9th is International Rock-Flipping Day.

What's that? You don't know about Rock Flipping Day?

Well, no matter. It's the day when we find a rock, carefully turn it over, and photograph the organisms we find living underneath it. Rock-flipping day is a simple biodiversity exercise designed to give us an excuse to peep on our lesser-seen local wildlife. For those inclined to share their discoveries, Flickr has a Rock-Flipping Day photo pool.


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Below, I blog what I found this afternoon.

Alex Wild is Curator of Entomology at the University of Texas at Austin, where he studies the evolutionary history of ants. In 2003 he founded a photography business as an aesthetic complement to his scientific work, and his natural history photographs appear in numerous museums, books and media outlets.

More by Alex Wild