ondrous Wo W e rld Th of the
Hidden Creatures Observations and findings in nature
F LO OR R EBBE R S
ondrous Wo W e rld Th of the
Hidden Creatures Observations and findings in nature
WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY FLOOR REBBERS
Foreword
Before you continue reading this book, a little warning: This book is only meant for those who have the best intentions toward nature. The only reason I’ve been able to discover, meet and document these creatures, is because I’m aware of the enormous creative power of nature and treated her with the respect she deserves. Sadly, today, like many animals, these special hidden creatures are decreasing in numbers. This is regrettably mostly due to the influence of humans, who destroy and inhabit more and more of nature, which leaves little habitat for other creatures. That’s the reason most of these creatures are extremely shy and cautious when it comes to humans, and surely won’t reveal themselves to such a person that sees nature as a source to exploit. They will, however, reveal themselves to the pure souls among us. Perhaps that’s why we often see dogs and children chasing “invisible” things: they are less of a threat to them. That’s why, to get the chance to meet these creatures, I’ve had to reach out to my own inner child and go into nature with that same open mind we all used to have. Only this way these creatures revealed themselves. I call them the “Hidden Creatures”, not just because they are exeptionally good at hiding themselves for the eye of man, but also because they’re not animals. Even though they show similarities to some animals, they also seem to have adopted particular qualities of plants. This is what fascinates me so much about them. The reason I made this book is not just because the creatures are ery interesting, beautiful and amusing, but also because they’ve got an important message to share. Each creature has their own speficic role in nature. They take only what they need and work together to survive and help protect other organisms in nature. I think we could all learn a thing or two from them. Having said that...
Welcome to the world of the Hidden Creatures!
Seedling
The Seedling is a peculiar creature. It is shy, but if it’s accustomed to your presence it can be very friendly. However, it never lets you get too close to him. Don’t try to pet it, or it could fiercely scratch you with it’s sharp claws! This little beast is recognized by it’s pineapple-like scales. Rolled up, they aren’t distinguishable from actual pineapples. This is how it can hide itself so well from man and animal. The Seedling is surprisingly intelligent: it collects seeds not just to eat, but keeps most of them between it’s scales. It seems to understand where each type of seed grows best, because it is often looking for the perfect substrant or soil for the specific seed it wants to plant: it sniffs and grubs around the earth to find the best spot. Then it buries the seeds at the exact right depth and sweeps some sand over it with it’s large tail. It seems this creature conciously buries many seeds to increase the tree- and plant population in it’s territory. This is, of course, in it’s own advantage, since the new plants and saplings will generate more seeds later on. With this future-aware survival method, this is one of the smartest of the hidden creatures I have come across.
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Seedling
The Seedling has strongly developed senses: large, attentive eyes, excellent hearing and an exceptional sense of smell. This is what it uses to trace certain plant or tree seeds, and to judge the soil composition: each seed needs a different soil humidity and nutrients to be able to grow. Of course plants have their own mechanisms to spread their seeds, with the help of wind or insects, but the Seedling can be of much help when plants and trees are having a hard time growing in certain areas. This could be the case when there is drought or pollution by humans. The Seedling can directly search out the best spot to plant a seed, which increases the chances of survival for the tree or plant in question.
Next to the carrying of seeds, the scales serve as camouf lage and a wshield against predators. The Seedling can dilate them when threatened or lay them down if it wants to move swiftly. The big nails are used to dig holes. With it's tail it can sweep sand over seeds, or ram into a tree to collect it's seeds.
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I spotted this creaturew while it was collecting seeds. When it sensed me, it immediatly dissapeared...
The nose of the Seedling is it's most valuable asset.
Pineapples are the fruit cones of a pine tree.The seeds are hidden inside the scales. These happen to be the favorite seeds of the Seedling to eat!
A sapling of the Alder, planted by the Seedling.
Fungulates
The moist forest floor, at the foot of a tree, close to a pond of water or on top of dead wood. These are a few of the favorite spots of the Fungulates: small, odd creatures that show many similarities to mushrooms. Just like their stagnant family the Fungulates come in a large range of varieties and sizes. They are very curious and aren’t scared easily - they do everything at their own pace, which is mostly very slow. Even though they’re slow, they have an important job. They clean the forest floor by converting dead organic material into new nutrients, that other plants and organisms in the forest on their turn profit from. These creatures are hundreds of millions years old. That might be because of their cunningly developed way of living, which allows them to work together with the entire forest. Hidden under the ground there lies an extensive mold network called the Mycorrhizal network, to which all mushrooms are connected. If one Fungulates dies, the underground network still lives and from there new family members can sprout. This is the reason why mushrooms and Fungulates are for a large part of the year harder to find, while they all simultaniously sprout from the ground again during fall!
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Fungulates
The versatile Fungulates are each unique in appearance, but they have one thing in common: through the Mycorrhizal network they are able to exchange nutrients and information. Not just they, but the entire forest profits from this: this network is used by many more plants and trees to communicate with eachother! Thus the Fungulates are overall loving and co-operative creatures that help other organisms in the forest to grow. They also can have a symbiotic relationship with trees, with whom they can exchange nutrients: the Fungulates helps the tree to extract certain minerals from the ground, while the tree provides the Fungulates with certain sugars.
An old Fungulates, who was particularly curious and wouldn't stop staring at me.
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A Fungulates that shows similarities to the wellknown f ly amanita.
There are also Fungulates who prefer to live on rotting wood or feces. These types of Fungulates are like the composters of the forest. They feed themselves with for example dead leaves that they convert into nutrients and send into the earth through the underground mold network. This enthousiastic little one looked suspiciously much like a Death Cap, an extremely poisonous A much beloved mushroom species... food source of the Fungulates.
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Florachoris
These “dancing flowers” are one of the most beautiful species I have encountered, yet they have a short life span and are only to be found from may to july. The Florachoris, not much larger than a handpalm, are agile and fast. As soon as they see or smell a large animal, they dissapear into the bushes. This makes them hard to find. With their well developed noses they can also track peers of the opposite sex. Because they live such short lives, this is their main priority: to reproduce as quickly as possible. What makes these creatures so exceptional is not just their physical similarities to flowers, they also breed in the same way! The reproductive organs of these creatures are located on their heads, amidst the colorful flower collar. The male Florachoris is recognized by the stamen that are attached to its face like “whiskers” and the female by her “crown” what is in fact a pistil, the female reproductive organ of a flower. But the most facsinating part of these creatures might be the mating dance they perform when a male and female Florachoris meet eachother...
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Florachoris
These little creatures are admirable because of many reasons, but the most fascinating thing about the Florachoris might be the way they mate. They do this in a special way, through a mating dance where the male and the female Florachoris perform an elaborate choreography of circling around eachother, moving up and down and shaking their heads. The male adds some special tricks to this, for example by prancing it shows it’s flexibility and stability. The female decides when she has seen enough and if the allows the male to fertilize her. For this they snuggle together closely and rub their heads lovingly. Through this physical interaction, the sticky pollen of the male is transferred to the pistil of the female, and fertilization can occur.
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The male has stamen attached to it's face. These end in an anther with pollen. This pollen contains the seed.
The leaves on the lower back contain chlorofyl, so they can generate energy from sunlight through photosynthesis. Next to that they like to eat ants as a treat, which they lick up with their long tongue. During the mating dance, the male shakes it's f lower "crown" to show off.
Most f lowers are hermaphroditic: they have both pistils as well as stamen, but there are some species that are "dioecious": this means that just like the Florachoris, they have a male and female variant. 17
Maple Fairy When the summer is over, the leaves color red and the trees are done blooming, the maple tree drops its seeds. These seeds have propeller-like wings and are sometiems called “helicopters”. They flutter along on the wind and this way can be distributed over a large area. But among this wave of helicopter seeds, there are a few creatures that adopted this smart floating technique... These are the colorful Maple Fairies, that only show themselves during fall. In contrast to maple seeds, these fairies can move their wings to allow them to take off from the ground and change their direction when they’re in the air. But because they’re so light, they mostly just float on the wind. If they want to land, they use the “propeller-technique” where they descend in a circling way. Maple fairies are the most friendly and cheerful creatures you could meet. They love to have fun and can be cheeky at times, for example when they challenge the Florachoris to a game of tag by flying around them and swiftly flying away, just before they get caught.
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Maple Fairy
This beautiful fairy is the smallest of all the creatures I’ve discovered. They are about the size of a little finger and twice as big as a maple seed. They love sweet foods and survive off small berries, of which most are poisonous to humans. However, they do have to be careful of birds that are after the same berries, because they could mistake them for butterflies and may want to eat them. Fortunately the Maple Fairy is very fast and flexible and almost always knows to escape on time. Because they of all creatures are the most likely to show themselves and enjoy attention, it wasn’t hard to draw these creatures. They showed all their flying tricks and danced around happily in the air. One fairy in particular was very friendly and even so kind to pose for my drawing.
The shoulderblades of the fairy look like the Maple seed, but they're in fact the supple joints that allow them to move around f lexibly.
The fairy is colored just as brightly as the maple leaves during fall: green, yellow, orange and red.
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The shoulder joints allow these creatures to move their wings in many ways. They can f loat, circle, dive and even hover mid-air like a hummingbird (for which they often get mistaken).
The legs of these creatures have small barbs, which allow them to hang from a branch upside-down when they sleep. In this way they can hide themselves among the leaves of the maple tree.
The Maple fairies show some resemblance' to humans in their appearance. It even seems like they enjoy observing us too!
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Mosscreature The largest portion of the day, it doesn’t do anything else than sleep... From time to time, it waggles around its territory, that mainly consists of places with partial shade, on the forest floor and on tree trunks. This Mosscreature is defenitely the most cuddly of all: it enjoys to be pet and is as meek as a lamb.
Despite of its cuddly appearance, the Mosscreature is particularly persistent. They can endure many weather conditions, because just like moss, they can keep a lot of moisture in their coat. This creature keeps an eye on the moss that grows in the woods and spreads its spores with its bristles, that sprout from its body like antennas. With this ability it conserves the moss population, which plays an important role in the ecosystem of a forest. By covering the forest floor like a little carpet and locking in moisture, moss prevents soil erosion. It is, as it were, a protective layer for the outside weather influences. This way moss keeps the forest healthy, and the Mosscreatures lends a paw.
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Mosscreature This little beast lives very individually, because its peers migrate to different areas where moss is needed to maintain a healthy growing environment. They can be found in the forest but also in the heathland. The fur of these creatures contains chlorofyl, just like moss, which allows them to create nutrients from sunlight and carbon dioxide in the air. Next to the similarities to moss, the appearance of the Mosscreature somewhat reminds of a bear. They themselves however don’t grow much bigger than a small rabbit.
Red stripes on the face lead towards the "antennas".
Bristles bear the spores.
The markings on its face are possibly meant to recognize another Mosscreature from a distance, that otherwise wouldn't be distinguishable from regular moss. That's because their eyes are small and they are fairly short-sighted. 24
The paws have pads and make sure the creature can move around noiseless.
The red bristles on the back spread spores, from which new moss can grow. Sometimes the Mosscreature rolls around on the ground, so that it may leave extra spores in that area. The larger antennas on its head contain special spores which they use to reproduce.
A delicacy among these creatures are dew drops, the purest and tastiest source of water, of which a Mosscreature needs to drink a whole lot. 25
Sylvan
These imposing creatures named Sylvans, are the largest and most impressive I have come accross. Most of the creatures described in this book can easily hide themselves from us because they’re small. Sylvans however are tremendously well developed in camouflaging themselves, which is their way of escaping from the eye of humans. They can stand stock-still for weeks or even months, while they are in a state of semi-sleep. Maybe you’ve seen a tree sometime with a very strange shape, “eye shapes” or a special energy. Then you might have met a Sylvan before without knowing it... There are just as many species of Sylvans as there are species of trees, since they are the protectors of their type of tree. Trees are an exceptionally important part of nature, because they create oxygen through photosynthesis, which man and animal are dependant on. Sadly, more and more trees get cut down and the forests get smaller. This leaves little habitat for Sylvans and many other organisms. Sylvans are hard to find in small forests, but in te few ancient woods that are left in Europe and other parts of the world they are abundant. You just have to know how to find them and where to look...
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Sylvan
These are the smartest and wisests creatures you could find, if you have the luck to ever meet one. They have a lot in common with trees, that they protect: they are patient, strong and resilient. They make no sounds, except for some crackling when they walk..
A mother and her young. As an expression of love, Sylvans rub their snouts. The young can move swiftly and f lexibly. Generally the older a Sylvan gets, the more rigid it is.
The Sylvans are good friends with the Seedlings, since these help to spread tree seeds. They’re also friends with many other forest animals. I once came across a Sylvan with a birds nest with young in its crown of branches… This Sylvan remained on the same spot for months, until the little birds had flown out. If Sylvan stay still on one spot for a longer time, they can reach the short roots of their toes deeper into the earth to absorb water and nutrients, and even to communicate through the underground network that was mentioned before. In the winter Sylvans “plant” themselves on one spot to hibernate.
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Sylvans have imposing horns to f ight off Sylvans of another kind, to defend their territory. Even though you might not see it, trees also f iercely compete with eachother... A "Scots pine" type, that has lost its leaves because of old age OPNIEUW VERGROTEN
The Birch is an elegant Sylvan, and according to my observations the most social one.
The old Celts saw the oak tree as a holy symbol for courage, truth and wisdom. They even performed special rituals surrounding this tree. I suspect they had formed a special bond with the Sylvans...
D d z I j p v Z w g v p
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Finally...
Whoever has an eye for the small, special elements and processes that take place in nature, will most likely have found some kind of recognition in these creatures. They amaze and fascinate, just like nature can do the same with those of us who dare to open our eyes for all the beauty that lies hidden within her... There has often been written and speculated about the existence of elves, trolls and other mythical creatures. There is no proof for the existance of invisible or extremely shy creatures, yet they have existed within the tales of mankind from the beginning of ages. They are there, but at the same time they aren’t... it’s all in the eye of the beholder.
What I do know, is that I had to share the stories of these creatures. Hopefully they inspire you, not just to have more of an eye for the hidden things that take place in nature, but also to have a little more wonder. Nature is the blueprint of life, where we have a lot to learn from. Connecting with nature is like going back to your “roots”. I suggest anyone to look out for traces of the Hidden Creatures during their next stroll in the forest. Who knows which wonders you might encounter...
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