This is a stick insect.
It may look fairly conspicuous on my hand
although I've made an effort to
make it feel at home with my shirt.
But you'd have to see it in its really natural
surroundings in order to see it at its best.
There it would blend in almost totally.
The attention to detail
is astonishing, you can even see little
marks suggesting bark on its back.
You could almost say that it fits its
environment like a key fits a lock.
And I've got something else under my hat.
This is a different kind of stick insect,
a leaf insect, it mainly resembles leaves
dead leaves. You see how it rocks like
that I suspect that it's got a second
line of defense which is that when it's
when it's startled and when a bird might
almost have got it it then I suspect
mimics a scorpion. You see how the tail
has looped over the back there if I saw
that I might be momentarily startled
thinking that it was a scorpion.
Now lets put these away.
And they have to call for a volunteer
 who's not frightened of stick insects.
There we are.
Thank you very much.
[LAUGHTER]
Brice and I are always doing 
double acts like this.
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
