Posts filed under ‘Animals (Other Than Us)’
Scary New Disease Affecting Animals in Europe
Aieee, this is alarming:
A new animal virus first detected in Germany and the Netherlands late last year is taking a heavy toll on livestock across Europe, causing the birth of dead or deformed animals. Scientists are scrambling to figure out where the virus has come from and exactly how it is transmitted. Named Schmallenberg after the German town where it was first detected, the virus has now also been found in France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and most recently, Italy and Luxembourg. Animal health experts are bracing for an uptick in cases in the next few weeks.
Beautiful Bugs
Ondrej Pakan likes to take pictures of bugs. No wonder. He’s really, really good at it:
I’ll say it again: Need a color consultant? Consult Mother Nature.
Gorgeous.
What It Was LIke On Top of That Car for Romney’s Dog Seamus
Imagine being a dog and living through 12 hours of this. The noise alone would drive it insane.
Mitt Romney famously took a twelve hour trip from Boston to Canada with his dog Seamus on the roof of his car. Mitt claims the dog enjoyed the ride, so I decided to test to see how enjoyable being strapped to the roof of a car in a kennel really was.
(Via.)
Meet the Head of California’s Fish and Wildlife Commission
This would be Daniel Richards, the president of the California Fish and Wildlife Commission:
It is unclear whether Richards killed this magnificent mountain lion, as
The picture came to light after it was posted on the website of Western Outdoor News, the largest hunting and fishing newspaper in California.
It shows Mr Richards dressed in camouflage, standing in snow-covered woodland, proudly hoisting up the creature which slumps over in his arms.
called for Mr Richards to give up his role.
On the MLF’s website, it stated: ‘While technically no laws were broken, California residents are disgusted and calling for Richards’ immediate removal from the Commission.
‘Since Richards proudly and openly defies the priorities of the people he was appointed to represent, clearly he can’t be trusted and he needs to go.’
145 Bears Shot Last Year in Area Surrounding Canada’s Tar Sand Oil Fields
If the people in charge of extracting oil from Canada’s tar sands can’t do a better job than this of disposing of their damn garbage, I hate to think what other kinds of messes they’re making up there, much less the kind of mess they’d make constructing the Keystone XL pipeline:
Image: Wikipedia
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development says 145 black bears were killed by Fish and Wildlife conservation officers last year after being habituated to garbage in the oilsands region.
The number of bears shot in the Fort McMurray district was nearly three times the count the previous year and the highest in recent history, said spokesman Darcy Whiteside.
Nearly half — 68 bears — were shot in oilsands camps and facilities after being attracted to the camp by food, garbage or other attractants, Whiteside said Tuesday.
Another 51 were shot on residential properties.
No individual or company was charged with improper storage of food or other attractants, Whiteside said.
Environment and wildlife conservation groups were outraged by the number of black bear killings. They immediately blamed the deaths on lax garbage management and a lack of proper monitoring and regulation by the provincial government.
Way to go idiot humans. What a unnecessary, preventable tragedy.
The Toughest Critter on the Planet
Headline: The world’s tiniest chameleon found in Madagascar:
I’m imagining what it takes to survive in this world when you’re that size.
Dinner Anyone?
Martha Stewart’s chow chow, Ghenghis Khan, won best in breed yesterday at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show so hey, she did what anyone would do. She took him to dinner at the Plaza!
Top Dog? at Westminster
This “dog”
Malachy, a Pekingese
is the winner of the 136th Annual Westminster Dog Show. (Did you know that Westminster is the oldest “sporting” event in the US?)
I’m sorry, but that “dog” has been so bred and re-bred and inbred and genetically modified that it looks more like something you’d put on the floor at the foot of your favorite chair and use to snuggle your feet in. Kind of like a muff
for feet.
This is a dog:
Shadagee Caught Red Handed, an Irish Setter
Seamus Romney — We’re Thinking of You
Hat tip to dogs everywhere.
DogsAgainstRomney.com / Jessica Haring
Cute Thing Alert
Here’s a video supposedly showing a baby goat learning how to jump but that’s beside the point in my opinion. I don’t care what the goat’s doing, he’s so cute I can’t take my eyes off of him:
(Via.)
I Just Saw a Fox Catch a Rodent
I just saw the coolest thing, none of which I caught on camera because it all happened so fast, so I’ll have to explain it as best I can.
About an hour ago I was going east on Gillaspie Drive in South Boulder, Colorado, on my way to the vet.
This is a screenshot of east-bound Gillaspie via Google Street View:
I was driving up the hill when, at approximately the point where the car is parked on the right, a red fox crossed from right to left. On the left is a small hill at the bottom of which is a park and a small lake.
I thought, well, that’s cool. I just saw a fox.
When I got to the point where the fox entered the park area, I turned to my left and saw that the fox was right there, just off the road, in some tall grass, and this is what he was doing:
I though wow, how cool. I’ve seen lots of pictures of foxes doing that but I’ve never seen it in person.
I kept driving and when I looked in my rear view mirror, I saw this (screenshot via Google Street View of Gillaspie looking west),
and the fox running from right to left, back from where it came, with a rodent in its mouth. I couldn’t tell what kind of a rodent it was but it was about the size of a mole and I know moles live in that area.
Anyway, what a thrill!!!
Colorado Cop Pulls Over Car With Dog Crate Strapped to the Roof
OMG, this is great.
Police Stop Dogs Against Romney Protester for Having Dog Crate on Car Roof
This image says it all. A Dogs Against Romney Pack Member was stopped by the Littleton, Colorado police yesterday for having a dog crate on the roof of his car. The Pack Member, identified only as ”Oredigger,” was on his way to protest at a Mitt Romney event yesterday with the crate atop his car carrying a stuffed toy dog when the police officer, believing he was actually transporting a live dog on the roof of his car, stopped him. Says Oredigger, “I was pulled over for suspected animal abuse.”
This clearly illustrates how blatantly awful, incredibly dangerous, outrageously insensitive – and even illegal – Mitt Romney’s decision to transport his own dog on the roof of his car was.
But Romney still blows it off: The dog was “comfortable;” he “liked it.” Yo Mitt, that’s because the dog trusted you to take care of him and he had no idea of the danger he was in, you idiot. Geezus. Outrageously insensitive is right.
Oh, and P.S. Bravo to that cop.
Freeing a Humpback Whale
Wow, what a way to start the day. This video will bring tears of joy:
Michael Fishbach narrates his encounter with a humpback whale entangled in a fishing net. Gershon Cohen and he have founded The Great Whale Conservancy to protect whales. http://www.greatwhaleconservancy.org, is their website.
The Starting Lineup for the…Puppy Bowl!
I can hardly believe it but here is a serious-as-a-heart-attack article about the “starting lineup” of the Puppy Bowl:
Not into football? Check out the starting lineup of the 2012 Puppy Bowl! Animal Planet’s eighth annual event will be broadcast at 3 p.m. EST/PST on Super Bowl Sunday.
Who knew?! There’s a “Kitty Half-Time:”
And “piglets cheer on the pups:”
Check out the 28 accompanying photos at the link above.
(Now you know why I named this blog what I did.)
How Loving Owners Transport Their Dogs
Surely you’ve heard about the time when Mitt Romney and his family were on vacation and they strapped a crate containing their Irish setter, Seamus, to the to top of the car and then set off on a 12-hour trip from Boston to Canada.
Mitt Romney explained the incident to Fox’s Chris Wallace like this:
This is a completely air-tight kennel mounted on the top of our car. He climbed up there regularly, enjoyed himself. He was in a kennel at home a great deal of time as well. We loved the dog. It was where he was comfortable and we had five kids inside the car and my guess is he liked it a lot better in his kennel than he would have liked it inside.”
If it was an air-tight kennel, how could the dog breathe? Why did the dog “regularly” climb on top of the car? Whose dog does that? Why was he in a kennel a “great deal of the time” at home? Probably because he hadn’t been potty trained and/or trained not to tear stuff up.
Anyway, Mitt, this is how a loving owner transports their dog:
(Photo via.)
Ever Seen an Albino Ruby-Throated Hummingbird?
Wow. I’ve never heard of an albino bird much less an albino ruby-throated hummingbird:
These shots of an extremely rare albino ruby-throated hummingbird were photographed by two Virginia teenagers and two preteens: Marlin Shank, 16, Shaphan Shank, 14, Darren Shank, 12 and Allen Shank, 9.
The Shank brothers spotted the rare bird with their father Kevin Shank, who runs Nature Friend Magazine with his wife Bethany.
The Shanks heard about sightings of the rare bird at a feeder at the home of Ed and Nancy Lawler of Staunton Virginia back in August.
“When we heard through a listserve that some birders were watching a rare albino ruby-throated hummingbird come to their feeders only 30 miles away, we took the drive,” Kevin Shank told Discovery News.
As he wrote on on his web site: “The thoughts rolling through my mind were several. For one, this might be the only day in our lives when the boys and I would have the opportunity to photograph an albino hummingbird. Obviously we would prefer the photos ‘turn out.’”
The Shanks set up cameras, including a Canon EOS1D Mark 4 with a 600ml F4 lens, in different spots. And each took turns shooting between August 12 and August 27. All of these shots were taken on August 26. More photos of the bird can be seen here.
More photos can be seen here too.
This is what a “normal” ruby-throated hummingbird looks like:
Photo: Jerry Green
A Heartbreaking but Gratifying Dog Rescue
What have human beings done to this poor dog?
Ah, This is the Life
Look at that face; those eyes:
Photo: Sergey Gorshkov
This bear looked the picture of contentment as he relaxed in what appeared to be a bath of bubbles.
The animal was caught on camera as he submerged himself in the foam that had been produced by a nearby waterfall.
Sergey Gorshkov risked life and limb to get up close and personal for the shot.
The photographer, from Moscow, Russia, spent seven years among the bears near Kamchatka, Russia.
He even braved a month living in a tent in order to be closer to the group of animals.
He said: ‘This is one of my favourite images of the bear.
What a beautiful animal.
There are 2,200 Species of Praying Mantises?
Take a three-minute break from politics folks. It’s going to be a long year. Let’s pace ourselves.
Did you know there are approximately 2,200 species of praying mantises? I didn’t. And man-oh-man, some of them are r-e-a-l-l-y strange:
Photo: Igor Siwanowicz
Photo: Igor Siwanowicz
As I’ve said before, Mother Nature knows sure knows how to mix and match colors! Wow.
Who needs a color consultant when you’ve got this kind of artistry?
See the slide show here.
Lil’ Drac the Baby Bat
Here is a darling story about a baby bat — Lil’ Drac — who was hand-raised after his mother rejected him:
Lil’ Drac is an orphaned short tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata). His mother was yet another casualty from zoo closures which are occurring across the US. Sheis a young mother who was stressed from the conditions in which she was kept, combined with the additional trauma of being captured and transferred to a new and unfamiliar environment. Consequently, she abandoned Lil’ Drac after he was born. He was found on the padded floor of the indoor flight enclosure at Bat World Sanctuary, curled up in a little ball.
PART I:
PART II:
I love how he likes to rock himself.
Fun Family Vacation: Kill a Giraffe
Tourist trophy hunters are paying thousands of pounds to go and shoot giraffes with high-powered guns and bows.
The gentle giants are loved around the world for their comical appearance and gentle nature.
Just like character ‘Melman’ played by Friend’s-star David Schwimmer in Disney’s Madagascar, they are a hit with kids who love their long necks and eyelashes.
But shocking images show how scores of big-spending men and women – and even families – travel from across the globe, some even from Britain, to kill them for sport.
We humans are going insane I say as my heart breaks for the little girl in this picture. Look at those happy faces and her hand on the dead giraffe.
So cool huh?
Fight back: GiraffeConservation.org
1,100 Dogs Destined for the Dinner Table Rescued in China
As a dog lover/adorer, I can’t imagine seeing dogs as commodities like fish or artichokes.
What a bitter sweet story:
Call it a Chinese New Year miracle. Earlier this week more than 1,100 dogs destined for the slaughterhouse in Chongqing were saved from an ignoble ending by a pet-loving Good Samaritan.
The China Daily reported that 1,137 dogs were rescued on Monday from the back of a flatbed truck by a 40-year old blogger and volunteer at the Chongqing Small Animal Protection Association (CSAPA) surnamed Peng. Peng found the dogs crammed into tight cages that were stacked high atop each other.
Volunteers in Chongqing work to rescue over 1,100 dogs that were destined for slaughter. Photo: Netease
The rescued dogs soon became a sensation in this central Chinese metropolis and hundreds of volunteers and donations began flooding in. One man donated nearly 1,000 square feet of warehouse space to house the dogs for free while there is now enough food to feed the dogs for the next 20-30 days.
But the biggest immediate concern right now is finding enough professional volunteers to help take care of the dogs during the busy Chinese New Year holiday when most people empty out of the big cities and head back to their hometowns.
Long term, many people are wondering how they will find homes for so many dogs. The CSAPA predicts about 20 percent of the dogs will eventually be adopted, but the majority of them will likely never be claimed. The association is now considering whether to solicit donations to build dog houses for the remaining animals.
More photos here.
Go Broncos
I admit I’m a fair weather friend but…
go Broncos!
Oy.
I’m waiting for the halo over the stadium.
@10:25 p.m. ET: Denver 7, New England 42.
Oops. God must be busy. Maybe she’s thinking about the Thousands of Horses Abandoned by Owners Last Year:
Thousands of horses are being abandoned or tied up and left to starve, many by desperate owners unable to afford the costs of keeping them. A national crisis has seen Britain’s biggest horse charities under unprecedented pressure from the sheer number of animals needing their help.
Redwings – Britain’s biggest charity for abandoned horses – says the situation has reached breaking point. It has seen the number of cases soar from 160 horses in 2009 to 450 last year. So far this month it has taken in up to 10 a day. The charity, which can house 1,200 animals, is now full.
Final score: Denver 10, Patriots, 42.
@11:28 p.m. ET: The game “was over at halftime.”
Now I watch for days while Denver’s “liberal media” turn Tebow into a saint despite this loss…
On to next season!
How Fido Keeps His Feet From Freezing
It’s break time (mostly for dog lovers — sorry kitty people).
As you can tell from the picture above, I’m a dog lover. (That would be Mr. Albert or “Al,” our now four-year-old English Setter when he was a pup, immediately after he swallowed a mouthful of mud.) And, being a dog lover, this explains something I’ve wondered about over the years:
Domestic dogs' paws are well suited to the cold
[...]
Arctic foxes and wolves are well known for their adaptations that help them to regulate a constant body temperature in cold conditions.
revious studies showed that the canines can keep the tissue in their feet from freezing even in temperatures of -35C.
Dr Hiroyoshi Ninomiya and his team at the Yamazaki Gakuen University in Tokyo, Japan, set out to discover if this ability was also common to domestic dogs.
Using electron microscopes, the researchers were able to examine the internal structure of dogs’ paws.
They found that the very close proximity of the arteries to the veins in the footpad meant that heat was conducted from one blood vessel to another.
So when blood in the paw’s veins cooled on contact with the air or ground, warm blood pumping from the heart – through the neighbouring artery – transferred its heat.
The blood was therefore “warmed up” before it returned to the body – preventing the dog’s body from cooling down, whilst also keeping the paws at a constant temperature.
[...]
“When we found that dogs also have such an excellent system in their paws, we were excited.”
Anatomist Dr Sarah Williams from the Royal Veterinary College says the evidence could be a revelation for dog experts.
“Up until now, it was not considered necessary for domestic species to posses such a specialisation.
“This discovery has interesting evolutionary implications, and may suggest that the ancestors of the domestic dog lived in cold climates [in order] to bring about such an adaptation.”
Cool interesting.
The Animal Planet Stuffs Your Dead American Pet Into an Oven
The promo for the new AnimalPlanet show, “American Stuffers,”
billed as a show about “pet preservation,” opens with this: “Do you want to eat anything that came out of that oven? You keep your dead animals and all of their parts out of my kitchen!”
Later you see fat bubbling over the edge of an oven pan.
When you think about Animal Planet, this is it, right? A voyeuristic, pseudo-animal cruelty kind of “entertainment.”
Yeah. Me too.
See the promo here.
Polar Bear Pelts Selling for $11,000
Oh geeze, I wish I hadn’t seen this. It’s enough to send me to bed in a fit of depression:
Northwest Territories, Jan. 4 (UPI) — Canada’s Northwest Territories has quadrupled the price it pays hunters for pelts of near-endangered polar bears, the National Post reported Wednesday.
The territory runs the only authorized retail source for the pelts, Genuine Mackenzie Valley Furs, which previously paid $400 per bearskin.
That has been upped to $1,750, which University of Alberta biologist Andrew Derocher told the Post reflected growing global demand from burgeoning economies in Russia and China.
In April, a Canadian auction company sold a polar bear pelt for a record $11,000, the report said.
Various international animal and scientific groups have designated polar bears as a vulnerable species, one step short of being classed as endangered as their pack ice habitat is shrinking.
Only indigenous Inuit hunters are allowed to kill the bears, although various regional laws throughout Canada’s north allow Inuits to “guide” visiting hunters.
This is just terrible news. Polar bears are already endangered. I have a feeling this will do them in altogether.
Can you imagine wearing a coat or jacket made of the skin (pelt is too benign a word) of a polar bear?
Really. This is so upsetting.
Magic Animals
Look at that face!
It’s just too tempting, isn’t it? You see an unattended camera and before you know it, you’re snapping away. Possibly that was what was going through this cheeky macaque’s mind as he posed for this hilarious self-portrait in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, after photographer David Slater left his camera for a few minutes.
