Archive for the ‘animal oddities’ category

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Tiger Mauling!

October 10, 2009

Vitali— A 27-year-old Canadian man was mauled early last Monday by a Siberian tiger after he and a friend broke into the Calgary Zoo and scaled an outer perimeter  fence around the animal’s exhibit.  While seriously injured, the man is expected to recover, and his friend was not hurt.

The two men stood between the outer fence that they scaled and an inner cage where the tiger, Vitali (pictured) was housed.   Once the two-year-old tiger was startled, he probably hooked the one man with a claw, dragged his arm in, and continued to attack, officials said.

The tiger was trying to protect itself, officials added, and had never previously attacked any people.  Vitali will remain in his current environment, not being responsible for human stupidity…


Categories: animal oddities, animals, furry, stupid, things humans do
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Stuck On You!

October 4, 2009

gecko– –  Well, the Geico Gecko has a great Cockney accent, and the SoBe beverages lizards have dance moves to make the late Michael Jackson proud…but scientists for years have been fascinated with the gecko, because of his uncanny ability to climb the smoothest of surfaces and hang there, by a single toe if necessary.

A Pennsylvania professor has found that a gecko’s toes have millions of very small hairs, each one-tenth the width of a human hair.  At the end of each hair are hundreds of saucerlike structures called spatula. Weak forces of attraction hold each spatula to a surface, and the combined force from millions of hairs create a powerful bond that enables the gecko to stick to nearly anything.

Hopes are to commercialize on the gecko’s adhesive ability …a good bet, since the gecko has been commercial gold, already!     Thriller Dancing Lizards

Categories: animal oddities, animals, science, television
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Large Squid Found in Gulf of Mexico

September 24, 2009

ADDITION Giant Squid– – A 19-1/2 foot, 103 pound squid was netted by accident in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana in late July, with the photos just released.  Researchers were trawling 1,500 feet below the gulf’s surface to study dietary habits of sperm whales when the squid was brought to the surface, not surviving the rapid ascent through the changing depths.

The squid was described as being the size of an SUV, and is rare with the species not having been spotted in the Gulf of Mexico since 1954.   The preserved squid won’t wind up as calamari, but will be sent to the Smithsonian…

Categories: animal oddities, animals, rare animal, science
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Chupacabra Redux!

September 3, 2009

Chupacabra Redux — What’s black, wrinkly, Texan, and bald all over?–Chupacabra, according to some!  A Texas taxidermist near Rosenberg has had the creature in his possession for a couple of months, finding it dead in a barn and keeping it in a freezer until last weekend (remind me not to eat there)!  The creature was likely poisoned by bait placed in the barn to catch an unidentified animal.

Found near Blanco, Texas, the creature weighs about 35 pounds, and has somewhat long fangs, like those of a coyote.  The legs like the teeth are abnormally long.  The face is fox- or coyote-like, and the emaciated body is likely that of a young adult coyote or dog with severe mange, making it hairless.  The face is judged too long and pointy to be a dog, although some dogs are fox-like in their appearance.  Most likely, it’s a freak of nature (like some of my best friends).

Plans are to preserve the animal and then donate it to a local museum, “so it can be enjoyed by others.”–What could be more appropriate?!


Categories: animal oddities, animals, anomalies, cool things, cryptozoology, furry, rare animal, unexplained, unidentified
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Oldest Dog Dies…

August 31, 2009

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— Every dog has his day,/That is what the people say…dang, I’m stuck in rhyme, Aieeee!

…and for Chanel, Guinness World Record holder for oldest living dog, that day is over.  The 21-year-old wirehaired dachshund died August 28th.  She resided in New York, and had been rescued from an animal shelter in Virginia when just a young pup.

Chanel was 147 in dog years, and wore sunglasses for cataracts but otherwise was in good health.  –RIP, mon ami!

Categories: animal oddities, animals, furry
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Humboldt Squid Beaching!

July 14, 2009

humboldt

— They were having a terrible, no-good, very bad day in La Jolla, California.  First there was a 4.0 magnitude earthquake centered 19 miles out in the ocean, then dozens of 3-to 4-foot long Humboldt squid weighing up to 40 lbs. washed ashore and flopped around, dazed and disoriented and probably appalled at California’s real estate prices…

…then to add to the eww factor, seagulls swooped in and started feeding on the squid! — How’s that rate on the grossness scale?  This caused well-intentioned beachgoers to try and save the squid (gotta be a T-shirt slogan there!) by tossing them back in the sea, and we’re talking big, wet, slippery, heavy squid here!  The squid were so loopy by this point that even when thrown back, they tended to wash ashore again.  There’s no helping some cephalopods…they just don’t listen.

So a fun time was had by all, excepting, of course, the squid.  Water  temperature inversions rather than the earthquake could have been the cause of the beachings…calamari, anyone?


Categories: animal oddities, animals, anomalies, strange happenings, unexplained
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“Bubbles” Lives!

July 4, 2009

Bubbles–-Michael Jackson is survived by a furry friend as well as his three children. Bubbles the chimp was part of Michael Jackson’s entourage in the 1980’s, and he and Michael often wore matching outfits (–does this surprise you?).  Jackson adopted Bubbles at age 3 from a cancer research clinic in Texas. — Well, when Bubbles got too big and too hard to control (anger issues), he was kept by an animal trainer until 2005, at which time he was sent to an animal sanctuary, the Centre for Great Apes, in Florida.  Bubbles currently resides there with 41 other chimpanzees and orangutans.

Shown in the picture during better times in 1987, Bubbles is now described as “huge and ugly,” but hey, who looks like they did 22 years ago?    He likes painting and listening to flute and guitar music, and also spends much time sitting quietly in trees with his best friend Sam, a 40-year-old chimp.  Bubbles will not be attending Jackson’s funeral, and could live to be 60 years of age.  It is not known whether Jackson provided for Bubbles in his will…

Categories: animal oddities, animals, furry
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Flying Monsters!

June 4, 2009

pterosaurs– – Do pterosaurs still exist in the 21st century?- -Perhaps in Papua, New Guinea, suggests MonsterQuest. Called the Demon Flyer or Ropens by natives, stories exist concerning the creatures going back to the 16th century.  The creature is said to have killed men and scavenged graves, and may boast wingspans of over 30 feet.  It is largely nocturnal, and most strangely is in some accounts said to be bioluminescent.

Now the smart money says that pterosaurs survived to the end of the Cretaceous Period, becoming extinct about 65 million years ago.  Sightings of pterosaurs may be misidentified frigate birds or a new bat species.  Known species such as the greater flying fox (gotta love that one!) may have a wingspan of six feet.

Not to be discouraged, MonsterQuest deployed a thermal camera and a 300 square foot bat net.  The thermal camera yielded images of two campfires, and the bat net caught a blossom bat.  More intriguing was a 2006 video showing two lights thought to be the bioluminescence from some creatures; analysis of the video showed that the lights were not flashlights, fires, or meteors.

While the MonsterQuest inventigation failed to yield a video of a glowing pterosaur, New Guinea is rightfully noted to be a remote island boasting amazing biodiversity and many uncatalogued species, some of which may be surprising…

Categories: animal oddities, animals, cryptozoology, extinct species, unexplained
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All God’s Kitties Got Wings?

June 3, 2009

cats-wings-2– – Not wishing to alarm you, valued readers, but you may wish to know that a cat has been born in Chongqing, China with wing-like growths on their back…moreover, other cats with this feature were noted in Sichuan province in China in August of 2008 (pictured).

“…and why not?,” you may ask.  “Don’t the Chinese manufacture everything else these days?”

The point is well-taken.  It is to be stressed that these are only wing-like growths, not true wings, even though there is bone in them.  The growths are non-functional at present, and do not seem to be causing the kitties any discomfort or emotional distress.  The speculation is that the growths resulted from exposure to chemicals in utero, or may be a genetic defect.- -The wings may even be the remnants of a cojoined twin!

All of this poses some interesting questions:

…if cats can fly, will pigs be far behind?

…are you in danger from aerial hairballs?

…wouldn’t “Skycat” be a great new Japanese anime character?

…would wings give “Sylvester” an unfair advantage over “Tweety?”

…would wings improve “Scratchy’s” odds against “Itchy?”

…wouldn’t “Catwoman” be even more awesome if she could fly?

(Directions:  Break into small groups to discuss the above.  Alternative activity:  sketch “Skycat”)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

– -Clearly, what is now needed is a cat with a set of wings that work… and I ask you, why isn’t MonsterQuest on top of this story?!    😉


Categories: animal oddities, animals, anomalies, cool things, furry, unexplained
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Invertebrate Intelligence…

May 5, 2009

frieda–It is perhaps bias that generally causes us to think that only mammalian species display intelligence and evidence of learned behavior.   Certain invertebrates also display intelligence…

…for example, an octopus named Frieda at the Munich Zoo has learned to open jars with her tentacles, joining a small but elite group of mollusks that have also mastered this task.  Frieda can even discern between empty jars and those which contain her favorite snacks, such as shrimp, clams, and crabs. To accomplish this task, Frieda positions her entire body over the lid of a wide-mouthed jar and grasps the sides with her tentacles.  With a full-body twist, she wrenches the lid off!

Who knows, we may someday may see invertebrates like Early and Rusty on Squidbillies…will they drive cars, buy guns, and run for the school board?

Categories: animal oddities, animals, science

Comments: 1 Comment

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