Archive for the ‘animals’ category
December 13, 2012
– – Hundreds of Humboldt squid beached themselves this past weekend near Santa Cruz, California. Attempts to save the squid by placing them back into the water were futile; the squid simply swam back onto the shore!
“Twenty washed up right in front of me,” said one onlooker. “It was like they were committing suicide.”
Suicidal squid…wouldn’t that unplug your heating pad?! While we may never know with certainty what drove the squid to this extreme act, some scientists speculate that squid may accidentally beach themselves when they migrate to a new area. As the Humboldt squid is rarely seen in northern California, scientists believe that global warming may play a factor in driving the squid from their normal, equatorial habitat. When squid feed at night, they surface from the depths to explore more shallow areas, possibly getting trapped while feeding, not knowing where to go, and washing up…
Categories: animal behavior, animal occurrences, animals, aquatic, strange happenings, unexplained
Tags: squid beachings
Comments: 2 Comments
December 9, 2012
– – Too often, fish are regarded as dumber than a sack of hammers. This may not be true of all of our finned friends, however. In France, researchers at the University of Toulouse have observed catfish hunting pigeons as prey in a development scientists are calling evidence of adaptive behavior.
European catfish originated east of the Rhine River, but were introduced to the Tarn River in 1983. They adapted their natural behavior to feed on novel prey in the area, grabbing pigeons on the shore, and dragging them into the water; this behavior has not been known to occur in the native range of the species. In France, pigeons gather along the river gravel to clean and bathe as the catfish patrol the water’s edge. When the three to five-feet long catfish hunt the pigeons, they even temporarily strand themselves on land for a few seconds to grab their meal. The hunting habits of the Tarn catfish are so similar to orcas that they have been called, “freshwater killer whales…”
Categories: animal behavior, animals, aquatic, events involving animals, research, science, species survival
Tags: adaptations in fish, European catfish
Comments: 2 Comments
December 6, 2012
– – It’s time to cue up the Willard movies! While superstorm Sandy killed many rats in New York City, those which survived have been driven from flooded subway tunnels, emerging to find new sources of food that include rotting trash, pigeons, fish, and other rats. Rats will burrow beneath buildings to establish new homes, and can slide into holes as small as half an inch (the width of their skulls), even though their bodies can measure up to 18 inches long. (“Ben, you’re always running here and there…”)
Weep not for the pigeons, either. Originally cliff-dwelling birds, skyscrapers suit pigeons well. When displaced, they tend to find a safe place to get out of the wind, and then fly to new food sources.
Rats and pigeons are successful around humans as they are well-adapted to what we do…“Adapt and prevail,” as the Borg would say…
Categories: animal behavior, animals, feathered friends, furry, species survival
Tags: rat survival
Comments: 2 Comments
November 30, 2012
– – A prominent veterinarian is contending that Bigfoot exists, and is part human! A five-year DNA study by DNA Diagnostics, a team of scientists in Texas chaired by Dr. Melba S. Ketchum, sequenced purported samples of Bigfoot DNA, finding that mitochondrial DNA, which is maternally inherited, is identical to human mitochondrial DNA. Nuclear DNA samples, containing genetic material from both parents, appeared to involve a “novel, unknown hominin related to Homo sapiens and other primate species.”
Bigfoot may accordingly be a human relative whose origins can be traced to about 15,000 years ago when human females are hypothesized to have mated with males of an unknown primate species, according to the research. On the other hand, the DNA samples may be contaminated, and many questions about the samples remain unanswered. The study has not yet gone through the peer review process, and accordingly has no credibility in the scientific community at present…
Categories: animals, anomalies, anthropomorphic, cryptozoology, research, science
Tags: Bigfoot DNA study
Comments: 3 Comments
November 21, 2012
– – In the upcoming movie, Rise of the Guardians, furry interests are well represented by the character of E. Aster Bunnymund, the Easter Bunny on steroids and with an attitude. Voiced by none less than Hugh Jackman (“Wolverine“), this bunny is calm and friendly to kids, but features an Australian accent, deploys egg bombs, and throws a mean boomerang! The film is based on William Joyce’s bestselling Guardians of Childhood book series.
Part chocolatier, part ninja, and part zen master, Bunnymund teams with other childhood heroes such as Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), Jack Frost (Chris Pine), and the Sandman to protect children all over the world on Christmas from an evil spirit known as Pitch Black (Jude Law).
While cheesy at times and perhaps evocative of X-Men, this CG animated picture from Dreamworks should be fun and worth seeing for Jackman’s short-tempered, alpha version of the Easter Bunny…just don’t call him a kangaroo!
Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, furry, movies
Tags: Bunnymund, Rise of the Guardians
Comments: 3 Comments
November 19, 2012
– – Don’t the bugs seem to get bigger each year? And there’s something marvelously surreal about going along in a big RV with a human-sized blue bug riding shotgun up front! I could get into this scene…well, this is an ESPN RV marketing campaign commercial that features New Orleans rookie Anthony Davis traveling in the RV together with ESPN commentator Mike Breen and Hugo, the team mascot. They are all very comfortable in one another’s company, a cozy group…thank heavens for cultural diversity!
The driving commentator is conversing with the big blue bug when, Thwack! – – A standard-size bug hits the windshield, leaving the predictable bug splat on it. Thoughtfully, the commentator offers his condolences to the mascot, and then turns his attention to the problem of the bug smear. The wipers are tried, which only smears the bug splat…then the washer fluid is resorted to, which makes the smear worse. Needing to take care of business, the driver then advises the bug mascot that there are napkins in the glove compartment, and asks the big blue insect if he would reach out, and try and grab some of the big pieces of the bug remnants! I think we’ve all been there, don’t you?
Categories: absurdities, animals, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, furry commercials, insects, strange, television
Tags: commercial insects, Hornets' mascot Hugo
Comments: 4 Comments
November 16, 2012
– – When something has more than four legs, it generally tends to inspire a cringe factor. Something with 750 legs would definitely then register high on the creepy and gross-out scale, and this little beauty is so compact as well; a white millipede named Illacme plenipes, which is Latin for “the pinnacle plentiful feet,” and measures a mere 1 – 3 centimeters long.
Found only in a small area of Northern California and looking like a thread, the millipede also boasts a rudimentary fused mouth with no known function, and hairs on its back that produce a silk-like product.
A useless mouth, and 750 legs (at least in the females)! A related species in Puerto Rico only has 742. I thought you’d get a kick out of that…
Categories: animal oddities, animals, Invertebrates, science, strange
Tags: leggiest creature
Comments: 2 Comments
November 9, 2012
– – You’ve probably seen at least some of Geico’s “Happier Than” series in which we are shown people basking in the glee of improbable situations, such as Gallagher smashing watermelons at a farmers’ market and Christopher Columbus with a speedboat. Two comfortably scruffy folksingers called Ronnie and Jimmy then appear to draw the parallel that people saving money on Geico insurance sure are happy, happier than say, a witch at a broom factory…
My fave in the series involves two anthropomorphic antelope standing in the savannah equipped with night vision goggles that easily enable the duo to see a lion lurking in the tall grass. “Look who’s back…again!,” quips one antelope to the other. “We can see you, Carl,” an antelope addresses the lion. “Yeah, we can totally see you!,” confirms his companion.– So much for the stealth advantage! “Have you thought about going vegan, Carl?,” they ask the apex predator, and laugh. This could totally disrupt the food chain…and if the lion sleeps tonight, it will be with an empty belly!
Categories: absurdities, animals, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, fantasy, furry, furry commercials, humor, television
Tags: Geico antelope
Comments: 3 Comments
November 8, 2012
– – Another Bigfoot sighting has been submitted from Utah’s Provo Canyon where two hikers saw from a safe distance on Sunday what they initially believed to have been a black bear; they stood there for some time fumbling with their camera before getting it to work. When the “bear” suddenly stood and stared directly at them, the hikers fled from the massive animal through the woods, abandoning their camping gear and heading to their car. The camera continued to run during their flight, with images unclear from that point but revealing something moving upright with massive arms (pictured)…
Now neither of the hikers were Bigfoot believers prior to the incident, and do not appear to be acting; they are not terribly vocal. They describe what they saw simply as a huge animal that they were positive wasn’t a bear. The reactions of the observers appear natural and unscripted, and the “blobsquatch” images, such as they are, are rather compelling…
Categories: animal occurrences, animals, cryptozoology, furry, strange happenings, unexplained, unidentified
Tags: Provo Canyon "Bigfoot"
Comments: 2 Comments
November 5, 2012
– – A tragedy occurred at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium late Sunday morning when a young boy visiting the zoo with his mother and friends fell off an observation deck rail into the pit of an exhibit housing 11 African painted dogs.
The wild dogs did attack the two-year-old child, although it’s unclear as to whether the boy died of the attack or the 14-foot fall into the exhibit pit. Although zoo staff responded immediately to the incident and were able to call seven of the dogs off into a back building with darts shot at the remaining dogs, the animals were in pack mentality and not responding. An officer killed one especially aggressive dog with a gunshot as it refused to move away from the child.
African wild dogs have been compared to medium-sized domestic dogs, weighing 37 to 80 pounds and standing 24 to 30 inches high. In the wild they are hunters that eat antelope, zebras, wildebeest, gazelles, impala, and springboks. They are also known as Cape hunting dogs, spotted dogs, and painted wolves, and are classified as endangered.
Zoo patrons were evacuated following the attack, and the zoo remains closed indefinitely pending further investigation of the incident.
Categories: animal behavior, animal occurrences, animals
Tags: African painted dogs fatality, Pittsburgh zoo African wild dogs death
Comments: 2 Comments
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