In Australia, a couple put four golf balls into nests at their chicken house so as to encourage the chickens to nest. Well, a snake got into the henhouse, and thinking the golf balls were eggs, ate them! The snake was later found with four distinct swellings in its body, and the couple knew that they were the golf balls…the small python was taken to a vet, where the golf balls had to be surgically removed.
Maybe the snake was a golfer trying for an eagle or a birdie…
–Well, it appears that Tatiana, the San Francisco Zoo Siberian tiger (pictured) who escaped her enclosure Xmas day and attack three visitors, killing one, may have been provoked! A slingshot has been found on one of the brothers mauled, as well as a bottle of liquor in their car. Additionally a rock was found in the late tiger’s enclosure which did not belong there. If she had been pelted with rocks prior to vaulting her enclosure wall, the trigger for Tatiana’s attack is obvious.
Of course, the brothers involved have already gotten a smart lawyer who is faulting zoo security for not getting there sooner…and the zoo has reopened with enhanced security and signs encouraging visitors to respect the animals…
— Nonja the orangutan, regarded to be the world’s oldest living orangutan, was found dead at the Miami Zoo Saturday morning at the age of 55. In the wild, orangutans usually live 40 – 50 years. Nonja, whose name means “girl” in Dutch, had five offspring and produced art that was in demand. She had a boyfriend, Vladimir, who would eat her artwork if it wasn’t locked up! Nonja is thought to have died from a brain hemorrhage; a necropsy will be performed. Nonja was referred to as “a grand old dame.” — RIP, Nonja!
–Tatiana (pictured here), the 350-pound, 4-year-old Siberian tiger who attack three visitors Xmas day at the San Francisco zoo and killed one of them before being shot to death by police, was acting like the alpha predator that she was. There is speculation that she may have been teased or tormented by the three young men (brothers) that she attack. And it appears that the fence surrounding her enclosure was not the recommended five meters in height!
Tatiana had been bred to mate with a tiger called, believe it or not, Tony!
(–Thank you for reading Foxsylvania, and helping me reach 1,000 hits! I appreciate my readers!)
–At the San Francisco Zoo, the Siberian tiger Tatiana escaped her confinement, killed one visitor, and attack two others; all were males in their 20’s. The previous year, the same tiger had attack a keeper, and torn pieces of flesh from his arm.
When the police were summoned, Tatiana was still in full attack mode and advanced on the police, forcing them to shoot her to death.
Tatiana may have lived caged, but she died free…some things are not meant to be held captive…
— Wolf attacks appear to be on the increase in and around Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska. Most of these attacks have been on dogs, with some humans also victims. Ordinarily wolves don’t attack people, but rather a species like elk. Once they find that a domestic dog is an easier kill, however, they may be more inclined to go for such a meal.
In a recent attack, three female joggers were quietly surrounded by a wolf pack. They were able to keep the wolves at bay with pepper spray they were fortunate enough to be carrying, and they retreated slowly by walking backwards and screaming. The women were able to get back to their cars over a mile away from the attack site.
–Some believe that when you’re really scared, you can perceive more, as if your senses were running at high speed. Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston found that your perceptions of time may change, but you really don’t. To scare people, they had them fall over backwards without ropes or restraints over a fair distance with only a net to stop them. They reached 70 mph by the end of their fall. The subjects (who volunteered to do this!) perceived that their falls lasted a third longer than they really did. Watch-like devices were strapped to their wrists to flash numbers, and the subjects failed to discern any more numbers during their falls than the non-scared controls.
So it looks like people can’t really enter altered states to dodge bullets in slow motion like Neo in The Matrix…
–Korean researchers have produced cloned Turkish Angora cats that glow red in the dark when exposed to ultraviolet light! They modified a gene in the cat’s skin, inserting a fluorescent red gene.
It’s been known how to clone a cat for about seven years. Cats are known to suffer from 250 or so genetic disorders that humans do, too. By cloning rare animals with certain conditions, researchers could have a population to study the condition and potenial treatments for it.
Glow in the dark cats would also make great spooky gifts, and eliminate need for a night light! I myself am the product of a secret government experiment gone terribly awry…
–It’s great to see the Chipmunks staging a comeback, or a revival! Simon, Theodore, and AL-VIN go way back! Their creator also did the Witchdoctor song (“My friend, the witch doctor, he told me what to say…”). If you ever come across the original 45 rpm of the Chipmunks doing their Christmas Song, check out the flip side. Called Almost Good, it has David Seville banging on the piano without the ‘munks and doing a really cool rhythm and blues/swing number.–Did you know Disney tried to buy the Chipmunks characters?–Fortunately, they weren’t sold, and now the son of the original “David Seville” is bringing them back…and they’re still fun, and livelier than ever thanks to computer animation.
Dreams…the “royal road to the unconscious! ” It’s been over 2,300 years since Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu dreamed that he was a butterfly…and when he woke up, he didn’t know if Chuang Tzu had dreamed of being a butterfly, or if a butterfly was dreaming he was Chuang Tzu! We all dream, and it’s necessary for our health and emotional well-being. — Did you know that men dream of animal characters 6% of the time? — If only it were more!
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