Posts Tagged: ‘Animals’

May 15, 2012

Elephants Mourn ‘Elephant Whisperer’

It’s hard to know just how true stories like this are, but there’s no doubt that Lawrence Anthony was a remarkable man, and this would be a fitting tribute:

For 12 hours, two herds of wild South African elephants slowly made their way through the Zululand bush until they reached the house of late author Lawrence Anthony, the conservationist who saved their lives.The formerly violent, rogue elephants, destined to be shot a few years ago as pests, were rescued and rehabilitated by Anthony, who had grown up in the bush and was known as the “Elephant Whisperer.”

For two days the herds loitered at Anthony’s rural compound on the vast Thula Thula game reserve in the South African KwaZulu – to say good-bye to the man they loved. But how did they know he had died?

Goosebumps…

Here’s National Geographic on Anthony:

The world is saying goodbye this month to one of the most fascinating conservationists of this generation. Elephant Whisperer – so-called because of his ability to understand and calm otherwise violent and terrified elephants – Lawrence Anthony passed away from a heart attack on March 2, 2012, during a business trip to Johannesburg, South Africa.

And the New York Tmes. They talk about the work Lawrence did in Baghdad. This is what he arrived to:

He arrived at the zoo while fighting was still going on to find clouds of flies swarming the carcasses of animals. Looters had stolen many others. Of the 650 animals in the zoo before the invasion, just 35 were still alive, mainly large ones like lions, tigers and a brown bear native to Iraq. They were in such sad shape, he said, that he initially wanted to shoot them to end their misery.

Lawrence Anthony books:

The Elephant Whisperer

The Last Rhino

 

Babylon’s Ark

RIP, Lawrence Anthony.

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May 9, 2012

Rare Gorillas Caught on Video

These are cross river gorillas, the most endangered gorillas in the world—there are only about 250 left total.

Note: Don’t be holding anything like liquid over your keyboard…

From the Wildlife Conservation Society.

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April 16, 2012

Giant Bird Knocks Man Off Cliff

In Australia – “angry birds” isn’t just a computer game:

HIS shirt ripped and his backside bruised, a West Australian man chased off a cliff by a cassowary says the experience hasn’t put him off returning to the Far North for another holiday.

Dennis Ward was at Babinda Boulders with his Innisfail-based family on Sunday, watching from what he thought was a safe distance as a photographer snapped pictures of a large male cassowary.

Just minutes later Mr Ward was bouncing down the cliff and into the water, after being kicked in the back by the bullying bird.

And we are talking about some very big and strong birds:

Adult Southern Cassowaries are 1.5 to 1.8 metres (4.9–5.9 ft) tall, although some females may reach 2 metres (6.6 ft), and weigh 58.5 kilograms (129 lb).

Mr. Ward was a good sport about it all:

“What a holiday story to tell – flew into Cairns one day and the next I am attacked by a giant chook!”

(“Chook” is Austraian for beer “chicken.”)

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April 12, 2012

Toy Poodle Becomes Kyoto Police Dog

There are a lot reasons to post a story like this, but we did it for one and one only – this face:

That has got to be the cutest little police dog in the history of police dogs. And look at the little pistol on his collar!

Pic from Twitter. And here’s a video of Mochi undergoing training.

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April 6, 2012

Dog Eats Four PGA Masters Tickets

The only paragraph we need, really:

“It bubbles in their stomach; it’s very safe, and they puke in about 10 minutes,” he said. “About 10 minutes later she did what she was supposed to, which was puke up the Masters tickets.”

Rough!

And a weirdly related story, from Uncle John’s SLIGHTLY IRREGULAR Bathroom Reader, page 307:

BIRDIE DOG
Mike Wardrop, a bar manager at the Didsbury Golf Club in Manchester, England, liked to take his German Shepherd, Libby, for walks on the golf course, where Libby liked to pick up stray golf balls and bring them to Wardrop. When one day Libby lost her appetite and began coughing up blood, Wardrop never suspected that Libby might have swallowed some of the golf balls. But when Wardrop took Libby to the vet, “they didn’t even have to do an X-ray; they could hear the balls rattling around,” he says. “They were betting how many would be in there. I think the highest bet was 11, so they were shocked when 28 came out.” $1,100 worth of veterinary and surgery bills later, Libby is back to normal and Wardrop is trying to break her golf ball habit. “I bought her two footballs,” he says. “She can’t swallow them.”

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March 29, 2012

Japanese Honeybees Cook Enemy Hornets Alive

Japanese honeybee

Yowza:

“When the hornet, the Japanese honeybee’s natural enemy, enters a colony, the bees quickly form a ‘hot defensive bee ball,’ trapping the hornet inside and heating it up to 46 degrees C (115 F) with their collective body heat,” said Atsushi Ugajin, a University of Tokyo graduate student.
He said that while the high temperature phase lasts about 20 minutes, it often takes up to an hour before the hornet dies inside the ball.

They’re able to heat the bee-ball up to just the right temperature—so they don’t get cooked too. Wow.

Oh this is great. We found this really nicely made video (complete with scary Damien-like music!) from 2010, showing just this happening. And holy yaks: the 1:02 mark is just terrifying! (Make sure to watch to the end, when he guy picks the dead hornet up—to see how big it is.)

Pic of honeybee ball from here.

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March 25, 2012

Ants Mate With Queen Being Killed By Spider

We learned in Uncle John’s HEAVY DUTY Bathroom Reader that in most ant species mating season looks like this:

1. Most commonly in spring, an ant colony begins producing fertile male and female ants. They are all winged, and, when they mature, they all leave the nest.

2. Swarms of males wait in the air for females. When one comes along, several mate with her on what are called “nuptial flights.”

3. The males die.

4. The females, separately, fly off a few miles, land on the ground, bite their wings off, dig a hole, eventually lay their eggs—and thereby become queens of their own new ant colonies.

And, according to our video here, Step 2 goes on even if the queen is being devoured by a spider. In which case “nuptial flight” becomes “nuptial bite,” apparently.

(Found on Digg.)

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March 1, 2012

GAH! Snail Attack

Reason #216 that it was good that the internet was invented:

Heh heh heh. First comment over there:

I think i just died inside

 

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You can pre-order Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader NATURE CALLS – out soon! In June!

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February 28, 2012

Thousands of Dolphins Prepare For Leap Day

Leap! Leap! Leap!

Incidently, “Epic Dolphin Stampede” would be a great name for a rock band. (Nobody tell Phish.)

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February 21, 2012

Video: Oyster Life Cycle; Bjork (updtd)

We’re working very hard on our next, too-exciting book…and we keep finding stuff like this…

P.S. Bjork.

Update: Apparently this video doesn’t play for many of you. So here’s a swimming clam:

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C.S. Lewis received more than 800 rejection letters before selling his first book.

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