Archive Category: Animal
A Dinosaur Named Banjo
Three new species of diniosaur have been found in the Australian outback. Two plant-eating species were nicknamed “Clancy” and “Matilda”. The third dinosaur is a carnivore dubbed Australovenator Wintonensis, but nicknamed Banjo.
The meat-eating Banjo has been dubbed Australia’s answer to the feared Velociraptor.
“The cheetah of his time, Banjo was light and agile,” said Queensland Museum paleantologist Scott Hocknull, who is among the scientists being credited with the discoveries.
“He could run down most prey with ease over open ground. His most distinguishing feature was three large slashing claws on each hand. Unlike some theropods that have small arms (think T. rex), Banjo was different; his arms were a primary weapon.
“He’s Australia’s answer to velociraptor, but many times bigger and more terrifying.”
The bones will eventually go on display to the public. Link -via Fark
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Ants: Rulers of the World
Researchers in Japan and Spain have made an interesting discovery: the Argentine ant, originally native to South America, is now found on every continent except Antartica thanks to humans. This super colony may be the biggest of its kind in the insect world. Even more fascinating is that these super colonies that thrive across Europe, America, and Japan, may in fact be one mega colony.
But it now appears that billions of Argentine ants around the world all actually belong to one single global mega-colony.
The team selected wild ants from the main European super-colony, from another smaller one called the Catalonian super-colony which lives on the Iberian coast, the Californian super-colony and from the super-colony in west Japan, as well as another in Kobe, Japan.
They then matched up the ants in a series of one-on-one tests to see how aggressive individuals from different colonies would be to one another.
Ants from the smaller super-colonies were always aggressive to one another. So ants from the west coast of Japan fought their rivals from Kobe, while ants from the European super-colony didn’t get on with those from the Iberian colony.
But whenever ants from the main European and Californian super-colonies and those from the largest colony in Japan came into contact, they acted as if they were old friends.
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Fly Powered Aircraft
Photo: Eric Long / Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
It goes without saying that the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum has some of the neatest collection of planes in the world, but this one is particularly intriguing: fly-powered aircrafts built by famed aircraft modelered Frank Ehling in the 1970s.
The AirSpace Blog has more:
Designed and built by famed aircraft modeler Frank Ehling in the 1970s, they are the smallest flying models the Museum owns. But more unusual than their size is that they are powered by flies – yes, you heard right, houseflies, the insect. Constructed from balsa wood and red tissue paper, the one-fly design has a wingspan of two inches, and the two-fly version, which features a delta-wing design, is four inches wide. In both cases, contact cement was used to attach the live powerplant to the fuselage.
If you’re skeptical, there’s a video clip of another fly-powered airplane, this time by inventor Thomas Fetterman (oh, you can also buy the kit from his website)
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Missing Cat Found on TV
A cat named Tango became the accidental star of the BBC TV show Question Time, hosted by David Dimbleby.
One-year-old Tango became the star of the discussion programme after finding his way into the school hall where it was being recorded.
He ducked under a desk and headed towards the panel. At first, Dimbleby and guests including employment minister Jim Knight and Tory security spokesman Dame Pauline Neville-Jones were oblivious to his presence.
But as he pawed under the table he caught the eye of LibDem MP Julia Goldsworthy, who in astonishment mouthed the word ‘cat’ at the production team.
Meanwhile, Jackie Ellery of Newquay, England hadn’t seen her cat Tango in hours. As she wondered about his whereabouts, she sat down to watch TV.
She said: ‘My friend phoned me to say, “Have you seen your cat on the telly?” And there he was.
‘It’s lovely - he’s a mischievous cat anyway and because we live so close to the school he’s often in the school grounds.’
Tango, who returned to his owner that night, has since become something of a celebrity. Mrs Ellery said: ‘I’ve even been asked for his paw-tograph.’
The video:
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Sewer Creatures
(YouTube link)
This sewer-cam video from Raleigh, North Carolina has been inspiring nausea all over the web. Deep Sea News contacted experts to find out what kind of creature this could be.
They are clumps of annelid worms, almost certainly tubificids (Naididae, probably genus Tubifex). Normally these occur in soil and sediment, especially at the bottom and edges of polluted streams. In the photo they have apparently entered a pipeline somehow, and in the absence of soil they are coiling around each other.
Read more about annelid worms and see more videos, if you have the stomach for it. Link -via a comment at Digg
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Hippo Stuck in Water Tower
A hippopotamus in Alkmaar, South Africa was desperate for a dip to escape the heat, and climbed over ten foot walls to bathe in a water tower! Once in, he couldn’t get out on his own. A farm worker spotted him -or rather, spotted two big nostrils poking out of the water.
Equipped with a hydraulic crane and a cage, hippo hunter Chris Hobkirk and his team from the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Association set to work. In a four-hour operation, they drained the tank and used poles to gently nudge the hippo into the 3m-long (10ft) steel cage before winching it to safety.
Mr Hobkirk – who has rescued more than 180 stranded hippos in the past six years – said it was a tricky procedure but he was glad with the outcome.
‘Maybe we got lucky with this one. In the past, I have removed hippos from small dams. In those cases, the water levels have always been much lower so this was different.’
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Dog Adopts Wolf Cub
Ulrock the rottweiler adopted this eight week old wolf cub and the pair is quickly becoming best friends. If you’ve ever wondered how well wolf cubs could get along with a domesticated dog, here’s your answer. They sleep together and even howl at the moon in unison. Little Beldaran the wolf was abandoned by his parents at only four days old.
Preserve director Heather Grierson, 49, said: ‘It’s a true love story that has touched the hearts of everyone who visits the preserve.
‘You just can’t be in a bad mood when these two are around. It’s impossible to look at them and not feel good.’
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Cats In Costumes
Whether you consider it a form of animal cruelty or just a little harmless fun, it’s hard to deny that cats look pretty cute in costumes. The gallery on Now That’s Nifty has a few fantastic feline frocks for your viewing pleasure. Click and enjoy.
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Gimme A Hug
Gimme A Hug is a documentary from the Protect the Sharks Foundation.
Sharks are one of the most important top-predators in our oceans and there is still a lot we don’t understand, or even know, about this fascinating animal.
This short documentary shows one of the most mysterious phenomena in the animal world; amazing animals, showing a totally different behaviour then most people would expect.
The DVD is available for purchase with subtitles available in several languages. See the trailer at the Protect the Sharks Foundation website. Link -via the Presurfer
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Playboy Bunnies Close to Extinction
Sylvilagus palustris hefneri is a now-endangered species of rabbit named in honor of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. University of Central Florida graduate teaching assistant Rosanna Tursi is studying the genetic diversity of the species in the Florida Everglades, of which there may be only 300 rabbits remaining.
Hefneri is the most recently recognized subspecies of the marsh rabbit. It’s small with short, dark brown fur and a grayish-white belly. Discovered in 1984, the subspecies was named in honor of Hefner after his organization donated money to support fieldwork on the rabbits. Good for Hef!
His namesake bunnies live in an island environment and are dependent on specific grasses and plants for feeding, nesting and shelter. Population growth and development in their area has led to the death of the bunnies at the hands of vehicles or domestic animals. Their natural habitat also is being destroyed.
(image credit: Rosanna Tursi)
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A Zoo’s Message About Pollution
Artists Christoph Steinbrener and Rainer Dempf created this art installation in the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna to show the potential effects our negative actions take on the evironment.
According to the artists, these scenes of ecological nightmares are “experimental set-up[s]” in which “the viewer is forced to reconsider traditional modes of animal presentation and simultaneously to question the authenticity of concepts which are restaging ‘natural’ environments while they are increasingly endangered.”
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Mysterious Tales of Traveling Dogs
If you get separated from your cat, that’s the end of that. But not dogs, no siree. Some dogs will hunt you down for miles through desert, across state lines, over the ocean, and even across a war zone!
Miss Cellania wrote a fantastic article about 8 Mysterious Tales of Traveling Dogs over at our pal mental_floss - take for instance, the story of Nubs:
Major Brian Dennis adopted an abused mixed-breed dog in Anbar Province, Iraq. He named the dog Nubs because his ears had been cut off. Dennis nursed Nubs back to health over four months, but then he was ordered to move his squadron 70 miles away. Two days later, Nubs rejoined Dennis! The dog had tracked him down despite subfreezing temperatures and rough terrain. But the major received orders to get rid of the dog within four days or he would be shot. Dennis started an email campaign to save Nubs that raised $3,500 within a couple of days, and battled bureaucratic difficulties to get the dog out of Iraq across the Jordanian border. Nubs was flown to the US the next week, where he was met by friends and a veterinarian in Chicago, then by a dog trainer at his final destination in San Diego. Major Dennis was reunited with Nubs after his tour was up a month later.
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Meet Pabst, The World’s Ugliest Dog
The World’s Ugliest dog contest has been decided … and the result ain’t pretty! Congrats to Pabst, a boxer-mix shelter dog who won the 21st annual World’s Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California.
From the official website:
As the crowd chanted “Pabst, Pabst,” the celebrity judges deliberated between the so-named boxer-mix shelter dog and Rascal, a former world champion Chinese Crested to determine who would be the 2009 World’s Ugliest Dog Champion tonight at the Sonoma-Marin Fair. First timer Miles Egstad from Citrus Heights, California was stunned at Pabst’s win. “ I don’t think he’s that ugly!” he said of his boxer mix whose under bite was his most compelling physical feature. His sweet personality made him an audience favorite.
The Chinese Crested breed has dominated the contest for more than seven years and in this year’s contest represented more than 50% of the 2009 entries in the pedigree class. But Pabst, who was given his name because he had a “ bitter beer face”, according to his owner quickly won the crowd and the judges soon followed. Egstad, 25, first saw the contest on television and his friends urged him to enter his dog.
Link (Photo: Grace Chon / Shine Pet Photos)
Video clip of the event:
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There’s A Squid In Your Water
Bandai toy company from Japan has finally realized that bottles of water just aren’t cute. As Japan is the cute capital of the world, this just wouldn’t do. To fix the problem, they developed these adorable floating squids that can be added to any bottle of water. Thank god for Japanese innovation. Of course, they’re only available in Japan, but at least they’re affordable at only $6 each.
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Living with Really Big Cats: Cheetahs, Lions, and Tigers
If you think having to "share" your bed with your pet cat is bad, that’s nothing compared to what Riana Van Nieuwenhuizen has to do: the sanctuary worker shares her South African home with really, really big cats: four cheetahs, five lions, and two tigers!
Riana bought her first cheetah, Fiela in 2006, after realising the big cats were in trouble and heading for extinction with only 1000 left in Africa.
She left her full time job working for the department of justice - a position she had held for 22 years - and found temporary employment on a game ranch where she could raise her beloved big cat. [...]
The cats in Riana’s own home are truly part of the family and are allowed to roam freely.
Imagine the size of their litterbox! Amy Oliver of the Daily Mail has more: Link (Photo: John Lienbenberg/Barcroft Media)
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Otter Plays Piano
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has trained this cute little guy to play piano. Of course, he’s not the next Beethoven, but it’s still too cute to look away.
Link Via Cute Overload
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Kangaroo Fights
Environmental Graffiti has a fun post right about fighting kangaroos. It has some interesting information, but more than anything else, it’s all about the great photos. If you ever want to see a professional fighter go down, just put them up against an amateur kangaroo. It may seem cruel, but in olden times, animals didn’t really have rights.
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The 5 Most Hated Creatures on the Planet (Don’t Deserve It)
Cockroaches, wasps, rats, mosquitoes, and E. coli bacteria. All horrible creatures, right? Maybe not so much. Cracked spells out how each of these things benefits us and the planet we live on. It might not make you feel good about them, but maybe you will understand them a little bit better. Link -via Gorilla Mask
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Panda-painted Elephants
The elephant is the national symbol of Thailand. But lately, citizens have been going crazy for pandas. Zookeepers feel that the elephants aren’t getting enough attention, and made their point by painting the elephants to look like pandas!
Slathering them in white watercolour paint, the keepers at the Ayutthaya Elephant Kraal then paraded the five elephants before schoolchildren in an effort to remind Thailand that its elephants have needs, too.
The furore was sparked after the nation became fascinated with the birth of a female panda cub to pandas Lin Hui and Xuang Xuang at Chiang Mai zoo.
The Bangkok Post also reported that a 20 million baht (£355,800) snow house was being built for the panda family at the zoo.
Link -via Unique Daily
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Alcoholic Monkeys of St. Kitts
[YouTube - Link]
The Vervet Monkeys of St. kitts are known to raid local bars for a drink or two. Studies have found that the percentage of alcoholism in these monkeys matches the percentage of the human population - most drink in moderation, 12% are steady drinkers, 5% drink to the last drop and some are even teetotalers!
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Monkey Peed on Zambian President
Obama’s pesky fly has got nothing on this: Zambian President Rupiah Banda got peed on by a monkey during a news conference!
Mr Banda was not peeved, making light of the rude interruption as he sat under a tree in State House grounds.
Journalists laughed as Mr Banda jokingly remonstrated with the offender: "You [monkey] have urinated on my jacket."
"Perhaps these are blessings," he said, looking up at the animal in the tree.
BBC has the video clip: Link
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Crop Circles Made by Stoned Wallabies
Forget aliens, the real culprits behind mysterious crop circles in Tasmania are far weirder: stoned wallabies!
"The one interesting bit that I found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," Lara Giddings told the hearing.
"Then they crash," she added. "We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high."
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Interview With A Capybara Owner
Capybara owner Melanie Typaldos gave a great interview about her unusual pet on the Estatic Days blog. Her pet is named Caplin Rous as in Rodents Of Unusual Size from the Princess Bride. Some of her stories about walking Caplin Rous are priceless. Read the whole thing for some great fun, but here’s a few highlights:
“In a single word, I would describe him as needy. He always wants to be with me and can “eep” loudly if he knows I am nearby but he can’t get to me. He follows me around the house and the yard and expects me to watch him while he swims or grazes. He panics if he doesn’t know where I am. When he thinks it’s time for me to come home from work, he will go to the gate and wait for me.”
“When people hear him they are always amazed. His voice is often mistaken for a birdsong. When he’s nervous he sounds like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. When he’s happy he sounds like a Geiger counter.”
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Baby Bats
A shelter in Australia takes care of the world’s cutest baby fruit bats during tick paralysis season. Link (embedded YouTube video)
I just love the way the announcer says “bebes”!
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Rottweiler vs. Cat: Who Will Win?
[YouTube - Link]
If you need the protection of a guard animal, would you be better off with a Rottweiler … or a cat? Watch the video first …
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Hairless Cat Loves Hair
(YouTube link)
Maybe there is a little envy in this cat, but he sure is affectionate. The laughter from the spectators is a bonus. -via Buzzfeed
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Sharks: Serial Killers of the Sea?
Researchers using a criminology method made an interesting observation about great white sharks. It turns out the hunting habits of the great whites were similar to human serial killers.
The scientists adapted geographic profiling, a mathematical technique used to track down serial criminals, to investigate the hunting habits of great whites.
They observed the location of 340 shark attacks and used the data to locate the sharks’ “anchor points”.
In criminal investigations, a series of linked crimes - usually murder, rape or arson - is used to determine the rough location of the perpetrator’s “anchor point”. Most often this is a home or place of work.
Serial killers or rapists tend to operate within a confined area around the anchor point, so knowing its location allows police to avoid being swamped with suspects and prioritise those who live or work in certain areas.
The shark scientists linked the “crimes” of great whites off the South African coast - attacks on seals - and found that the sharks had a well defined search base.
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Why Carry a Dog in a Handbag?
Why do some women like to carry around their dog in their handbags? If you’ve ever pondered how pets evolved into a fashion accessory (where "walking the dog" involves absolutely no walking on the part of the furry animal), check out this article by Bag Bunch:
An Historic Pastime!
Oddly enough the practice of carrying your dog in a handbag goes back to Ancient Rome. Elite women would put their tiny Malteses in a sleeve when walking throughout the streets. Another name for the Maltese dog in Rome was ‘the Roman Ladies’ Dog’ and the breed became a physical symbol of loyalty.
Today the Maltese (that’s the small white fluffy one pictured right for those less aquainted with dog breeds) is still a popular ‘carry dog’ with women. Now you can see a Maltese hung round a hot girl’s waist while she goes for a power walk on the beach.
Another early ‘carry-dog’ was the Pekingese lapdog, bred in ancient China to fit inside the sleeves of a man’s robe. So it hasn’t always just been women that have an obsession with carrying around small dogs.
Through recent centuries a wider variety of ‘lap dogs’ became popular among royalty and the rich. Nowadays there is a diverse range of small pooches that have become fashionable ‘handbag dogs’.
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Stacy Met Some Raccoons
Our very own Stacy Conradt has some unwelcome house guests, so naturally she blogged about it.
We saw them in broad daylight on Sunday morning – it’s a mama and three babies. I don’t know if it had been the babies’ first night out hunting or if they fell off the roof or what, but there were two of them down on the ground and one of them up on the roof. The kids were too little to get back up on the roof themselves, so the mama was down on the ground trying to help them. The one up on the roof was freaking out because everyone else was down on the ground and he was trying really hard to get down to them – at one point he was hanging off of our gutter by one paw! It was amazing. And the whole time the babies were making these cooing noises; they kind of sounded like pigeons.
The mama finally climbed our magnolia tree to get to the one on the roof and dragged him off back to their hidey-hole in our roof. Maybe I am anthropomorphizing too much, but I swear she had this attitude like, “Look, I told you to stay put. If you can’t follow instructions, I’m putting you back to bed.” It was a very no-nonsense kind of a thing. So she got him tucked away and went back to the ones on the ground. They managed to shinny their way up the fence and run along the top of it, but one of them didn’t quite have his balance so she picked him up too. They disappeared over into the neighbors’ yard and that’s the last we saw of them.
Now I’ve never had the pleasure of hosting raccoons in my roof (and I hope I never will), but thanks to Stacy I now know that they can’t resist marshmallows: Link
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Caption Monkey 61: You Shall Not Pass!
Photo: pyza* [Flickr]
This week’s Neatorama and Hobotopia’s Caption Monkey photo of a hamster named Piórko came to us via the always awesome Cute Overload. I think there’s more to this hamster than meets the eye.
As usual, the funniest caption will win a free black and white custom Monkey drawing from Adam "Ape Lad" Koford. Game rules are simple: place your caption in the comment. One caption per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you’d like.
And "You shall not pass" is taken, mmkay? Oh, by the way, that phrase is a variation of a World War I propaganda slogan "They shall not pass" made famous in the Battle of Verdun on the Western Front. J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings, was himself a soldier who fought during World War I.
Be sure to check out Adam’s blog for inspiration. Good luck!
Update 6/23/09 - Adam has picked the winner! Congratulations to JB who won with this caption: I don’t mind the baths, but do you have to BLOW DRY?!?
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