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New Yorkers are constantly coming up with clever ways to improve their lives, and since many of them take the subway to get around town their life hacks often involve finding easier ways to carry stuff around town.

But when it became illegal to bring a dog on the subway unless locked in a carrier a guy went all NYC and figured out a way to bring his husky on the train with him- inside a giant tote bag.

(Image via Alex Romano)

He makes those yappy little purse dogs look even wimpier, doesn't he?!

As you can tell from the image at the top of the post this happy husky isn't the first tote bag dog to be smuggled onto the subway, and given how much NYC residents respect the law he won't be the last.

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-Via Bored Panda

Animals don't know how to use their words to express their disapproval, fear or anger, which is why preschool teachers never give animals any gold stars for properly sharing their feelings.

But they do know how to express themselves in one very impactful way- the warning nip.

This scary quick moment of lashing out tends to make humans stop pestering them and go away, and while it's not always funny when you're on the receiving end it's always funny to watch someone else get nipped.

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Man, I wish I could nip at people who are annoying me without winding up in jail...

-Via Boing Boing

Hamsters are fairly useless as pets, but they do excel at one thing- running in their wheel for hours at a time. So how does a hamster owner turn wheel running into cold hard cash?

That's where this wondrous machine created by Neil Mendoza comes in- the hamster running in the wheel powers the drawing arm which scratches out a sketch of a hamster running in a wheel.

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Now those little furballs can earn their keep by creating sketches which can be sold on the sidewalk as animal created fine art, a favorite among the trust fund hipster set.

-Via Laughing Squid

Marna Gillian and Sean Purdy had a cat named Moon Unit, until she disappeared from her home in London as they hosted a New year’s Eve party in 2007. They searched for her, and posted notices, but after a few months decided that Moon Unit was not coming home. Fast forward to 2016, and Gillian received an email from a French animal rescue group that they had identified Moon Unit from her microchip!  

"She was found in Essonne, a suburb south of Paris," Gillian explained. "We have no idea how she got there. Our best guesses are that she stowed away, or found a new family, was brought over by them, and then ran away? The stowaway theory seems the most likely i think.

"She didn't get there legally, we do know, because her microchip would have been checked in that case."  

Gillian and Purdy are no longer a couple, but they took a train together to collect Moon Unit in Paris. They say she is adjusting well, and will soon be introduced to one of her adult kittens. -via Uproxx

(Image credit: Marna Gillian)

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Jimmy the horse wanted a nap. His human's head was handy, so he leaned over to use her for support. The human, Lisa Brown, explains:

I was out in the fields early one morning, and Jimmy lay down to snooze, which he does often. I took my cup of coffee and went to sit with him. I was scratching and stroking him, and he began to lean on me and then pushed me gently back until I was basically his human pillow! Jimmy has a very peaceful nature, but he's also a comic genius!

-via Tastefully Offensive

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Believe it or not, this is a live parrot, and not a squeeze toy! Kanji has not only learned how to make the exact sound of a squeaky toy, he also knows the appropriate time to use that talent. -via Tastefully Offensive

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For some reason I've never been able to get my pet cats to stay in the house, let alone stay in my yard, and yet there are cat whisperers out there who take their kitty with them wherever they go.

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These lucky humans can travel halfway around the world and their little kittie pal will stay right by their side, exploring the world with their owners by day then setting up camp right next to them at night.

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And when the two (or more) intrepid travelers encounter strange and scary sounds outside their tent at night they can look to each other for comfort and protection.

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Some cats have gotten so used to traveling with their humans they've started shooting photos and footage of the trip for posterity, and thanks to Ryan Carter of "Camping With Dogs" fame they can share their fun pics with the world via Instagram.

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See "Camping With Cats" Instagram Will Inspire You To Go Hiking With Your Cat here

America’s Funniest Home Videos put together a compilation of confounded dogs and cats struggling to deal with their cones of shame.

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It must be awful to suddenly find that either your head or the world is a different shape. Some of these pets aren’t sure which it is, but it is difficult. -via Tastefully Offensive

Wheeeee! A little bird landed on the handrail of a moving walkway and was carried down to the end. It must have been a fun ride, because he went right back to where he was to start all over again!

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If only we could all spend time enjoying the little pleasures of life. We don’t know where this is, but the walls sure could use some artwork. -via Laughing Squid

The Snowy Owl family on the North Slope of Alaska needs to move toward a new home. Daddy Owl has already scouted out a new place to live. Since the baby owls can't fly yet, they have to walk. And when they get to a river, they have no choice but to swim across it.

As this scene from Nature illustrates, they're quite good at it! Even without swimming lessons, the baby owls figure out how to row across the water with their wings.

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-via Gifsboom

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When Derick Duffner wants the presence of his dog Jack, he doesn't call for him. He asks his other dog, Luke, to fetch him.

They could walk each other like this.

-via Blame It on the Voices

The following is an article from The Annals of Improbable Research, now in all-pdf form. Get a subscription now for only $25 a year!

Cat-centric research
compiled by Dirk Manley, Improbable Research staff

Cats Recognize (But Don’t Always Respond to) Owners’ Voices
“Vocal Recognition of Owners by Domestic Cats (Felis catus),” Atsuko Saito and Kazutaka Shinozuka, Animal Cognition, vol. 16, no. 4, July 2013, pp. 685-690. The authors, at the University of Tokyo, report:

We studied 20 domestic cats to investigate whether they could recognize their owners by using voices that called out the subjects’ names, with a habituation–dishabituation method. While the owner was out of the cat’s sight, we played three different strangers’ voices serially, followed by the owner’s voice. We recorded the cat’s reactions to the voices and categorized them into six behavioral categories. In addition, ten naive raters rated the cats’ response magnitudes. The cats responded to human voices not by communicative behavior (vocalization and tail movement), but by orienting behavior (ear movement and head movement). This tendency did not change even when they were called by their owners. Of the 20 cats, 15 demonstrated a lower response magnitude to the third voice than to the first voice. These habituated cats showed a significant rebound in response to the subsequent presentation of their owners’ voices. This result indicates that cats are able to use vocal cues alone to distinguish between humans.

Yellow Purple the penguin (Purps for short) lives at Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. She injured her foot and needed help with her mobility, so the aquarium staff enlisted the help of the ACT Group/3D Systems and a local middle school. They all worked together to design and 3D print a boot to help Purps get around while she heals.

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See the video about how the boot was made at Laughing Squid.

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This little filly knows what's good: butt scratches. And if you don't deliver them, she'll take them from you. She's got attitude.

-via Tastefully Offensive

(Photo: CNN Newsource)

This is Guy, a dog who lives in Hazle Township, Pennsylvania. On Thursday, he was hiking in the woods with 79-year old human, who fell and hit his head. The human lay there for 12 hours while Guy frantically tried to get the help of other nearby two-legs. WJLA reports:

The dog reportedly ran up the bank where the rescuers were, and would stop every 20-30 feet, barking until he led them to where the elder man was lying. […]

"It was like watching an episode of 'Lassie,'" says emergency responder, Matthew Mariscano.

Good boy.

-via Stephen Green