January 22, 2011
This is for all those who felt a tingle run down their legs on hearing that yesterday was National Squirrel Day (and I’m assumin’ that y’all were wearin’ yer Depends)!
Introducing the web page: “Squirrel Fishing: The New Global Sport that Graps Squirrels by the Nuts!” (Link: http://www.squirrelfishing.us/ ) You can learn a lot there:
Squirrels work HARD:
Squirrels get tired:
Squirrels like a drink:
Squirrels sleep it off:
And squirrels make friends:
January 22, 2011
A Cooper’s hawk has taken up residence in the main reading room of the Library of Congress. Seems like he’d be better outside, celebrating National Squirrel Day.
Via http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2011/01/watching-our-researchers-like-a-hawk/
January 22, 2011
For anyone insufficiently surprised to learn that there is a National Border Patrol Museum (see post below), try this: yesterday was National Squirrel Appreciation Day.
It’s official: The National Wildlife Federation even has a page, “7 Ways to Celebrate National Squirrel Appreciation Day: “7 Ways to Celebrate National Squirrel Day!” (Number 4 is “Shoot ‘em.”) In honor of the honorable squirrel, consider this: according to the NWF,
The ratufa (ratufa indica), also known as the Indian giant squirrel of Southeast Asia, can grow up to 3 feet in length.
That’s more nut-chasing rodent than I’ll ever have any use for.
BTW, the poor squirrels have to share their special day with National Hug Day.
January 22, 2011
Workers at a Ukrainian aquarium didn’t believe it when a visitor said a crocodile swallowed her phone. Then the reptile started ringing.
The accident in the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk sounds a bit like “Peter Pan,” in which a crocodile happily went “tick-tock” after gulping down an alarm clock.
But Gena, the 14-year-old croc who swallowed the phone, has hardly been living a fairy tale: He hasn’t eaten or had a bowel movement in four weeks….
Anyone who invents something to get teenagers to swallow cell phones is sure to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Via: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110121/ap_on_fe_st/eu_odd_cell_phone_in_crocodile
January 19, 2011
Dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms, one of them’s making a poop, the other one’s carrying it for him, who would you assume is in charge.
– Seinfeld
January 17, 2011
UK scientists have created the worlds first genetically modified chickens that do not spread bird flu.Writing in Science journal, the team says their work demonstrates it is possible to create a variety of GM farm animals resistant to viral diseases.The research team inserted an artificial gene into chickens; this introduces a tiny part of the bird flu virus into chicken cells.These birds become infected but render the virus harmless to other poultry.The team believes that the genetic modification they have introduced is harmless to the chickens and to people who might eat the birds.
Now, they’re working on a chicken that can tell us which came first.
via BBC News – Worlds first flu-resistant GM chickens created.
November 27, 2010
It’s nice to have a friend!
Juuso, a large brown bear from the Predator Animal Center, in Finland, only agreed to crawl into his shelter and hibernate, after his best friend tucked him in.
With winter drawing ever nearer, Juuso, a young brown bear from Finland’s Predator Center, seemed tired. All the other bears had already began their winter hibernation, and Juuso’s eyes were closing all the time, but refused to go into his man-made lair. You’d think he was suffering from insomnia, but in fact, all he really needed was to be tucked-in by his best friend, caretaker Sulo Karjalainen.
Sulo has been making sure the animals of the Predator Center have everything they need, and in turn, this ferocious creatures accepted him as a friend. To make sure Juuso gets some shut-eye during the winter months, Sulo went into the bear’s lair first, and his furry friend followed shortly. Happy and relaxed in the company of his friend, Juuso soon laid his head on his bed of straw, sighed and finally went to sleep.
via Oddity Central – Weird Places, Odd Events, Bizarre News, Strange People and A Lot More – Part 5.
October 28, 2010
Scientists must get bored, spending all that time researching arcane topics. Sometimes, they just need to flex their creative muscles.
Following are names that some particularly artful scientists have given to various creatures, according to Professor Chris Impey in his new book How It Ends.
via Linnaeus, Shlinnaeus! : Krulwich Wonders… : NPR.
October 14, 2010
This is almost incredible:
This is a bower from the one of the avenue species of bower birds — those who build a long avenue out of sticks, with a court at the end made of stones, shells, bones and bits of colored plastic. The female stands outside the avenue where the photographer was lying to take this picture and looks through it to the male bower bird who is dancing around on the stones at the back.
The funny thing about this picture is that to us the stones look like they are all a similar size, but they are actually arranged with the largest ones in the back, and the smallest ones in the front. If you switch the positions of the stones, the males will move them back into the opposite size gradient within three days. One of the possible reasons the male bower bird creates this Ames court might be to make himself look bigger in the front of the court when compared to other objects placed in the back next to the bigger stones.
via Boing Boing.
September 22, 2010
This is really cool: Yale Law School’s library checks out dogs for 30-minute breaks with students.
And for the students, it’s nothing short of brilliant. Just check out the rest of the entry and tell me that 30 minutes with a nice animal wouldn’t provide a welcome break during study time:
Notes
Monty circulates for 30 minute periods.
Graduate of Puppy School, 2000 (with honors), Certified Therapy Dog, 2010. Distinguishing features: white star on chest. Monty plays well with others and is fond of bacon. (Please don’t feed him hot dogs, that’s just wrong.)
Woof (unknown script).Subjects
Monty (Dog)
Therapy dogs.
Dogs in libraries.
Stress relievers for law students.Additional author
Aiken, Julian, owner.Title note
Full name: General Montgomery
Why do I have the suspicion that this idea came from a librarian who got tired of exercising his dog? Even so, it’s a great idea.
September 15, 2010
Likemba, Zoo Berlin’s baby Bonobo. Only defined as a separate species in 1929, Bonobos differ from chimps largely for their more peaceful and easy going social dynamics.
Link: http://www.zooborns.com/
August 27, 2010
This adorable tiger cub was found in a suitcase packed with plushies when the luggage went through an X-ray machine at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport. From CNN:
Officials are trying to determine where the cub came from and whether it was caught in the wild or bred in captivity, wildlife trade monitoring organization TRAFFIC said. Authorities found the tiger Sunday in a suitcase belonging to a 31-year-old Thai national, who was scheduled to board a flight for Ira
Makes one want to introduce whoever did this to an adult tiger.
via Boing Boing.
July 22, 2010
One dead jellyfish wreaked havoc on a New Hampshire beach this afternoon, stinging close to 150 people, most of them children, and sending five to the hospital, fire officials said.
Rye, N.H., emergency officials received the call around 1:30 p.m. that 125 to 150 people, including children and a few adults, at Wallis Sands State Park had been stung by a jellyfish, Rye Fire Lieutenant Charles Gallant said.
Park officials had tried to remove a large dead jellyfish from the water earlier in the day, but it broke apart and the floating pieces stung the children in the water, he said.
The jellyfish was roughly the size of “a cover of a trash can,” Gallant said.
Didn’t it occur to anyone to close the beach until the floating pieces were collected or washed away?
via Ouch! Jellyfish stings 150 on N.H. beach – Local News Updates – MetroDesk – The Boston Globe.
April 14, 2010
Two prison escapees have (so far) evaded 300 Argentine police, by disguising themselves as SHEEP.
The pair dressed in full sheepskin fleeces, complete with heads, to lie low among farm flocks.
Robbers Maximiliano Pereyra, 25, and Ariel Diaz, 28, stole the sheep hides from a ranch after breaking out of an Argentinian maximum security prison a week ago.
And they have managed to evade the 300 cops on their trail – despite locals seeing them running through fields at night….
Police say spotting the pair among thousands of sheep is “almost impossible”. But one warned: “They can’t pull the wool over our eyes forever.”
I don’t know; sounds like some pretty woolly eyes!
But I predict that this manhunt will end right about the time that police release an excited ram into the flock.
via TWO escaped convicts dodge manhunt by dressing as sheep | The Sun |News.
April 8, 2010
They might look like your average spring lambs, but these incredible creatures are set to reinvent British farming – because they can shear themselves.
The remarkable self-shearing sheep have been bred to shed their winter coats naturally – reversing 7,000 years of farming tradition.
The new breed, called Exlana, is being developed by farmers in South West England to lose their woolly coats automatically when the weather warms up.
Reminds me of the joke about the Koreans developing a self-basing dog.
If only we could develop self-revoking politicians.
via The self-shearing sheep that can save farmers thousands of pounds | Mail Online.
