Hatched!

April 30, 2008 · Posted in Animals, Birds, Photos · Comment 

After 15 days of incubation, the Bluebirds finally hatched yesterday. Still blind and naked, it’ll be about 12-14 more days until they’re ready to leave the nest. I hope to be able to get into the box each day as these little guys become less and less bug-like.

bluebird hatchlings day 1

Click here to follow the chronicle of this bluebird family.

Determination

April 30, 2008 · Posted in Animals, Dogs, Videos · Comment 


This little Dachshund prevails where most other would have surely given up. If they ever figure out how to put videos on posters, this is going to end up on someone’s cubicle one day.

Beatboxing Basset Hound

April 29, 2008 · Posted in Animals, Dogs, Videos · Comment 


As far as I can tell, this isn’t a commercial. No one is trying to sell me anything. Sometimes I don’t know why things exist, but we’re richer for having them.
Click here for more dog videos.

Shamu attacks and kills a penguin during a Seaworld show

April 28, 2008 · Posted in Animals, Videos, Whales, Zoos · Comment 


Here is the account of the person shooting the video:
“I was at SeaWorld San Diego on the 20th Feb 08 and attended the Shamu Killer Whale “Believe” show. During this show, Shamu lived up to his Killer Whale name.
During the show a Pelican landed on the water. This proved to be a big mistake for this unfortunate bird. To capture this video I guess I was in the right place at the right time…I wish I could say the same for the Pelican.
Suddenly out of nowhere one of the whales lunged at it from underneath the water, caught it in it’s jaws, and dragged the bird under the water, thus drowning it. The other whales in the pool, with the exception of the whale that was at the front of the pool with a girl from the audience, all disappeared under the water ignoring their trainers.
You can clearly see the trainer in the forground use the intercom to tell the others to get the Pelican off the water or to distract the whales from going near it. Obviously this didn’t work. As the whale gets the Pelican, you can see the trainer in the foreground put his hands to his head and yell at the trainers on the main stage. He then pushes the girl from the audience back away from the water and clear of any danger.
At this point the show’s music was still blaring out of the speakers, but it was obvious to the audience the show had not gone as planned. Some of the trainers tried to continue on as if nothing had happened and continued the dance moves. Meanwhile the whales still hadn’t surfaced and had their catch at the bottom of the pool. Eventually one whale did surface, as did the limp body of the pelican. The whales then pushed it around the surface for a while and then tore it apart in front of the audience.
Eventually the trainers got back the attention of the whales and managed to lure them backstage to the holding pen, leaving bits of pelican floating around in the pool. Once the trainers had the whales securely locked up, they then went about retrieving the Pelican parts from the pool. Since the show had been cut short, the bewildered audience responded with clapping and cheering as each part of the Pelican was retrieved from the pool.
Upon leaving the pool and entering the back stage viewing area, I was amazed to see the behaviour of one of the whales who was regurgitating either parts of the recently killed pelican, or maybe it was fish, and it was feeding them to a group of birds near the pool. It almost seemed like it was trying to lure the birds closer and grab one of them. The trainers witnessed this too, and given what had just happened during the show, they distracted the whales from this area and held them at the other end of the pool until the audience had left the area.
I guess what the audience witnessed during this show is that even though these animals appear to be domesticated in captivity, they are still wild animals and their “Killer Whale” instincts are still in tact. Having witnessed what I did, there is no way I’d get in the pool with them.
Youtube will only let me upload 10 minutes of this footage but I have heaps more. Unfortunately the video as presented here on Youtube is very grainy. The origanal footage is much clearer as it was shot in High Definition and in 16:9 Wide Screen.”
There’s actually a higher-resolution version of this clip on the youtube’s page.

Squirrel plays dead

April 27, 2008 · Posted in Animals, Squirrels, Videos · Comment 


In an amazing attempt at camouflage, this squirrel is seen playing dead in front of the camera.
Click here for more squirrel videos.

German polar bear cub

April 26, 2008 · Posted in Animals, Bears, Videos · Comment 


This polar bear cub was recently released at a German Zoo for public viewing.

Bluebirds perching on trees

April 25, 2008 · Posted in Animals, Birds, Photos · Comment 

Here are some more pictures of the bluebirds, this time perching on various trees around my backyard:


The Chicago Cubs are on top

April 24, 2008 · Posted in Animals, Sports · Comment 

… of the list of MLB teams with animal mascots. Baseball season is in full swing, and here’s the run-down for 2008:


style='width:257.5pt;margin-left:4.65pt;border-collapse:collapse;mso-padding-alt:
0pt 5.4pt 0pt 5.4pt'>

Rank

Team

Value
(Millions)

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>1

style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Chicago
Cubs

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>$642

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>2

style='mso-spacerun:yes'> St
Louis
Cardinals

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>$484

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>3

style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Detroit
Tigers

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>$407

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>4

style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Baltimore
Orioles

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>$398

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>5

style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Arizona
Diamondbacks

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>$379

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>6

style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Toronto
Blue Jays

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>$352

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>7

style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  w:st="on">Tampa Bay
Rays

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>$290

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>8

style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Florida
Marlins

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>$256


And for the stat fans out there, it looks like animal-mascot teams are lagging for 2008:

  • Average animal team rank: 18.7

  • Average non-animal team rank: 14.3
  • Average animal team value: $401 million
  • Average non-animal team value: $497 million

Source: ESPN

Zebra found on college campus

April 24, 2008 · Posted in Animals, News, Weird, Zebras · Comment 

A zebra mysteriously appeared in a college classroom at Oxford College of Emory University. This is the second misplaced Zebra around Atlanta in two weeks. Is Atlanta facing an epidemic???
Read the article here.

Golden eagle throws a goat off of a cliff

April 23, 2008 · Posted in Animals, Birds, Photos, Videos · Comment 


Here’s footage of a Golden Eagle picking up a goat and throwing it off of a cliff. Below is a picture of a pair of Golden Eagles from the Nashville Zoo.
nashville zoo golden eagles

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