BEARSCARE

I LOVE this cat.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8BKSTWn4zY]

I want to get one just like it and name it “Skittles” or “Senior Fancypants”.

Brisbane, Australia — A family lost their chihuahua-terrier mix today. It seems the dog had been stocked by a scrub python for some does which finally got hungry enough to make his move [1]. The python is fine, but the two kids (5 and 7) who witnessed the carnage will never be the same. Below is a picture from the incident (CAUTION graphic/distasteful):

 The scrub python, Morelia amethistina, is a long slender snake found in Indonesia, Australia, and places like that (you know what I mean–not Korea or anything, just those islands you sometimes hear about). They can be extremely long, but a generally a large specimen is only about 5.5 meters (~16′) [2]. That is the same size snake that ate the dog. Usually, these guys eat small wild animals but all of that has changed.

[1] http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332913,00.html 

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morelia_amethistina 

As far as I can tell, nothing of any interest whatsoever happened in the news today. So, we’re going to have a frank discussion about barn owls for a bit. Personally, I’ve always been a fan. I find owls to be totally sweet, but also totally creepy (in a good way). Figure 1 shows a pretty cool picture of one.

Figure 1

The barn owl is perhaps the most widespread of all the owls. This medium-sized predator is found on all continents except for Antarctica; they are scarce in the extreme northern reaches of North America and also in the Sahara Desert–but who would want to live in those places**? Not me.

Barn owls love rodents. Rats, mice, whatever–they eat them ALL. They have been known to eat more than one rodent per night and a nesting couple can consume over 1000 per year**. Figure 2 shows a barn owl flying. He’s probably looking for rats or mice.

Figure 2

These birds have really done a great job evolving. They’re pretty unstoppable and it seems like there’s no chance they’ll ever be extinct. My hat is off to barn owls. Now, I will leave you with this great film.

**All factual information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_owl

Recently, Foxnews.com published an article on eating insects, which is good. I haven’t gotten a chance to fully research the topic, but here’s the article:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332172,00.html

And here’s a picture from it:

And here’s some great information from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Insects_as_food

Enjoy!

Recently, during a Vatan, a popular newscast on Turkmenistan’s state TV station, a cockroach (Figure 1) appeared on the news desk. This little fellow jammed around, unnoticed by the anchors, for enough time to make “lap” around the desk before disappearing. The newscast was first aired at 9 PM and rebroadcast at 11 PM. The roach was not noticed until the morning [1].

Figure 1

Turkmenistan’s president, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov (Figure 2), has, for some time, been trying to bring his once-Soviet nation into the modern world [2]. One of his efforts was to order his minister of culture, Gulmurat Muradov, to fix their aging TV station. Muradov appointed a committee which monitored the station daily from 9 AM – 6 PM. Three hours after the committee members left for the day, the cockroach made his debut on live TV. In response, an irate Berdymukhamedov fired 30 of the stations employees [2].

Figure 2

I would give ANYTHING to see this footage. Seriously, if anybody knows where to find a clip of this, tell me.

[1] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19289547

[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/22/television

So, maybe you’ve heard about this little story. A bunch of elephant seals have made it over the fence between Hwy 1 in California, USA and the beach and now they’re just chillaxing with motorists [1]. These little guys have been weighed in at 11,000 lbs [2]. That’s right, nearly six tons. Now, [1] is only calling them “quarter-ton” and I don’t know what that’s all about. They were probably measuring in stone, or something.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ9VoNIro-k&rel=1]

[1] http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8163172

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_seal

Yes, it’s true. I’ve been waiting for this day all my life: these sweet animals have been discovered under water off the coast of Antarctica [1]. Spiders the size of dinner plates? I HOPE they crawl out of the ocean and onto the land and rock my world. Who do you think would win in a fight, a spider the size of a dinner plate or the Frog from Hell (also about the size of a dinner plate)?

This picture is so disgusting [2].

[1] http://voanews.com/english/2008-02-20-voa16.cfm
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pycnogonida

So, the news recently reported that scientists have discovered the existence of a (now extinct) enormous frog. Dubbed “Frog from Hell” by various news agencies, the 12″ long, 7 lb. amphibian is thought to have eaten small mammals with its sharp teeth [1]. The fossil was found in Madagascar. Although this fellow sounds pretty mean, I think the world would benefit from giant frogs. I really wish they were still around. There are some pretty big toads, though [2].

[1] http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-frog20feb20,1,4030164.story

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_Toad 

I was just directed to “Let’s Be Friends“, a blog where users post photographs of unusual animal friendships. I immediately searched for any friendships in involving bears, but found none. This is a great website nonetheless and everyone should give it a peep.

I’d say of all the bears, the sun bear is my favorite. Smallest of all bears, sun bears range between between about 40-132 pounds and are only about 4′ long [1]. A very short tail adds only about 2″ to the average sun bear.

Sun bears have funny looking, rounded claws and bare paw-pads to help with climbing. They like to eat ANYTHING including, but not limited to, lizards, eggs, small mammals, other sun bears [2], fruits and other tasty vegetation.

Fortunately, the worst thing that would generally happen to a sun bear is to be eaten by a tiger or a python. Humans do kill bears for destroying crops and, apparently, there is some poaching, but often humans just use them for pets, which isn’t so bad. Many bears in Southeast Asia have much worse fates at the hands of humans. Would you believe that Asiatic black bears are kept in cages and used for their bile in China and Vietnam [3]? They actually believe that bear bile has healing properties. This behavior is absolutely disgusting. No wonder they embrace communism.

Here’s sun bears in action:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFMT3WRbk_g]

Sun bears are listed as vulnerable, so we need to keep an eye on them [4].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Bear (all sun bear facts presented here are from this reference)

[2] Just kidding!

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile_bear 

[4] My fiancee doesn’t actually believe that sun bears exist. I need to spread awareness.