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Category Archives: Animals

Ever been face to face with a Rattle Snake?

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

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Have you ever found yourself next to a Rattle Snake?  Last year while hiking in the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, I had the opportunity to find myself in that exact situation.   Torrey Pines Park is the home of our nation’s rarest pine tree - Pinus torreyana.  Once this tree covered a larger area, but the  fragile environment it requires now only exists here and on Santa Rosa Island off the coast near Santa Barbara.  As my wife and I walked down a trail leading to the ocean, which was completely obscured by an incoming fog bank off the coast, we suddenly heard a very loud buzz.  This was a sound I had never heard in my life, and immediately started my heart racing.  I jumped backwards and sprinted back up the trail.  Turning back, I pulled out my camera and took a few shots before he slithered off into the brush.  He was easily over six feet long and as wide as the business end of a baseball bat.

When I got back, I signed my kids up for this great magazine (ZooBooks) that teaches children all about animals.  Give it a try, I am sure your kids will love it to.
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A Small Hawk and Lots of Small Birds in Backyard

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

small_hawk

We buy hundreds of pounds of bird seed each year, all to keep our little friends happy, with tummies full, on a cold, snowy winter day. We usually have many, many birds visit us on any given day. Lots of cardinals, finches (they love Niger seed), wood peckers, and occasionally a hawk likes to come by to scare everyone. Usually we only see the hawk up in a tree, or flashing by quickly as he grabs a finch for a meal. Today, he rested casually at the edge of the deck. Pretty cool, huh?

bird_buffet_snowy_day


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Doing the chicken dance at the Frederick Fair

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Last week we stopped by the Frederick Fair.  It was a fun day in the sun, and we enjoyed peeking in on all the animals.  While there, we saw the most peculiar little rooster.  Make sure you turn your speakers up and crank the music!

 


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Lion Love – Just Big Ole Pussycats

Thursday, July 31, 2008

This video has recently been making the rounds on the Net, but if you have not seen it yet, here is the clip of Christian the Lion. You can read the whole story at The Born Free Foundation.

In 1969, John Rendall and his friend Ace Bourke legally bought a small lion cub from Harrods pet department store in Australia.  ‘Christian’ was kept in the basement of a furniture shop on the Kings Road in Chelsea.  The lion was loved by all, the affectionate cub ate in a local restaurant, played in a nearby graveyard, and was growing very fast.  The young men realized that they could no longer keep Christian.

A chance encounter with Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna led to a new life for Christian.  He came to live in a caravan at their Surrey home.  Then in 1972 he was flown to Kenya, his ancestral home, and returned to the wild in the Kora Reserve by lion-man George Adamson. 

Christian left the Kora Reserve in 1973 and settled in his new territory along the Tana river.  However, when the Wakamba herdsmen kept bringing their livestock to his hunting ground, he moved on. George Adamson said in his autobiography, “I used to count the days on which we hadn’t seen Christian, but when they reached 97, I gave up recording them in my diary.”  Although a lion can live from 12 to 15 years in the wild, Adamson believed that Christian had died in the Meru National Reserve only a few miles up river.

Nine months later in 1974, John and Ace visited Kenya.  Christian had not been seen for nine months but appeared the day before them, seemingly to know of their arrival.

It was an emotional reunion: “He ran towards us, threw himself onto us, knocked us over and hugged us, with his paws on our shoulders.”

Below is another example of how loyal and affectionate the King of the Jungle can be.  This African Lion looks as if it is about to attack a zoo visitor, however it is actually hugging and kissing his former rescuer. 

Jupiter, an African lion, was saved from a travelling circus over six years ago by Ana Julia Torres.  Ana had formed a special bond with Jupiter while nursing him back to health at her animal shelter.

“This hug is the most sincere one I have received in my life,” she said.


Lion amoureux
by NY182


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Hemingway, Polydactyl, or just the Six-Toed Cat?

Monday, July 21, 2008
Six-Toed Cat

Six-Toed Cat

The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum is home to over thirty polydactyl cats.  Often called Hemingways, but what you and I would call a six-toed cat.  Most cats have extra toes on their front feet and sometimes on their back feet as well.

Polydactyly, or extra digits, is a common trait among cats, particularly it seems, among Celtic cats, cats on parts of the U.S.’s Eastern coast, as well as in South West Britain.  Despite some claims to the contrary, polydactly is not a product of bad breeding.  It is simply a naturally occurring genetic variation, it is even found in fossil reptiles, which means that a regular five-toed cat might be the abnormal form! 

Six-Toed Cat

Six-Toed Cat

 The form of polydactyly most commonly seen in cats is a dominant trait which does not affect the cat adversely and is not associated with other abnormalities.  Despite suggestions of “natural snowshoes” there is no real evidence that polydactyly has any significant natural selective advantage or disadvantage.  If it was disadvantageous, polydactyl cats would quickly have died out. It is simply an endearing anomaly…

If you have one of these cats, I would love to hear about them, please post a comment and share your story.  If you also know of any that need adoption, please pass that along as well.

Cat Water Fountain

Cat Water Fountain

At the Hemingway House, the cats are very well taken care of, just as they were when old Papa Hemingway ruled the joint.  Nestled into the backyard is the most famous cat drinking fountain in the world; Papa had it specially built for his pets.

The top of the fountain is an old Spanish olive jar that was brought from Cuba. The overflow from this jar spills into a urinal, that serves as a drinking spot for the Hemingway 6-toed cats. The story goes that the urinal came from Sloppy Joe’s Key West bar. Hemingway told him, “I might as well put one of these in my backyard since so much of my money has gone down it already.”  

Don’t tell anyone, but I know what he meant…
Cat Water Fountain


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RIP – Blue Meanie – 7/7/2008

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Blue Lobster - \

Poor Blue Meanie passed away yesterday.  He was a faithful pet for the past 18 months.  Unfortunately his filter stopped running and the rest is history.  Always full of energy and eager for a bite of food, he provided us a lot of entertainment.

Don’t tell anyone, Blue Meanie was not a lobster, but actually a crayfish.  A guy from Florida gets the credit for developing the blue form of P. alleni / P. paeninsulanus (both may be the same species).  His name is Bob Hammer, Sr.  In fact, in Japan, this blue crayfish is also known as the “Blue Hammer”.  From what I’m told, he developed the blue color, through selective breeding, from a few wild crayfish that had more blue in them than others.  Either way, he will be missed.

Good bye Mr Meanie.

 
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