Label: Animals

November 21, 2011

Did you ever wonder why kittens are always climbing things? Or digging up your mother’s favorite flowerpot? Or why they love to purr and snuggle?

You can find the answers to all these questions, along with more adorable kitten photos than you can possibly stand, in Seymour Simon’s new eBook, WHY DO KITTENS DO THAT? It was published this week in the iBookstore (for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch), and it also works on your Nook Color.

If you try it, be sure to let us know what you think!

November 21, 2011

What is that creature in this beautiful photograph? This animal is known as a "glass squid" (scientific name Leachia).  Sunlight filtering down through the ocean water passes right through the glass squid - it is practically invisible in the light. There are both squid and octopus like this, and they can "hide in plain sight" in sunny water.

However, they do not do so well down in the ocean deep, where there is no sunlight. Down in the deep, there are dangerous predator fish whose bodies produce a bright light that they shine directly on the transparent animals, which become visible in the predator’s "headlight."  The ability of these marine animals to produce their own light is called bioluminescence (BY-oh-loom-i-NESS-ens).

Somehow, their prey - the transparent squid and octopus -  need to have a way to camouflage themselves down in the deep. Researchers at Duke University decided to find out how they do it. They captured some of the squid and put them into a dish full of cold ocean water and shone bright lights on them. They were amazed to discover that the squid switched on their camouflage instantly, changing themselves from clear to a spotted, reddish brown. With that coloring, they can hide more easily in their dark, deep-sea environment. The researchers were amazed to see how quickly they make the change. 

If you are interested in seeing video of their experiment, click on the play button (at left) to see more.

November 16, 2011

Update for readers who were interested in our recent story, Rescued Spider Monkeys, about wild animals that are being illegally captured and sold. Nick News just did a half-hour special related to this subject, called DANGEROUS CROSSROADS: In a world where humans keep expanding their habitat, what happens when wild animals inhabit that same space? The special is now available online, so that you can watch it whenever you want to.

Click here to see some excellent reporting on this important topic for animal lovers.

November 8, 2011

The Federal Wildlife Conservation Center outside of Mexico City is the home to many rare and endangered species that have been rescued from illegal smugglers. These spider monkeys are being raised by the center’s specialists after they were found inside an abandoned canvas bag, along with three who didn’t survive.

The black rattlesnake below, seen inside a plastic tube, was also rescued from illegal traffickers. 

According to Mexico’s Federal Wildlife Conservation Department, at least 2,500 different animals are rescued there every year.

If you are interested in wildlife conservation and learning more about what you can do to help stop illegal wildlife trading, the website of The Wildlife Conservation Society is a good place to start. They started in the early 1900’s when they successfully helped the American bison recover on the Western Plains; today, they manage about 500 conservation projects in more than 60 countries. 

As our human population grows, we impact more animal habitats and use more of their resources. By learning more about our impact on nature, we can all help to protect endangered animals.

Photos: Carlos Jasso/Reuters

October 26, 2011

Did you ever go to the beach and buy a plastic beach shovel for digging in the sand? A 6-year-old British girl named Emily Baldry took her beach shovel on an archeological trip with her family, and used it to dig up a 160-million year old fossil!

The 130-pound fossil that Emily found is called an ammonite. These now-extinct animals were soft-bodied invertebrates (animals without backbones) that lived inside a circular shell. They had long tentacles, well-developed eyes, and a sharp beaklike jaw. 

Ammonites lived during the periods of Earth history known as the Jurassic and Cretaceous, and disappeared at about the same time as the dinosaurs. Their closest modern relatives are the octopus and the squid.

The curled shell, which looks something like the horns of a ram, inspired the ammonite’s name. When these fossils were first discovered, in ancient times, they were named after the Egyptian god Ammon (or Amun), who was usually drawn with rams’ horns on his head.

Photo: SWNS

Graphic: MMVII NGHT, Inc.

October 25, 2011

In today’s Cool Photo of the week, owner Steph Tuft takes duck Essy for a walk with her Staffordshire cross dogs Rachka and DD, in Bournemouth, England. Essy, a 9-month-old Cherry Valley duck, acts as if she is a dog member of the pack, and often goes for walks with the other two pets.

We humans love these stories of animal "friendships," but are they really that? An animal behaviorist and professor of psychology, John Wright, Ph.D., says that these are often real relationships. "If you get a kitten and a mouse together at an early enough age, and they’re sleepy and well-fed and they’re both a little chilly, and they cuddle up to one another, you can certainly create a bond very early on that will carry on into adulthood, as long as the needs are met for both individuals," Wright says. Most young mammals enjoy new experiences that tickle all of their senses. They particularly seek out thermo-tactile sensation, the combination of warmth and softness.

Of course, when animals are young, they are very open to new experiences. But as Wright points out, if the animals are from a species that is very social, those relationships are even more important. That was the case in this famous photograph of Owen and Mzee, the young hippo and old tortoise who bonded together. 

Owen, a baby hippo, was separated from his mother by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Owen was rescued and relocated to a wildlife sanctuary in Kenya, where he adopted Mzee, a huge tortoise, as his "mother." The similarities in size, shape and color between the hippo and the tortoise may have been part of the reason Owen attached himself to Mzee, says wildlife biologist Bill Given, a research associate at the Denver Zoo. The social nature of the hippo would have been another  important factor.

"Hippos live in social groups called ‘pods.’ It’s abnormal for a young hippo to be all on its own," he says. "That animal has a natural instinct to try and bond with another animal, and if that’s what it’s placed with, then its only choice is to try and be friends with that tortoise."

Why do humans love these photographs and animal "friendship" stories so much? Our enthusiasm for animal friendships says something about us, Given says. "We’re a very social species ourselves. We seek out friendships and approval of others, and I think when we see those things in other animals, they tie into our human emotions,"

Of course, while we recognize the relationship as something similar to what we experience, animal connections are different than the deep and complex relationships we have with our friends and family.

Photos: Chris Ison/AP, AP

October 21, 2011

A Labrador retriever suffering from smoke inhalation was saved this week by firefighters who carried him out of a burning house and gave him "mouth-to-snout" resuscitation.

When firefighters arrived at the fire in Wasau, Wisconsin, the owners told them that their dog was still inside. The rescuers rushed into the house and carried out the unconscious dog, named Koda. Firefighter Jamie Giese, who owns two dogs himself, said he told the other firefighters: "We’ve got to work this dog. (We) laid him down in the front yard, and we started assisting breathing.’‘

When Koda eventually regained consciousness, 

firefighters placed a human oxygen mask over his snout and rushed him to an animal emergency center for medical treatment.

The rescue was successful….Koda was returned safe and sound to his owners on Wednesday morning.

 Photos: Dan Young  /  Wausau Daily Herald

September 27, 2011

Our Cool Photo of the Week is of a group of giant panda cubs sleeping in their nursery in the research base of the Giant Panda Breeding Centre in Chengdu, southwest China.

These babies are part of the breeding program at the Chengdu Panda Base, a non-profit organization is dedicated to saving the endangered giant panda through wildlife research, captive breeding and conservation education. The Base was established in 1987 with six giants pandas rescued from the wild, and today the breeding program has increased their captive population (who live in a huge wildlife park) to 83.

China has also just begun its panda census. Every ten years the researchers try to take a count and determine how many of the endangered animals live in the wild, check on their living conditions, and record any changes in habitats.

Students or classes who are interested in helping to save the giant panda can get involved by going to their website and joining the Giant Panda Club.

Photo: MSNBC "Animal Tracks"

September 18, 2011

It is autumn in the northeast, which means that the countryside is dappled with fields of goldenrod. These yellow weeds are a favorite of the monarch butterfly, and everywhere that I went today, there were monarchs flitting amongst the yellow flowers, sipping their nectar.

Then, I realized that all the monarchs I saw were also flying in a southerly direction. The winter migration has begun. Over the next few weeks, these delicate creatures will travel nearly 3,000 miles to their winter home in Mexico.

August 31, 2011

For the past twenty years, a rare group of spiders in Britain have been in danger of becoming extinct. Their natural habitat had become endangered due to the development of towns and the conversion of their environment to farm land. These beautiful spiders are called ladybird spiders in England – because the males have bright red bodies with 4 big black spots on them (much like the insect that we call the ladybug here in the U.S).

When British wildlife experts realized their local population had dwindled to just 56 spiders, they realized it was time to find them a new home! They started by collecting the spiders and allowing them to mate in captivity, so that their numbers could grow. Now, they’ve started introducing the spiders back into the wild. They’ve placed the spiders in a site that’s already home to 240 other species of spiders and hundreds of other insects. What’s interesting is that they’ve introduced the ladybird spiders to this area by placing them in recycled plastic bottles! These bottles are filled with heather and moss to resemble the spiders’ past environment and when the spider is ready to move out, it can crawl out of the bottle and find a suitable new home. Here’s hoping their group gets bigger and we get to see many more of these beautiful spiders in the future!

 Would YOU like to see one? I would!

Read lots more about spiders in these Seymour Simon books:

   Spiders 

Photo Credits:

Image 1: Maarten Bos/Flickr 

Image 2: Ian Hughes 

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