Beautiful Animals

nothin' better than hanging out with critters

the daily B & O

Fear not, bunny lovers, this is only Photoshop.

Jasari, a six-year-old reticulated giraffe, dodges the advance of a Canada goose that was protecting its territory, at the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Illinois.

cool giraffe and goose pic -

here's something a bit on the wild side, a video made by a camera on the back of a penguin:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/apr/08/penguin-cam-birds-eye-view-antarctica-video

PROVENCE-ALPES-CÔTE D’AZUR, France—Pablo Picasso and Jacqueline Roque, 1957, via slate.com
© Marc Riboud / Magnum Photos
(one of my favorite photographers, Riboud)

Amazing! Had to laugh when that one was doing the 'penguin walk'

Tim Flach:

for those who may not get the reference, the bunny is photoshopped to look like the Pokemon character, Pikachu

That helped explain it, dj.

This is interesting to me - but I've not been around that many geese and deer together -

The bodyguard: For the past week or so, this doe has been standing guard over a goose nesting in an urn at a cemetery in Buffalo, N.Y. She positions herself between the urn and any car or foot traffic that passes by.
Photo: David Duprey / AP/via SFGate

Baby wombat born at Ballarat wildlife park, Victoria, Australia. Wombat super-mum Coco has given keepers cause to celebrate in the birth of her third joey, as it is rare that a male and female wombat will breed and stay together this long.
Photograph: Newspix/Rex Features

Osso, I love this meeting of the two canine minds.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/photos/photos_galleries/boston_globe_staff_photos_of_the_week_040811/?p1=Features_link1#/5

dj, Thanks for the posting video info. Who knew? You and a buncha other people. That's who.

It's a damned good thing that the bunny is photoshopped. It had better be. Or somebody's gonna have to answer to me. That otter knows how to relax.

I stared at that eye for a while, Izzie. The fuzz around the eye didn't look like feathers to me. Feather, fur. Fuzz is fuzz. Waiting for the thud-worthy new post. I'm not a patient person, Iz.

Irish, I wonder if that goose is planning a nest up there. Great pic, kid.

osso, I hope the researchers get more out of the penguin pics than I did. Hey, you researchers, get the damned camera off the boid. Love the Picasso/canines photo. I never would have imagined that Picasso would have a dachshund. I always pictured him as an Irish wolfhound kinda guy. A deer guarding a goose nest. Seems like a very charitable act. What possible other reason can there be?

Francis. Stunning. C'est tout.

Olga, Very, very cute. Be still my heart. Thanks, kid.

tsar, Is that the turkey from the turkey in the road thread? Hey, boid. Get your feathery tush outta the road.

Another marsupial (numbat):

I've become very concerned & sometimes very upset, when I see images & read stories like this, about creatures in completely the wrong places.
Such frequent occurrences these days.
Why are they not in their natural environment?
I can't speak for any other country, but I can speak for my own.
It's because their natural environment has shrunk so much (in some cases almost vanished), because humans keep intruding on it.
Because of drought & the problems of finding enough food, the expansions of housing developments to accommodate population growth. So many reasons for loss of habitat.
As the human race expands like Topsy, we are going to witness more & more displacements like this.
What can we do to help these creatures survive the onslaught?
Surely they have the same right to exist as we do?

There's a more insidious danger to these animals, whose lands and waters we've taken over: genetic variation decline. They're effectively marooned on "islands" divided not by waters but by freeways, waterways, and airport runways full of fast-moving vehicles deadly to them. I've no solution for that

I know, I know.

Sigh

Well on the positive side I just re-posted on the Japan earthquake thread your video of dog rescued after 3 weeks at sea - with proper attribution, of course!
http://able2know.org/topic/169093-34#post-4567620

Of course I am happy & very moved about that lost dog surviving the Japanese earthquake & being reunited with her owner, too!
Who wouldn't be?

Mohlatsi the white lion cub plays with Ajanta (tiger cub) and Bengali and Bage (white striped tiger cubs) at The Ranch Hotel animal park in Polokwane, South Africa. The tiger cubs have now been sent to a wildlife park in Mauritius to start a new life...

...Mohlatsi the white lion cub plays at The Ranch Hotel animal park in Polokwane, South Africa.
Picture: MARC DRYDEN SCHOFIELD / BARCROFT MEDIA

A female Jaguar called 'Rosa Salvaje' (Wild Rose) licks her one-week-old cub at the National Zoo, south of Managua, Nicaragua
Picture: AFP/GETTY

MsOlga? We have to find ways of allowing larger populations of wildlife to adapt in our cities and suburban sprawl and not evict them en masses like how cities like NYC deal with Canadian geese and even coyotes.