Beautiful Animals

@MontereyJack,

MontereyJack wrote:

There's this weird video going viral of someone completley immobilizing a domestic cat by putting a binder clip on the back of its neck. The cat freezes in kind of an awkward position until the binder clip is removed. I can't tell if it's faked or the cat is really frozen. I wonder if when the mama lion grasps the cub that way, if it doesn't act the same as the binder clip and freeze the cub. Assuming it's not a fake, of course.

http://dailypicksandflicks.com/2011/07/10/clipnosis-how-to-calm-down-a-cat-with-a-binder-clip-video/

I don't know why grabbing a cat by the back of the neck causes them to become pretty docile (though I've handled one or two it didn't work on). I don't like the idea of the binder clips but that does look like a vet's office so they probably know more about it than I do.

1 Reply

@Arella Mae,

It's a species wide practice for the mother cat to carry their kittens using that type of technique. By the back of the neck. Cats do it as well as lions.

Not sure if this binder clip is physiologically having the same effect or if the video is a fake. Maybe when the mother cat uses the hold, the kitten isn't physiologically frozen but psychologically frozen. His behavior is trained to remain still while being carried by the mother. The kitten could still squirm or fight but chooses not to because of the conditioning.

If it's real, perhaps AM, when you are holding the cat by the back of the neck, maybe you were not grabbing the correct nerve areas that the mother cat instinctively knows the location. If it isn't a physiological reaction, then the cat which you tried to grab by the back of the neck took umbrage to your actions.

Maybe the cat is a neurotic individual and the clip itself works on a rare few cats who have mommy cat issues? Surprised

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@tsarstepan,

LOL @ mommy issues. One time I was trying to rescue these kittens from some dumpsters. Three of them I had no problem with picking them up by the scruff and putting them in a carrier. But oh boy, that last one! That little bugger had claws slashing and teeth glaring. I guess he was scared. He turned out to be a great cat though.

BTW I love that avatar.

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the weekend B's & O's

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lofiioKEnC1qzp2x4o1_500.jpg

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lohgcoR5FX1qzp2x4o1_500.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lohg130JKa1qzs75go1_500.jpg

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awwww, I'm glad the otter pup seems to have found a foster mom.

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@MontereyJack,

The bunnies are precious.
The otter video, very good to see.

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@djjd62,

I had no idea that otters were so loving! That is too sweet for words.

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dj, A double dose of B&O. Thanks double. Tres cute.

Rhea:

http://www.garden-city.org/zoo/animalinfo/images/rhea.jpg

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@Roberta,

Good morning Roberta. Agreed on the diabetes inducing otters! High in honey content and very very cute!

That bird has dignity and poise! Very Happy

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@tsarstepan,

More dignity and poise - a llama, high on the Andes at Machu Picchu:

http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/361/overrides/llama-rainbow-machu-picchu_36164_600x450.jpg

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@High Seas,

Stunning picture, High Seas. A llama with an earring, no less.

Looks like animales de Sud America have dignity and poise--at least these two do.

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http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/csm-photo-galleries-images/photos-of-the-day-images/2011/0718/06/10456574-1-eng-US/06_full_600x400.jpg

Quote:

One of the two baby snow leopards, Fala, looks into the camera as they make their debut at the zoo in Warsaw, Poland. The cats were rejected by their mother after they were born in May and are being fed and otherwise cared for by zoo employees.

Czarek Sokolowski/AP

http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2011/Photos-of-the-Day-07-18/(photo)/373934

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@tsarstepan,

http://s-ak.buzzfed.com/static/imagebuzz/web05/2011/7/16/16/arrakisdunedesert-planet-23708-1310848946-3.jpg

Quote:

This is a picture of a hydrothermal worm marine organism taken with an electron microscope. Still, it could be ridden by Muad'Dib if Dune took place at a microscopic scale on the bottom of the ocean next to a hydrothermal vent. Regardless, it's still damn creepy.
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/07/16/walk-without-rhythm.html

The photograph matches perfectly with the song!

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@Roberta,

One of the great mysteries in mathematics is how all these fish - or birds, or other small animals - manage to communicate instantly to move out of the way of a predator; not only do they not crash into each other, they also keep all distances constant at all times. Blacktip reef shark, Maldives:

http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/368/cache/blacktip-reef-shark_36870_990x742.jpg

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@High Seas,

Another great picture, High Seas. The distance business may be a math mystery, but I think instinct is not all that measurable. (Don't know a thing about this stuff.)

One of my favorite pics. A flock of starlings and a peregrine falcon: