Beautiful Animals

HARUMPH!! WELL THAT'S NOT FAIR ROBERTA! YOU CHEAT!!

Too cute!
((((thud))))

tsar, Watched a program on Animal Planet last night called Too Cute Kittens. It gave me strength. It won't last. I could be rethuddified at any moment.

Baby meerkats (and I'm feeling a bit shaky):

This is part of an interesting slide show by animal behaviour scientist Jonathan Balcombe -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2011/jul/25/happy-animals-jonathan-balcombe-in-pictures#/?picture=377102537&index=0


Photograph: Brandi Saxton


Norway rat
"Animals share many of the same physiological and biochemical responses to sensory events. Pleasure and reward are generated by brain circuits that are largely similar in humans and in other vertebrates. Highly social and tactile, rats make excellent companions. This rat, named Delphiniums Blue for his colouration, enjoys receiving friendly tickles and tweaks from his human guardian. Studies by American scientists show that rats come running to be tickled, making ultrasonic chirps. Imaging studies show patterns of brain activity strikingly similar to our own when we are laughing"

Fascinating and quite believable assumptions that animals in fact experience joy, comfort, and happiness. Great slideshow! Thanks Osso!

Any of us who've lived with animals know they have emotions. And over the past few years more and more scientists are coming to the same conclusions.

Thanks, osso, for the wonderful pics.

the daily B & O

there is nothing more amazing than seeing a nest of bunnies, and the heat that radiates out of it is unreal

i tell's, ya, i'm innocent

so rats emit ultrasonic chirps when they're delighted, how cool is that.

Tsar and Roberta - I loved the slideshow myself, but had trouble figuring out the first photo -


Photograph: Vivien Jones

Grey-headed flying fox
"Life in the wild is often viewed as an earnest struggle to survive, but evidence is rapidly accumulating that animal life holds great potential for joy. Nature rewards behaviour that promotes success in animals because of its evolutionary advantages, but this underlying reason for the reward doesn't stop these successful behaviours themselves being enjoyable. Here, a mother grey-headed flying fox jousts playfully with her five-month old pup. Play is an important tool for developing physical strength, coordination, and social skills. But animals don't ponder evolutionary adaptation – like us, they play for fun"


Is all the black stuff a mix of the foxes' footies?

Oh! bunny heat!

osso, It's their wings.

Thanks, kid.

Happy to oblige.

Bats live in a cave during the day. They're heading out to hunt at sunset.



Bats eat insects. Lining the edges of the cave entrance are snakes that try to grab a rodent on it's way out. A feast for all--except maybe the bugs. It's a dog eat dog world, so to speak.

Saw a show on PBS last night about black mambas. The narrator said that before the advent of antivenom, the mortality rate for those bitten by black mambas was 100 percent. That seemed a bit high to me. Checked this out in two other sources. Both said that the mortality rate (without treatment) is 100 percent.

I would love to have a bat for a pet but certainly would shy away from having a black mamba as one. Go figure....



http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/07/22/138604044/heres-how-an-injured-tortoise-rolls?ps=sh_stcatimg

the daily B & O

dj, I don't think that bunny likes the camera. Hey, bunny. Lighten up.

Angel shark:

http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2011/Photos-of-the-day-08-01/(photo)/376543

A Richardson's ground squirrel takes in the action from second tee during the Telus Skins Game golf tournament in Banff, Alberta.
~ Photograph: Jeff McIntosh/AP

Hopefully the squirrel got a few autographs.

It's really entranced by the game, though!