Beautiful Animals

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you, Roberta. As with many who participate in this thread, I want to personally thank you for this special one on a2k that provides us with some of the most amazing animal pictures. This thread gives us a "break" from the politics and religion threads, and give us a moment to contemplate how strange and enchanting this world of ours really is.

So, a million thank you's for starting this thread on Beautiful Animals.

Not the original.

One of the New Yorker writers/bloggers wrote a book about him recently.


Of course Roger thought he was a she, he knows Katy, who has a major personality.

Speaking of dogs....

Wow!

I have a faint memory that you're right, having read Susan Orlean's entire blog at some point, or maybe it was in a written up article.

Happy holiday Roberta.

What is it, Alex (waves)?

c.i., A lovely post. Thanks for the thanks. And happy holidays back atcha.

Roger, Yes, the original. Everything I can find says that the original Rinty was a guy. This from Wikipedia:

Rin Tin Tin was a male German Shepherd dog rescued from a World War I battlefield by an American soldier, Lee Duncan, who nicknamed him "Rinty". Duncan trained Rin Tin Tin and obtained silent film work for the dog.

From the Rin Tin Tin website:

The First Rin Tin Tin

Male
Dark Grey
Born September 10, 1918 (Lorraine France)
Sire: Fritz de la Chasse royale
Dam: Betty des Flandres

Died August 10, 1932

Made 26 films for Warner Brothers pictures and is actually credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy. He and Duncan traveled the US on promotional tours for the studio. Rin Tin Tin died in the arms of Jean Harlow on Duncan"s front lawn and was originally buried at the Duncan home on Clubview Drive. His body was later moved to Paris; France his birthplace. The original Rin Tin Tin was out of Betty des Flandres (22318) and sired by Fritz de la Chasse royale (34596) and whelped on Sept. 10, 1918. The lineage of Rin Tin Tin is also traced to the first registered German Shepherd Dog, Horand, in 1899. Rin Tin Tin served as a Red Cross Dog with his owner Duncan.



This from me. Duncan brought back two German shepherds puppies--a male and a female. The male was Rin Tin Tin. I think the female died.

Osso, I know about that book. Sounds good.

aspvenom: Such a beauty. Run, dog, run.

Gang, Did anyone notice that no bump was necessary to turn the page? (Enter a few bars from the Hallelujah chorus.)

Swans swimming:

alex, Happy holiday to you to. Love the fuzzy bug.

Hello Ossobuco. It is a white american moth.

I Googled "the most beautiful animal in the world." Got lots of PCs, some horses, many birds, some primates, varied and assorted other animals, and a lot of pictures of Ava Gardner.

I picked this one (what a surprise):

Christmas tree worms:

Here’s an adorable baby elephant gallivanting around at the beach

More photos at...
http://io9.com/5971139/heres-an-adorable-baby-elephant-gallivanting-around-at-the-beach/gallery/1

Recovering from thud. No need to apologize for not issuing a warning. That is one cute elephant.

I'm sure I mentioned before that I expended considerable time and energy trying to convince my parents to let me have an elephant. When I wasn't driving them nuts about the elephant, I was noodging them about getting me a horse. No to both. What a deprived childhood I had.

I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. De Mille:

Baby chipmunk:

Cute shot Roberta. What's not to love about a baby chippie!
Sorry for your nonElephant-granting parents. They must have been bullies!

~~
Whale hugs ... I mean fun whale science:
Blue Whale Barrel Roll
http://sciencefriday.com/video/12/07/2012/blue-whale-barrel-roll.html

Thanks for the whale rolling, tsar. Them suckers is big. The first time I saw the model at the Museum of Natural History, I gasped. Questioned whether it was an accurate representation. My father (not a bully) assured me that it was.

Sable:

nice summary about gardening for wildlife, re ermines (does the plural have an s?):
http://www.cwf-fcf.org/en/conservation/wildlife/featured-species/fauna/mammals/ermine.html

Beautiful ermine, Wondering if it's halfway to winter coat and erminehood changing from brown summer coat as stoat.

Plural: ermines