Beautiful Animals

It's a friggin bear - nevermind that it is a panda. It could rip your face off if it really felt like it. Just dumb.

doesn't make the panda any less beautiful...

Never said that.

I saw Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, pandas given the the U.S. by China back in the Nixon days, at the National Zoo in D.C. when I was about 10. They were beautiful, but they were weird too. Ling Ling at one point in her life turned on her handler and gnawed up her leg pretty bad.

You are invading a thread about the beauty of animals, cjhsa. We are all aware of animal behavior. Take your crusade elsewhere, please.

Not invading anything - I've been participating all along on this thread. But posting that is almost as irresponsible as the zoo is for allowing people to come in contact with that bear. That said...the Steelhead are running all over the country right now.

Now back to our regular program, here are a couple more great shots by Collins Cochran.

Male Northern Cardinal


Female Pyrrhuloxia (Gray Cardinal) Here you can see the more parrot like beak that distinguishes the Pyrrhuloxia from the Northern Cardinal.

I agree that I'd like to keep this thread peaceful. However, I do have a comment.

I recently saw a nature program on the Animal Planet in which tiger cubs are hand-raised and then walked around the zoo. People can come up and pet them (not on the head). I questioned the wisdom of this. Wild animals are wild animals. Similar situation with the pandas, except the panda-touchers must pay.

Both programs are geared to helping these terribly endangered animals--through touching and awareness.

So far, nothing untoward has happened in either place. But this makes me noivous. On the other hand, If I had the chance to touch a tiger or a panda, I'd take it. So I guess I'm a fence-sitter on the issue.

I now question the wisdon of my commenting. I would really like to keep this thread as my safe haven. I'm assuming that the matter is over. Hope I'm not wrong.

Mesquite, Wonderful boids. Interesting about the beak. Never knew that. I've come in contact with birds in the parrot family. Very powerful beaks. I assume they need such power for breaking open nuts. But what do I know? Not as much as I'd like. But I keep learning.


Parakeet. I had six of these over the course of my life. Wonderful, smart, amusing, beautiful. And they pack a hell of a bite, which is how I know about the power of the beaks.

(A couple of kiwis should distract everyone)

Thanks, caribou. Thoroughly distracted. Are kiwis the only birds without wings? Doesn't matter. Love dem pix.

Thanks, caribou. Thoroughly distracted. The photos are wonderful.

Roberta, There is a bird in Africa with wings, but does not fly.

Oops. Computer problems. Something came up twice. Didn't think the first message posted. I deleted the reference to the wings in the second post because I checked. Kiwis have vestigial wings.

c.i. There are boids with wings all over the world that don't fly. Ostriches, emus, rheas, penguins, just to mention the ones that popped into my head.

American redstart (in the warbler family):





Greater rhea (South America):

Red corn snake (aka rat snake):





Sable antelope:

California condor:





Harp seal pup:

Roberta, I know about those flightless birds you listed. I'm trying to think of the bird in South Africa that doesn't fly.

c.i., I did a google search on flightless birds. The only other one I could find is the cassowary. It's native to New Zealand and Australia.

Is there another?

Dont think the cassowary is native to NZ if indeed it exists there in the wild. cassowary is a tropical bird. Also quite a dangerous bird.

Did you mean New Guinea?

Let's don't forget the Guam Rail



This flightless bird nearly became extinct with the accidental introduction of the Brown tree Snake which has become quite a pest on the Island.

Thanks, mesquite. Didn't know about the rail. And the snake and boid shot appears to be indoors.


Zebra finch:





Zebrafish:





Zebra mussel:





Zebra: