although they have a reputation as scavengers, hyenas are known to take down prey many times bigger than they are
Tag: animals
mysleepykisser-with-feelings-hid:
Narwhals in sea ice, shot from an ultralight plane on floats in the
Arctic Bay of Baffin Island. It took six weeks and a series of disasters
before the moment when a group of males taking a breath within a
teardrop area of water surrounded by a pattern of melting ice.By
Paul Nicklen(via theguardian)
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2007
Dogs in Elk
A first-hand account (originally from a Salon.com message board circa 1999) of a woman whose two primitive-type dogs – a Basenji and a New Guinea Singing Dog – found an elk carcass, holed up inside it, and refused to leave it.
An assorted list of my favorite excerpts:
“It’s way too primal in my yard right now.”
- “If ever they come out, catching them and returning them to a condition where they can be considered house pets is not going to be, shall we say, pleasant.”
- “What if you stand the ribcage on end, wait for them to look out, grab them when they do and pull?” “They wedge their toes between the ribs. And scream.”
“Sometimes, sleep is a mistake, no matter how tired you are. And especially if you are very very tired, and some of your dogs are outside, inside some elks.”
- in a follow-up story about a basenji who got his head stuck inside a Thanksgiving turkey, while his two basenji friends gnawed on the outside. “I sent it in to one of the dog magazines but they did not print it, they said it was ‘too contrived.’ Obviously they did not know anything about basenjis.’
“My mother has gotten multiple copies [of this story] from friends, asking if my dogs are *really* that out of control.”
It’s brilliant, and I am so glad it exists on the internet.
Octopuses are going to kill us all someday
I had a biology teacher that told us this story about an octopus at an aquarium in Australia. The staff were concerned because their population of crustaceans kept disappearing. No bodies or anything. So they checked the video feed to find out what’s up.
Across from the the crustacean tank was a small octopus tank. This little fucker squeezed out of a tiny hole at the top of his tank, walk across the hall, and get into the crustacean tank. He would then hunt and eat. After he was done, he crawled back out and get back in his tank
Here’s the kicker: security guards patrolled the area. The staff realized that the octopus had memorized the security’s routine. It would escape and be back between the guards’ round.
My friend who worked at Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska had a similar story. Rare fish were disappearing, they suspected theft, and so set up a camera. An octopus was unlocking the top of its tank, walking across the suspended walkway, unlocking the other tank, eating his fill, re-locking the other tank, then re-locking its own tank.
I can’t remember what zoo this happened at, but there was another octopus somewhere who was unscrewing a water valve in the room where its tank was located and routinely flooding the place. The staffers had no idea what it was until they filmed the octopus caught in the act.
RELEASE THE KRAKEN!! But, sir, it has already released itself!
Octopus Steals Video Camera, Films Own Escape
Octopus Escapes from Tank to Prowl on its Neighbors
Octopus Escape — 600-pound (272-kilogram) octopus wriggles through a passageway the size of a quarter
Legging It: Evasive Octopus Has Been Allowed to Look for Love
My dad worked in a lab and one of the rooms had a tank with an octopus in it. If they didn’t go play with the octopus he got bored and would climb out of his tank and steal the paperwork off the desks, and drag stuff into his tank to let the scientists know he was upset with them.
I am going through the archives of @why-animals-do-the-thing and the fact that half the asks they get are “help!! my cat does [behavior], how can I train him to stop doing [behavior]???” and the response is INVARIABLY “he’s a cat, just keep whatever he was doing [behavior] with out of his reach/keep him away from [area]/don’t buy any more [item]/etc”
like. kiddos. your faith in that blog’s magical solutions is touching but….. cats are going to be cats no matter how hard you want there to be a cheat code that makes them biddable and easy to train
A Pretty Taste for Paradox 