more cool nature photos...

Sperm Whale Eats a Giant Squid! (click through for more photos)

Snake eyes, everyone loses.

The above photo shows the aftermath of a fight between a 13' python and a 6' alligator in Florida's Everglades in 2005. Apparently the python swallowed the alligator whole and began to digest it, inspiring the alligator to claw at the insides of the snake. In the end both animals were dead, and as can be seen in the picture above, the hindquarters of the alligator were sticking out of the python. (In case the image is too small to be meaningful: the scaly thing sticking toward the lower-right corner of the picture is the alligator's tail, while the other two points are the ends of the torn-in-half python. This just adds another item to each of two lists: 1. Reasons no one should live in Florida until they are old enough that they can't leave the house; and, 2. Reasons I am not cut out for any kind of wilderness adventure.

Cats!

Two cat-related stories:

1. The owners of a Kansas zoo allowed their pet golden retriever to raise three white-striped tiger cubs [note: this is the term used in the article I read, though it doesn't really seem right; the animals have black stripes, not white ones] who were abandoned by their mother. The family, seen above, is now being split apart because the cubs have grown large enough that even just playing with the dog the cubs could severely injure her. There are some pretty cute pictures in this slideshow. This MSNBC report includes video:

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2. Riana Van Nieuwenhuizen, an animal sanctuary worker in South Africa, lives "[...] with not one but FOUR orphaned cheetahs, five lions and two tigers. Forty-six-year-old Riana said: 'I love them all. But they're a handful.'" All of the pictures below are shot at her home, where the animals seemingly have free reign.

Crows may knock the great apes down a peg.

As some of you may know, it was shown recently that magpies are self-aware (this was done using the mirror test). This put the bird amongst the small group of animals that fall into this category: "great apes (bonobos, chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas, humans), bottlenose dolphins, Orcas, elephants, and European Magpies" (stolen from Wikipedia).

Now crows, a relative of magpies in the corvids family ("a group that includes crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays and magpies" (BBC)), are making a run for the title of smartest animal around. Check out this article by the BBC that discusses tool use and other evidence of meaningful thought within New Caladonian crow communities. If you look at nothing else, check out the first video, in which a crow picks up a straight length of wire, bends it to create a hook on one end, and then uses this newly created tool to reach a bucket of treats at the bottom of a small shaft.

And if you are still interested in finding out more about crows check out this TED talk on the subject of useful things we may be able to train crows to do.

Science Friday

The abilities of tapping/dancing to music and being able to mimic sounds are related in the brain say researchers. Here's a great video of a cockatoo rocking out to the Backstreet Boys. It's definitely worth a watch, provided you can handle all the high-pitched ear-wrenching screeching (not to mention the birds' wails).

cuteness overload

flip through the whole slideshow. trust me.

Horny Manatee, a new venture for NBC

In December 2006 NBC purchased the rights to the domain name HornyManatee.com. Seriously. Conan O'Brien made up the name during a skit on his show, and NBC decided to purchase the domain name to avoid being associated with content of which the network did not approve. So they posted this content instead. Take the tour. I cannot believe how many categories were created. Enjoy.

So it looks like stepping-on-a-kitten porn is illegal

Here's an interesting story about the intersection between animal cruelty and free speech (that intersection is, in fact, pornography. yeah, ew). Here's the gist:

"...In 1999, Congress made it a crime to sell “crush videos” and almost all other depictions of unlawful cruelty to animals.

The conduct itself is disgusting, of course. But the law does not criminalize the cruelty, which was already illegal in all 50 states, only its depiction. By making such expressions illegal — adding a new category of speech to the very few that are entirely unprotected under the First Amendment — the law raised profound constitutional questions about whether and when the government can decide that some sorts of information have no social value at all...

...The law does contain an exception for materials of “serious religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, historical or artistic value.” But Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the exception was small comfort. “What constitutes serious value,” Professor Volokh said, “is very much in the eye of the beholder.”"

Gotta agree with Volokh, whose name sounds like Harry Potter character's to me, on this one. And making it a crime to sell videos depicting illegal acts sounds like a very slippery slope.

Also, the article ends with, "[the chief counsel of the Human Society] provided a reporter with links to two examples, one involving a kitten, the other a puppy. May you never see them." Ew.

My turn

OK, if Bart gets to post cute animals (which I haven't looked at yet) then, even at the risk of being that crazy guy who likes cats, I'm taking a turn, too.

These are my two cats, Pax (the tigerish one) and Rex (the pantherish one). They're both in the 8-9 month range. I swear this wasn't my intention; I needed pictures off my camera for a project, but as I was going through them (277 of 'em) I couldn't help but appreciate these few.

Animals!

None of these deserve their own post, so I decided to do a list of links. Enjoy.

The Pug Head Tilt.
The stealth cat.
Panda sneeze.
Laser kitty.
Octopus escaping through a one-inch hole.
Cute puppy howling.
Panda escape.
Raccoon steals carpet.
Best friends (duckling and puppy).
Cat eats with fork and chopsticks.
Tired cat one.
Tired cat two.
Sleepy bear in China.
Pathetic baby panda.
Puppies vs. cat.
Christian the Lion.
Jessica the Hippo.

That's all for now. My main goal was to ensure that I was not regularly posting animal videos, which can become quite annoying for the recipients. Congratulations to anyone who makes it through all of these.

Live Puppy Cam!

I have to share this with everyone I know.

It's a live puppy cam!