Thousands of Starlings Descend on Rigg, Scotland
Thousands of the birds have arrived to roost in the village near Gretna, Scotland, with the sheer weight of numbers causing disruption. Power supplies in the village have been affected by the number of birds perching on electricity cables. Starlings are among the most common of garden birds, and can be spotted in the Borders in “murmurations” throughout the Autumn period.
A murmuration of starlings above the the small village of Rigg, near Gretna, in the Scottish Borders, on November 25, 2013. The weight of the resting birds on power lines caused some power localised power outages in the village. Still one of the commonest of garden birds, its decline elsewhere puts it on the Red List of endangered species. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Wire) Continue reading »
Wet Dogs By Sophie Gamand
In collaboration with Pet Stylist Ruben Santana, Sophie Gamand has photographed dogs as they are being washed before grooming. The way the water plays with their hair, and their facial expressions as the water is poured on them creates striking portraits that resemble famous humans or important characters. Continue reading »
Melanie Faith Dove and Andrew Chapman – ‘Working Dogs’ Book
Photographers Melanie Faith Dove and Andrew Chapman have collaborated on a project about the dogs that work in our outback. ‘Working Dogs‘ book launched on Sunday October 27 at Collingwood Children’s farm here is a collection of their pictures documenting the bonds between farmers and their dogs.
Chocolate or Red Border Collies, Floss and Pepper pup at Vin Stapleton’s Bushfield Property, February 2013. Photo by Melanie Faith Dove Continue reading »
Dog Pageant by Sophie Gamand
The “Doggie moms” are women (and sometimes men) carrying dressed up toy dogs in purses everywhere they go. Through their dogs, they meet regularly, often for animal-related charity events, and for each occasion have their dog wear hundreds of dollars in bedazzled outfits. Continue reading »
Elephant versus Hippo
Wildlife photographer Rian van Schalkwyk captured the spectacular scene as he watched the animals grazing at a safari park in Namibia. They say a mother will do anything for her child – even if it means putting herself in harm’s way. This fully-grown hippo was flipped several feet into the air as she stood her ground against an aggressive elephant bull, giving her calf time to scamper to safety. Amazingly, the mother emerged relatively unscathed from the attack, apparently suffering nothing worse than a little gash on the side of her body and a rather bruised ego. The scene was captured by wildlife photographer Rian van Schalkwyk, 40, at the Erindi Private Game Reserve in Windhoek, Namibia. (Photos by Rian van Schalkwyk/Barcroft Media) Continue reading »
Lythronax Argestes, Newly Discovered Dinosaur, Unveiled in Utah
A new species of tyrannosaur unearthed in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah is revealed at the Utah Museum of Natural History Museum in Salt Lake City, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. Paleontologists unveiled a new dinosaur discovered four years ago that proves giant tyrant dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus rex were around 10 million years earlier than previously believed. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann) Continue reading »
Tiger Cubs Take Swimming Test at Smithsonian National Zoo
The Smithsonian National Zoo’s Sumatran tiger cubs took a swim reliability test at the zoo’s moat in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. The two 13-week-old Sumatran male and female cubs named Bandar and Sukacita, were able to keep their heads above water, navigate to the shallow end of the moat and climb onto dry land, passing this critical step. The cubs are ready to explore the yard with their mother, 4-year-old Damai.
A three-month-old Sumatran tiger cub named “Bandar” reacts after being dunked in the tiger exhibit moat for a swimming test at the National Zoo in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. All cubs born at the zoo must take a swim test before being allowed to roam in the exhibit. Bandar passed his test. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) Continue reading »
Oakland Zoo Feeds Pumpkins to Animals
A tiger plays with a pumpkin at the Oakland Zoo in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 8, 2013. Over the next few months visitors will be able to view animals feasting on and playing with thousands of the leftover donated pumpkins. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group) Continue reading »
Terrifying Portraits of Indonesia’s Street-Performing Macaques
“Terror often stems not from the unknown, but from something familiar that has been subtly – but unmistakably – transformed. This certainly helps explain why Finnish photographer Perttu Saksa’s series, “A Kind of You”, is so unsettling. Saksa, a portrait photographer by trade, was appalled when, traveling in Jakarta in 2012, he first caught sight of macaque monkeys that had been manacled and forced into roles as “actors” in street performances. In the fall of last year, with the help of an Indonesian journalist, Saksa began investigating people known as “monkey masters” – entrepreneurs who train and rent monkeys to beggars. Continue reading »
Thousands of Caimans Thrive in Rio’s Urban Sprawl
In this October 14, 2013 photo, ecology professor Ricardo Freitas releases a broad-snouted caiman after examining it, at the Marapendi Lagoon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Some 5,000 to 6,000 broad-snouted caimans live in fetid lagoon systems of western Rio de Janeiro, conservationists say, and there’s a chance that spectators and athletes at the 2016 Olympics could have an encounter with one, though experts hasten to add that the caimans, smaller and less aggressive than alligators or crocodiles, are not considered a threat to humans. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo) Continue reading »
Tour Guide Feeds 17 Foot Crocodile
To most of us, hand-feeding crocodiles might sound like a one-way ticket to a watery grave. But for Jose Eduardo Chaves Salas, 32, coming within inches of the fearsome creatures’ razor-sharp teeth is all in a day’s work. He runs Jose’s Crocodile River Tour on the Tarcoles River in Costa Rica, where tourists can watch him feed crocs up to 17 feet long.
“At first it’s very scary to be next to these huge creatures in their natural habitat, but with time and practice you lose the nerves and get used to it”, Jose said. The croc whisperers are based in the town of Tarcoles, in Central Pacific Costa Rica, around an hour’s drive from the capital of San José where Jose was born. Despite their terrifying reputation, the Costa Rican is keen to dispel the idea that crocodiles are aggressive and out-of-control. “They are not violent or dangerous if you are knowledgeable about them and know how to work with them”, Jose said.
A tour guide dangles a piece of meat above the open jaws of a crocodile on the banks of the Tarcoles river in Tarcoles, Costa Rica. (Barcroft Media) Continue reading »
Orphaned Wombat Baby and Kangaroo Joey are Best Friends
Opposites can attract and Anzac a doe-eyed baby kangaroo has become best friends with Peggy, a tiny squint-eyed wombat. Their unlikely union developed after the pair – both orphans – shared a pouch at the Wildlife Kilmore Rescue Centre in Victoria, Australia. At just over five months old, Anzac was brought to the centre after being rescued in the Macedon Ranges. The joey is in the mother kangaroo’s pouch for about eight months, depending on the species, but Anzac was abandoned a few months before he was ready to be free. Continue reading »
The Seventh Annual Running of the Wieners – Oktoberfest in Cincinnati
The Running of the Wieners races are the annual kickoff to Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati. 100 dachshunds race to be crowned the winning wiener at the seventh-annual Hillshire Farm Running of the Wieners on Friday, September 19, 2014. In photographs by Jay Murdock. Continue reading »
Snoopy the Cat
Snoopy the Cat (大肥猫宝儿) is one of the most popular cats in the world especially in China. She is an Exotic Shorthair cat with a lovely master that takes pictures of her everyday. Continue reading »
Beluga Whales Create Art in Japan Aquarium
Beluga whales at an aquarium near Tokyo are learning how to paint pictures as part of an autumn art programme for visitors, an official said Wednesday. The sea creatures at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama will be showing off their skills with specially adapted paintbrushes that they can hold in their mouths, a spokeswoman for the aquarium said. A trainer standing on the poolside dips the brush into paint and guides the belugas to produce pictures that bear a passing resemblance to natural scenes. (AFP) Continue reading »
Thousands of Birds Take Flight for the “Snettisham Spectacular”
“The RSPB’s Snettisham Nature Reserve lies on the edge of The Wash, one of the most important bird estuaries in the United Kingdom. The Wash, on England’s east coast, supports over 300,000 birds, and Snettisham sometimes holds more than a third of them.
A few times every year, higher than average tides force thousands of waders, including Knot, Oystercatchers, Sanderlings, Pink-footed Geese, Black and Bar tailed Godwit and Plover, to take flight, and advance up the mud flats in search of food. Dan Kitwood, a photographer for Getty Images, photographed what is one of the most incredible wildlife spectacles in the UK on September 9, 2013”. – The Palm Beach Post
Pink-footed geese fly over the reserve at sunrise. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images via The Palm Beach Post) Continue reading »
Three-legged Cat in Tiny Hats
Comic artist Adam Ellis recently adopted Maxwell, a 3-legged kitten. Here is a series of shots Ellis regularly posts to his Instagram account showing his kitten wearing tiny paper hats. Continue reading »
Nature’s Quiet Assassin: Astonishing Pictures Capture Moment Jaguar has Caiman for Lunch
The jaguar is well-known to biologists working near the Cuiaba river in the Pantanal Wetlands of western Brazil. They’ve nicknamed him Mick. Mick stealthily creeps up on his unsuspecting prey (Picture: Justin Black/Barcroft Media). Continue reading »
222 Golden Retrievers Frolic in a Field in Scotland
The golden retriever and its history were feted by 222 goldens and their masters who gathered from around the globe for a celebration in the breed’s ancestral Scottish Highlands home in July. Hosted by the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland, the festival is held at the abandoned home of Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, who bred the first golden retriever. (Gordon Richardson) Continue reading »
Rare Albino Hedgehogs Babies in a Private Zoo in Moscow
An albino hedgehog baby sits in a plush bed in a private Zoo in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, August 22, 2013. Three rare albino hedgehog babies, born on the same day as Britain’s new prince, have moved into a miniature castle at a Moscow petting zoo. The three are named after the Prince of Cambridge – George, Alexander and Louis. On Thursday, when they turned one month old, they were shown their new home at the All-Russia Exhibition Center. Photos by Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr./AP Photo. Continue reading »
Dogs Ease Namibia’s Cheetah-farmer Conflicts
Gobabis, Namibia – Winding through the parched Namibian farmland, Bonzo, an Anatolian shepherd dog, has a singular focus: protecting his herd of goats from lurking predators. He pads along, sniffing the air and marking the scrubby landscape, just like a bodyguard ready to ward off any threat to his charges, which he considers family. “They’re not pets. They’re not allowed to be pets”, said Bonzo’s owner farmer Retha Joubert. The breed descends from ancient livestock dogs used thousands of years ago in what is now central Turkey. And they not only save sheep and goats, but have handed a lifeline to Namibia’s decimated cheetah numbers by reducing conflicts between farmers and predators. “The dogs are protecting the flock in such a way that the farmers don’t have to kill predators”, said Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) which breeds the dogs near northern city Otjiwarongo. “It’s a non-lethal predator control method so it is green, it’s happy, it’s win-win”.
The concept is simple. The dogs are placed with a flock when a few weeks old to bond with the livestock. They live permanently with the animals, loyally heading out with them every day to deter hunters, and bedding down with them at night. Marker’s centre started breeding the livestock dogs to promote cheetah-friendly farming after some 10 000 big cats – the current total worldwide population – were killed or moved off farms in the 1980s. Up to 1 000 cheetahs were being killed a year, mostly by farmers who saw them as livestock killers. But the use of dogs has slashed losses for sheep and goat farmers and led to less retaliation against the vulnerable cheetah.
Anatolian Shepherd dog Bonzo (L) leads a herd of goats on Retha Joubert’s farm near near Gobabis, east of the capital Windhoek, on August 15, 2013. Five-year old Bonzo is part of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) which breeds the dogs near northern city Otjiwarongo. The dog’s behavior, harnessed in Turkey thousands of years ago, saves sheep and goats. But it has also handed a lifeline to Namibia’s decimated cheetah numbers by reducing conflicts between farmers and predators. The center started breeding the livestock dogs to promote cheetah-friendly farming after some 10,000 big cats – the current total worldwide population – were killed or moved off farms in the 1980s. (Jennifer Bruce/AFP Photo) Continue reading »
Meet Lil Bub
Lil Bub is a female “perma-kitten” house cat born with several genetic mutations causing dwarfism, polydactylism and disformed lower jaw. Bub rose to fame online after her owner Mike Bridavsky began uploading videos of her to YouTube in November 2011. Continue reading »
Foo-Chan – Disappointed Cat
Disappointed Cat aka Foo-Chan is a three-year-old Chinchilla Golden has a heavy-set brow, causing him to appear depressed; his gloomy disposition has gone viral on a Japanese forum, where he’s been praised as “cute, but troubled” or “worried all the time”. Continue reading »
The Serengeti Lion by Michael “Nick” Nichols
Images are from ‘The Serengeti Lion’ on National Geographic’s website.
“Tigers are solitary. Cougars are solitary. No leopard wants to associate with a bunch of other leopards. The lion is the only feline that’s truly social, living in prides and coalitions, the size and dynamics of which are determined by an intricate balance of evolutionary costs and benefits. Continue reading »
Monkey Adopts Kitten
A wild monkey has stunned animal lovers after it adopted an abandoned kitten and cared for it as his own. The young long-tailed macaque monkey was spotted in a forest protectively nuzzling and grooming the ginger kitten, making sure no harm came to it. Continue reading »
