Animals

Picture of the Day

January 10, 2022 Leave a Comment

Ham, the chimp who was the first hominid in space, trained by NASA to operate a capsule in space. His trainer described the moment he was recovered from his capsule following the project – “I have never seen such terror on a chimp’s face”

Ham was born in 1957 in a rainforest in the Central African nation of Cameroon, then a French territory. He was captured and taken to an astronaut school for chimps at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

The astrochimps were trained to pull levers, with a banana pellet as a reward and an electric shock to the feet for failure. The chosen chimp would test life support systems and demonstrate that equipment could be operated during spaceflight. Ham showed great aptitude, and was selected the day before the flight.

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Picture of the Day

August 12, 2021 Leave a Comment

(photo: Dolphin Project)

Lolita, the World’s Loneliest Orca, Has Lived In This Tank For Over 40 Years

In 1970, when she was just four years old, she was captured from her family, the “L”-pod, from the Salish Sea off the coast of Seattle in the Pacific Northwest and sold to the Miami Seaquarium for about $20,000.

She currently resides in the smallest orca tank in the United States. It measures just 80 feet long, 60 feet wide, and a shallow 20 feet deep. Experts note that her tank is so small that it violates the standards of the Animal Welfare Act, legislation that outlines the bare minimum of acceptable standards of care for animals held for exhibition and research.

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Picture of the Day

August 5, 2021 Leave a Comment

This Japanese Pet Penguin named “La La” walked everyday into Town by himself with a Backpack and collected Fish from the Local Fish Market.

A fisherman accidentally caught this penguin stuck in his fishing net and released him back to the sea. But somehow he kept coming back to the boat, so the fisherman brought him home.

They built him a refrigerated room under their house. He accompanied the man to the fish market daily and eventually began making the trip on his own

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Picture of the Day

July 30, 2021 Leave a Comment

You are looking at a parasite called Cymothoa Spingbok – a parasite that severs the blood vessels of a fish’s tongue and becomes a new functional tongue. Only known parasite to replace an entire organ.

Free drifting in the ocean they find a host fish and enter through its gills.

The males attach themselves to the gill arches, until one is old enough to change sex to female.

Thereafter it moves onto the host fishes tongue where it bites on and stops the blood circultion, causing the hosts tongue to disintegrate.

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Picture of the Day

July 20, 2021 Leave a Comment

Before NASA sent a man to space, they decided to send a chimp first. And on January 31, 1961, a chimp named Ham received the dubious "honor" of making this historic trip.⁠

Captured in French Cameroon in 1957, Ham was one of 39 chimps selected for NASA training. He had beaten out all of his competitors with his ability to pull levers quickly, but his preparation for the trip was anything but easy.

He endured hours of avoidance conditioning training, which involved electric shocks to his feet if he didn’t pull levers in time, as well as tests to see whether he could endure the massive g-forces that spaceflight would inflict on his body.⁠

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Picture of the Day

June 9, 2021 Leave a Comment

A wild herd of wandering elephants takes a rest after 500km trek across China

The herd of 15 wild Asian elephants has covered a 500km stretch on a journey that began over a year ago when they left their designated elephant protection zone in Xishuangbanna, near China’s border with Myanmar.

They are believed to be headed northwest, though the reason behind this migration is unknown.

The group took a break on Monday, during which they were captured sleeping together in a patch of forest on the outskirts of southwest China’s Kunming.

Source

Picture of the Day

June 7, 2021 Leave a Comment

In France, Peyo, a 15-year-old stallion, often comes to comfort and soothe terminally ill patients at the Techer Hospital in Calais. The horse always chooses which patient he wants to see, kicking his hoof outside the door

Peyo was originally trained to take part in equestrian shows, but his handler Hassen Bouchakour began to realize his horse had a different calling. After shows, Peyo would pick people out in a crowd and stay close to them. Bouchakour later realized that he was instinctively choosing people that were sick—either physically or mentally. The trainer gave up his career as a showman and decided to embrace Peyo’s special gift in order to help those who need it. Today, Bouchakour works with a therapeutic organization called Les Sabots du Coeur (the clogs of the heart), which is conducting a study of Peyo’s extraordinary abilities.

(story)

Picture of the Day

June 4, 2021 Leave a Comment

This is Eclipse. Every day she leaves her house by herself, and takes the bus downtown to the dog park. She even has her own bus pass attached to her collar.

It all started one day when Jeff Young, Eclipse’s owner, was finishing up a smoke at the bus stop. When he took too long, Eclipse just got on the bus and went to the park without him. The pair lives right in front of the bus stop, so once Eclipse realized she could go whenever she wanted, there really wasn’t any stopping her.

“We get separated. She gets on the bus without me, and I catch up with her at the dog park,” Young told Seattle’s KOMO News. “It’s not hard to get on. She gets on in front of her house and she gets off at the dog park, three or four stops later.”

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Picture of The Day

April 5, 2021 Leave a Comment

A local fisherman in Costa Rica nursed a crocodile back to health after it had being shot in the head, and released the reptile back to its home. The next day, the man discovered “Pocho” had followed him home and was sleeping on the mans porch. For 20 years Pocho became part of the mans family

A kind local man named Chito Shedden stumbled upon the starving, suffering croc. Little did he know, that was the day he’d become the crocodile’s caretaker, guardian angel, and best friend. Chico couldn’t bear to let the crocodile die. He named him Pocho, and dedicated himself to nursing the poor animal back to health. “I just wanted him to feel that someone loved him, that not all humans are bad,” Chito told The Tico Times. “I love all animals, especially ones that have suffered.”

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Picture of the Day

December 11, 2020 Leave a Comment

(photo: PDSA)

Kuno the Belgian Malinois charged through enemy gunfire to save the lives of British soldiers fighting al-Qaeda in Afghanistan is to be awarded the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. During the raid, he tackled a gunman and was hit by bullets in both back legs

The retired British Army Working Dog suffered life-changing injuries while supporting the British special forces fighting Al Qaeda and has now been awarded the Dickin Medal – the highest award any animal can receive within the British military – from the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA).

To put it into human perspective: that’s the animal equivalent of winning the Victoria Cross, the UK’s version of the Medal of Honor.

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Animals

Ham, the chimp who was the first hominid in space, trained by NASA to operate a capsule in space. His trainer described the moment he was recovered from his capsule following the project – “I have never seen such terror on a chimp’s face”

Lolita, the World’s Loneliest Orca, Has Lived In This Tank For Over 40 Years

This Japanese Pet Penguin named “La La” walked everyday into Town by himself with a Backpack and collected Fish from the Local Fish Market.

<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/X3T1RwtR/177614327-2235624126573095-4382962505450503651-n.jpg" alt="" width="700"/>

You are looking at a parasite called Cymothoa Spingbok – a parasite that severs the blood vessels of a fish’s tongue and becomes a new functional tongue. Only known parasite to replace an entire organ.

Before NASA sent a man to space, they decided to send a chimp first. And on January 31, 1961, a chimp named Ham received the dubious "honor" of making this historic trip.⁠

A wild herd of wandering elephants takes a rest after 500km trek across China

<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/wMvjKQKd/h4phgg9gzg271.jpg" width="700" alt=""/>

In France, Peyo, a 15-year-old stallion, often comes to comfort and soothe terminally ill patients at the Techer Hospital in Calais. The horse always chooses which patient he wants to see, kicking his hoof outside the door

<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/MGfR0SW-v/eclipse-the-dog.jpg" width="700" height="700" alt="eclipse the dog"/>

This is Eclipse. Every day she leaves her house by herself, and takes the bus downtown to the dog park. She even has her own bus pass attached to her collar.

A local fisherman in Costa Rica nursed a crocodile back to health after it had being shot in the head, and released the reptile back to its home. The next day, the man discovered “Pocho” had followed him home and was sleeping on the mans porch. For 20 years Pocho became part of the mans family

<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/kgsD7mQd/kuno-dog.jpg" width="700" height="700" alt=""/>

Kuno the Belgian Malinois charged through enemy gunfire to save the lives of British soldiers fighting al-Qaeda in Afghanistan is to be awarded the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. During the raid, he tackled a gunman and was hit by bullets in both back legs