The fun encyclopedia of animals is here! See pictures, wallpapers and videos and read fun reviews of products for animals, how tos, and fun stories about our animal friends here.
Proving once again that it’s the size of bark inside the dog that really matters, a tinie winnie Pekingese (or Peke) dog that goes by the name of “Malachy” was crowned the top dog at the recently concluded Westminster Dog Show 2012 held at no less than the Madison Square Garden in New York.
The Peke won the coveted silver bowl but it didn’t win any cas. However, the dog can now happily retire while banking on his prestige and breeding potential.
In Germany, Baby wholeheartedly treated 6 wild boar piglets as if they were her own flesh and blood. The catch? Baby is a French bulldog. This makes her now adopted babies about the same size as her.
Regardless of whatever differences, Baby immediately nurse the shaking 3-day old piglets and kept them warm to the best of her ability.
The poor parentless piglets are now at the Lehnitz animal sanctuary after they have been luckily found helplessly on the forest. Norbert Damm, a caretaker in the sanctuary believes the mother of the piglets is likely to have been killed by hunters leaving them alone in the forest. The piglets will now have to stay with their new mommy and be bottle fed up until they are big enough to eat on their own. By then, they will have to be freed to a reserve.
Call it motherly instinct if you must, it’s still a feel-good-leaves-a-warm-feeling-in-your-tummy kind of story to me and is more than worth spreading.
What’s more dangerous? Eating cholesterol-filled chicken McBites, or petting a stray pit bull? Over the past days, people have been raving about a radio commercial launched by Mcdonalds that, according to some folks, singles out the dangers a pit bull carries.
The commercial raised so much rage from pet owners that negative comments flooded popular social media sites like Facebook and even on video streaming sites like Youtube. It was pet-sitting business owner, Rachelle Lizarraga, who started the campaign against the offensive ad on facebook. She named it, “Pit Bulls Against McDonald’s” which called for the stop of the ad circulation. She also spread her movement on Twitter. Its presence in social media sites was so powerful that McDonalds immediately pulled out the ad and publicized an apology, stating that “it was never their intent to offend anyone.”
However, supporters were not satisfied with the fast food chain’s explanation and demanded that the pits be included in the next commercial.
If you take a closer look at the message this commercial is trying to say, you may think that these dog advocates are just a little bit over reacting. We do understand their point against the image media can leave on these “dangerous” dogs. No doubt about that. Contrary to their belief, the commercial is not singling out pits as risky breeds compared to eating their genetically engineered chicken nuggets.
If we review the commercial’s message that eating their Mcnuggets is far more safer than laying a hand on a stray dog and risk yourself getting bit, or giving out your password on your facebook account and risk being a victim of identity theft, or as what the commercial put it, “naming your son sue” – all of them are literally dangerous compared to just sitting in a comfortable restaurant munching on food (artery clogging cholesterol on the side)
Research tells us that pit bulls do have dangerous bites among all dog breeds, however they do not attack people without any reason. Experts that pits are not necessarily aggressive, and its aggression will always root back to its owner and his environment.
We can’t blame people for being concerned for dogs. That’s why this ad made a bad first impression on them. However it would be wise to understand the message first before launching a nation-wide campaign, don’t you think?
A toyger is a designer cat that has a coat reminiscent of a tiger’s. Toyger cats can have a variation of patterns and colors but must meet standards in order for it to be named pure breed. This new kind of feline was first started in 1980 and has since become popular.
Started by Judy Sugdgen out of curiosity, she used a tabby cat (or a common domestic cat) and an Asian Leopard Cat (otherwise known as the Bengal cat) in order to produce a bigger-bodied offspring. The Bengel cat was imported from India and is seen in other Asian countries like the southern Philippines, Indonesia, China and Siberia.
Toyger cats are often owned by rich people and cost ten thousand dollars. Possession of one needs a licensed registration from the International Cat Association (TICA) for authenticity. Breeders of this species come from UK, Canada and Australia.
There are lots of breeders out there who sell toygers in the net, but only authentic species will have the following distinctions: body stripes should be bold and not uniform. The pattern should be aligned in a vertical direction and must have circle marks on the tail, legs and neck. There should be facial stripes on the head, and the color must range from black, brown and tan. The more bright pumpkin looking its coat, the better.
Currently, Development on breeding these feline species is ongoing. Its breed was formally recognized by The International Cat Association or TICA in the early 1980s.
Over the years, the development of its breed has drastically improved. In mid 1980s, A Millwood Rupled Spotskin toyger was dubbed the foundation of the toyger breed. In 2002, a cat named Warwhoop had stripes closest to the wild animal with its rustic fur. Breeders are looking towards producing a much more tiger like appearance in the future.
Regardless of its luxurious cost, owning one would be a unique experience I wouldn’t mind having, won’t you?
The Angora rabbit is a furry coat animal bred mostly for its wool. It may be hard to believe that it’s a kind of rabbit because of its unusual look. Compared to its ordinary cousins, they have as much fur on their skin as a sheep has and are used to make yarns and clothing for the winter.
Their wool-generating DNA has been developed over years of habitation in the icy weathers of Angora, Turkey, thus the name Angora rabbit.
Angora rabbits come in known eight breeds: Satin, Giant, English, French, German, Chinese, Swiss and Finnish. Among them, only four are recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association. These are first four mentioned (German, French, English, Giant and Satin)
Generally their fur is soft and silky. Each breed carries different characteristics like color and the volume of coat. The English ones have broken black spots, and may resemble the common stuffed toys like the teddy bear or dog.
When it comes to superiority in hair size, the French breed is an exceptional choice. The coat beneath its wool makes them look thicker.
The German ones are not recognized by the ARBA. They are commonly found in the US and Canada. These have different eye color from blood shot red to albino. It looks the same with the Giant Angaro.
Meanwhile the Satin breed have silk-like fibers, which is wonderfully soft and wonderful to look at. It is thinner and semi-transparent. The yield of wool is much lower in these type.
The last but not the least, the Giants. Giants are the biggest of the Angora rabbits. They have been produced to make the much sought after wool. The quality of wool is ranked from first to fourth depending on its cleanliness the absence of shine.
It is truly fascinating what these wooly bunnies can contribute to mankind. In the absence of sheep, they make great alternatives to keeping warm during the cold seasons, don’t you think?
So you think only us humans are mad about football?! Think again! Check out this furry and naturally lovable domestic cat effortlessly putting a smile on thousands of football fans when it decided its high time it bashes on the limelight! And what better way to be limelight bashing than in a Liverpool vs Tottenham!
As what one comment in Youtube said, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KITTEN ME"! Enjoy my fellow animal lovers!
You’ve
seen walruses in encyclopedias and on TV. These are big whiskered
marine creatures that live in Antarctica. If you’ve watched Adam
Sandler’s movie, 51st dates, you can recall a smart walrus obeying his
command at the beginning of the film. Well, that’s just how smart and
trainable a few are, just like this particular one named Sara who can
play the saxophone! Hard to believe but it’s all over the news and the
internet.
In
a youtube video uploaded, Sara can be seen delighting audiences by
playing the saxophone, and performing other tricks. This walrus is not
like any other of its specie. This one can imitate its trainer, blows a
whistle (with a railway platform conductor costume to go with it) and
plays catch (receives a rose being thrown at her)
During
an exhibition, the happy flipper merrily played a tune that caught
audiences in awe. Spectators were even more surprised when she mimicked
the bored expression of her trainer. The sea creature is fond (and
very good at) playing ball games.
She
fast became an attraction at the newly-opened Turkish Dolphinarium in
Istanbul. Thanks to her human like skills, the Dolphinarium has quickly
become a tourist attraction in the Turkish city.
Some
people might argue that it’s inhumane what folks are doing to animals
like Sara. They are concerned about the possibility of cruelty while
training or during performance and question their captivity to do tricks
for spectators for the rest of their lives. However, caretakers and
owners of these establishments defend that some if not most, have been
saved from poaching or any dangers encountered while being in their own
habitat, given an unmonitored few who hunt and kill these animals.
I
don’t have anything against animals that perform, as long as they are
treated well. Having done a little research, I’m pretty sure this one
is taken good care of. Being such an interesting animal, wouldn’t it be
fun to see this flipper perform amazing tricks before your eyes?
It
has the buttocks and legs of a zebra and the head of a giraffe. Could
it be the offspring of both? Unfortunately, not. The Okapi, as what it
is formally known, is a close relative of the giraffe and lives in the
Ituiri Rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It
was once described by 1887 English discoverer Henry Morton Stanley as a
type of donkey with striped backsides that dwell in the woodlands. Its
etymological name is Okapia Johnstoni, as derived from its etymological
christener Sir Harry Johnston, who was a British governor of Uganda.
Harry
Johnston was intrigued by the animal after reading Morton’s book about
his trip to Central Africa. He then gained knowledge of the species
after saving native inhabitants of the area called “pygmies” from a
showman who kidnapped them for display. Although he never had actually
seen the okapi, he collected some bones and officially named its species
in 1901.
Their name “Okapi” originally means forest giraffe in Sudan language. It is also known as the “African Unicorn”.
The
Okapi’s diet varies from fruits, berries, to plants poisonous to human
beings. Okapis have long bluish-grey tongues that sometimes reach their
ears to help groom themselves. They are diurnal, which means they feed
in both nighttime and daytime. What’s more interesting about them is
that they can live up to fifteen years in captivity. They are solitary
creatures whose habitat is slowly being endangered due to the vast
property developments by humans.
Okapis
generally have giraffe characteristics like large ears, small horns and
short manes. Their necks are relatively shorter than their cousins,
just as they are smaller. They stand at about 5 feet, and weigh between
four hundred fifty to five hundred fifty pounds (or up to two hundred
fifty kilograms).
It would be interesting to see one personally, don’t you agree?
There’s
an interesting story from China where a dog lover adopts a thousand and
a half dogs and two hundred cats. Two hundred cats. Can you imagine
that number of felines and canines to feed everyday?
Ha
Wen Jin is a middle aged owner of the pet shelter in Nanjing. The
“amazing animal shelter” was featured on LIFE magazine in 2006. The
column praised her resourcefulness in keeping her shelter alive.
Her
story is really quite amazing. It first started with a few dogs, and
gradually more was added until the number grew to a thousand and a half.
In order to take care of these dogs, Wen Jin reportedly had to resign
from her job and even sell her house and jewelry – imagine that. She is
truly a one of a kind person. Who would want to give up her job, sell
her house and live with hundreds of muts? Some people might even think
she is out of her mind to live on donations to stay alive.
Yes,
her shelter lives solely on the donations given by kind hearted folks.
Yet, all she can think of is preserving her beloved animal shelter. She
once mentioned that she wanted to adopt all stray animals she can find.
Whoa, that’s a lot to handle.
It
is a good thing that there are helpful volunteers that come in and help
her take care of her animals. These assistants usually visit once a
week to help her feed and check on their health. They also helped
transport her thousand plus dogs and two hundred cats to a new shelter
outside of Nanjing after the government claimed the property the
sanctuary was on.
It
is reported that her family of cats and dogs has doubled in number. Her
deep interest to keep her shelter alive is truly really admirable.
Don’t you think?
