The Flying Fox (Pteropus) is the largest bat in the world with a wingspan of up to six feet. As the name suggests, the head resembles that of a small fox because of the small ears and large eyes. They are found in Pulau Ubin, one of the islands off mainland Singapore.The picture above is of a Pemba Flying Fox, a species of Pteropus. Information here.
O_O
That’s fucking gorgeous!
omg whut
I don’t have a problem with bats usually, but holy shit, this is going to haunt my nightmares
Image description: This composite image shows a single male hummingbird diving to a female. His tail feathers are spread to make a loud sound at the bottom. This courtship display is unusual because it features sound created with feathers instead of chirps or other vocalizations.
The image is part of research on feathers and sound taking place at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University and supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Image courtesy of NSF.
usagov is one of my favorite tumblrs even though i totally don’t understand why they get some of the askboxes they do. but they answer them in really helpful ways!
In a simple experiment, researchers at the University of Chicago sought to find out whether a rat would release a fellow rat from an unpleasantly restrictive cage if it could. The answer was yes.
The free rat, occasionally hearing distress calls from its compatriot, learned to open the cage and did so with greater efficiency over time. It would release the other animal even if there wasn’t the payoff of a reunion with it. Astonishingly, if given access to a small hoard of chocolate chips, the free rat would usually save at least one treat for the captive — which is a lot to expect of a rat.
The researchers came to the unavoidable conclusion that what they were seeing was empathy — and apparently selfless behavior driven by that mental state.
I’m on research leave from my college this year in order to write a book that explores one central question: Do non-human animals grieve?
My answer is yes, they do.
It’s refreshing to answer a scholarly question without equivocation. Most often, I can’t do that. When anthropologists reconstruct how prehistoric peoples lived based on their material artifacts, or theorize about how monkeys and apes think about the world based on their behavior, disclaimers of what we can’t know often crowd out solid answers.
But from a combination of observation, evolutionary logic, reading the peer-reviewed science literature, and talking to insightful animal people, I’m convinced that animals may feel deep grief when another animal dies. Not all species, to be sure; if spiders and snails are ever found to grieve, I’d be the first to express astonishment. But I do mean more than only the usual suspects, more than the apes, elephants and cetaceans.
Image description: The National Zoo’s seven lion cubs celebrated their first birthday with a 50-pound “cake” in the shape of the number one. The cake was made of ice and shaved beef. The cubs also enjoyed gift boxes wrapped with special paper products and held together with a “paste” made of flour and water. Inside each box was an individual-sized frozen treat made of ice and beef. You can find more photos and video of the party at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
Photo by: Mehgan Murphy, Smithsonian’s National Zoo
did you know that one of these cubs is named ASLAN?
Last night, lions, bears, tigers and other dangerous animals escaped from a preserve in Zanesville, OH. The local police have warned residents to stay indoors — and remain alert.
Just reblogging to point out that the “posse” out hunting the animals has killed more than 35 animals so far. So far I haven’t seen a single report of any of them being recaptured unharmed.
About five to ten seconds before the quake, many of the apes, including Kyle (an orangutan) and Kojo (a western lowland gorilla), abandoned their food and climbed to the top of the tree-like structure in the exhibit.
About three seconds before the quake, Mandara (a gorilla) let out a shriek and collected her baby, Kibibi, and moved to the top of the tree structure as well.
Iris (an orangutan) began “belch vocalizing”—an unhappy/upset noise normally reserved for extreme irritation—before the quake and continued this vocalization following the quake.
I don’t support the use of fur but for fuck’s sake — this is why I could never get behind an organization like PETA. Let’s use sexist slurs in our slogans. Let’s practice slut-shaming while we’re at it. That’s really productive! Not. Seriously, animal rights’ activists should find that the facts speak for themselves without this kind of disgusting, misogynous attack of female celebrities. Women are no more deserving of mistreatment than animals are. Fuck PETA.
PETA is really dedicating itself to being as hateful as possible every time they do anything, aren’t they? Ugh.
For me the incredible misogyny and other assorted -isms that PETA propagates, while horrible and offensive as all hell, is nothing in comparison to their zeal for euthanizing rescue animals. They reported to the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2007 that they’d euthanized 94% of the animals they “rescued”. THAT’S MORE THAN 3000 ANIMALS IN ONE YEAR IN VIRGINIA ALONE. They do virtually no outreach in order to find homes for these animals. You don’t see them exploiting their celebrity supporters in order to drive adoption campaigns. Instead, they use naked women (in images and in the flesh) to promote their fashion-/slut-/carnivore-shaming and body policing agenda, while continuing to collect animals who will literally have no other options but death.
PETA doesn’t believe that animals should exist in any circumstances but those they personally dictate, and they’re willing to kill in order to “save” them. It’s a disgusting propaganda machine with a leadership that’s publicly supported everything from stealing pets out of people’s homes to human eugenics. If you’re concerned with animal rights, your time and energy are going to do a lot more good pretty much EVERYWHERE ELSE, including your local SICSA, SPCA or Humane Society shelter, which with enough financial and volunteer support can become no-kill if it isn’t already.
