The finalists of the UK's International Garden Photographer of the Year award have just been announced.
Garden tiger moth close-up by Paul Keene
This picture of a garden tiger moth (Arctia caja) was taken in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. The caterpillars of this moth feed on nettles, so if you want these moths to be a feature in your garden, then keep a rough, uncultivated patch
(via Look at This)
Thursday, April 30, 2009
International Garden Photographer of the Year
Fursday Fun
from flickr, by annbananne
from funny pets
from randompictures
from Flickr, by Tambako the Jaguar
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The four faces of the Bengal tiger
Displayed for the first time in a specially constructed studio in South Carolina, The Four Faces of the Bengal Tiger show the four varieties of Bengal tiger.
"There are only four distinct types of Bengal tiger in the world and they are all in this amazing photo shoot," says Dr Bhagavan Antle of The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S), who brought these majestic animals to the studio.
Dr Antle believes the images give away the characteristics of behaviour, age and personality of each tiger. "Like human photographs, you can see the difference in their age as some of them look a little more grizzled and haggard than others."
See all 18 photos
Photograph: Barry Bland/Barcroft Media
Monday, April 27, 2009
Is there one in your walls?
Hundreds of years ago cats were put into walls to ward-off "bad luck".
A 400-year-old mummified cat has been found in the walls of a house that was being renovated in Devon. The remains of the creature were found in one of the bathrooms at the house in Ugborough.
The owner of the house said the cat would be put back where it was found when the renovation is completed.
Source
Sunday, April 26, 2009
A dog-friendly car from Honda
Now, at a time when much of the auto industry is going to the dogs, Honda is actively chasing dogs. The company has designed a Dog Friendly version of its Element, a vehicle that was shown at this month's New York Auto Show. Honda says the vehicle will go on sale this fall. The special package likely will contain:
- A cushioned pet bed in the cargo area on an elevated platform.
- An extendable loading ramp. (Did you ever try and lift a Shepherd into an SUV?)
- A 12-volt rear ventilation fan.
- Second row seat covers in a dog-pattern that matches the pet bed fabric.
- A spill-resistant bowl and all-season rubber mats with a bone pattern.
- Special Edition emblems.
Source
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Caturday funnies
from Miezenkatzen
from horklog(some entries here NSFW)
from Dilidoo
from I have seen the whole of the internet
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Today's awwww
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Cute or not? jumping spider
This new jumping spider species, Orthrus sp., was found in a Papua-New Guinea rainforest during the 2008 expedition.
(Conservation International/© Wayne Maddison )
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Apple Bird Feeder
This delightful apple bird feeder will be the place to hang out for all your neighborhood's cool birds. Eco-friendly design made from Bamboo.
$25.00 at Satinbox
The Wiener Cleaner
Luxurious triple-milled couture soap sets an elegant tone in your home or in the home of a lucky giftee!
Soaps are beautifully rendered to look just like the breed you love, right down to the finest detail, and distinctively fragranced. Mild, pure, vegetable-based soap. Each arrives in an ornately patterned box with ribbon. Made in USA.
$12.99 at In The Company of Dogs
(via The Long and Short of it All)
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Very cute website intro
I don't generally like long, flash intros for websites, but this one, for the Hungarian Post Office, is exceptionally well done and interesting.
A wedding dress for the birds
If you want to stand out on your wedding day, this dress made up of 2009 peacock feathers could be just the ticket.
The $1.5million creation was made at a wedding dress factory and took eight workers 40 days to sew together.
An average male peacock sheds around 200 feathers during his annual moult – meaning the makers would have had to have harvested the feathers from more than ten birds over the course of a year.
Source
Fursday Fun
Source
Albert J Valentino / NBP Zoolife Winner
Zainal Abd Halim / Reuters
Alanah M. Torralba / EPA
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Just trying to feed the bears
A polar bear attacked a woman at Berlin Zoo Friday afternoon after she climbed a fence and jumped into its habitat during feeding time.
The woman was severely injured and was being treated at a hospital. It's unclear why the woman entered the bear habitat, but police issued her a citation for trespassing.
Source
(via Blame it on the Voices)
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
It's official
The identity of the first puppy leaked out Saturday.
The little guy is a six-month-old Portuguese water dog given to the Obama girls as a gift by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Malia and Sasha named it Bo.
Source
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Waldorf Baby Bunnies
These tiny little bunnies (2.5" and 2.25") are knit from hand spun grey angora yarn so they have real bunny fur but won't hop away!
They are stuffed with clean wool and have embroidered wool felt ears. Completely handmade,this sweet set is so soft and fluffy. They would make a wonderful gift for the child, spinner or bunny lover on your list. These are traditional Waldorf style bunnies made completely of natural fibers, great for a nature table or doll play.
At Etsy by fairiesnest.
Little Gray Rabbit
entirely handmade from vintage angora sweaters filled with lambswool love (and a lucky penny in the belly for even MORE luck)
approx 7 inches in height
bendy legs
snaps on paws so he can sit in this thinking pose
each comes with signed tag by the artist
at etsy by Makeitawesome
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Fursday Fun
from I have seen the whole of the internet
from FidoJournalism
from Fetching Dog Collars blog
from Flickr, by kimberlyrenee
Dog fight in Texas
A mother and daughter are in the middle of a custody battle in Galveston County over a two-year-old Chihuahua. Both say the dog should belong to them.
The daughter says, "Me and my mother went out one day and got really intoxicated and we wrote up a contract for the dog that I would sell her the dog."
The mother tells a different story.
Source
Hairy, scary and looking for love
More than 30 species of the highly dangerous funnel web spider exist throughout Australia.
The best known is the Sydney funnel web spider, Atrax robustus, which is found only within a 160 km radius of Sydney.
The male is more dangerous than the female, which is unusual in the spider world. The male Sydney funnel web is also Australia's most dangerous spider, capable of causing death in as little as 15 minutes.
Photo: R. Lowe, AVRU
Recent heavy rains in the Sydney area are causing these creatures to emerge from their burrows in search of mates.
The general manager of the Australian Reptile Park, Mary Raynor, said many of the aggressive spiders - about 30 to 40 a week - were being donated to the park by members of the public to be milked for their venom.
"They're really coming alive, and looking for females in earnest before it gets too cold."
Peak mating season for the fanged funnel webs is February to May, but this year the season began early, with large numbers collected before Christmas, probably because of high humidity.
Australian Reptile Park staff collect venom from the fangs of a male funnel web by blowing on the spider.
Source
Photo: Nick Moir
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Anybody want a lion?
José Luis García from Córdoba has less than a month to find a new home for Sandof, the lion who’s been with him for three years and who will lose his home because of plans to extend Córdoba Airport.
José Luis runs a small zoo and is losing his land before the end of the month to make space for the new extension. Among the other animals which must move from the zoo are six pythons, one of which is an albino.
Contacts with other zoos in Spain have been unsuccessful in finding a new home for Sandof as the lion is a male, and cannot be housed with any other male lion.
Señor García is hoping that his idea of giving him away as a package with the pythons may save Sandof from being put down.
Source
Horses with hair extensions
Do you want to know why anyone would want to do this?
Here's the story
(via Dlisted)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Savage deer attacking dogs in UK
An increasing number of dog-owners in rural Bedfordshire are reporting attacks by Chinese water deer, whose ancestors escaped Woburn Safari Park.
Although the deer are less than 2ft tall and weigh a maximum of 31lb, the males have a secret weapon - downward-pointing fangs which can grow more than 3in long.
The Chinese water deer population had sprung up since they began to escape in the 1920s and 1930s. They breed throughout the year and are quite a menace. You don't normally see them except at dusk because they lie down during day as their natural coloring camouflages them in the long grass.
The UK is now estimated to be home to a quarter of the world's Chinese water deer population.
Latest victim was Perdita, a six-year-old Jack Russell out for a walk with Georgina Robey, 12, and her ten year old brother Daniel. Perdita suffered cuts on her back, neck and both sides of her stomach after an encounter with a
Source
All about Peeps
UPDATE 7th April,'09
"Peeps in Places" photo challenge
You can enter by taking a photo of one or more Peeps in any travel destination, add your photos to the Flickr pool, and then tag them "NGTpeeps."
(via Nag on the Lake)
How Peeps are made
For generations, little marshmallow Peeps have been a staple of children's Easter baskets across America. Find out what goes into making the little guys.
Photos: Peeps on parade
Photos: 2008 Peeps dioramas
Look at this!
Can anything be more delicious?
Chocolate covered Peeps!
(via Neatorama)
Baby bunnies for Spring
Would looking at cute little baby bunnies make it feel more like Spring?
Yes, I thought so, too.
Photo credit: Sarah (via Cute with Chris)
from Flickr, by fuzzywuzymonkey
Photo Credit: Tanja A.
from Flickr, by Oh Joy!
from Webshots, by skit
(via Messaged from the Outhouse)
(via Milk & Honey Farm)
(via love lies bleeding)
from Flickr, by bwill
(via Raising Baby Bunnies)
(via The Bunny Lounge)
Feeling better now?
It's not just cats who have 9 lives
Sophie Tucker, a grey and black cattle dog,fell off her owner's yacht, swam six miles through ferocious shark-infested seas to an island, where she survived for more than four months by hunting wild goats for food.
Read more of Sophie's amazing story.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Positive feedback for i-pets.com
Hi.
I couldn't find a place to submit my comment on i-pets.com so I found your blog which I enjoy and now follow! Anyway, I wanted to send you some positive feedback before my 2nd order!
In January I was in search of some bulk rawhide retriever rolls for my 1 year old lab/shepard mix Ginger. She goes through them so fast and does not like the ones that are knotted (she never eats the second knot) or more challenging. Tired of price increase of rawhide even at Wal-Mart I went online. I found i-pets and when I found your irregulars on sale I was excited yet leery.
I wasn't sure if your site was legit and wondered how you could afford to have them so cheap for 10 POUNDS when i was paying the same amount for just 8 to 10 single rolls at the store. I gave it a try and a few days later a big box came in the mail! a huge bag of retriever rolls was inside and Ginger immediately knew what they were! I gave her one and she quickly gobbled it up.
It is a little over 2 months later and I just gave Ginger her last rawhide. She has had no issues and I did not notice any odd colors or staining or smells. The fact that the 10 pounds lasted me over two months and for the same price at the store it would only bought 3 weeks or less it was a great buy!
I just wanted to comment because I know I was leery to order and would have enjoyed a personal reference.
Thank you i-pets! I will be ordering from you every few months for as long as you keep offering such great deals and will pass on your information to all my family and friends with pets!
Thanks for letting me share! Here is Ginger to say Thank you, too,
Elizabeth
Thank you, Elizabeth!
We are always thrilled to hear from a happy i-pets.com customer. Your good reference is what keeps us in business! Instead of spending our profits on expensive, flashy, advertising, we just keep our prices as low as possible and our shipping at a flat $6.00.
And Ginger,
We're glad you liked your treats. Tell all your friends.
Julie
This woman loves wildlife
Meet Riana van Nieuwenhuizen. She lives in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on a farm with four cheetahs, a jaguar, a lion, and a couple of dogs.
Read her story here.
Photo credit: Copyright 2008 News Group Newspapers Ltd and/or its licensors.
Deer or condors - you pick
Chinese conservationists are in a fix over endangered condors eating large numbers of a protected species of deer in a reserve in the north of the country.
More than 100 young spotted deer have been eaten by the condors so far this spring at the Luanhe River National Nature Reserve in Hebei province, near Beijing,becoming an "unanticipated" part of the food chain.
Nationally, the condor is considered far more endangered than the deer.
"The raptors are growing in number and threatening to catch larger animals, like elk, in the reserve," it quoted wildlife official Zhou Changhong as saying.
The reserve only has 600 or so deer and just 10 elk, the report added.
"An adult condor has a wingspan of more than two metres, and not even wardens can frighten it," Zhou said.
Source
Sunday, April 5, 2009
How smart is your dog?
Put your pup's brain to the test with the Pooch IQ Kit. Challenge your pup with 15 fun exercises - then tally up your pooch's score to get his/her IQ!
$49.99 at PoochIQ.com
Next question:
How smart are YOU to shell out $50 for this?
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
And you thought only your dog did this
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's pet dog gobbled up a special tea prepared for bosses of Russia's ruling party Wednesday.
While Putin discussed ways to help the local food industry, his favorite black Labrador Koni slinked into a room at his residence and tucked into delicacies prepared for leaders of his United Russia party.
"Koni ate everything," said one of Putin's astounded bodyguards.
Source
Get out those old photos
I just discovered a hilarious blog - Sexy People. It's just posts of old studio photos in all their embarrassing glory.
Like these:
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Is your dog a messy eater?
Dog Bib, found at Alice Wang "Pet Plus"
I don't know whether they're really for sale, or the price, if they are.
(via Nerd Approved)
Pigeons fly cell phones into Brazilian prison
Inmates have devised an innovative way to smuggle in cell phones into a prison farm in Brazil: carrier pigeons. Guards at the Danilio Pinheiro prison near the southeastern city of Sorocaba noticed a pigeon resting on an electric wire with a small cloth bag tied to one of its legs last week. "The guards nabbed the bird after luring it down with some food and discovered components of a small cell phone inside the bag," police investigator Celso Soramiglio said Tuesday.
One day later, another pigeon was spotted dragging a similar bag inside the prison's exercise yard. Inside the bag was the cell phone's charger, Soramiglio said.
The birds were apparently bred and raised inside the prison, smuggled out, outfitted with the cell phone parts and then released to fly back.
Source
Great Animal Portraits
20 Great Animal Portraits: A Sneak Peek at PDN Faces
Photo by Michael C. Rathsam: “Captured during photo shoot of one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever met.”
PDN is conducting their second annual Faces contest, seeking today’s best portrait photographs.
This is a sneak peek at some early entries in the Animal Portraits category.
These are not the winners of the Faces Contest. These are a few early favorites based on popular votes on the People’s Choice page.
There’s still more great work being entered in Animal Portraits and the three other categories: Celebrity/Editorial Portraits (studio), Environmental Portraiture and Self-Portraits.
The contest remains open for entries until April 7, 2009. Select winners will be exhibited at the PDN PhotoPlus International Expo from October 23 to 25, 2009 in New York City, and a winner’s gallery will appear in the December issue of PDN.
To see more People’s Choice entries, or to enter the contest yourself, visit the PDN Faces portrait photo contest.
Sold!
Taken by an anonymous American photographer in the 1850's, and titled "Poodle With Bow, On Table," this daguerreotype was sold at a Sotheby's auction for $8,125.
This might possibly be one of the first "Pet Photos" ever taken.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Obama Presents Global Economic Recovery Plan to a Resistant G-20 While Holding Adorable Puppy
In the face of international resistance to the U.S. role in resolving the global economic crisis, President Barack Obama raised his arts of persuasive communication to new heights, delivering his latest comments to the G-20 while cradling the puppy he plans to give to his daughters Sasha and Malia.
“This will be a difficult time for all citizens of our global community,” the president acknowledged. “But if you will look with me into the eyes of this achingly cute Portuguese water dog, I think you’ll find all the hope and reassurance you’ll need.”
At a press conference following Mr. Obama’s speech, a nonplussed international press corps responded with a flurry of forceful questions such as: “Can I hold him, Mr. Obama? Please, please, can I?”
One Russian journalist was particularly aggressive in her questioning: “Pretty pretty please? Can I? Can I? With … how do you say, sugar on top?”
Read more
(via God's Politics)
Relax, it's just foie gras
Whatever else you want to say about it, at least acknowledge this: Foie gras, the fattened liver of a duck or goose, is truly, indisputably, delicious. Roasted whole, pan-seared, combined with brandy and turned into a pâté, the stuff just tastes good.
If you oppose foie gras, even if the only thing you've ever done about it is to make a dinner companion feel guilty, and you still eat conventionally raised meat, you're a raging hypocrite and a silly one at that.
The eggs you ate for breakfast, the cheese that came on top, and the bacon on the side, all of it is produced using methods more torturous than the ones employed on a good foie gras farm.
Animals on a typical farm these days are confined in spaces so small they can't turn around, much less do any of the things they'd normally do in nature. And in order to keep them at least somewhat healthy and functional despite those conditions, which tend to make them stressed and unhappy, their bodies are altered to keep them from harming themselves and their fellow animals -- chickens have their beaks trimmed, pigs and cows get their tails docked.
In his book, Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000-Year-Old Delicacy Inspired the World's Fiercest Food Fight
Source
Photo credit: AnaKreenSkyRider
Here's another April 1 story
A farmer has bred the first ever tartan sheep – creating a minor tourist attraction at his farm in Scotland.
Grant Bell has taken to parading the colourful flock across his East Lothian property to the sound of bagpipes.
Source
A story fit for April Fool's Day
THE UK’s first ever pet only gym - Animal Active - is set to be launched soon.
Trials have already taken place at Sir Richard Branson’s health club Virgin Active, in Acton, with gym members encouraged to bring their pets for a work out.
Trained exercise co-ordinators will run a series of group exercise classes which will include Pooch Paunch Buster, Puuuroebics, Wag Attack, Canine Crunch and Pawlates.
Source
Photo: Copyright 2008 News Group Newspapers Ltd and/or its licensors.
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