Feathers can be colorful and spectacular in their own right, but how much more stunning might they be when used as canvases for artists, eager to demonstrate their talent for the unusual?
Alaskan-born and -bred artist Julie Thompson is an astounding exponent of this incredible art form. Julie, a self-taught wildlife artist for nearly 20 years, strives to make every feather painting as unique as the feathers themselves are, and believes that every feather has a kind of personality relating to the painting it bears.
Source
via Presurfer
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Amazing Feather Paintings
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Rare 'panda cow' born in CO
A rare miniature cow with markings similar to a panda was born on a farm in northern Colorado.
Farmer Chris Jessen raises miniature cattle and also owns a miniature kangaroo on his hobby farm.
The miniature panda cow is the result of genetic manipulation. A white belt encircles the animal's midsection, and the cow has a white face with black ovals around the eyes, giving it a panda-like appearance.
The mini-cattle are bred solely as pets. Jessen says panda calves can sell for $30,000.
Source
Photo: AP
Coondog Cemetery
In a small, grassy meadow, deep in the rich, thick wilderness of Freedom Hills, Key Underwood sadly buried his faithful coondog, Troop. They had hunted together for more than 15 years. They had been close friends.
The burial spot was a popular hunting camp where coon hunters from miles around gathered.
Out of one hunter's devotion to his faithful coonhound was born the "Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard," which has became a popular tourist attraction and is the only cemetery of its kind in the world.
Other hunters started doing the same when their favorite coon dogs died. Today more than 185 coon dogs from all across the United States are buried in this spot in Northwest Alabama.
A witness and a member of a local coon hunters' organization must verify the deceased was a coon dog before burial is allowed.
"We have stipulations on this thing," says Janice Williams, the secretary/treasurer of the Friends of the Coondog Cemetery, and caretaker of the Coon Dog Cemetery. "A dog can't run no deer, possum -- nothing like that. He's got to be a straight coon dog, and he's got to be full hound. Couldn't be a mixed up breed dog, a house dog."
website
Source
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
What's new?
New species discovered in 2010
From invisible squids to bald parrots to deep-sea fish with teeth on their tongues, guardian.co.uk picks the best of of 2010's newly discovered animals.
This image provided by NOAA shows a deep-sea chimaera. Chimaeras are most closely related to sharks, although their evolutionary lineage branched off from sharks nearly 400m years ago, and they have remained an isolated group ever since.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Lord of the Ants
A fascinating man - Ed Wilson is the ant man. Over six decades at Harvard University he has discovered more about ants than anyone else in history. He has thrown into relief for the general public just how important ants are—how they represent 25% or more of the insect biomass on the planet, how collectively they weigh more than all the humans in the world, how they assist humans by aerating the soil, suturing wounds, or, as in South Africa, harvesting the rooibos seeds for farm workers to collect. And how ancient they are: in 1966 Wilson and his colleagues identified an ant in a shard of amber that was 80m years old. Ants emerged along with flowering plants 130m years ago. By contrast, the genus Homo diverged 2m years ago, has existed as Homo sapiens for a fraction of that time, with a civilization of 20,000 years or so. Read more: Ants and Us, Published on More Intelligent Life or watch NOVA: Lord of the Ants on YouTube
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Stuck!
An 8-month-old German shepherd named Rebel somehow squeezed his head through a hole in an 18-inch block wall at his Desert Hot Springs home Monday.
Then he got stuck.
Rebel may have been chasing another animal or was just curious about the hole, said Sgt. James Huffman of Riverside County Animal Services. The dog cried and whimpered until a friend of the owner heard him and called authorities. The dog’s owner wasn’t home at the time.
County Animal Services officers arrived about 12:30 p.m. and determined that the dog was not in serious danger. Huffman said they concluded that if the dog was able to get his head into the hole, they would be able to pull him out without damaging the wall, but their main concern was not to hurt Rebel while getting him out.
An officer got on either side of the wall, tucked in the dog’s ears and nudged him back and forth for about 30 minutes before getting him out safely.
Source
Chupacabra?
This bald, grey-skinned creature was shot and killed in Lebanon Junction, Kentucky, after it emerged from woodland into the garden of a home.
The animal, which has large ears, whiskers and a long tail, has sparked intense debate on the internet, with some claiming it is one of the mythical chupacabras.
Source
... I don't know, it kind of looks like a hairless raccoon. What do you think?
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Dogs Are Santa's Favorites
An AP-Petside.com Poll, conducted October 13-20, 2010, by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications, found that 53 percent of pet owners plan to get their animals a present this holiday season. Of these, fifty-six percent of the dog owners say they'll buy their pets a gift this Christmas, but only 48 percent of the cat owners plan a gift.
Also interesting: women (56 percent) are somewhat more likely than men (49 percent) to buy their animals a gift. The poll also showed that renters (66 percent) are more apt to pamper their pets than homeowners (49 percent). And while fewer than half of those who attend religious services weekly or more often say they plan to buy their pets a gift, 60 percent of those who never attend services do.
And while we're talking about Christmas gifts for pets, don't forget to get yours, at i-pets.com.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Escaped Reindeer Found Hiding Under Elf House
LAKELAND, Fla. -- A reindeer escaped from a nativity scene in Lakeland, but was later caught hiding under an elf house, police said Tuesday. While the story sounds like a Christmas tale, police say it's true. A caller to police early Tuesday morning said the reindeer had escaped from the nativity scene at Highland Park Church of the Nazarene on Lake Highlands Road. Church personnel responded to the area where the reindeer, appropriately named Rudy (short for Rudolph, of course), was seen running loose. They chased the deer around the property before finding Rudy hiding under the "elf house," police said. Rudy, who was unharmed, is now in the care of his owner and being kept at his house to prevent another escape from his enclosure on the church property. Police said Rudy is small in stature and, while he looks like a baby deer, he is actually 3 years old. Source
Did Animals Make Humans Human?
A well-researched article in boston.com examines anthropologist Pat Shipman's premise that the unique ability to observe and control the behavior of other animals is what allowed us to become the humans that we are. While some of Shipman's colleagues are skeptical, others describe her work as a promising new framework for looking at human evolution, one that highlights the extent to which the human story has been a collection of interspecies collaborations — between humans and dogs and horses, goats and cats and cows, and even microbes. read more
Just incase you were wondering - US$11,542,683
Sotheby's: Audubon sells for record £7.3m
LONDON 7 DECEMBER 2010 --- This evening, one of the most magnificent printed books ever produced, John James Audubon’s Birds of America, sold at Sotheby’s London for £7,321,250/ US$11,542,683, establishing a new world record for any printed book ever sold at auction. A fiery enthusiasm among four collectors bidding on the phones and in the room drove the price rapidly beyond pre-sale expectations (£4-6 million/ US$6.3-9.5 million). The book was bought by London dealer Michael Tollemache, who was bidding in the room and who described the work after the sale as “priceless”. Source
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
