Most Liked Animals Blogs (472)

A redtail hawk was raised by a bald eagle pair along with 3 of their own eaglet chicks.
Indeed, originally there were 2 redtail chicks in that nest, but one did not survive.
It became the talk of the town and much wider.

A raptor expert was brought in to battle through the many theories as to how 2 redtail chicks
could have gotten into a bald eagle nest. It turns out, that similar circumstances have
actually been documented 3 times prior to this.

The eagles raised their own and the redtail chick to fledge from the nest and the redtail was quite healthy.
The mayor even announced a day in the town for the bald eagle redtail chick, who is actually male and
retained some eagle behavior.

I hope you enjoy the video;

...So, we must have a dozen species here at the Vierk mansions. I"ve seen these sorts before, and unlike the larger beasties, what makes them so small are the short legs, VERY short. So more empathic, a little guy couldn't be. But I digress. Well, she was in the sink, among dishes, and looked a lot like an odd piece of goopy dark chocolate cake. The kind I routinely stuff my, hmmmm, was it, the pie hole, with? But, when I looked closer, she moved, trying to escape. To the extent possible, I try my best to rescue all critters, as with our good friends, the spiders, and I then place them outside. Once I stopped the car with the family on board, to place an enormous snapper, which seemed confused on a country road, back into an adjacent pond. Trust me, with those formidable scratching limb nails, and that long neck and beak, there is only one safe sweet spot on the shell to grab onto. Well, back to topic. Usually I try to catch the larger spiders, by gently picking them up with soft brand name tissue, (anathema to Bernie), and to then shake them outside. Of course they probably all sneak back in, but there you have it. I've noticed that sometimes, these smaller ones seem to get squeezed too much with grease monkey/guitar player hands. So this morning, feeling inspired, I tried to catch her with a deep spoon. and I did, thinking all the easier to flick her away into her jungle, our garden. But these suckers have all sorts of survival tricks, and one is the sneaky spider jump. In her case, right out of the ladle, and into the, oy weh, drain. Tried in vain to get her back in, as during helo rescues, in another life. But no, she was gone, and the design of the drain rim stop was such, that even a little spider man couldn't climb out. Not the end of the world, at least my world. But I felt bad.

...all that different?....Sure, physical appearance differs, as does propensity toward various health issues. But behaviors? Over the years, my dogs, mostly all Golden Retrievers, all rescues from families in tough times, have been wonderful and intelligent companions. Really sucks that they only live 8 to 15 human years. But I
digress. Breeding by traditional selection, soon to be 'aided' by genomic modifications, does yield different traits. The Hounds seem to track at scent better, and the Chihuahuas are champions at at biting ankles, and tearing up sofas. But we hear all the talk of the exceptional intelligence and loyalty of the GSD, and while our beloved Bravo is smart enough, I'm not really sure he's so much more bright than any of our Goldens. Hard to talk much along these lines with such small sample sizes. But balancing this is the constant ability to watch for things over long periods of time. In our Bravo's case, he is protective and watchful, loves to watch TV---especially animal shows, is a good tracker, learns "tricks" easily---just taught him to roll over and to howl/sing, a hoot to watch.Yet he is aloof at times, still retains some traces of doggie and odor distraction syndrome (a distant cousin of certain Trump syndromes), and loves everyone, except men with hats. Lots more to ponder, and it's all healthful and fun. WOOF WOOF!

....for those who consider psychology as science. But even in so called lower life forms, phylogenically downward from mammals, it seems that behaviorally shaping behaviors ("training"), with awards, works best if the latter are applied in random fashions. I certainly notice it with all my dogs, and kitties, and with most women, but I digress. So, Bravo learned to roll over, by gradually shaping behaviors he already displayed. Rubbing his ears onto new snow, with praise and rewards, soon becomes a complete roll over. Soon, response to command only. Then random rewards. A hoot to watch, but random assignments of reward stimuli do seem to bring quicker results. Women? Peace be upon the sweet little hind sides of each and every one. Well, anecdotally, the bangles and baubles also follow the rule of random assignments of rewards. But it all begs the question of why. Why randomness? What evolutionary selective advantages, other than possibly those following the Vierk conservation of baubles hypothesis? And how does it apply to the training of men, by those crafty ladies? A few CS men, and women, may know. Major caveat, it definitely doesn't seem to work with that foxy hottie, our very own brilliant Lady Cyberscrutinizer. Sadly so. She demands rewards after every trick. The art is not easy.

Even in nature, there are those who make things worse,
and others who restore order, leaving the world just a little bit better.



This footage of a 'wild' grizzly bear was shot in Denali National Park.

She may be a bit ruff and a b itch, but doggone it, better than some players I've seen.

Yes, I was talking about the dog, not the other 2 females.

I bookmarked a 'homeless dog makeover' video and when I returned to see it... poof it was gone! So, I searched a few more and see it resurfaced with added subtitles.
I have friends who (unrelated in their efforts) volunteer their time at some animal rescue shelters, be it in feeding, walking or grooming dogs in hope someone will adopt them.

This is Charlie's story...

Deep sea researchers in Indian ocean, saw it, and snipped a chunk for positive (DNA) identification, and species naming- at almost 700 meters of dark depth. The genus is known, Apolinia, and these glowing wormoids are related to corals and other multi organism colonial beasties. Stinging cells on board, as in my Homies, the Portuguese non females of war. But I digress.
Others in the genus are much smaller, and rest vertically at depth. These are more spiral in form, and seem to have a species unique feeding stance. As many life forms at these depths, they have photophore cells, which glow. Go figure.
Outer space fascinates, rightly so. But science is ignorant of so much right here on Father Earth, in our (dying?)seas. Sheezamm! Makes the whales seem, well, like four cheeses high.

Welcome back, young nubile people. Just another point first on seating and attire. As to the latter, those helpful three young ladies, now sitting right in front of your professor, yes, the ones with those shiny red high heels, and who are loudly chewing/snapping their bimbo brand bubble gum, have kindly volunteered to demonstrate how to dress here, based on how they looked at the last talk. Mark well their advice, as they have already earned the highest grades of this semester. If enough of you go along, including with advice on your positioning of those lovely legs, we may rename the front row the Busy BEAVER" zone. Now then, where was I?
The name of this key public health science comes from key words in the languages of ancients, and means " On the People", ie, Epid---Demios. In this talk, we present the more technical aspects of the craft. Many of you have expressed interest in "just how do they make those often misleading "predictive" models", and is there a better way?
Of the five key measurements needed to do valid Epid, we've already mentioned populations; and ratios/proportions; and exposures/outcomes. Two others remain. The first is so called assessment of intermediate variables (confounders and effect modifiers}, and the controls, to the extents possible, of the same. And the fifth, where politics and policy enter, involves the statistical ANALysis and interpretation of results of various study designs/public health interventions.
FLASH! FLASH! Class is suspended until further notice. My ex, next door, mom of our twins, and cat afficionada extraordinaire, just called to let us know that Miss Lilly, 20 pound calico supreme, just passed away, after longstanding on and off illness.. I'll go down to support all for the loss, and to help arrange for cremation, etc.. Later...

Sure they they look cute & innocent.
But, when you're not looking, what are they up to ?