Archive for category Animals

World’s Smallest Horse Born: Office Workers Prepare to “Aw” at Emails, Internet Readies Macros.

At just 6 pounds and 14 inches tall, “Einstein” is a half pinto stallion who was born April 22, 2010 in Barnstead, New Hampshire.

Breeder Judy Smith of Tiz A Miniature Horse Farm says, “I have been at this for 20 years plus but I have never seen one this tiny or even close to it.“

We’ve nothing to add to this.

We’re feeling a little horse.

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Man Asks Reddit to Define Horrible Sea Monster, Learns its a Giant Isopod

The post reads, “I work for a Sub-sea Survey Company, recently this beast came up attached to one of our ROVs. It measures a wee bit over 2.5 feet head to tail, and we expect it latched onto the ROV at roughly 8,500 feet depth. Unfortunately, the e-mail that these pictures were attached to came from a contractor, and the ship he was operating from (and therefore location) is unknown, so I can’t tell you what part of the Earth this beast was living.”

The pictures reveal the creature to be a giant isopod, a large crustacean that dwells in deep Atlantic and Pacific waters. This particular creature is a Bathynomus giganteus, a deep-sea scavenger that feeds on dead whales, fish and squid.

And they say it’s safe to go into the water.

(via @slantsmcgee)

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Saturday Afternoon Theater: 5 Second MONSTROSITIES

Letting 5 Second Films keep things short and sweet today.

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Ugly Cat is Ugly, Too Loved To Notice

His full name is Ugly Bat Boy.

Ugly Bat BoyWorkers said many people who come into the building can’t really believe what they’re seeing. But they said despite appearances, Bat Boy has a nice disposition and real inner beauty.

“The impression from clients that come in is he’s not real because he just sits so still, and when he does move, he scares them, but they think he’s mesmerizing,” Hartnett said.

The office staff was getting so many questions about the cat that they put up a couple of fliers saying he’s about 8 years old and perfectly normal in every way — just ugly.

What the article also mentions is that UBB is a survivor. This is something we appreciate in all creatures big and small.

(via @mattstaggs)

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New Critter: Eyeless, Venomous, and Fanged. Found in the ‘Tunnel to Atlantis’

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Found in the Tunnel de la Atlantida(tunnel to Atlantis) aka the world’s largest submarine lava tube. Whilst looking for a previous critter found in the cave 25 years earlier, scientists found an entirely different thing.

“Some animals were much more active in swimming around than others in the small sample bottles,” said marine biologist Tom Iliffe of Texas A&M University at Galveston, who was part of the team that discovered the new species. “On closer examination, and subsequently with DNA testing, we confirmed that they were actually two different species.”

Their findings appear this month in a special edition of Marine Biodiversity. The new crustacean has been named Speleonectes atlantida, which means “cave swimmer of Atlantis.” It’s a very apt name, Iliffe said, because the creature is a very active swimmer, gliding through the water an undulating fashion.

(via Wired, slantsmcgee)

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Honeybees Have a Death Warning Waggle Dance

Over the years, we’ve gathered quite a bit of information on bees. Some hives melt their enemies with the collective heat from their bodies. Cellphones are not killing them. They can pick out a face from a human photo.

NOT THE BEES!!!

Now we learn they have a death warning waggle dance. Clever little critters, bees.

Honeybees warn each other to steer clear of dangerous flowers where they might get killed by lurking predators.

Scientists made the discovery by placing dead bees upon flowers and then watching how newly arriving bees react to the danger.

Not only do the bees avoid the flowers, they then communicate the threat when they return to the hive via their well known waggle dance.

(via bbc)

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Ant Mega-Colony Dominates World, Sunday BBQs Forever Threatened

Thanks to @deepeight, we are forever fearful of our six-legged under-lords.

THEM!Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same interrelated colony, and will refuse to fight one another.

The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination.

What’s more, people are unwittingly helping the mega-colony stick together.

Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) were once native to South America. But people have unintentionally introduced the ants to all continents except Antarctica.

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In Europe, one vast colony of Argentine ants is thought to stretch for 6,000km (3,700 miles) along the Mediterranean coast, while another in the US, known as the ‘Californian large’, extends over 900km (560 miles) along the coast of California. A third huge colony exists on the west coast of Japan.

The article goes on to say that this mega-colony of ants won’t attack each other. They’re all friends. From Japan to Europe to the US. They like each other. The antageddon is upon us. Here we thought robots would be our downfall.

For a better idea on how the world will end, follow the jump.
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Wallabies are Getting “High,” Making Crop Circles

Did you know that Australia supplies 50% of the world’s legally grown opium? Opium that’s used to make morphine and other painkillers.

You did?

Ok, smarty. Did you also know that wallabies tend to eat this opium and run around in circles afterwards til they crash?

Rockos-Modern-Life_0001“The one interesting bit that I found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles,” Lara Giddings told the hearing.

“Then they crash,” she added. “We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high.”

(via bbc and someone on Twitter. We forgot exactly who.)

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There’s a BEAR in the KITCHEN

This will end in tears.

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Aussie Dog gets Lost, Survives 4 Months on Island Eating Feral Baby Goats

Today is a day for science. Bits of science and Discovery have crossed our screen in the last 24 hours. Oddly these bits won’t leave our brainspace. This means our shadow brain must carry that weight. Expect a flurry of science and technology to dominate the scene today.

First up, a dog survival story. Don’t give us that look. You know your heart ratcheted up a few degrees.

The dog, Sophie Tucker, was reported to have fallen overboard and apparently swam 5 nautical miles away to St. Bees Island.

Sophie Tucker has instinctGriffith said that when the dog was first spotted on the island she had been in poor condition.

“And then all of a sudden she started to look good and it was when the rangers had found baby goat carcasses so she’d started eating baby goats,” she said.

Sophie Tucker, a member of the Australian cattle dog breed, had been quick to readjust to the comforts of home, complete with air conditioning, Griffiths said.

“She surprised us all. She was a house dog and look what she’s done, she’s swum over five nautical miles, she’s managed to live off the land all on her own,” Griffiths said. “We wish she could talk, we truly do.”

We see you there. In your underwear, drinking coffee and scratching your collective heads.

“What does this have to do with science?” you think.

Survival of the fittest, faithful readers. Those of you who aren’t currently being educated in Texas may have to explain.

(via discovery)

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