Category: Animals & Nature

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A Teenager Made a Tiktok Video of Her Cat and It Went Mega-Viral

Once in a while, videos that go viral in huge ways just can’t be explained. Chalk it up to the right place, the right time, the perfect content. Even if it seems incredibly silly, sometimes it just works.

And that perfectly sums up the funny video that 17-year-old Jade Taylor-Ryan created of her cat, Ed (named after Ed Sheeran).

Taylor-Ryan set her 12-second video to the 1954 song “Mr. Sandman” by The Chordettes and it features Ed the cat clapping his paws, looking into the camera, and doing a little dance to the tune. She said she was inspired after seeing another person use the nine-camera filter on TikTok.

Taylor-Ryan said…

“I put my phone on the floor and set a timer on it so I didn’t have to use my hands to film. I then timed when my cat would pop up in the frame based on the beat of the music.”

As of this writing, the video has 1.8 million likes on TikTok, and the hype bled over onto Twitter as well.

Because IT IS PERFECT!

After the success of Taylor-Ryan’s video, other folks were inspired to make their own similar clips with their own feline friends.

Almost there…

Not quite…

The lesson here: if you get a little bit of inspiration, even if it seems pretty silly, just GO WITH IT. You never know when you (and your pet) might become a viral sensation.

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Scientists Have Finally Figured out Why Some Squirrels Have Black Fur

If you live in certain regions of the U.S. or the U.K., you may have spotted squirrels that are black instead of gray. These unusual animals have been a bit of a mystery, but now scientists have figured out why they have such an odd color.

Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge University and the Virginia Museum of Natural History worked together on a project to test squirrel DNA. They discovered that black squirrels are the product of interspecies breeding between the common gray squirrel and the fox squirrel.

Photo Credit: iStock

Fox squirrels are usually reddish-brown, but some of them carry a faulty pigment gene that turns their fur a darker shade. Scientists believe that a black fox squirrel joined in on a mating fenzy among gray squirrels and mated with a female, who then gave birth to a black squirrel.

There may be an evolutionary benefit to black fur that caused the gene to be passed down. Black fur could help squirrels absorb and retain more heat — an important benefit in colder regions.

Black squirrels remain rare, however. There is an estimated one black squirrel in every 10,000 squirrels.

Photo Credit: iStock

In certain limited regions, though, the black squirrels have become predominant. At Kent State University in Ohio, for example, 10 black squirrels were released by students after they were captured by wildlife authorities, and they now populate the entire campus.

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This 392-Year-Old Bonsai Tree Survived Hiroshima

If you find yourself at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in Washington, D.C., check out a piece of Japan’s history that dates back to the 17th century.

It’s a bonsai tree, gifted by master Masaru Yamaki to America on its bicentennial. The 392-year-old white pine is the oldest tree in the collection – it was planted in 1625, cultivated and personally cared for over the years by one master or another, and was living only 2 miles from where the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

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i met a 400 year old tree today

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The Yamaki family – Masaru’s son and grandson – revealed that the tree was sitting on a garden bench at their home when the bomb went off. It survived (and so did all of the other trees in their garden, along with their family).

Though the tree’s history is amazing (it’s a rare specimen that hails from the island of Miyajima), it’s not the oldest bonsai in the world – that title belongs to a 550-year-old tree at Tokyo’s Imperial Palace.

They have one that’s 450 years old, too, though no word on how close either of those were to a bomb that stunned the world with its destructive power.

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Imperial palace Tokyo 🏯🇯🇵 #tokyo #japan #imperialpalacetokyo

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The gift of the tree was a nice gesture, but you have to wonder how it feels about residing in the country who dropped an atomic bomb so close to its home – and if plants had memories, whether it would ever be able to forget the devastation it must have witnessed that day, and in the years that followed.

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Here’s Another Reason to Embrace Being Lazy: It’s Good for the Earth

Now this is good news!

In 2019, it’s not so unusual to have days where you only have to leave the sofa for pee breaks because entertainment, food, and social interaction all come to us via the internet. There are downsides to the new normal for many, but there’s also one big upside: it’s reducing our energy usage.

A new study by University of Texas researchers and published in Joule examined Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data and found that, between 2003 and 2012, people started to spend more time at home than time traveling to and from stores, restaurants, and work.

That means people weren’t burning fossil fuels tootling around town. And if they were working from home, office buildings were using less energy several days a year, too – in total, around 1.8% less energy in 2012 than in 2003 due to Americans embracing a more home-centric lifestyle.

Considering they used data from 2012, and all of the companies that have jumped on board for home delivery since then, those numbers have likely increased even more.

Only time will tell whether the gas required to deliver all of the essentials (and no-so-essential) goodies to your door causes fewer carbon emissions than everyone driving around getting goods themselves. Right now there isn’t enough data to say, though one study suggested whether you live in an urban or rural environment definitely plays a role.

We do know, though, that delivery trucks and ride-sharing apps are taking a toll on infrastructure, as they have added so many vehicles onto the road that cities are scrambling to keep pace. Drone delivery still presents an interesting alternative to using traditional fuels and existing roads, so perhaps if that idea comes to fruition, the scales will tip fully toward living the life of the hermit.

For now, maybe a good balance is the answer. After all, you still need sunlight and exercise, so you’ll have to go out occasionally.

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10 Facts That Are Good for Quiet Reflection

With this fact set, you’re getting quality and quantity.

Enjoy! And learn!

1. Harmful

Photo Credit: did you know?

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2. Get a load of those names

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3. Are you living it?

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Source

4. Prudish

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5. Thank God!

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6. Dream away

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7. I think I sound like Barry White

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8. That is cool!

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9. Clone wars

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10. Ahhhhh, that’s better

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I can safely say I didn’t know any of those facts. How about you?!?!

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An Aquarium’s Naughty Penguin of the Month Award Winners Have Committed Some Hilarious Crimes

These penguins are definitely up to no good.

The National Aquarium of New Zealand has taken drastic measures in an attempt to get their penguin population to shape up – they’ve started a running list of the naughtiest penguins of the bunch and post them on Facebook.

No public shaming would be complete without a list of crimes, but let’s face it – telling the world that the water birds are pushing each other from the pier, stealing food, or just bugging the crap out of each other isn’t going to improve their behavior.

Honestly though…do you really want it to?

Below are 10 of my favorite penguins, so bad they’re actually the best.

10. Don’t get in the way of a hungry lady!

🐧 PENGUIN OF THE MONTH – FEBRUARY 🐧It's a mother/daughter duo this month!Good Penguin of the Month – PepperShe's…

Posted by National Aquarium of New Zealand on Wednesday, February 6, 2019

9. He’s definitely not winning boyfriend of the month, either.

GOOD PENGUIN: DoraDora was such a trooper at our regular health checks this month. She waddled straight over to the…

Posted by National Aquarium of New Zealand on Wednesday, August 7, 2019

8. I mean he was fine.

Here we go *Penguin of the Month*Naughty Penguin – Flip abandoned her boyfriend and their baby for an entire week!!!!!Good Penguin – Mr Mac ate during a public encounter ( normally snobs them)

Posted by National Aquarium of New Zealand on Tuesday, January 8, 2019

7. I mean maybe he’s just trying to keep everyone on their toes?

🐧 PENGUIN OF THE MONTH TIME! 🐧Good Penguin: ELMOElmo, our oldest resident, has been waddling out of her burrow to eat….

Posted by National Aquarium of New Zealand on Sunday, July 7, 2019

6. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Mo.

Here we go everybody our Naughty and Good Penguins for the month of December!Naughty Penguin- Mo… for hiding in the…

Posted by National Aquarium of New Zealand on Wednesday, December 12, 2018

7. Okay so Mo might be my Patronus.

🐧 Penguin of the Month – June 2019 🐧NAUGHTY – MoMo has been a lay-about over the last few weeks! Has sleep ins, and…

Posted by National Aquarium of New Zealand on Sunday, June 9, 2019

4. Apparently no one likes getting weighed.

“This is it” You have all been waiting for the penguin update!Naughty Penguin Flip… managed to evade the keepers on…

Posted by National Aquarium of New Zealand on Monday, July 2, 2018

3. He’s just having a bit of harmless fun.

🐧 Penguin of the Month – May 2019 🐧NAUGHTY – DaveDave just can’t get it together and stay off the naughty list! We…

Posted by National Aquarium of New Zealand on Sunday, May 5, 2019

2. Dave again!

🐧 NAUGHTY & GOOD PENGUIN OF THE MONTH – MARCH 2019 🐧NAUGHTY (kind of!): Because Dave has been partially hand raised,…

Posted by National Aquarium of New Zealand on Tuesday, March 5, 2019

1. Variety is the spice of life.

🐧 PENGUIN OF THE MONTH – APRIL 2019 🐧NAUGHTY – Martin Martin is new to our Penguin Cove (rescued after a predator…

Posted by National Aquarium of New Zealand on Wednesday, April 3, 2019

 

Just more proof that the penguins are the best animal in the zoo.

Or anywhere, really.

The post An Aquarium’s Naughty Penguin of the Month Award Winners Have Committed Some Hilarious Crimes appeared first on UberFacts.

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These Photos Warn Tourists to Stop Riding Elephants in Thailand

Hundreds of thousands of Westerners visit Thailand each year, and one of the “must-try” activities is riding a majestic elephant. But tourists are now being urged to stop, thanks to the revelation of some truly heartbreaking photos.

A Twitter user posted several photos of elephants in Thailand being cruelly mistreated. Their keepers, called mahouts, keep them in line by hitting them with sharp metal hooks, often hard enough to draw blood. Their heads are covered in old wounds.

Around 3000 elephants are currently used for entertainment across Asia, and 77 percent are treated inhumanely, according to the World Animal Protection. Elephants are often ripped from their mothers prematurely, violently broken into submission, then subjected to a lifetime of abuse and isolation.

While Thai government agencies are working to end animal cruelty, officials also urge visitors to boycott businesses that treat their animals this way.

“We never support tourists riding the elephants,” a spokesperson for the Tourism Authority of Thailand told Yahoo! News. “Please don’t ride the elephants and don’t support this business.”

Photo Credit: iStock

There are about 3500 wild elephants in Thailand and about 4500 domesticated elephants. The domesticated elephants are classified as “working animals,” just like livestock. Animal advocates are working to change this classification in order to offer more protections to elephants.

If tourists want to enjoy these beautiful animals, one option is to visit a wild elephant sanctuary. There, tourists can observe and pet the animals, but cannot ride them.

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You’ve Heard of Dog and Cat Shaming. Take a Look at Fish Shaming.

Well, this is new.

You’ve seen kid shaming, dog shaming, cat shaming, and even bird shaming – but did you ever think the day would come when people’s pet fish would be exposed as naughty?

Well, get ready, because even though they probably don’t understand the internet, these 17 fish definitely deserve all the shame in the world.

17. Maybe he doesn’t like your choice of decor.

16. Relapse!

15. Understandable.

14. When you definitely don’t live up to your name.

13. Maybe he likes it that way.

12. But I mean whose fault is that, really?

11. As the mother of a 2.5 y/o, I don’t want to say I get it, but…

10. I guess you should have spent your money on something else!

9. Not everyone has a refined palate.

8. Poor Moira.

7. That’s science.

6. He’s not a fan of escargot.

5. It probably looked like chocolate.

4. Well I mean you keep feeding him so…

3. This is actually awesome.

2. Okay that is very naughty.

1. Only *I* can eat my eggs!

Fish! Who knew?

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This Creepy Video of a “Zombie Snail” Is Hard to Look Away from

Here’s a warning: you absolutely will never be able to unsee this video, no matter how badly you wish you might be able to do just that.

Parasites who take over their hosts’ brains and/or motor function while the creature is still alive are some of the most horrifying villains of the biological world, and…y’all. This diabolical flatworm ranks pretty high on the squick scale.

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Non riesco a smettere di guardarlo 😮 . Il Leucochloridium paradoxum, è un platelminta parassita della famiglia Succineidae. . Come svolge il suo ciclo? . Il ciclo inizia quando un uccello dell’ordine Passeriformes ingerisce le metacercarie (lo stadio larvale presente nello sporociste) che, una volta giunte nell’intestino, si sviluppano e depongono le uova. . Queste vengono quindi disperse nell’ambiente dall’uccello assieme alle feci. . A questo punto la chiocciola mangia le uova assieme all’erba e agli escrementi e, dopo aver passato il digerente dell’invertebrato, esse si schiudono nel suo intestino. . La fase successiva prevede la migrazione delle larve attraverso il corpo della chiocciola fino all’epatopancreas, la ghiandola più importante dell’apparato digerente della nostra Succineidae, che svolge sia una funzione di assorbimento, sia una funzione di secrezione di enzimi digestivi. Ed è proprio in questa ghiandola che le larve si sviluppano in sporocisti, lo stadio che sarà ingerito dall’uccello. . Ed è in questo passaggio che riscontriamo la particolarità di L. paradoxum: la sporociste, che ha una forma allungata, si colora all’estremità di tinte bianche e verdi a strisce e dall’epatopancreas si sposta nei tentacoli oculari della chiocciola, con una particolare predilezione per il lato sinistro (ancora non è noto il perché) e inizia quindi a “pulsare” (solo di giorno, di notte resta immobile)  facendo si che la chiocciola non riesca più a ritrarli. . La presenza dello sporociste nei tentacolari oculari fa si che la chiocciola non riesca più (o comunque fatichi molto) a “vedere” la differenza tra giorno e notte, facendola così vagare per zone molto illuminate anche quando normalmente non lo farebbe. Ed è in questo modo, unito al movimento pulsante e ai colori brillanti, che il parassita si fa notare dagli uccelli e può quindi chiudere il ciclo. . Credits: @microbiologiaitalia , Gilles San Martin . #chiocciola #lumaca #parassita #Leucochloridiumparadoxum #worm #snail #microbiologia #scienza #parassitismo #biologia #natura #verme #parasite #elicicoltura #snailfarming #ilcontadinosmart

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The flatworm is from the genus Leucochloridium, and its entire goal in life is to produce more of itself.

In order to accomplish that goal, it infects an intermediate host, like the unfortunate snail in the video. While in its larval stage, the worm moves into the hosts eyestalks and head. The larvae vaguely resembles a caterpillar, but it can make itself look much more caterpillar-ish by pulsing, which it does in order to attract the attention of birds.

Because they actually want to be eaten.

The “zombie snail” is driven to spend more time than it normally would in higher and more sunlit spots, making it much more likely to find its way into the stomach of a bird. Research out of Poland suggests that the pulsing like they’re at a dance club really gets going the more light they receive, as well.

Once a bird notices and swallows the snail (or other infected host), the parasite enters adulthood in the bird’s GI tract. The larvae mature and release eggs, which are excreted by the birds and then eaten by snails.

It’s a horrible circle of life.

One that was caught on video in Changhua County, Taiwan, by hiker Lin Ruian. Since then, the footage spread through the internet like flatworms through a snail, and was tweeted by biologist Mike Inouye.

It’s been seen over 7 million times, and you can see why – like a car accident or a train wreck, it’s impossible to look away.

Proof once more than nature is as terrible as it is beautiful (sometimes all at once).

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This Is Why Chimpanzees Enjoy Throwing Poop

For us humans, the idea of throwing poop is disgusting for multiple reasons: you have to touch poop, it will touch someone else, and there will be an inevitable mess. But for chimpanzees, it’s common behavior.

Why?

First off, the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada says it’s important to realize that the behavior is not common in free-roaming, wild chimps. They do throw things, but they typically stick to rocks or branches when looking for a way to express their annoyance, leaving their feces where they fall.

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The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, part of the Jane Goodall institute, is not only a rescue center, but also a platform used to raise awareness of the plight of Chimps in the Wilde. Despite our shared lineage, humans are pushing chimpanzees toward extinction. Chimps have already disappeared completely from four countries and are under tremendous pressure everywhere else they live. Massive destruction of their natural habitat, capture for the purpose of trading and hunting them down for the consumption of their meat, are the reasons that pose major threats to this endangered species. . #janegoodall#janegoodallinstitute #chimps#chimpanzee#chimpanzees#greatape#greatapes#wildlife#wildlifephotography#sweetwatersnationalreserve#kenya#africa

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Whereas for chimps in captivity, there just often aren’t many options when they want to give something a good toss except poop, which is typically abundant.

Chimps throw things when they’re feeling frustrated or anxious, but they’re also smart enough to realize that they can elicit a reaction – horror and disgust, perhaps surprise – when they launch a turd at a zoo employee or a guest.

A 2012 study found that chimps who display good aim had a better-developed motor cortex, and better communications between that cortex and Broca’s area, a portion of the frontal cortex that helps process language in humans. Which is all to say, they were typically the better communicators in their peer groups.

A second study backs up the idea that smart chimps toss poo, by proving that the action is likely premeditated. The study was based on Satino, a chimp at Sweden’s Furuvik Zoo, who enjoyed frightening away visitors by tossing rocks at them. Researchers found that he stockpiled rocks every day before the zoo opened so that a) he would be well-armed and b) no zookeepers would be there to intervene.

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Les chimpanzés passent presque la moitié de leur temps à se nourrir et à se déplacer d'un lieu de nourrissage à un autre. Ils mangent le plus souvent dans les arbres quand ce n'est pas au sol. . La diversité alimentaire chez les chimpanzés est remarquable. Ils consomment des graines, des noix, des fruits, des fleurs, des feuilles, des tiges, de la sève, de l’écorce, du miel, des insectes et parfois même d’autres animaux (en particulier des petits singes). . Mais ce qui est encore plus remarquable, c'est que sans le vouloir, ils dispersent les graines qu'ils consomment chaque jour, permettant à la forêt de se régénérer et perpétuant ainsi le cycle d'absorption du Co2 des arbres. _ _ _ #nature #wildlife #environment #green #tree #trees #wilderness #forest #jungle #chimpanzés #chimps #chimp #chimpanzees #chimpanzee #monkey #monkeys #wild #environment #Congo #Afrique @bbcearth @animalplanet @natgeowild @natgeoyourshot @natgeo_france @lonelyplanetfr @nakedplanet @lonelyplanet @discovery

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Other chimps, though, have been seen pooping directly into their hands and then holding it as they wait for some human to annoy them.

Be careful when viewing the chimps, people. They might find you annoying and use whatever they’ve got at their disposal to make their opinion known – and if you end up wiping poop off your body in a zoo bathroom, I doubt the fact that the chimp who threw it is probably the smartest one of the bunch is going to be much of a comfort.

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