Musician and comedian Erik Helwig (Hot Dad) performs a touching tribute to his beloved cat Jax. First you think, this is silly. It doesn't even rhyme. Then you think, this is a pretty catchy tune. But before you know it, you think, aww, I know how you feel, cats will do that to you.
Over the course of the song you get to know Jax, a cat you've never met. You just might get a little teary. -via Tastefully Offensive
Some dogs simply adore their toys, dragging them around the house and cuddling up with them in their beds, but as a rule dogs don't dig toys that bark back at them.
So be forewarned-giving a dog a toy that makes noises and moves on its own can lead to confusion, anger and some very precious moments, so you'd better have your camera ready just in case.
Japanese Twitter user @daifuku_channel shared this adorable video featuring a Shiba Inu who has a hilarious reaction when her toy barks back at her. She can't decide whether she hates the toy or loves it!
ま、マネすんなよ〜やめろよー
— 柴犬だいふく@LINEスタンプ発売中 (@daifuku_channel) October 11, 2017
Don't mimic me
ぜひ音ありで見て笑ってください！！#笑ったら寝ろ#柴犬だいふくベストセレクション pic.twitter.com/FIMKDtSYui
-Via Laughing Squid
The more time you spend around sharks the less they seem like mindless eating machines, and people who actually get to like sharks will go out of their way to save a shark's life whenever possible.
But you've gotta be mighty brave, and very comfortable with sharks, to grab one with your bare hands and hoist it out of the water, even if it is just a little ankle biter.
The lady in this clip went for a dip in a Cronulla rock pool in Sydney and found a shark swimming around in there, but instead of letting it ruin her good time she earned the nickname "Shark Lady"- by grabbing the little biter, hoisting it out of the water and tossing it back into the ocean.
PEAK ‘STRAYA: A Sydney woman’s quick dip in a Cronulla rock pool was spoiled by a shark, until she took matters into her own hands… #TenNews pic.twitter.com/ckRzzeP36O
— TEN Eyewitness News (@channeltennews) October 11, 2017
Now Shark Lady is an internet hero and a symbol of how Australians coexist with nature. Good on ya Shark Lady!
-Via Guacamoley
Markus Klemelä just wanted to brush his teeth. His cat wants some lovin'. The cat, like all house cats, doesn't recognize boundaries when he wants something, so Markus could only do one thing -grab his phone to record this interlude.
The cat is pretty insistent, and has a world-class purr machine. -via Digg
Whenever people discuss the deadliest animals in North America they mention rattlesnakes, bears and, if they're coastal, sharks, but nobody talks about the fact that deer kill more people each year than bears, snakes and sharks combined.
Deer-related deaths are presumably largely due to car accidents but the fact remains deer, and horses and cows for that matter, kill way more people each year than you'd expect.
These illustrated charts by Man Vs. Beast show us which critters kill the most people each year, as well as your odds of being killed by an animal and the most common animal-related death by state.
But these charts (inexplicably featured on a casino website) don't stop in the U.S., here's a chart that shows the world's deadliest regions and which critter is most likely to kill you in each region. Travel safe!
-Via Wide Open Country
Falconry is an ancient hunting tradition that dates back to at least 2000 B.C., and while most hunters no longer need to rely on birds of prey to help them catch their dinner falconers still have plenty for their talented birds to do- like guard crops.
32-year-old Master Falconer Justin uses his well trained winged friends to guard some of America's most valuable fruit crops from nuisance birds who want to greedily gobble them all up, and his job seems like one of the coolest jobs in America!
-Via VICE News
Just like two young brothers do, the ferrets Atlas and Orion squabble over their water dish. We know it's just a sibling rivalry, as neither one of them were hurt.
First they chase and slap each other, then one tries to drown the other in the bowl. Then they wrestle for a while. Who won? If you ask the ferrets, they would probably both claim victory. Just like brothers. -via Tastefully Offensive
Every pet iguana I've ever met just sort of hung around all chillaxed and lazy like, occasionally munching on a bug or scratching themselves but otherwise not moving around much.
Maybe they just didn't enjoy my company, or maybe I caught them at a lazy time, but whatever the case they definitely didn't come running when their owner called them like Buddy the iguana does.
Buddy has apparently been taking notes from the dogs in his neighborhood because he comes running every time his owner Dave Durham calls him, and he can't wait to get petted just like a pooch!
-Via Metro
Praying mantises are known for their strange alien appearance, their inspiration of a kung fu form, and the fact that females bite the male's head off and devour his body for nourishment after mating.
But did you know praying mantises also prey on birds?
Neither did I, but apparently the praying mantis has developed a taste for bird brains so they've added birds to the list of creatures they will prey upon when they're hungry.
A group of zoologists from the U.S. and Switzerland studied 147 cases hoping to find clues about this strange act of bug-on-bird predation:
The group's findings, which were recently published in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology, suggest that mantises all over the world are chowing down on unsuspecting avians. Praying mantises were observed eating 24 different bird species across 14 families. Nearly 70 percent of accounts happened in North America, where tiny hummingbirds were the most common prey. States with the highest incidents of this, according to the study, were New York, North Carolina, Texas, Arizona, and California.
"In the older literature, there are all sorts of anecdotes of mantises eating bizarre prey, such as centipedes and poisonous spiders, but these were usually 'Gladiator' encounters where investigators would throw together a mantis and another fearsome invertebrate in a jar or cage," Michael Maxwell, the study's co-author and a behavioral ecologist at National University, told me in an email.
Interestingly, this behavior was observed on every continent except Antarctica, spanning twelve mantid species—something the study's lead author Martin Nyffeler, a senior lecturer at the University of Basel, called "a spectacular discovery" in a statement.
"For many of us, the most surprising thing about the new study is the range of non-hummingbirds recorded as mantis prey," Kaufman added. "The others are all very small songbirds, but still, some of them must weigh as much as one-third of an ounce, which seems like a lot for any insect to deal with."
Weirdly, all of the mantises were identified as female. Females aren't necessarily more aggressive, but they do engage in sexual cannibalism if very hungry. Twice, female mantids were observed feeding on a bird while also mating with a male.
Read Praying Mantises Are Devouring Bird Brains All Over The World here
What we consider low hanging fruit is a struggle for a chicken to procure, and humans take for granted how easy it is for us to simply pluck an apple off a tree and take a bite.
But an apple is quite the prize for a chicken, and well worth all the effort it takes to jump up and snatch one down off the tree, so they'll hop around all the live long day to sink their beak into that tasty fruit.
And watching a chicken at the Ashley Herb Farm in Market Harborough, Northamptonshire struggle to grab that tasty treat reminds us that we've gotta exercise if we want to eat those sweet treats!
-Via Laughing Squid
First, David Sluder saw an enormous cat just off the road in Hernando, Mississippi. It appears to be a wild cat, maybe a cougar. He didn't get too close to it.
The local news team from Fox13 sent Scott Madaus out to the location to do a live report. He teased it beforehand with this live shot.
Well, that is a large cat, but not any larger than Garfield or your everyday big tom cat. The video and the resulting screen shot, seen at the top, went viral yesterday, and everyone got a bit of a laugh. Yes, Madaus did his tease when the house cat appeared on purpose.
"You have a very serious job being journalist, but at the same time when things like this happen you can't take yourself too seriously," he said.
-via Buzzfeed
If black cats are bad luck, then this kitten has already used all his bad luck up. However, it was good luck that a geologist working nearby heard him mew. The kitten had fallen 25 feet down a hole in Venice, California. No one knew how long he'd been down there.
The Los Angeles area’s Specialized Mobile Animal Rescue Team (SMART) was called in to rescue the kitten. SMART rescuers Ernesto Poblano and Felix Lopez used an infrared camera attached to the end of a long pole to investigate the pipe and find the kitten. Once it was spotted, and the rescuers assessed the animal’s physical surroundings, they made a plan to safely remove the kitten from the pipe.
They sent down another pole with a camera and a loop attached to grab the kitten. Watch a video of the rescue at National Geographic News.
When a cat really likes something, whether it's food or a plaything, they have no problem expressing their interest, and some cats will damn near claw their owner's arms off just to get what they're holding.
So take it from the human who lives with Marmalade the cat- if your kitty develops a taste for whipped cream you'd better start whipping it by hand, or they'll climb you like a tree every time you pull the can out of the fridge!
I wonder how Marmalade the cat feels about marmalade the fruit preserve?
-Via Pawpulous
Baby pandas quickly learn the art of falling down, because they aren't all that great at climbing, walking, or even standing still. They soon become very good at falling down. The Toronto Zoo put together a compilation of falling down clips from their panda-cams, accompanied by a wonderful performance of The Barber of Seville from the Davis High School Symphony Orchestra.
Apparently, pandas are built for falling, being so roly-poly and all. From the YouTube page:
In 2003, scientists from Zoo Atlanta, Chengdu, and the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding published a study that described trends in the behavior of giant panda cubs. Among other findings, this study confirmed that falling was a normal and expected part of the play of the giant panda cubs being reared by their mother. The researchers suggested that the natural play experiences of growing cubs with their mothers and siblings may significantly contribute to the panda cubs’ development into reproductively successful adults.
-via Metafilter
Animals tend to take their owners at face value, and since they don't understand concepts like teasing and deception the way we humans do they believe whatever their humans tell them is true.
So when the man in this video hunkered down over his cat's bowl and pretended to eat her food the poor cat couldn't help but feel like her food supply was being threatened- so she took action.
-Via Cheezburger
