Cute animals: June 2011

White rhino - endangered animal

The rhino is called “The Africa's Big Five”. The white rhino is the largest of the remaining 5 species of rhinoceros. Those species are divided into the southern and northern white rhinos. It was thought the northern rhino was extinct in the wild due to poaching, and only a handful remain in captivity.

Although some research shows the southern wild population numbers around 11,000, the IUCN red list shows over 17,000. At any rate, even though the white rhino has the largest numbers of any of the rhino species, it still is endangered and needs our help. (On a side note-the IUCN recently took the Asian greater one horned rhino of the endangered red list, but I along with others feel it is still needs the protection given by that status)

There are over 700 white rhinos in captivity world wide. The rhino is one of the few larger animals that can be introduced into the wild. Meaning a captive born white or black rhino could make its way to Africa. Recently in October 2008, a white rhino was born via artificial insemination at the Budapest Zoo.

Even with protection they can still be legally trophy hunted in areas of South Africa. This is very counter productive with all the time and money going into increasing their numbers. They can also be green hunted in which a tranquillizer gun is used to and the hunter gets a picture next to their "kill." These are less expensive, but not as popular as a regular hunt. The rhino horn is still found on the billion dollar animal black market which is driven mostly by China and the US.

Newborn baby giraffe

Zebras at Etosha national park in Namibia

Parrot performing tricks

Carrier crab carries a shield

Ukrainian lady lives with lions

Tatyana Efremova – a lady from Ukraine, has some unusual guests.

She is a Veterinarian and runs a home for exotic animals. She even sheltered three lion cubs. The little lions were living in terrible conditions at the local Zoo because of the lack of funding there. The lion cubs quickly found themselves at home with Tatyana's house and even made new friend with Tatyana's cat.

Tatyana said that the local circus refused to train the lions but this was a chance for her to take care of the animals. She is very impressed with the lions and the way they live and communicate with her and the other animals.

Unfortunately, when the lions become bigger she would have to find another home for them as it will be too hard to support the lions.

Baby elephants play at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo

Boogie Boogie Hedgehog

Brutus the amazing grizzly bear

Brutus was born in January 2002. He spent his first few months in a six foot square steel box that was his mother’s cage at a captive bear facility. Bears born in situations like this can never be released into the wild for two reasons. A captive born cub lacks the two years of learning how to survive that wild bears receive while living with their mothers in nature. Also a bear born in captivity lacks the fear of humans that makes wild bears avoid dangerous interactions with humans.

Although Brutus will never be able to roam the wilderness himself, instead he is a true ambassador for his wild cousins. Thousands of people come each year to see Brutus in his home at Montana Grizzly Encounter Rescue and Educational Sanctuary. There they learn a greater appreciation for grizzly bears and learn about bear safety, preservation and conservation. When he is not at home at the Grizzly Encounter, Brutus also travels the country appearing in films, television commercials and live educational shows. All proceeds support the sanctuary and further the cause of wild grizzly bear education and conservation.

Mockingbird song

Yoda - the ugliest dog

Beautiful tiger in zoo

Ants create a lifeboat in the Amazon jungle

The Indonesian Mimic Octopus

The Indonesian Mimic Octopus, Thaumoctopus mimicus. This fascinating creature was discovered in 1998 off the coast of Sulawesi in Indonesia, the mimic octopus is the first known species to take on the characteristics of multiple species. This octopus is able to copy the physical likeness and movement of more than fifteen different species, including sea snakes, lionfish, flatfish, brittle stars, giant crabs, sea shells, stingrays, jellyfish, sea anemones, and mantis shrimp. This animal is so intelligent that it is able to discern which dangerous sea creature to impersonate that will present the greatest threat to its current possible predator. For example, scientists observed that when the octopus was attacked by territorial damselfishes, it mimicked the banded sea snake, a known predator of damselfishes.

Cute cat fights snake

Very smart parrot

Cute nice cat

Gustave - the giant crocodile

Gustave is a massive male Nile crocodile living in Burundi. In 2004 he was estimated to be 60 years old, 20 feet (6.1 m) in length and to weigh around 1 ton, making him the largest confirmed crocodile ever seen in Africa. He is a notorious man-eater, who is rumored to have claimed as many as 300 humans from the banks of the Ruzizi River and the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika. While this number is likely exaggerated, Gustave has attained a near-mythical status and is greatly feared by people in the region. Scientists and Herpetologists who have studied Gustave claim that his uncommon size and weight impedes the crocodile's ability to hunt the species' usual, agile prey such as fish, antelope and zebra, forcing him to attack larger animals such as Hippopotamus, large wildebeest and, to some extent, humans. According to a popular local warning, he is said to hunt and leave his victims' corpses uneaten.

Gustave was named by Patrice Faye, a French resident of Burundi and self-taught naturalist who has been pursuing the crocodile since 1998. Faye and a documentary team attempted to capture Gustave in 2002 using an enormous trap, but the crocodile not only avoided it, but seemed to taunt the team as well. The ill-fated attempt was detailed in a documentary titled Capturing the Killer Croc, which aired on PBS in May 2004.

Gustave was sighted most recently in February 2008 by National Geographic sources. In parts of Asia and Australia saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) 6 metres (20 ft) long are well known and easy to spot; individuals 7 metres (23 ft) long have been reported. In eastern India the Guinness Book of World Records has confirmed the existence of a 7 metre individual. Therefore, although Gustave is not exceptional in size compared to other species of crocodiles, he is much larger than the average male Nile crocodile. He is known for the few distinct bullet scars that cover his body: one on his head and three on his right side.

Turlte and banana

Funny bird crashing into a tree

Sneezing panda baby

Tigers play in Africa wildlife park

Animals in love

Cute animals compilation

Kitty loves puppy

Amazing facts about animals

The funniest and craziest animal compilation (18+)

Dog and duck became best friends

Top 10 world's weirdest endangered species

Giant octopus

Funny talking parrot

Penguins find a way over an obstacle

Animal partnerships - birds and mammals

From caterpillar to beautiful butterfly

Prehistoric frilled shark

57th - Most Discussed (All Time) - Pets & Animals - Global
Info-Copyright 2007 Reuters.

A species of shark rarely seen alive because its natural habitat is about 2,000 feet under the sea was captured on film by staff at a Japanese marine park this week.

The Awashima Marine Park in Shizuoka, south of Tokyo, was alerted by a fisherman at a nearby port on Sunday that he had spotted an odd-looking eel-like creature with a mouthful of needle-sharp teeth.
Marine park staff caught the 5 foot (1.6 meter) long creature, which they identified as a female frilled shark, sometimes referred to as a "living fossil" because it is a primitive species that has changed little since prehistoric times.

The shark appeared to be in poor condition when park staff moved it to a seawater pool where they filmed it swimming and opening its jaws.

"We believe moving pictures of a live specimen are extremely rare," said an official at the park. "They live between 1,968 and 3,280 feet (600 and 1,000 meters) under the water, which is deeper than humans can go."

"We think it may have come close to the surface because it was sick, or else it was weakened because it was in shallow waters," the official said.

Copyright 2007 Reuters.
Video- ITV News Wednesday January 24-2007

Nightingale song

Honey badger (commented by Randall)

Cute animals slideshow

Cute kitty playing suprised

Turtle in love with cat

Axolotl - one strange animal

This unusual looking creature is called an Axolotl. It is the Peter Pan of the animal world: It is an amphibian but unusual in that it reaches adulthood without metamorphosis, so always remain in their larval stage. As a result, they live permanently in water. They are threatened by pollution, and by being eaten by introduced fish species. They live in Central Mexico in canals and lakes and eat freshwater invertebrates.

The name axolotl is thought to have originated from the Aztecs, derived from two words: atl, meaning water, and xolotl meaning monster. Once eaten as a delicacy in Mexico City, they are now a protected species in Mexico and Critically Endangered in the wild.

Hippo and fish symbiosis

Lioness Meg swiming with Kevin Richardson

Archer fish

Rocket frog jumps over 4 meters

Baby wombat

Baby skunks eeping if separated from their mother

Wild baby skunks are put in a tub. If they are ever separated from a sibling or their mother, they frantically "eep" and look for them/her. As soon as they find their sibling or mother, they are quiet again.

White tiger growls

Black rhino calf baby

Cute baby bunny

Orca matriarch

Future animals /if no humans exist/

The Future Is Wild was a 2003 television series, which used computer-generated imagery to show a possible future of life on Earth if Homo sapiens became extinct -- and shows fictional living creatures in 5, 100 and 200 millions years from now. It has seven parts and is based on research and interviews with many scientists, and was played out in the form of a nature documentary.

Curiosity: the Discovery Channel softened the harsh outlook by stating the human race had completely migrated from the Earth and had sent back probes to examine the progress of life on Earth.

This video I made from cuts of original show. I wanted to show my favorites creatures. They are (in order of appearance):

Swampus: an amphibious octopus that can live in water and land, 4 of their 8 tentacles are modified in form of foots. It lives in swamps 100 million years from now.

Megasquid: an elephant-sized omnivorous terrestrial squid. Its 8 arms have evolved into walking legs. Lives in rainforests of 200 million years from now. It uses two long tentacles for feeding.

Flish: Analogue to theropod dinosaurs-birds, the fish went extinct, but they left descendents: a flying fish that lives in shores of 200 million year from now super-continent "pangea II".

Toraton: a giant animal that descends from turtles. Toraton is 23 feet (7 m) tall and weighs 120 tons. It lives in the same habitat of the swampus and is the biggest animal to take the floor on earth.

Great Blue Windrunner: My favourite one! In 100 million years in the future, It is a giant four-winged bird. It's legs have flight feathers on and can act as gliding surfaces. It lives in shores and in the summer migrates to a Great plateau, 12.000 m above sea level.

The music is from Yanni, "Looking glass" (edited).

For more information about this show, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_is_wild

Music and video copyright of their respectives owners.

Dolphins playing with dog

Cuttle fish mating ritual

Giraffe giving a kiss to Joanna Lumley

Grizzly bear not bothered by humans

Smart crows use traffic to break nuts

Leopard and baby tiger play together

Cat is trying to talk to another cat

Frog Conductor

Baby bunny eating flower

Gorilla walks like a man

Funny animals

Alcoholic Vervet monkeys

Amazing bird - imitating any sound

Wild animals in South America

Blue whale - biggest animal on Earth

Cat and Rabbit

Monkey vs dog

Baby giraffe

Fox live with a guy

Rare frogs & endangered species

Dog and rabbit share carrot

North American Wood Frogs freezing for Winter

World's Largest Crocodile in captivity

Baby Black Panthers

Cute kitten

Giant Pacific Octopus is smart animal

Funny Talking Animals

Hedgehog swimming

Dog and monkey love

Otter family in the Amazon jungle

Cute owl plays hunter

Cute owl plays hunter, and hunting invisible pray. This is how the young owl is learning the tricks of the trade. In nature it is important for the owls to be quick, smart and have outstanding timing in order to catch their prey. Amazing, adorable and cute owl.