Category Archives: animals

Feb20

jumbled.

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i’m the house/menagerie sitter

for my daughter and her family

waiting for me at her house

two cats, kind of twin-ish

not always sure which is in or out or both?

also one of the sweetest dogs ever

 cocoa, like the chocolate

the pets must think me to be a monster

quickly found out the invisible fence isn’t working

when I let cocoa out

two different kind neighbors brought her home

the snow melted

on the day they left

she immediately has spring fever

 have to put cocoa on a long lead in the yard

she feels restricted refuses to walk around or sit down

just stares in the window sadly

can’t find her leash, have one delivered

we go on long walks

like steering an excitable pony

finally calming

 at about the forty minute mark

we are home again

now she is sad

when I eat and don’t share my food with her

 when i

work on a puzzle or write or watch a movie or read

or do anything else

she stands by me or lays by me and stares

 have to hide my eating, keep it a secret, open things silently

 feeling guilty

she has lots of food and water and a treat when she comes back inside

still feel guilty somehow

all three sleep with me

i carve out a spot in the middle

one cat gets up at 4;30 am

wakes up the whole menagerie

i try to play dead

none of them is buying it

boom

the new day officially begins

  put cocoa on the long lead outside

 still dark and too early to walk

  sad again and staring in the window

 all she wants

is to take off or come in and stare at me

one of the cat twins is yelling to go out

the other is circling me

everyone gets treats

 let sweet cocoa back in

 started raining in the ten minutes she was out

now muddy and wet

 wipe her down with a towel

cover the couch with beach towels

blow dry her whole body

wrap her in a blanket

she stares at me sadly from the couch

so dramatic

norma desmond in sunset boulevard

as I eat early breakfast silently

sip quiet giant coffee

one or two cats are somewhere

turn on the olympics

cocoa and i sit side by side touching on the sofa

staring

we have found our happy routine.

 

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“humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness that some things are really important, others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs.”

-christopher morley

Jul29

poppy.

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poppy the baby possum (hugging her stuffed koala)

came to my daughter’s house

when her opossum mother was killed by a car

a cat brought her home

the family took good care of this little one

only 5″ long

feeding her goat milk with a syringe

 water for drinking

keeping her warm

providing her darkness in a box

with an open doorway out

cuddly blankets

a safe space 

human contact

in a few days

she found her new home

with a wildlife rehabber

at motor city possum rescue

a perfect match

when she went to drop poppy off

another woman arrived

with the same breed of baby possum 

sweet serendipity. 

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“no matter how convoluted my life got, one thing remained consistent-

my hair looked like a baby opossum had taken refuge in it,

invited some friends over, and thrown a party.”

-jennifer l. armentrout, american author

May8

rock pockets.

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I so love this!

there are a variety of reasons they do this 

they use them as tools to break the shells of food they’ll eat

they like to play with and juggle them 

they become attached to them 

we should all have a pocket for our favorite rocks

I do tend to collect rocks wherever I go

and have my clear favorites

but don’t always have a pocket

how lucky the otters are.

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‘you have to create little pockets of joy in your life to take care of yourself.’

-jonathan van ness

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photo credit: humane canada

Apr23

yard ponies.

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walking around the neighborhood 

I discovered something that was new to me:

yard ponies

not something you see every day

or ever 

in my case

they were quite big

seemed peaceful 

a couple of them looked very tired.

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“trotting together
we know our way,
through bright sun of morning
our cares, cast away;
our ponies fly over fields and streams,
working together,
weaving our dreams.

From ” Ponies,” Celebrate the Seasons”
― Suzy Davies, 

Apr19

the herds.

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These animals, crafted from cardboard and plywood, make up “The Herds,” a public art project that recently set off from the Democratic Republic of Congo on a journey through major cities in Africa and Europe. The goal is to raise awareness about how the climate crisis is endangering the very animals represented by the life-size puppets. “We believe thousands and thousands of people are watching us,” project member Siphokazi Mpofu told AFP. “We believe out of these thousands, maybe 10 will take out something on what we are doing and then take it back to their communities, to their cities.” Watch a video of the herd in motion. 

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‘The wildlife and the natural beauty of this earth are the heritage of all generations to come.

We must act as their guardians.’

– Sir David Attenborough

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source credit: AFP

Feb13

busy beavers.

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Beavers completed a million dollar dam project in 2 days 

Beavers know a thing or two about efficiency — and this story is evidence of that. Last week, a beaver colony in the Brdy region of the Czech Republic cut out the middlemen and built several dams right where they were needed, all in the span of about two days. For context, the local government had a plan in the works since 2018 to restore waterways in the area, but the animals essentially beat them to it.
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“They built the dams without any project documentation and for free,” Bohumil Fišer, head of the Brdy Protected Landscape Area Administration, said in a translated statement, per Radio Prague International. He added that the beavers saved the government around 30 million Czech crowns — the equivalent of $1.2 million.
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The beavers’ craftwork will go a long way, benefiting the rare stone crayfish, frogs, and other wetland species. “Beavers always know best,” added Jaroslav Obermajer, head of the Central Bohemian Office of the Czech Nature and Landscape Protection Agency. “The places where they build dams are always chosen just right — better than when we design it on paper.”

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“clearly, animals know more than we think, and think a great deal more than we know.”

*irene m. pepperberg

*author of: ‘alex me: how a scientist and a parrot discovered a hidden world of animal intelligence and formed a deep bond in the process’

 

 

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source credits; nice news, brdy protected landscape area administration

 

 

Sep10

donkey nannies.

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Donkey nannies in Italy

I had no idea this was a thing, and my world was made better by learning that this happens.

Each year in Italy, grazing animals are moved from high pastures down to the plains. Newborn lambs are unable to make this journey on their own. Instead, they ride in the pouches of a specially made saddle on the back of a donkey or a mule nanny. They are taken down at rest stops and returned to their mothers for a bite to eat and a bit of nuzzling.
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“animals are such agreeable friends—they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms.”
-george eliot
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Source credit: avant gardens Photo: medeamoon
Sep7

cows just wanna’ have fun.

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Cows have best friends. Lists of the world’s most intelligent animals don’t often feature cows, but they have more emotional depth than they get credit for. A 2011 study by scientists at the University of Northampton in England revealed that not only do cows have best friends,  but they also get stressed out when separated from their BFFs. The research was conducted by comparing heart rates and cortisol levels during 30-minute sessions in which a cow was penned with a “preferred partner” it was known to have a close bond with, then a “familiar but non-preferred individual.” When the besties shared a pen together, their heart rates were lower and other signs of stress were also reduced.

Cows aren’t the only animals that form friendships. Chimpanzees and bonobos do, too, as do several others, including dolphins, horses, certain birds, and marmots. Dolphins can identify their friends by taste, whereas most other creatures are known for simply grooming, remaining in close proximity to, and touching their besties — capuchin monkeys, for example, gently stick their fingers in one another’s eye sockets as a bonding ritual.

 

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source credits:  gary larson image, university of northampton, vegnews.com, interesting facts

Jun30

conspiracy theory.

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no, this is not a giant hairy spider

it’s just a conspiracy of ring-tailed lemurs

having a snack at their mobbing  planning session.

 

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A group of lemurs is called a conspiracy. Lemurs are social animals and live in mini communities of around 10-25 members. As a result of this, they often work together, or ‘conspire’ to outwit predators using a technique called ‘mobbing’.

 

 

 

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image credit: nature is amazing

 

Jun17

the company you keep.

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capybaras are herbivores, therefore harmless to other animals around them.

they’re easy-going semi-aquatic mammals, social, friendly, and gentle,

and get along with just about everyone,

so it makes sense that other animals would enjoy their company.

be the capybara.

 

 

 

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image credit: the atlantic magazine