bunny stops by the yard for a quick breakfast
kitty sees bunny and considers breakfast
bunny sees kitty and keeps eating
kitty sees bunny seeing kitty
one inside, one outside
only a screen between them
understanding
each is safe
but what goes on in their heads?
—
“it is easy to be brave from a safe distance. “
-aesop
with the absence of so many humans
the animals have reclaimed their territory
and even branched out to try things that might be new
when i saw this goose standing full of pride and bravado on top of the bridge
all i could think of was that scene from ‘titanic’ when jack said to rose:
“i’m the king of the world!”
and he believed that for a little while.
—
“the higher we soar the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly”
– friedrich nietzsche
After the aquarium closed its doors to the public on March 1, its population of 300-odd spotted garden eels became increasingly bashful, burrowing into the sand whenever staff members were around. Although that isn’t abnormal behavior for wild garden eels, the ones in captivity at Sumida had adapted to the consistent, non-threatening presence of human visitors, and no longer tried to hide whenever someone approached.
This return to reticence is making it hard for employees to monitor their health, so they’ve devised a plan to reacclimate the tiny creatures to the existence of people: a three-day “face-showing festival” from Sunday, May 3, to Tuesday, May 5. During that time, the aquarium is requesting that people FaceTime the eels, waving or calmly calling out to them for up to 5 minutes before disconnecting.
Since they’ll be using FaceTime, you’ll need an iPhone, iPad, or other iOS device to call in. Staff members will be accepting calls on five tablets around the tanks, so there are five different email addresses you can try if you’d like to chat with the eels:
helpchin001@gmail.com
helpchin002@gmail.com
helpchin003@gmail.com
helpchin004@gmail.com
helpchin005@gmail.com
The lines will be open each day from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m JST, and because Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of EST, participants in the U.S. will technically need to call in the night before; i.e. from Saturday, May 2, to Monday, May 4, between the hours of 9:30 p.m. and 1 a.m EST.In other words, it’s the perfect time to read a very short bedtime story to a very small eel.
“i don’t mind eels. except as meals.”
-ogden nash
—
credits: ellen gutosky, mental floss
This image of GPS tracking of multiple wolves in six different packs around Voyageurs National Park was created in the framework of the Voyageurs Wolf Project. It is an excellent illustration of how much wolf packs in general avoid each other’s range.
In Voyageurs National Park a typical wolf pack territory is somewhere around 50-70 square miles but that can vary from year to year. So that’s about the size of the areas marked with the different colors. The white line marks the boundary of the national park.
Wolf packs generally avoid being around each other unless they are fighting for food that may be in short supply. When that occurs, they may engage in battles with other packs in order to continue have their claim on a given location as well as the food found within it.
Wolves may need to shift their territory due to human activity as well. When people clear out part of their natural habitat they may have to find a new route to get to their food sources. This can also create conflicts among the various wolf packs due to overstepping their bounds.
—
“for the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”
—
,image credit: thomas gable
sources: voyageurs wolf project, wolfworlds
on my neighborhood nextdoor site – written by a kind neighbor:
“we found a raccoon in our driveway that looks sad and is not moving.
is there anything we can do about it?”
—
“let us fill our hearts with our own compassion –
towards ourselves and towards all living beings.”
-thich nhat hanh
feeding the worms and roll-poly’s
everyone’s got to eat
all meals are free and served with love
“food is our common ground.”
-james beard
after finding a tiny baby mole
who has died
along the side of the road
the kids say a few words on its behalf
and place it in the soft leaves of the woods
as a kind and gentle memorial gesture.
—
“when children come into contact with nature, they reveal their strength.”
-maria montessori
the neighbors stopped by to check us out
“when strangers start acting like neighbors… communities are reinvigorated.”
-ralph nader
kinder take a closer look at the wooly sheep’s children
before they come over
to feel the human childrens’ gentle touch.
—
“any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own
and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.”
– john muir
An adorable Shiba Inu named Ken-kun in Hokkaido, Japan remarkably runs his own sweet potato stand.
The watchful dog politely tends to whatever the customer needs, however, he is not able to accept payment. That situation is solved with a slot in which to put the money.
Customers need to have the exact amount (or be willing to leave the rest), as a sign on the front of the stand reads:
“Because I am a dog, I can’t give you change.”
—
“the dog lives for the day, the hour, even the moment.”
-robert falcon scott
—
sources: Lori Dorn, laughing squid
