WEIRD NEWS: “Winged” cat baffles animal experts
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Tag Archives: Odd News
RECOMMENDED IMAGE(S): A crop of fluorescent tubes powered by transmission lines
These fluorescent tubes are “powered entirely by electrical fields generated by the power lines that float in curves over the top of this field.” Visit Richard Box for more images.
Images were found here, here, and here.
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ANIMALS: Turtle vs. Pigeon; Pelican vs. Pigeon
WARNING: These videos may be disturbing to some folks or younger eyes.
Who would have thought that turtles and pelicans could be such ferocious predators? In the videos below, one pigeon becomes prey to a pond turtle, and a pelican at London’s St. James’s Park quickly snatches and consumes a pigeon.
The first video shows a pond turtle quickly grabbing a pigeon (that is presumably feeding on land) and dragging it into the water—obviously to consume. What makes this video fascinating is the quickness of the turtle and its size—it’s no bigger than the pigeon. I don’t think any of the other pigeons realized what happened, but pigeons aren’t the brainiest bird.
The next video is a classic. It shows a pelican gobbling a pigeon. Certainly, one less domestic pigeon in London isn’t going to be missed by most people. I’ve seen these pelicans at St. James’s Park, and I believe they are African pink-backed pelicans (Pelecanus rufescens).
I’m not sure what they feed the pelicans at St. James’s Park or how often, and there seems to be many turtles in the video swimming about the pond; so these animals are probably taking pigeons because they need the extra protein.
In other unexpected predator-prey behavior, here are a series of images showing a heron consume a rabbit.
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BIRDS: Heron vs. rabbit
A wildlife photographer was in the right place at the right time to take a series of very interesting images illustrating unexpected heron behavior: A grey heron (Ardea cinerea) catching, drowning, and consuming what looks like a young rabbit. Herons will eat all types of small vertebrates, but this rabbit seems quite large but apparently manageable. According to the Mail Online, “Wildlife photographer Ad Sprang captured the dramatic images in Vianen, Holland.” These images were taken in 2006, but I’ve just now come across them via a tweet from “burdr” on Twitter.
Image Found Here
Image Found Here
Image Found Here
Image Found Here
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VIDEO: Octuplet mom: ‘All I wanted was children’
Recently, 33-year-old single mother Nadya Suleman brought about public outrage when “she had six embryos implanted in [a] fertility procedure – far more than industry guidelines recommend under ordinary circumstances – and was well aware that multiple births could result.” As a result, “the Medical Board of California is investigating whether there were any violations by a fertility doctor who helped [the] woman become pregnant with the octuplets.”
I believe single parents can successfully raise children, and I understand that family and community support (e.g., the church) can help raise children, but I believe it’s irresponsible to be implanted with six embryos, which results in a birth of octuplets when you’re a single parent with six children at home already.
We currently live in a very fragile and complex world with limited natural resources. These thirteen fourteen kids will need an education, food, water, and shelter just like everyone else, and their kids will need an education, food, water, and shelter just like everyone else; amongst a backdrop of intense consumerism, continued environmental degradation, and an increasingly hungry world population (i.e., hungry for wealth and natural resources). I take issue with the fact that too few people understand that environmental preservation and wise use of resources should be priorities. I’m not arguing against the so-called American dream or technological advancement, but these things must be executed responsibly.
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