Tuesday

Baby rhino loves getting scratched at the Care for Wild Africa Rhino Sanctuary.

 Care for Wild is the largest rhino orphanage in the world and is determined to rescue, care, and rehabilitate wildlife that has been injured and/or orphaned.

Since 2013, over 3750 rhinos have been poached in South Africa alone! The ongoing crisis has left many baby rhinos badly injured and orphaned, and the staff and volunteers at Care for Wild Africa are determined to give these animals a future.

Care for Wild Africa has provided many volunteers from abroad with the opportunity to work with African wildlife, an opportunity that they have absolutely treasured. This opportunity has provided the spark for a number of people looking for “something” to do with their lives to move towards animal care and rehabilitation. Care for Wild Africa has a wide selection of animals passing through its doors including lion, giraffe and rhino.

This video from the Working With Rhinos shows us how to perform the finest of rhino relaxation techniques. It looks like the sweet spot is right behind the ears.


VIDEO

The incident involving Harambe has drawn parallels to a similar scenario 20 years ago when a female gorilla cradled a child who had fallen into its enclosure and carried him to safety.

On that occasion, a three-year-old child had slipped 20ft into the gorilla enclosure at Chicago's Brookfield Zoo.

An eight-year-old female gorilla named Binti Jua - whose name means 'daughter of sunshine - picked up the unconscious boy, while carrying her own infant [called Koola] on her back, and protected him from the other animals.

In a remarkable show of maternal care, she cradled the child and carried him to an entrance where staff could safely reach him.

Binti Jua, now 28, is still living in the Brookfield Zoo gorilla exhibit, according to the website.

Koola gave birth to her own daughter, Nora, in August 2013 at the zoo.


Recent events at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden drew similarities to the 1996 incident. On Saturday, a 450-pound male gorilla named Harambe was killed after he was seen dragging a 3-year-old boy who climbed through a barrier and fell about 10 feet into the gorilla enclosure.

17-mo-old baby mountain gorilla Koola hanging from mother Binti Jua, who rescued unconscious 3-yr-old boy after he fell into gorilla habitat, at Brookfield zoo. 

While Binti Jua was hailed a hero, 17-year-old Harambe was shot by a zoo employee with the boy between his legs. Zoo officials called the decision a "tough choice," but said the boy's life was in danger because Harambe was an "extremely strong" animal in an agitated situation.
 Source
 VIDEO

If you think your average domestic dog gets excited when they see their owner, wait until you see these wolfdogs. They lose their minds!

She has said that it is also the reason why she is constantly covered in dirt and has no nice clothes.

Sarah says: "The two animals in this video are Spruce and Cochise. Spruce is the dog with the blue eye, and she is a low/no content wolfdog (meaning that she has little to no actual wolf heritage). The gray boy is Cochise and he is a mid content wolfdog."

"They were both failed pets and were taken in by the sanctuary when their respective owners were unable to provide homes that met their needs."

"Cochise and Spruce are incredibly friendly but also incredibly high energy, and being able to run around their acre large enclosure and howl with their neighbors has led them to be happier and more well adjusted than they ever were as house pets."

"Wolfdogs are perhaps the most misunderstood and mismanaged animals in America" She said.


VIDEO

Svetlana and Yuriy Panteleenko adopted the bear named Stepan when he was aged just three months. Today the big mammal is 23 years old, weighs a whopping 300lb and stands at a height of more than 7ft

The idea of sitting down for dinner with a 300lb bear is enough to put most people off their food.

But for one family from Russia this wild idea is actually a way of life that extends far beyond sharing the odd meal at the dinner table.

On the surface Svetlana and Yuriy Panteleenko appear like any other ordinary couple, but for their 23-year-old bear named Stepan.

He also stocks up on a hefty 25kg of fish, vegetables and eggs - meaning dinner time at the Panteleenko's is never a breeze.

But fortunately for Stepan, he's also a football fanatic so works off the gut-busting amount of food his parents serve him every day. Svetlana and Yuriy adopted Stepan when he was aged just three months.


'When we adopted him, he was only three-months-old and had been found by hunters in the forest having lost his mother. He was in a very bad condition. 'He absolutely loves people and is a really sociable bear - despite what people might think, he is not aggressive at all. We have never been bitten by Stepan.

(h/t: dailymail





VIDEO

Monday

The Svalbard reindeer have no natural predators and so are very docile animals. They wander right through town and aren’t generally bothered by people being nearby.

 Life in the tundra is hard, but reindeer have it easy thanks to their amazing evolutionary enhancements. Their noses are specially adapted to warm the air they breathe before it enters their lungs and to condense water in the air, which they then use to keep their mucous membranes moist.

Their fur traps air, which not only helps provide them with excellent insulation, but also keeps them buoyant in water, which is critical being as how they often travel across massive rivers and lakes while migrating.

Even their hooves are special. In the summer, when the ground is wet, their foot pads are softened, providing them with extra traction. In the winter, though, the pads tighten, revealing the rim of their hooves, which is used to provide traction in the slippery snow and ice.

Historically, the European/Asian reindeer and American Caribou were considered to be different species, but they are actually one and the same. There are two major groups of reindeer, the tundra and the woodland, which are divided according to the type of region the animal lives in, not their global location.


VIDEO

Another Cute One VIDEO

"For about two weeks we have been watching the same bird stalking our Labrador Retriever, Maple.

"When Maple takes a nap the bird flies down and spends several minutes pulling fur from her side and rear. Then the bird flies into a bush and adds the dog fur to her nest. We have filmed her doing this at least three times. Maple only occasionally wakes up during these "fur harvest" sessions." says Daniel Kersten, the owner of the sleepy lab.

Spring is here, and birds around the world—and in your backyard—are turning into construction crews. It’s nesting time!

So, what can you do about it? Well, you can provide nesting material of a wide variety of types that appeal to a wide variety of birds, attracting avians to your garden as surely as you would with a feeder.

Almost any kind of hair or wool will do. Dog hair is probably handiest for most people, especially when dogs are shedding in spring. Curry them, take the hair off the brush, and put it in your garden (we’ll talk below about ways to distribute it). You can also add some of your own hair to the mix, or hair from a horse or goat or wool from a sheep, should you have access to such animals.


Cut longer hair into 4- to 6-inch lengths. Hair works well for nesting, because it is durable and not inclined to soak up water. However, don’t use hair from animals that have been treated with pesticides, such as flea and tick spray.

VIDEOS

Sunday

Ravens are well-known for their intelligence, they are also very playful birds, performing mid-air acrobatics, playing 'games' with each other's beaks and passing "things" to each other.

Pairs stay together for life, and defend a territory from which they exclude all other ravens. Breeding begins in February or March.

Following a mating display involving posturing, mutual preening and beak caressing, the pair make a solid nest (or renovate the previous year's nest) of sticks lined with moss and mud.

Clutches contain four to six blue-green eggs, one of which is laid each day until the clutch is complete. The female incubates the eggs for up to 20 days, during which time she is fed by the male. Both parents feed the chicks, which stay in the nest for up to six and a half weeks.

Ravens do not tend to travel widely; during winter adults remain in their breeding territory, and young birds do not tend to disperse further away than 20 miles.

Male and female ravens pair for life and lay up to six blue-green eggs per clutch.


VIDEO

The beautiful fox, with its bushy tail and dog-like face is an efficient nocturnal creature which has 48 sub-species of fox including colour variations termed silver or cross fox.

A fox’s den is normally a burrow underground, also known as an ‘earth’, but they can also live above ground in a cosy hollow.

While they are solitary animals, during breeding season (winter) when they court and mate, the dog fox will support the female (vixen) by bringing food for the family (early spring).

You can often hear the mating calls, which is a sharp, high-pitched shrieking/screaming noise, which can sound quite terrifying.

The cubs’ eyes and ears open after two weeks and at four weeks they will emerge from their dens. They have short noses which resemble puppies when born. However, many cubs die prematurely due to other predators (dogs, badgers), but their worst predator is the motor vehicle. They also can die of starvation or cold during hard winters.


SJ Kit Fox Pup (Wild and Endangered) Photo Credit: Tin Man 

Photo Credit: Steve Dunsford 

 Photo Credit: Steve Dunsford 


A Grey Fox Jeff Wendorff 



Ivan Kislov

Devotion knows no bounds when it comes to bees and their leader.

When Carol Howarth parked her Mitsubishi in the town of Haverfordwest, Wales, to do some shopping, little did she know the mayhem that would ensue.

While she attended to her errands, a swarm of 20,000 bees was drawn to her car. A local man, Tom Moses, saw the buzzing hubbub and concerned that the bees might be poorly handled, called in a team of beekeepers.

"It was spectacular. I was driving through when I spotted the big brown splodge,” he said. "A lot of people were really amazed by it, cars were slowing down and people were taking pictures of it." "I was a little bit concerned, with it being in the middle of town outside a pub, that someone might do something stupid and get hurt or do something stupid and hurt the bees," he said.

With the beekeepers on the job, by the time Howarth returned the situation appeared to be resolved. But, no. The swarm kept her in their sights and managed to track her down.

"The next day I realized that some of the bees had followed me home,” she said. So she summoned the beekeepers, who arrived ready for rescue. “We think the queen bee had been attracted to something in the car, perhaps something sweet, and had got into a gap on the boot’s wiper blade or perhaps the hinge,” says Roger Burns of Pembrokeshire Beekeepers. “The swarm of around 20,000 had followed her and were sat around on the boot of the car.”


In the end, the adventurous queen and her subjects were reunited without harm. Burns says that it was the strangest bee-thing he’d seen in three decades of beekeeping. “It is natural for them to follow the queen but it is a strange thing to see and quite surprising to have a car followed for two days. It was quite amusing.”
(Via Treehugger)

Rescue Team

VIDEO

Close to 700 delegates, veterans and members of Akwesasne gathered in the sweltering heat Saturday for a historic ceremony on the American side of the Mohawk Territory.

 They came to honour 24 Akwesasne Mohawk Code talkers. Levi Oakes, 92, is the sole surviving code talker from Akwesasne who fought in the second world war.

“I enlisted at the age of 18, and from there I went to Louisiana to be trained,” said Oakes. Oakes served in New Guinea and the Philippines. Code talkers used their language to communicate between allied troops. Enemy forces couldn’t decipher the language.

According to New York Congress woman, Elsie Stefanik, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe is one of 33 American Indian tribes being recognized for using their language to send coded messages.

“I can’t think of a more fitting time to bestow this congressional medal, then on the 150th anniversary of memorial day, said Stefanik.”

She said, for far too long their sacrifice went unnoticed, and they were instructed not to speak of their roles in the military campaigns. Oakes said he kept his role in the war from his seven children, until five years ago. His son Wally said he’s proud of his father’s accomplishments.


“We weren’t sure when he would get a medal, we were just hoping before he left this earth,” he said. District Chief, Timothy Thompson said today’s ceremony is the result of a long process that began in 2011, it’s long overdue.

“It’s about time that our elders and our families get recognized for their valiant efforts to secure peace, he said.”
Source




Saturday

Siberian huskies are known for their wolfish good looks, but deep down, they're all dog.

1. Huskies are born to run. When the semi-nomadic Chukchi people of Siberia had to expand their hunting grounds some 3000 years ago, they sought to breed the ideal sled dog. These dogs had to have endurance, a high tolerance to cold, and the ability to survive on very little food. The resulting pups could carry loads over long distances without food or warmth. While there is controversy as to how pure the lineage is, Siberian huskies are widely believed to be the closest to the original Chukchi dogs.

2. Their skills impressed Alaskans. Huskies made their American debut at the second year of the All Alaska Sweepstakes Race in 1909. Rumor had it that these canines were superior sled dogs; they proved the gossip true by dominating the racing competitions in Alaska for the following decade.

3. A lot of features help keep them warm.Huskies have a thick double coat that keeps them well insulated. Their undercoat is short and warm, while the overcoat is long and water-resistant. Their almond-shaped eyes allow them to squint to keep out snow. Huskies will wrap their tails around their faces while they sleep; their breath warms the tail and keeps the nose and face protected from the cold.


4. A group saved a small town in Alaska. 1925, the children of Nome came down with the widely feared disease called diphtheria. The closest anti-toxin was 1000 miles away in a hospital in Anchorage. The train could only take the medicine so far, and it was up to mushers with teams of sled dogs to transport the package the remaining 674 miles.

Twenty mushers and their sled dogs battled the bitter cold in a relay to get the medicine there safely. It took 127.5 hours to complete the mission, but the medicine made it to the village. The final leg was completed by a black Siberian husky and his team. When finally reaching their destination, the dogs were hailed as heroes and appeared in newspapers across the country.

5. They’re not great watchdogs. Huskies are not one-person dogs—they're unsuspicious and friendly to strangers. This can be charming, but it's not very helpful when you’re looking for a canine sentry. Of course, their fierce wolf-like features might be enough to deter any intruders.


6. Huskies don’t get fatigued. Huskies often run long distances on very little food. When humans attempt this, we start to use our body’s glycogen and fat and eventually get fatigued. But huskies burn a lot of calories without ever tapping into these other energy stores—and they do this by regulating their metabolism.

7. You need to watch them closely. These pups love to run and explore. They're known to be escape artists and are capable of digging under fences and slipping out of leashes.

8. The army used them. During WWII, the army employed the pups as search and rescue dogs. They were also used for transportation, freighting, and communication.

9. They’re closely related to wolves. Studies say that the shiba inu and the chow chow share the most DNA with the grey wolf. Coming in near the top is the Siberian husky. That said, huskies are domesticated dogs and have evolved separately from their wild cousins for thousands of years.


10. Blue eyes make them distinct. Not many dog breeds can boast piercing blue eyes. Some dogs—like the Australian shepherd or Weimaraner—have them thanks to the merle gene, which results in the loss of pigmentation. But huskies can have bright eyes without that gene.
Source

Health isn't just about your physical well-being. It also includes your emotional, mental and spiritual wellness.

 For a person to be truly healthy, all aspects must be taken care of. This holistic approach has long been a part of many Indigenous philosophies, although this method is still not part of Western medical science and healthcare.

But as we see more Indigenous doctors, health care professionals and healers enter the field, so too do we see the return of the medicine wheel.

Sweetgrass is the sacred hair of Mother Earth. Its sweet aroma reminds our people of the gentleness, love and kindness she has for the people. When sweetgrass is used in a healing circle it has a calming effect. Like sage and cedar, sweetgrass is used for smudging and purification.

Like Sage and Sweet grass, cedar is used to purify the home, it also has many restorative medicinal use. When mixed with sage for a tea, it cleans the body of all infections, cedar baths are also very healing.


Cedar is used in sweat lodge and fasting ceremonies for protection, cedar branches cover the floor of many sweat lodges and some people make a circle of cedar when they are fasting. It is a guardian spirit and chases away the bad spirits.
Source

VIDEO
Indigenous healing practices: The four sacred medicines

Having a younger sibling comes with a ton of perks. You always have someone to talk to, someone to boss around, and someone who will always have your back when things get scary.

 But being adored by a little one has one small drawback. You’re the center of their world, which can make getting alone time impossible!

The gorgeous Husky in this video knows exactly what we’re talking about. He’s just trying to eat his lunch in peace, but his little Siamese kitten bro just won’t leave him alone!

It’s pretty obvious that this is a daily occurrence by how chill and unbothered he is about the whole thing. Older siblings of every species should certainly follow his example.

We’re certain that there were hours of Husky on kitten playtime after this video was recorded. Then the Husky probably ended up in a situation like this dog who found himself in the midst of a kitten snooze pile. What can we say, being an older brother is a demanding job!
Source


VIDEO

Black Timber Wolf photographed at a wildlife reserve in Northern Minnesota.

"My name is Conrad Tan. I currently reside in Northern California in the San Francisco Bay Area. Photography was a late starting hobby for me. But unlike all other hobbies from my younger days, this one seems to have stuck. What began from a desire to look at a wallpaper I created myself has become an obsession of sorts." describes himself passionate photographer.

"I am consumed with creating the perfect photograph, whatever that may be. I tend to struggle with every image I create because I believe I can always make it better. I guess that is what keeps me coming back. There are so many disciplines in this hobby I've yet to try. I also love to help other photographers if I can. I think it is important to give back to the hobby that's given me so much happiness."


Photographer truly captured the essence of this beautiful mysterious creature..

Minnesota is home to 13 national wildlife refuges, each with a distinct set of attractions for  birders and wildlife-watchers. The 13 wildlife refuges in Minnesota are among 550 refuges nationwide covering 150 million acres.

Across the nation, the refuges are home to more than 700 species of birds, 220 species of mammals, 250 reptile and amphibian species and more than 200 fish species.














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