Tag Archives: Animals
Running with the Bulls
Pamplona is celebrating the annual San Fermin festival. Made famous by Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises the festival attracts revellers from all over the world. All of them participate in the big water & wine fight that kicks off the celebrations, but only the brave few actually run with the bulls. Afterwards the toreros finish the animals off in the arena of Pamplona. Don’t think though that the bulls are the only casualties; since 1924 fourteen runners got killed and countless others were injured. As the last pic illustrates: this year’s runners are next year’s cripples.
Funniest Animals
Humans will never be as funny as animals are…
These are baby red pandas, born recently in the Edmonton Valley Zoo. The pandas are doing well and just passed the 1 month mark and are currently in the process of being named.
(image courtesy The Edmonton Valley Zoo)
Interesting Ocean Fish
Zeus Faber (John Dory)
Zeus faber (also known as John Dory in Great Britain) is an edible deep sea fish with a flattened olive-yellow (often spotty) body. Zeus faber is commonly found in the northeastern part of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea. Its body is around 20-30 cm in length, sometimes up to 50 cm and up to 8 kilos in weight. Zeus faber has 9-10 long spines on the back fin, 21-25 long spines on the tail fin with 3-4 hard spines and 20-23 soft ones down to the rectal orifice. Adult individuals have a large yellow-bordered dark spot on each side which looks like an eye to distract prey while they’re quickly caught and swallowed. John Dory feeds on small fish, sardines, sprats, and assouses.
Photo by chausinho
Photo by benjamin
Photo by ToniTofa
Newly Born Pandas
I resisted posting this. But I can resist no longer…
Some cuteness just cries out to be let out in the open. So feast your eyes on the newborn panda from China’s Wolong Reserve. Panda’s births in captivity are extremely rare. However there has been a surge in such prized arrivals – pandas were also delivered in zoos in Washington, D.C., San Diego and Atlanta. In 2006 a total of six pandas were born in China. (The images are compilation between various arrivals). The newborn panda weighs only 100 grams (the fully grown animal weighs up to 160 kilos) and remains without black/white coloration for the whole first month of its life.
Photographs courtesy China Newsphoto/Reuters/Corbis agency.
7 Weird Animals That You can Travel to See
Weird Animals: Aye-aye
Tired of seeing run-of-the-mill lions, tigers, and bears? Then say “oh my!” to these oddball creatures at zoos and sanctuaries worldwide. Aye-aye Weirdness factor: Where to start? The aye-aye is a kind of lemur, with large round ears that rotate independently. How does it eat? There are no woodpeckers in Madagascar, but the aye-aye has evolved to feed like one, using its long middle finger to scoop out grubs in tree bark. See it in: Madagascar (and the Bristol Zoo Gardens).
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Colorful and Poisonous Frogs
Bacchanalia of colors that can be lethal Not all beautiful frogs depicted here are poisonous, but those who are – can be very deadly indeed. The most poisonous animal is not a snake or a spider. It’s a beautiful little frog! “Most frogs produce skin toxins, but the dart poison frogs from Central and South America are the most potent of all. The golden poison frog, called terribilis (the terrible), is so toxic that even touching it can be dangerous. A single terribilis contains enough poison to kill 20,000 mice or 10 people. It is probably the most poisonous animal on Earth.” (source) Click to enlarge: 
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