Showing posts with label Duck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Duck. Show all posts
Friday, March 20, 2020
Oldest Bird Fossil Discovered, Nicknamed 'Wonderchicken'
The oldest fossil of a modern bird, dating from the age of dinosaurs, has been discovered, a new study reports.
The tiny fossil, nicknamed the "wonderchicken," includes a nearly complete skull hidden inside nondescript pieces of rock, and dates to more than 66 million years ago.
That's less than 1 million years before the asteroid impact that killed off all the large dinosaurs.
"The moment I first saw what was beneath the rock was the most exciting moment of my scientific career," said study lead author Daniel Field of the University of Cambridge in the U.K. in a statement.
To read more on this story, click here: Oldest Bird Fossil Discovered, Nicknamed 'Wonderchicken'
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Tuesday, November 8, 2016
This Family of Dogs and Cats and Ducks Does Everything Together and We Are Squealing
We’re having serious #familygoal envy over here. This tribe of four dogs, a cat, and two ducks is the brood we’ve always dreamed of. They love each other, protect each other, dress like each other, nurture each other, and do literally everything together.
Kasey Boggs of Missouri and her husband have been rescuing animals for a decade.
They started with Roxie the Toy Fox Terrier who they spotted malnourished in the window of a pet shop. They nursed her back to health and then got the shop shut down for selling unhealthy animals with forged records.
To read more on this story, click here: This Family of Dogs and Cats and Ducks Does Everything Together and We Are Squealing
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Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Meet Daniel, An Emotional Support Animal
This is Daniel. He is no ordinary duck. Daniel is an emotional support animal, AKA a pet who has been prescribed by a mental health specialist as providing necessary comfort for their human’s psychological disorders. An emotional support animal needs to come with a license, but once they do you can take the pet on a flight without being charged a pet fee and can live in an apartment that doesn’t otherwise allow pets.
Usually, emotional support animals come in the form of dogs or cats, which makes Daniel very special. Author Mark Essig spotted him on a flight from Charlotte to Asheville, North Carolina, and couldn’t resist posting some photos of him, because he is so darn cute. Look at his shoes! And his Captain America diaper!
Essig told BuzzFeed that Daniel is a 4-year-old Indian Runner, and his owner bought him at a yard sale (which seems like a whole other story, if only ducks could talk!?) Also, Indian Runner ducks technically can’t fly, but Daniel’s here to prove that ~anything is possible~ when you believe, and get the proper certification etc.
He said his owner kissed Daniel’s beak on the flight several times, but also held it down when he quacked too much because, you know, other passengers might have been trying to watch the inflight movie or something.
According to the National Service Registry, any "domesticated animal" can qualify as an emotional support animal. If you want to potentially make your little buddy an emotional support animal, you’ll need a letter from a licensed mental health specialist stating that you have an emotional or mental disability, and then register the animal HERE.
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Friday, July 15, 2016
Washington Humane Society-Washington Animal Rescue League: Feeding of Ducks and Ducklings Puts Them in Danger, Causes Health Risks
Washington, DC - Families of ducks living in the Capitol Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. are being put in harm’s way due to people feeding the ducks and ducklings. The Washington Humane Society-Washington Animal Rescue League is encouraging people frequenting the Capitol Reflecting Pool to stop feeding the ducks, as the ducklings are becoming separated from their mother and are unable to return to water. The ducks are also being fed a dangerous diet of bread and crackers.
“This is a potentially dangerous situation that could be avoided,” said Lisa LaFontaine, WHS-WARL President and CEO. “While we understand the public’s fascination with these ducklings, feeding them causes the ducklings to leave the water in an area in which they cannot return to the pool without assistance. In addition, the public is feeding the ducks bread, which is harmful to their digestive systems. We call on all members of the public to refrain from feeding waterfowl for both of these important reasons.”
The families of ducks call the Capitol Reflecting Pool home. With thousands of visitors to the Capitol Reflecting Pool daily, people are tempted to lure the ducklings closer with food, so that they can get a better view of these charming birds. However as the ducklings move closer to the edge of the pool to find the food, they inadvertently step off of the pool and over the retaining wall. At that point, they may not find their way back into the pool without assistance.
Feeding the ducks bread is another dangerous issue. Ducks that are fed bread can develop health issues, including “Angel Wing,” a condition that causes their wings to twist outward and prevents them from flying. Ducks that cannot fly cannot escape predators and are often hit by automobiles and other vehicles.
City Wildlife, an organization based in Washington, DC, works with Architect of the Capitol and, along with WHS-WARL, monitors the ducks and ducklings and returns them to the water each day.
About (WHS-WARL) The Washington Humane Society -Washington Animal Rescue League combined organization cares for more than 60,000 animals annually. The broad range of programs offered include: rescue and adoption, humane law enforcement, low-cost veterinary services, animal care & control, behavior and training, spay-neuter services, humane education, and many others. Operating four animal-care facilities in Washington, D.C., the organization occupies a significant footprint in the District, and serves as a resource to current pet guardians and prospective adopters across the region. Together, the organizations offer one, dynamic, industry-leading animal welfare organization in the Nation’s Capital; creating a unified vision for a model urban community for all animals – pets and wildlife alike – and the people who love them.
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Sunday, November 15, 2015
Did You Know That These Hybrid Animals Are Still in Existence?
Hybrid is defined as “the offspring of two animals or
plants of different breeds, varieties, species, or genera, especially as
produced through human manipulation for specific genetic characteristics.” Take
a look at some of these animals that still exist today.
Liger
The animal made famous by Napoleon Dynamite is actually
real. Ligers are the offspring of male lions and female tigers. While there are
legends of Ligers prowling the wilds, they currently only exist in captivity, where
they are deliberately bred.
There is a myth that Ligers never stop growing their entire
lives, which is untrue. They just grow to freakish sizes in their normal growth
window. Ligers are the largest cat in the world. Hercules, the biggest
individual Liger, weighed 922 pounds.
When a male tiger and a female lion mate, the tigon is the
result. It used to be believed that tigons were smaller than their parent
species, but they can grow just as large. They are, however, smaller than
ligers.
Both ligers and tigons are capable of producing their own
offspring, leading to confusingly-named hybrids such as titigons and liligers.
A Zebroid is a cross between a zebra and any other equine.
Zebroids have been around for a long time – they were even mentioned in some of
Darwin’s writings. They tend to be male and to have the physiology of the
non-zebra parent, with zebra stripes adorning parts of their body. Zebroids are
more wild than domestic, are hard to tame, and are more aggressive than horses.
Coywolf
Coyotes are very genetically close to red and eastern
wolves, with whom they diverged only about 150-300,000 years ago. Interbreeding
between them is not only possible, but becoming more common as wolf populations
rebound. Coyotes are not, however, very compatible with gray wolves, which have
about 1-2 million years of genetic estrangement separating them. Some hybrids
do exist, though they are rare
There are a number of different coywolf hybrids, and their
populations dot North America. Generally, they are larger than coyotes but
smaller than wolves, and share behavioral characteristics of both species.
Grolar bears, also called “pizzly bears” by the less
charitable, are a cross between polar and brown bears. Their natural ranges
rarely, if ever, overlap, and most grolar bears live in zoos. However, there
have been a handful of confirmed sightings in the wild. In 2006, an Alaskan
hunter shot one.
They look pretty much like an even split between polar and
grizzly bears. Behaviorally, they are closer to polar bears than to browns.
This uncommon but awesome breed of housecat is a cross
between a domestic cat and a Serval, a kind of wild cat that lives in Africa.
They are exceptionally large and behave remarkably like dogs, following their
owners around the house, wagging their tails to express pleasure, and even
playing catch. Savannahs also do not fear water, and will invite themselves
into the shower with you. Unfortunately, they are extremely expensive.
Wholphin
When a male false killer whale and a female bottlenose
dolphin love each other very much, they produce a wolphin. “Wolphin” is a portmanteau
of “whale” and “dolphin,” which is misleading. False killer whales are actually
not a whale, and are in the same family as dolphins.
Nevertheless, they are extremely rare. They are
occasionally spotted in the wild, and there is currently only one individual in
captivity.
Beefalo are crosses between buffalo and cows. They’ve been
around since the 1800s, when they were called “cattalo.” Beefalo are heartier
than cattle, and do less ecological damage to the prairies they graze on.
However, beefalo breeding has led to conservation problems for wild bison. It
is now estimated that only four total herds still exist that are not polluted
by cow genes.
Hinnies are basically reverse mules. A mule is a product of
a male donkey and a female horse, and a hinny is a product of a male horse and
a female donkey. Their heads look like horse heads, and they are slightly
smaller than mules. They’re also much less common.
Narwhals and Belugas are the only two members of the
monodontidae family of whales, so it should be no surprise that they are able
to crossbreed. However, they are extraordinarily rare. Sightings have been
increasing in the Northern Atlantic recently, which some researchers consider a
warning sign of climate change.
Camas did not exist until 1998. Some mad scientist at the
Camel Reproduction Centre in Dubai decided to cross a male dromedary camel with
a female lama via artificial insemination, and out popped the first Cama. The
intention was to breed them to produce fur that could be clipped and sold, and
to serve as a pack animal. To date, only five have ever been produced.
The dzo (male) and dzomo (female) are hybrids between
domestic cows and wild yaks. They exist mostly in Tibet and Mongolia, where
they are prized for their high yield of meat and milk. They are larger and
stronger than both cows and yaks, and are used as beasts of burden.
The lines can blur – it is believed that most yaks and cows
in the region now carry at least some of the other’s genetic imprint.
If a male leopard is intrepid enough to mate with a female
lion, a Leopon is the result. It’s almost impossible for this combination to
occur in the wild, and every known Leopon has been the product of breeding in
captivity. Leopons appear to have the head and mane of a lion, and the body of
a leopard.
Goats and sheep appear to be very similar, but they are
more different than you might suspect. Natural hybrids between the two animals
are typically stillborn, and if they aren’t, occur extremely rarely. An animal
called a “sheep-goat chimera” has also been produced by artificially combining
goat and sheep embryos.
A Jaglion is the offspring of a male jaguar and a female
lion, and are very rare. The two pictured above were the result of a close
friendship between a jaguar named Diablo and a lioness named Lola, who were
bosom buddies at Ontario’s Bear Creek Wildlife Sanctuary. They’re named Jahzara
(left) and Tsunami (right).
The Mulard is a cross between a mallard and a muscovy duck.
The muscovy duck is native to South and Central America, and is easily
recognized by its bright red Darth Maul face. Mulards are bred for food, and
are unable to produce offspring of their own
The żubroń is a cross between a domestic cow and a European
bison (also called a “wisent”). They are, in many ways, superior to the
domestic cow, as they are stronger and more resistant to disease. They were
thought to be a possible replacement for cattle, but now only exist in one
small herd in the Bialowieski National Park in Poland.
Until recently, there were no known hybrid shark species.
But the Australian black-tip shark is mating with the common black-tip, and are
regularly spotted on the Eastern Australian coast. Opinion is divided about
exactly why they have begun to hybridize.
Friday, May 15, 2015
Florida Landscaper Runs Tractor Over Duck and Ducklings, as a Family Watched: Arrested and Charged with Nine Counts of Animal Cruelty
Laura Gontchar loved the family of 11 Muscovy ducklings and
their mother that lived near her home in Wellington, Fla. After the ducklings
hatched, Gontchar and her family would leave food out for them and watch as the
ducks ventured out of their lake to eat.
That’s exactly what Gontchar; her husband, Boyd Jentzsch;
and their 7-year-old son, Kai, were doing on May 2, they said. That is, until
Jason Falbo, a landscaper working his way through the yard on a riding
lawnmower, started heading straight for the family of ducklings.
Gontchar told the Palm Beach Post that she ran outside to
flag Falbo down as he approached the ducklings. Her son followed her, she said.
“He was yelling, ‘Stop, stop! Ducks! Stop!’”
But according to the family, Falbo plowed right into the
family of ducklings, then backed up his lawnmower to run them over again. All
but two of the ducklings were killed; seven were killed in the lawnmower’s
blades and two others drowned as what remained of the family escaped back to
the safety of the lake.
On Wednesday, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office
arrested and charged Falbo with nine counts of animal cruelty, according to the
office’s inmate records. He’s being held on a $27,000 bond.
Jentzsch told the Sun Sentinel that Falbo was smiling as he
made his second pass over the family of ducks:
“What are you doing to my ducks?” Kai wailed, his father
remembers. “Why are you laughing?”
The boy, in tears, ran from the backyard and back into his
house. Jentzsch and his wife were stunned.
“It was one of the most emotional things I’ve ever seen,”
Jentzsch said. “It was just — wow.”
Falbo was confronted by Gontchar and Jentzsch. He said he
was unable to see the ducklings as he mowed their lawn. But the family didn’t
believe him. After he left their property, Jentzsch called authorities. Animal
Care and Control found their remains by the lake, the Sun Sentinel reported.
Falbo’s boss, Wayne Soini, told the Palm Beach Post that
the lawn’s grass was too high for Falbo to see the small ducklings and that he
believed the whole ordeal was a misunderstanding. But a police report obtained
by the paper notes that the family was farther away from the ducklings than
Falbo was and had no problem seeing them in the grass.
Soini also defended his employee in an interview with CBS
12. “He’s not cruel, he would not have done this deliberately,” Soini, who gave
only his first name to the CBS affiliate, said. Soini rents a room in his home
to Falbo and as employed the landscaper for nine months. Soini added that he
believes his employee threw the lawnmower into reverse not out of cruelty but
because “there were more in front of him … when he backed up it was to prevent
[killing] the ones that were still there.”
Gontchar told the Palm Beach paper that since that awful
day, the mother duck and her two remaining children have returned to the site
multiple times. “She came back and was clucking, calling for her ducklings. But
they weren’t there.”
The couple is struggling to explain to Kai what it is that
he witnessed, Jentzsch told the Sun Sentinel. “He asked me,” Jentzch said, “‘Is
everybody out there like this?'”
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Monday, March 16, 2015
Idaho Woman Charged With Killing Hunter's Pet Falcon to Save Duck
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho - A woman who is suspected of beating a hunter's pet falcon to death with a beaded scarf after she saw it take down a duck, is facing a misdemeanor charge that the pet owner thinks is too lenient.
Patti MacDonald, 60, was charged with beating the bird after authorities say she fractured the skull of the 8-year-old falcon, named, Hornet, on January 7.
Hornet's owner, Scott Dinger, said MacDonald should be charged with killing a protected species.
Dinger, who was hunting with Hornet at the time, was about 500 yards away when the bird of prey made a successful attack and landed with the duck.
He said he was approaching the spot when he saw MacDonald's red Jeep Wrangler pull up.
Hornet flew away, and Dinger found him dead about an hour later.
The duck also died.
According to Dinger, Hornet had been around humans since the day he was hatched.
"They don't really know they are falcons. That was probably a part of his undoing because you could walk up to him and he wouldn't fly or try to get away", said Dinger.
It is tough to accept what happened because he was so young, and falcons can live for about 30 years in captivity.
Craig Walker, a regional conservation officer for the Idaho Fish and Game Department, said he received an anonymous call from a woman saying she tried to save a duck from a falcon.
The phone system identified the caller as MacDonald.
Walker wrote in a report: 'The woman later stated that she had been very upset about the duck being injured, but felt bad about injuring someone's pet, because she "beat the crap out of it.'"
Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh said he reviewed Walker's report and determined the misdemeanor charge was appropriate.
Beating or harassing an animal is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $5,000 for a first-time offender.
Peregrine falcons were on the threatened and endangered species list, but they were removed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 1999.
"There are between 2,000 and 3,000 breeding pairs of American peregrine falcons in Canada, Mexico, and the United States." according to the FWS.
It's unclear if Hornet was a peregrine.
Internet photo |
Internet photo |
Scott Dinger with other falcon |
Friday, July 25, 2014
Animals Australia - Faith in Humanity … Restored! - (Videos)
Animals Australia
At a time when tragedy dominates world affairs, it’s easy to despair at the path some ‘leaders’ have led us down. But if you’re worried about losing faith in humankind, despair not: we have the antidote. Cue happy tears…
Post by Animals Australia.
About
Animals Australia is Australia's foremost animal protection organization. See what we've achieved:
Mission
Animals Australia’s vision is a world where all animals are treated with compassion and respect and are free from cruelty. We believe that we can create a kinder world for all by fostering respect for animals and that our treatment of animals reflects who we are as individuals and as a society
"Like" them on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/AnimalsAustralia?fref=photo
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Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Meet Donald, a Duckling Born with 4 Legs
Sulphur, LA - Hatching animals is nothing new to one Sulphur, Louisiana, family, but they were surprised when one of their young ducklings was a little different.
The duckling has not two but four legs.
Claude Aucoin told KPLC that he has hatched more than 1,000 ducks in his lifetime, but he was shocked with this surprise.
The duckling grew a fan base when Aucoin's daughter, Kylie, quickly exposed the duck, who goes by Donald, on social media.
This little duck has shocked everyone who has encountered him, and when the family is asked how this happened, they said it must have been a birth defect.
Luckily, the duck is in no harm and gets around fine even with his extra legs.
Video:
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