Some finches do that, too -- I saw this on a documentary about the Galapagos Islands. These smart little finches would break twigs to the perfect length and use them to pick grubs out of tree bark.



Kirk told me about seeing a show on crows in Alaska. They learned that street lights would turn on during the day if they triggered the light sensor. The crows would trigger the sensor, then sit on top of the street light, soaking up its warmth.



Another amazing thing to me is how smart octopuses are. They can do cool stuff like open jar lids with their tentacles. They learn from trial and error, and can remember the solutions they come up with, and apply and adapt them to new situations. One show I watched said they were about as smart as cats -- but I think being mollusks, they have a different kind of intelligence than mammals have. Also, they have 3 times as many neurons in their brains as humans!

I used to have two elderly male rats as pets, one of them got ill - as rats get older, especially male rats, their hind legs don't work very well and they find it hard to get around. While he was ill the other rat got food from the bottom level of the cage and carried it up two levels to present it to the sick one. He would clean him and groom him - rats hate being dirty. He also kept him warm by cuddling up to him, and one day a loud plane flew over making a noise he perceived to be a threat - he covered the sick rats body with his own.

I did move them immediately to a one level cage and had to get him euthanised soon after but it was amazing to see the attention and care the other rat gave him.

That's a question I've asked myself many times. I suppose I was just hoping that there would be a way to save him, and that he would eventually recover. Despite being ill (his left eye had been crusted over with hardened pus and blood), he was still quite sprightly, so I guess I was just clinging on to the little fellow. Selfish, I know.








Yep, I do keep chickens! I'd initially adopted just one hen, but she became too attached to me (she most probably thought I was some sort of friendly funny-looking chicken), so I had to adopt more to keep her company.



I must admit that a few of mine have been stolen (and eaten too, no doubt ), so now I've hired someone to keep watch over them when I'm not around.

RGR,



I know how extremely difficult it is to make that choice. I had to have my conure euthanized a few years ago and that was one of the toughest choices i had to make in my life. he was my little buddy and i did not want to have to be the one to decide. but it was apparent that he was suffering and so i didn't feel i had a choice but to do the right thing.



don't kick yourself over it. it's a tough choice. i still miss kiwi and wish i didn't have to have him put down.








where do you adopt your chickens from?

I know you didn't ask me this question but we also had pet chickens growing up and we would get them as chicks from the local grain supplier. You can also get ducks from them. Chickens make the best pets. They are so warm and cuddly and it's the funniest thing when a plane flies over head and they tilt their heads sideways to track the progression of the plane with one eye. And it was fun when the roosters would crow because we were in the city and some of the neighbors said how much they enjoyed the crowing because it reminded them of growing up on the farm.

i believe whales can make huge sound waves when they sing too, something like 170 db or 180 db when they are really given'er.

but they were purchased right? i'd rather not support breeding of chickens that will mainly be used to produce eggs/meat. i'd only take in animals that have been rescued or adopt from a farm sanctuary or another situation where the chickens could no longer be taken care of. but thanks though.



aww that is sooo cute....chickens are so interesting to watch!

I get them from an animal sanctuary near my place.

In Wood Green animal shelter in Godmanchester (UK) they are getting 22 chickens along with ducks and geese (I'm not sure if it's 22 chickens, duck and geese). They will all need rehoming. So if you want pet chickens and live nearby give 'em a call.



I would want to have some chickens (as well as my nan) but I havn't got the space or the money at the moment.

If I'm not mistaken, the recording process is very unintrusive -- researchers place a recording device in the water near whale sightings, and they wait for them to sing.






This project (http://www.interspecies.com/pages/projects.html) is pretty interesting -- it is an attempt at communication with the whales through live music. I raised my eyebrows at it at first (what if the whales don't want to be bombarded with noise, etc), but this policy quelled most of my fears.

And if that doesn't work (ie if that's not in your locale) I have an idea. Call your local SPCA and report the nearest egg laying farm. Tell the SPCA that the hens are kept 2 or 3 to a very small cage and have to be debeaked because they go insane in those horrible conditions and might peck at each other's eyes. Then they are packed up in a brutal manner and shipped off to the slaughterhouse.

Be prepared to adopt a few hundred hens. Or more.

I love squirrels too. When I lived in Toronto I had a room at the back of the house. It over looked the small back yard but also some other back yards and a big dirt parking lot. There were lots of trees around and I loved watching the squirrels go racing around on the trees chasing each other. And they would taunt the cats too. They would slowly climb down the fence towards the cat as the cat sat there pretending it wasn't really interested. The squirrels knew exactly how close to get and then they would wait there as the cat got ready to pounce. But the squirrel would climb back up and then look at the cat again. And then go racing through the trees again.

My older sister had a summer job. One day while on her lunch break outside a chipmunk was nearby. The chipmunks are nearly tame here and so she fed it a grape. My sister always ate lunch around the same time and the chipmuck was always there to eat whatever handouts were given. Once, although this may take away some of the cuteness the chipmuck has abtained, it chase away another chipmunk who was out to get some handouts and after the second chipmunk was gone it went back to my sister to get another grape.

I hope someone will watch this show and tell me some great stories. I only have two channels and Animal Planet isn't on either.

seriously? wow...i didn't think the spca had the power to do that...since all factory farms are operated this way...definitely something to consider doing though...

arrrgggghhhhh.... I hate it when I can't tell if someone is being sarcastic because then I'm not sure if I can answer with sarcasm.

lol! i wasn't being sarcastic...sorry if it came across that way. but i really had no idea that spcas could do anything about it. since keeping animals that way does seem to be the "standard" when it comes to factory farming.

I was being sarcastic at first but not against you, against a system that is so completely strange. The SPCA has no mandate to protect animals being raised for food unless there is really bad abuse. But who defines that?

So, no, you wouldn't be able to get any egg laying farm into trouble by calling the SPCA. I just wish it were the case. I was pointing out the irony, the very sad irony, of the whole situation.

So phone your local shelters and see if they need any chickens that need to be adopted. Hurry now, before RGR gets there. Good people, you and RGR, taking in the homeless chickens.

Goatee asked me to post this:



Elephants perform greeting ceremonies when a member of the group returns after a long time away. The welcoming animals spin around, flap their ears and trumpet.



Hello Soybean81



RGR, any runaway chickens yet?

I thought this was pretty interesting: Cicada don't sleep for 13 years. The life stages for cicada are somewhat different than other insects. Pupa is replaced by something else--I forget what, but that is the stage in which cicada burrow in the ground for 13 years. Once they do that, they spend 4 years sleeping. Then they mate, reproduce, and die. I may have had the order wrong on the sleeping-then-mating part, but either way, they're a fascinating insect.



Some grad students did a project on cicada, and part of that involved digging up cicada and determining where in the 17-year-cycle they were. Apparently, those that were in their 13th year of sleepless burrowing skipped the four years of sleeping since they felt threatened. They went straight to mating and reproducing.



This may not be a good example of compassion, intelligence, or calculated strategy. I just think it's pretty cool. Granted, since I live in northern Ohio, when the cicada come out of the earth to mate every 17 years, they tend to not be as intrusive and obvious as in more southerly areas. It was also pointed out that not all cicada are on the same 17 year cycle. The student in my biology class who researced it said there are four main types of cicada, and each type has its own 17-year-cycle. That explains why I've seen cicadas more than twice in my lifetime.

No, I've been fortunate. One hen did wander off to explore the neighborhood, but she came back.

Okay, I don't know how "amazing" this is, but they showed a study on the news the other night, showing that dogs have different personalities, even within the same breed. Anyone who's owned more than one dog knows this. No??? I could tell my Border Collie instantly after he had been lost for 2 solid weeks: He was at a really nice house with two Aussie shepherds and a whole bunch of kids. He just looked at me like he was so proud of himself. (*sigh*) Yeah, that's my dog. "Tippy, I am really not sure you have learned your lesson, but I am taking you back home. This time, should the gate fall..."



Note: I was incredibly thankful that he was in such great care. Despite the "learn the lesson" comment, I would hate to think he would ever have to go a day without food, etc.

ooooh, i read a great article all about this in one of the Chicago Tribune magazines recently! i wish i had the magazine here with me because my computer at home is temporarily out of commission... i will bring it to work with me tomorrow and post some interesting tidbits. :P



julie

Hi everyone. This is my first post on here. Just signed up today. I love this thread! I live in Tennessee and there is an elephant sanctuary here. I watched a program about it on PBS. They got 2 elephants who had been in the circus together 20 years before being reunited at the sanctuary. They remembered each other and were pushing so hard to get to one another when they first saw each other that they bent the heavy, metal gate that was separating them and they had to immediately open it and let them be together. By the way, there is a wonderful website for the sanctuary.

http://www.elephants.com/



Just last week here a girl's dog saved her when a man tried to pull her into a van and kidnap her. Her pit bull bit him on the ankle and he fled. Duh! Of all things to try to kidnap a girl who's walking her pit bull!!!

lol. attacking a girl walking her pit bull... that is just too good. welcome btw.



Anyway, i finally managed to remember to bring that article to work, so here it is. it is out of an article in the Chicago News-Sun magazine USA Weekend (Feb 20-22 2004) that talks about animal intelligence. it talks about how smart dogs & cats, elephants, whales and chimps are, but the most interesting part was about a parrot...



"I know a parrot in New York called N'kisi (a Congo African Gray Parrot) who knows 971 words. He isn't counted as having a new word until he's used it at least 5 times in a proper context. In other words, if he just repeats a word, that doesn't count. Before I met N'kisi, his owner, Aimee, was showing him pictures of me and chimps. When I walked into the room, he asked, "Got a chimp?" Aimee broke a necklace, and he said, "What a pity. You broke your new, nice necklace." He uses grammar and initiates conversation (all skills once reserved for people). the bird even has a website [sheldrake.org/nkisi]. I don't think he's an exceptionallt brilliant parrot; I do think we're only starting to understand how smart they are."



(I believe this was quoted from Jane Goodall, as are all the stories in the article. )



julie

Some species of earth worms in Australia can measure more than ten feet in length.



(I guess the worms' tape measures aren't long enough to measure 11 feet)

My mom had a pet fox while growing up in Montana. She said that hed run around the neighborhood teasing dogs that were tied up. Hed figure out how long the chain/rope went, and hed sit right out of the dogs reach. Not a very nice fox, but certainly clever.

Her older brother wasnt nice to him, so hed do things like pee on his bed, and she says that hed actually make a sort of laughing sound when her brother got mad about it.

Yay for the fox!!!!!

I remember seeing on Mythbusters one time the dispelling of the myth that goldfish only have a 3-second memory. They proved it was false by training them to swim through a maze. Obviously, the fishies would have to remember what they learned the day before to advance any further through the maze. It took them a few days/weeks to catch on, but they eventually did it! Woo Goldfishies! See, just further proves that it's not ok to stick a smart & beautiful fish in a tiny cup and claim it "isn't cruel" because each swim around the bowl is like a "new adventure" for them

Right on Katt Fink!!!!



Posted by Mar leah in "In the News":



BERKSHIRE, England, May 22, 2005 If you could talk to the animals, would they have anything to say? New research suggests they might.



Testing the IQ of a sheep may seem laughable. But at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, England, they know better. One sheep who got a reward every time she recognized a human face correctly on a video screen scored a perfect 50 out of 50.



"If it was a monkey, no one would have any problems, possibly even if it was a dog," said Keith Kendrick, a neurologist at Babraham. "They would say, 'Yeah, yeah, that's expected.' But a sheep, no one really believes."