Snow much fun!

Su Lin, a 2-year-old giant panda at the San Diego Zoo, enjoyed the cool feel of snow on an unusually hot day in San Diego on April 27, 2008. The San Diego Zoo's Giant Panda Research Station was covered in 15 tons of snow on Sunday. In two weeks, on May 10, the Zoo's polar bear exhibit will be blanketed with snow as part of Bear Awareness Days, presented by Mission Federal Credit Union. The fun and educational four-day event discusses bear conservation efforts.(UPI Photo/Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo)

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Why dogs are good for kids

Children run less risk of being sensitive to allergens if there is a dog in the house in the early years of their lives, scientists have found.The conclusion, based on a six-year study of 9,000 children, adds weight to the theory that growing up with a pet trains the immune system to be less sensitive to potential triggers for allergies such as asthma, eczema and hay fever.The “hygiene theory” of allergy holds that modern life has simply become too clean, meaning that babies’ immune systems are not exposed to enough germs to develop normally.Having a dog provides enough dirt of the right kind.Source: Times Online

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Need a dog to walk?

One of the benefits of owning a dog is getting exercise while talking it for a walk. But what if you don't want all the responsibilities of owning a real dog?Just get yourself a walking dog balloon! They come in three heart warming varieties – a pretty pug, a darling dachshund and a remarkable retriever.They have been balanced perfectly so that when filled with helium they float just above the ground with their little feet dangling to the floor. When you gently walk with them, pulling the lead, their little legs and feet appear to walk giving a super fun, realistic K9 look.Guaranteed to convince everyone you meet that you are totally crazy.(via nerd approved)

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Dull Dog?

With Fairy Tail Dust Body Bling for Dogs your dog can now glimmer in the moonlight or glitter while she's greeting you at your front door - or hide under the bed in shame because of what her goofy owner is subjecting her to.Under no circumstances should you apply this stuff to a cat, not if you ever want a peaceful night's sleep afterwards.(via Dog Bliss)

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Dog to Unicorn Transformation Kit

This is not a costume. This is a kit to completely transform your beloved pug or beagle from a cute canine to the ultimate unicorn. It includes screw-in horn, hoof attachments, medical grade glue, peroxide, mane fur, a tail and a handful of glitter! Just peroxide the color out of your dogs hair and attach the fur and accessories with glue. Once you have the horn in place (Dremel not included) your beloved pooch will be ready to accompany you to fairyland. Please specify size of dog when ordering. Not legal in California, New Mexico and part of Maine.Dog to Unicorn Transformation Kit(via the Presurfer)

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Natalie Port-a-potty

She may be an international movie star, but this impudent pooch can't tell the difference between Natalie Portman and a fire hydrant.NYPost

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Okefenokee Swamp gator to live on in display

Visitors loved Oscar, the Okefenokee Swamp Park's resident 13-foot, 5-inch, 1,000-pound, alligator, who often slumbered on the freshly mowed grass and sometimes the concrete walkways in the park.But sometime during his long life, someone must have wanted his hide.Oscar survived a shotgun blast to the face, at least three bullet wounds to the head, turf wars, multiple broken bones and crippling arthritis. Officials know that now because the beloved old gator died last July and the evidence is visible in his bones.Oscar died about a year ago, but within a few months, visitors will be able to view him once again, or at least his skeleton, which is being mounted like that of a museum dinosaur. The contents of Oscar's stomach at death will also be included in the display: a plastic dog collar, a dog's tag, a penny, pieces of plastic, rocks and the top section of a flagpole.Source: Jacksonville.com

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Feds sued for taking gray wolves off endangered list

Environmental and animal rights groups are suing the federal government in hopes of restoring endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies.Wolves in 1974 almost disappeared as a species in 48 US states -- excluding Alaska and Hawaii -- except for some isolated packs in Minnesota and Michigan.In 1995, 66 wolves were released by the government in Idaho and in the nearby Yellowstone National Park with the hope they would propagate and multiply.The program was successful. Currently, an estimated 1,200 wolves roam Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.But now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has removed the region’s 1,500 wolves from the endangered list in March, turning over management responsibilities to state officials in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.Defenders of Wildlife said in a statement that Wyoming and Idaho authorities had given their residents a blank check for the "senseless and indiscriminate killing of wolves."Source: CANOE

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Competition?

This is Mondex, a 5-year-old Chihuahua, posing as he walks the aisle dressed as a scuba diver during a dog show at a mall in suburban Manila on Sunday April 27, 2008. Mondex bagged first place during the fashion show category.
AP Photo/Aaron Favila

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Is your pet a Boomer?

New studies and statistics about the "Baby Boomer" generation dominate the headlines almost daily, but there is another population, the nation's 45 million "Pet Boomers", which is quietly slipping into its senior years.On average, pets age seven times faster than humans. Consequently, the potential for age-related disease also progresses seven times as fast. Unfortunately, many pet owners are unaware of the signs of animal aging which may actually indicate treatable health problems.Certain health conditions can occur more often in aging pets. Below are five common health conditions that every pet owner should monitor in their pets. * Weight Gain * Tooth Decay and Gum Disease * Stiff Joints and Slower Movement * Changes in Coat and Skin * Eye AbnormalitiesIs your pet a boomer?PetBoomers.com is a great new web resource for all pet owners. It offers quizzes, facts, statistics on the aging pet population and is a terrific for pet owners dealing with traveling with a pet, pet poisons and emergencies.This short video segment from Marty Becker, DVM, a nationally recognized pet expert, author and Good Morning America contributor, features five common health conditions in aging pets.Photo from Flickr by Corsi_photo

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Cutest cupcakes

This is one of the finalists in the Martha Stewart Cutest Cupcake Contest. Chicken Cupcakes by Dustin Nakamura

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Cute or not? Baby giraffe

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Video: Gin the dog

From Britain's Got Talent 2008 - Episode 1: Gin the dogWatch the video

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Video: An Engineer's Guide to Cats

Watch videovia: critter news

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Video: Orcas hunt sea lions

Exhibiting a rare hunting method, some Orcas whales off the coast of Argentina's Valdes Peninsula capture their prey of baby sea lions by approaching the beach and then retreating.Watch video

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Squirrel battle brewing in Britain

A pack of mutant testosterone-charged black squirrels is rampaging through parks and woodlands of Britain. This gang of beasts is faster and more fiercely competitive than both reds or grays.Britain's native squirrels are red. The gray squirrels were introduced to Britain from America in the 1870s, and for years they held sway - driving their red cousin into the remotest corners of the country. The upstarts are genetic mutations of grays, but have a darker fur and higher levels of the male sex hormone testosterone - making them more aggressive and more successful. Sex selection is also boosting their numbers because female grays appear to prefer them as mates.The rise of the black is the biggest change in squirrel demographics since the indigenous red squirrels almost disappeared 50 years ago from most of England.Source: Daily Mail

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Your dog ate WHAT?

Josie, a bassett hound mix, ate some gorilla glue that formed a large mass in her stomach and required life-saving surgery. Watch video for more information.We use Gorilla Glue around our house but I never thought to taste it. Must be yummy.

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3D Anatomic Puzzle Animals

Put your traditional puzzles out to pasture and take a chance on these amazing 3-D anatomical animal puzzles. Challenging, educational and entertaining, these highly detailed puzzles come with organs, bones and muscles so you can build your animal from the inside out. Available in horse (26 pieces), cow (29 pieces) or pig (19 pieces).$28.00 - $40.00 at unCommon goodsvia Random Good Stuff

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Fun tees for dog lovers

Shawn, Jason and Hannah think dogs are the most charming and intelligent and perfectly formed creatures on the planet.While sporting the original skeledox t-shirt around town, they caught the eye of many closeted hipster dog lovers. People who are semi-religious about design but still get caught eskimo-kissing their rottweilers and baby-talking their pugs. These people demand fine tees! So they started drawing all kind of skeledogs, so everyone can worship the fine form of their pooch without feeling like a dork.Skeledog t-shirts are $25 and come in a wide variety of breeds..

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Rare Chinese animal born at Minnesota Zoo

The Sichuan takin, an unusual-looking relative of the musk ox, looks like a small moose, climbs like a mountain goat, has short curved horns like a gnu, and snorts. Takin stand 3 to 4 feet tall. The animals eat grasses, shrubs, and leaves. They are able to stand on their hind legs and reach branches 10 feet off the ground. Takin are rare in North American zoos. Only 50 takin are found in 12 zoos in North America.The baby takin was born on exhibit Wednesday morning at the zoo. Zookeepers knew the animal was pregnant, but didn't know when the calf was going to be born.Source: StarTribune

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Horse digestive system diagram picture.via Information Junk

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Flying fish

(via)

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Show biz grissly kills trainer

Rocky, the grizzly bear which appeared in a recent Will Ferrell movie, "Semi-Pro," killed a 39-year-old trainer with a bite to his neck Tuesday April 22, 2008.For unknown reasons, the 700-pound bear lunged at 39-year-old Stephan Miller, a trainer at Randy Miller's Predators in Action. Two other trainers subdued the 5-year-old, 7 1/2 -foot-tall grizzly with pepper spray and were unhurt.Source: Los Angeles Times

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Monkeys Escape From Wildlife Facility

A troupe of African monkeys are on the loose after escaping from a remote wildlife facility north of Tampa.Officials at Safari Wild say it may take more than a week to round up all the patas monkeys that ran away on Saturday.The monkeys live on a one-acre island that is surrounded by an eight-foot-deep moat. Officials say one female monkey with a baby on her back swam across the moat Saturday, and the other monkeys followed.The animals arrived Thursday from Puerto Rico, by Saturday, they had vanished.Photo from Flickr, by alyyxphotoSource: St. Petersburg Times

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Uninvited guest crawls into kitchen

Hearing strange noises at about 10:30 p.m., Sandra Frosti, 69, called 911. Frosti had an 8-foot alligator in her kitchen.The whole thing apparently started when Poe the cat was prowling outside and the big alligator followed it home.When Poe slipped onto the back porch, the 220-pound gator came along, crashing through a screen and passing a potted ficus tree and litter box.Tailing Poe, the 8-foot, 8-inch reptile crawled over the blue carpeting, through an open sliding glass door and past the green suede sofa in the living room.The gator likely emerged from one of the many ponds, lakes and creeks in Eastlake Woodlands in north Pinellas, where they are a common sight.Source: St. Petersburg Times

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Pet Memorial Keepsake Pendants

Peternity.com, a website devoted to helping people honor the lives of their pets, has added a new line of Pet Keepsake Jewelry to their product offering. The new jewelry line is a collection of Pet Ash Pendants. These beautifully hand carved wooden pendants are created from 8 different precious woods. Each pendant contains a small glass vial inside to hold a small portion of pet or human ashes.The pendants are made in Seattle, WA by a company called River Dreams and sell for $75.00

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Rare turtle discovered in Viet Nam

Researchers from the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo have discovered a rare giant turtle in northern Vietnam, giving scientists hope for the species they believed was extinct in the wild.The scientists from the Cleveland Zoo discovered the Swinhoe's soft-shelled turtle when they followed up reports from villagers of a mythical creature living in a lake. Vietnamese legend tells of a huge turtle that helped the country fight off Chinese invaders in the 16th century. "This is one of those mythical species that people always talked about but no one ever saw," said the zoo's curator.Only three other specimens of this turtle are known of by scientists: there are two in Chinese zoos and one in Hoan Kiem Lake in the heart of Hanoi.Scientists refused to provide the name of the lake or other details about the position of this turtle because of concerns the turtle would be illegally hunted.Source: The National Register

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Koreans clone drug-sniffer dogs

Six white male dogs collectively named Toppy reported for duty at a training facility for sniffer dogs run by the Korea Customs Service in Yeongjongdo.Chase, the father of the dogs, and his six sons look exactly the same -- because the sons were cloned, born to surrogate mothers via the transfer of the nucleui of Chase’s somatic cells.“Toppy” is a compound name meaning “tomorrow’s puppy”; the Toppies are numbered one to seven to tell them apart. The Korea Customs Service commissioned the cloning project because they thought that training clones of an effective sniffer dog would be easier than training ordinary dogs, which may or may not have the right genetic makeup for the job.Source: English chosun

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Officer wrestles python in pet store attack

A Eugene police officer can now add snake wrestler to his list of skills after an attack on a pet store worker Thursday. Police said they were called to the pet store on Elmira around 3:30 p.m. on a report that a 12-foot Burmese Python had latched onto the woman and wrapped itself around her. Police Sergeant Ryan Nelson was about to use his knife to get the snake free, but the victim pleaded for the snake’s life.Nelson and another firefighter were finally able to pry the snake’s mouth open and uncoil it after a struggle, freeing the woman. After Nelson got the snake into its cage, the huge reptile escaped and tried to attack Nelson. The snake lost a couple of teeth in the ordeal, but no one suffered any serious injuries.Photo from Flickr, by DashTapper

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LEGO birdhouse

My sons loved LEGO blocks while they were younger. We had LEGO creations all over the house. And we also had loose blocks all over the house. Very sharp when you stepped on them barefoot, uncomfortable when you sat on them on the couch. One time, when we had a blocked toilet, guess what we found? LEGO blocks!Hopefully, Dave doesn't have pieces all over his house to step on. I'm sure he doesn't, he's way too creative for that. Dave e-mailed me to show me his LEGO cat birdhouse creation:Dave's kitty, Simon, approves of the birdhouse.Although Dave designed his birdhouse to be a functional birdhouse, he never intended to put it outside and let the elements destroy good LEGO bricks. This made him a little sad because the birdhouse would never really have any birds as visitors. So Dave built a LEGO bird for the LEGO birdhouse!Very creative, Dave!

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Cute or not? Golden snub-nosed monkey

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Charley Chick Wall Clock

Charley Chick Wall ClockRise and shine or back to slumberland? Charley Chick, or at least his beak, always shows the right time. The chick can flap its wings as they can be attached and detached thanks to hook and loop strips.$59.99 at Oompatoys

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The City Chicken

If you've ever had dreams of keeping a flock of chickens in your own back yard, the City Chicken website might inspire you to bring a little country into your city life.You might want to check your local ordinances before you start hatching those eggs.

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Humanity messing with nature

A federal agency has authorized the killing of some California sea lions that prey on migrating salmon and steelhead at the base of Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.By some estimates, the sea lions at the base of the dam take up to 4 percent of the spring chinook run headed upriver to spawn.Opponents of the kill have said sea lions are a highly visible and politically convenient target when the real problem lies elsewhere, such as the hydroelectric dams. The Humane Society of the United States and other groups also cite other hurdles facing fish, such as the deterioration of spawning grounds, bird predation of salmon smolts headed to the ocean and agricultural runoff and other pollution.Nonlethal attempts to keep the sea lions away from the dam, such as rubber buckshot, loud noises and pyrotechnics, generally were deemed failures. Some sea lions trapped and taken to the mouth of the Columbia River 140 miles downriver returned to the dam in two or three days.The authorization is valid until June 30, 2012, and can be extended for five years; it can be also revoked by the National Marine Fisheries Service with 72 hours notice.Source: Los Angeles Timesvia: L.A. Unleashed

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Prickly pets are the latest fad

Busy British pet lovers have been buying hedgehogs, whose nocturnal habits make them appealing to the modern worker because they wake in the evening when their owners arrive home after a day in the office.Although Britain has its own wild breed of hedgehogs, the latest pet craze focuses on African pygmy hedgehogs -- a cross between Algerian and white-bellied hedgehogs."They are unbelievably pretty little creatures, the way they bumble along, the way they poke their noses into everything," British hedgehog breeder Bonnie Martin told Reuters.Initial costs for the animal and accompanying equipment can run to 300 pounds ($591)."spike200503b" uploaded by kschinchillasSource: Reuters

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Saving lives with venom

There are thousands of venomous animal species on Earth. Just a few of the most lethal are the Gila monster, the death adder, the fugu puffer fish and the Sydney funnel web spider.Medical researchers are finding a positive side to these dangerous creatures: the complex and highly sophisticated poisons produced by these creatures have components that might save lives rather than kill.The PBS show, Nature, Victims of Venom, illustrates how some of the animals we fear most may one day soon be helping us solve or alleviate a wide range of life-threatening medical problems.Venomous animals use their toxins to capture prey or defend themselves. They inflict their poisons by biting, stinging, and, in the case of some marine animals, by emitting venom into the water so it can be absorbed through the skin. The venom itself typically comprises many different substances that have various effects on their victims.The film introduces us to carefully trained researchers around the world who are risking harm - even death - to themselves by "milking" the venom of live animals so that the various components of these poisons can be studied in great detail and better understood, perhaps preparing the way for clinical trials against a variety of diseases and medical conditions. It's not only a dangerous job but a laborious one, since only tiny amounts of venom can be extracted at a time.Heart disease, stroke, various cancers, and the management of chronic and severe pain are other potential targets of the chemicals that comprise venom.

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Komodo Dragon's Deadly Bite

Komodo dragons may have a wimpy bite for their size, but somehow the giant lizards manage to take down prey as large as water buffalos.A new study reveals that a few dozen razor-sharp teeth combined with beefy neck muscles make up for the reptile's dainty chomp.The Komodo displays a unique hold-and-pull feeding technique. The lizard nabs prey with 60 perilous teeth, although its bite is weak. To make up for the lack of biting power, strong throat muscles drag the meal through the razor-sharp jowls and into the stomach.Once a Komodo dragon maims its prey, which can weigh nearly as much as the lizard, it is swallowed whole and later regurgitated in a foul-smelling pellet of hair, bone and other indigestible remains. The lizards are also known for their infectious bites and parthenogenesis, or the ability to reproduce without mating.Source: Yahoo News

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Art by Christine Merrill

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Feline CSI

This is Mary.Mary has a problem: the hair around her rectum is missing. That area is very pink and a little bloody, but not swollen.What's wrong with Mary?Read Cat Care, Breeds and Resources Blog for the answer.

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Not welcome in Chicago

A cougar ran loose in Chicago on Monday for the first time since the city's founding in the 19th Century. But by day's end, the animal lay dead in a back alley on the North Side, shot by police who said they feared it was turning to attack.No one knew where the 5-foot long, 150-pound cat came from, though on Saturday Wilmette police had received four reports of a cougar roaming that suburb, roughly 15 miles from the site of Monday's shooting.Source: Chicago Tribune

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A close second?

The Daily Mail has printed photos of Orazi, the ginger tom cat who weighs in at a whopping 35.2 lb. Orazi lives in Eupilio, Italy.I think Monty, who lives with my friends Christina and Luke, is almost as large as Orazi. I'm not sure how much Monte weighs - they probably can't lift him up to weigh him.What do you think? Close?

"Monty wants his tummy rubbed" by corsi photo.

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Cindy: the queen of doggy tricks

Meet Cindy, the Cavalier King Charles who’s the queen of doggy-balancing.Cindy the Cavalier King Charles is able to carry out a dazzling display of tricks taught to her by Wolverhampton owner Ron Bucknall.Watch the video of Cindy performing. via: Ursi's BlogSource: expressandstar.com

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