you're a strange animal

tank-commander:

Rare whale caught on film for first time

Australian researchers Thursday revealed they had filmed a pod of extremely rare Shepherd’s beaked whales for the first time ever.

The Australian Antarctic Division team was tracking blue whales off the coast of Victoria state last month when they spotted the reclusive mammals, which are so rarely seen that no population estimates of the species exist.

Voyage leader Michael Double said the black and cream-coloured mammals with prominent dolphin-like beaks had been spotted in the wild only a handful of times through history.

According to the Australian environment department, there have only been two previous confirmed sightings — a lone individual in New Zealand and a group of three in Western Australia

They have never been filmed live before.

“These animals are practically entirely known from stranded dead whales, and there haven’t been many of them,” Double told AFP, calling the footage “unique”.

“They are an offshore animal, occupying deep water, and when they surface it is only for a very short period of time.”

Double said what was remarkable about the sighting was that the whale was previously thought to be a solitary creature, yet was in a pod of 10 to 12.

“To find them in a pod is very exciting and will change the guide books. Our two whale experts will now carefully study the footage to work out the whale sizes and so on and prepare a scientific paper.”

SASQUATCH OF THE SEA

tank-commander:

magalomania:

flowerfistandbestialwail:

In a simple experiment, researchers at the University of Chicago sought to find out whether a rat would release a fellow rat from an unpleasantly restrictive cage if it could. The answer was yes.

The free rat, occasionally hearing distress calls from its compatriot, learned to open the cage and did so with greater efficiency over time. It would release the other animal even if there wasn’t the payoff of a reunion with it. Astonishingly, if given access to a small hoard of chocolate chips, the free rat would usually save at least one treat for the captive — which is a lot to expect of a rat.

The researchers came to the unavoidable conclusion that what they were seeing was empathy — and apparently selfless behavior driven by that mental state.

“A New Model of Empathy: The Rat” by David Brown, Washington Post

Oh how I would have loved to have been part of this research. Animal altruism is my favorite aspect of biological/behavioral psychology.

People really underestimate the intelligence of rodents. I swear I had my gerbil trained to come when called.

thedailywhat:

Adorable Animal Being Adorable of the Day: Three months ago, Perth Zoo welcomed its sixth Short-beaked Echidna since 2007.

The prickly puggle, who weighed less than one gram upon hatching, made its first public appearance yesterday after spending its first few months on Earth gaining weight inside its mother’s pouch.

“Once Kai leaves the nursery burrow, we will take a couple of small hairs for DNA sexing,” said the zoo’s Australian Fauna Supervisor, Arthur Ferguson. “The previous five echidnas born at Perth Zoo were all females, so we are hoping that Kai is a male.”

[zooborns.]

The female Sacculina parasite will infect the genitals of a male or female crab. It looks like a barnacle at first, but then it’s soft body enters inside the crab and it’s shell falls off. The soft body will penetrate every part of the crab, it’s arms, legs, even it’s brain, until it re-emerges at the crab’s genital area, and then replaces the crab’s reproductive organs with it’s own, regardless of the crab’s original gender. The parasite also disables the crab’s ability to molt it’s shell or regrow lost limbs, as this could interfere with the parasite. So, the female Sacculina waits for a male Sacculina to impregnate it, and then it forces the crab, regardless of it’s actual gender, to revert to female crab pregnancy instincts and care for the parasite offspring as if they were it’s own.

(via bradofarrell)

The female Sacculina parasite will infect the genitals of a male or female crab. It looks like a barnacle at first, but then it’s soft body enters inside the crab and it’s shell falls off. The soft body will penetrate every part of the crab, it’s arms, legs, even it’s brain, until it re-emerges at the crab’s genital area, and then replaces the crab’s reproductive organs with it’s own, regardless of the crab’s original gender. The parasite also disables the crab’s ability to molt it’s shell or regrow lost limbs, as this could interfere with the parasite. So, the female Sacculina waits for a male Sacculina to impregnate it, and then it forces the crab, regardless of it’s actual gender, to revert to female crab pregnancy instincts and care for the parasite offspring as if they were it’s own.

(via bradofarrell)