The Horror of the Beast

Warning: some images in this blog are not suitable for the faint hearted. 

In a classroom, as well as in a professional environment, the appearance of a mouse is one of the only occasions when you are allowed to get hysterical. “A mouse, a mouse! Get it out of here before I die!” screams from an otherwise properly behaved professional standing on her chair or desk, is a call for the brave cavaliers to pick up whatever weapon they can lay their hands on: books, brooms and rubbish bins, to scare away the monster before it launches its deadly attack on innocent humans.

No wonder that even the mighty elephant is horrified when such a beast appears. So, as part of the tough military regime I subject my children to, I decided to expose them to the horrors of the beast in the deep dark forest. It was a grey, cold day when we arrived. At first we found no tracks at all. But just when we considered giving up and return empty handed – yet alive, we were attacked. The images below are the only ones you’ll ever see of a person who survived such an attack to tell the story.

Evolution Theory and Old Chinese Wisdom

Today I saw a hawk chasing a sparrow. This reminded me of an old Chinese tale of wisdom.

The master and his disciple were sitting in the forest studying the sutras when they noticed a fox chasing a rabbit.

Disciple: Let’s watch and see if the fox catches its prey, master.

Master: There is no need to watch. The rabbit will safely escape.

Disciple: Oh great master, teach me how to tell the future.

Master: It’s no future telling. The fox runs for his food, but the rabbit runs for his life.

This is just to show how little the old Chinese knew about evolution. And if you are curious, the hawk did catch the sparrow.

Corroboree Frog

This is my favorite frog. 

It is only 1” long, and it lives in the Australian Alps. 
Isn't she a beauty?

Do animals think and feel?

I've always found it fascinating to hear people argue that animals don’t think or have genuine feeling, and that they are merely preprogrammed for their behavior. From my experience, this claim can be made only by those who have never bothered to watch animals, to learn about them and see the complexity of their behavior and emotions.

For the sake of honesty, I don’t know if we, humans, do have true thought or feelings, or if we are simply machines programmed to believe we do. But, if we do, animals do just as well.

Any dog or cat lovers will swear that not only their pets have personality, but that they are actually human. Behavioral researcher, on the other hand, would swear that dogs believe that we behave just like them. 

But feelings and emotions are not limited to our beloved pets, for any animal watcher, birds, rodents, and even reptiles all have their own personalities. No two lizards behave the same, each has its own preference, its own liking, its own emotions. Each is a unique organism with its own idiosyncratic personality.

The picture below is of our two Bearded Dragons: Mr. Spoke and Lieutenant. They both have their likes and dislikes. Mr. Spoke likes Grapes and will hardly touch his veggies. Lieutenant, on the other hand, likes green veggies and will happily snatch it from Mr. Spoke, he doesn’t mind, as long as she leaves his grapes alone.  Mr. Spoke has no sense of humor when grapes are concerned.

Mr. Spoke is lazy and would wait unmoving for his crickets to come and enter his open mouth. Lieutenant chases them relentlessly. Mr. Spoke loves being handled and played with, Lieutenant prefers to be left alone.

It wasn’t so long ago that women were considered without real thinking power, or that some ethnical minorities were considered ‘animals’. This was only the reasoning and the excuse behind so many atrocities. So if you believe that animals are nothing but machines, be honest with yourself; how much of it is simply an opinion based on lack of knowledge and observation? How much do you really know about them? How much of it because it gives you excuse not to think what we do to them?

The best pets are rats

I've always had many pets of all types, shapes and forms. But nothing is like having a rat. It’s affectionate, intelligent and can be taught many tricks, more than a cat or a dog. You can carry it in your pocket or on your shoulder, and it’s always up for a new adventure. It's more fun than a hamster, rabbit or a mouse. Believe me, I've had them all.

So if you want a fun, interesting pet
try a rat
you won't regret.

Bird of the high Himalayas

Even though the picture is of poor quality (a pocket camera after all - unbelievable what you can do with them nowadays), Isn't it the most amazing bird you've ever seen?