Cats love climbing, and they certainly need no human help to navigate precarious-looking structures. But in the Swiss city of Bern, cat owners are extra concerned of the wellbeing of their pets. All around the city you will see structures built special…
Tag: animals
Globsters: When Sea Monsters Wash Ashore
On November 30, 1896, two young boys, Herbert Coles and Dunham Coretter, were bicycling along Anastasia Island, near St. Augustine on the Atlantic coast of Florida, the United States, when they noticed an enormous carcass half buried in the sand, appar…
Hagfish: The Slimy Creature of The Deep
Hollywood horror movie monsters and aliens aren’t complete without loads of repulsive slime, mucous and saliva dripping from their mouths. But this image of a car drenched in white gelatinous mess is not a scene from a movie set. The sticky situation …
Horse-Drawn Boats
Before diesel and electric engines made sailing convenient, boats and barges had to be either rowed or pulled. In many European countries such as the Netherlands and the UK, and to some extent in France, Germany, and Belgium, horse-drawn boats were com…
This designer wants to turn lab-grown leather into your next jacket
Suzanne Lee is a designer and the chief creative officer with Modern Meadow, where they are working to biofabricate leather, which means to literally grow leather in a lab without the animal. Lee and her team are working side-by-side with scientists t…
The Ramree Island Crocodile Massacre
That night was the most horrible that any member of the motor launch crews ever experienced. The scattered rifle shots in the pitch black swamp punctured by the screams of wounded men crushed in the jaws of huge reptiles, and the blurred worrying sound…
Rat King: The Mysterious Conjoined Creature
On a cold January morning in 2005, in the village of Saru in southern Estonia, farmer Rein Kıiv and his son made a curious discovery. On the sandy floor of their shed, they found a cluster of 16 rats with their tails inexplicably tangled into a knot. T…
Honoring Animals Used in Research And Testing
The United States’ National Academies of Sciences estimates that as many as 22 million vertebrate animals are used every year in the United States alone for research and testing. About 85 percent of these animals are rats and mice. These tiny, furry cr…
The Fainting Goats of Tennessee
Unlike humans, animals rarely faint from surprise, panic attacks or any other strong emotional stress. But there is a breed of goat that appears to do so.
When startled, the so-called “fainting goat” collapses on its side. They fall over, often with legs comically raised towards the sky. After laying motionless on the ground for a few seconds, they recover and bounce back on their feet as quickly as they fell. This curious reaction to fright has made fainting goats the popular subject for many viral, and often humorous, internet videos.
Photo credit: www.kidsdiscover.com
© Amusing Planet, 2017.
These Massive Tunnels Were Dug By Giant Sloths
Across northern South America, there are hundreds of colossal tunnels large enough for humans to walk through, but they weren’t dug by men. Nor they were formed by any known geological process. But their creators have left evidence all around the walls and ceilings—giant claw marks.
Geologists call these tunnels “paleoburrow,” and they are believed to have been dug by an extinct species of giant ground sloth.
A large paleoburrow in Brazil. Photo credit: Heinrich Frank
© Amusing Planet, 2017.