Camel Eats a Cactus

When you live in the desert, you evolve to eat what's there. Watch this hardcore dromedary munch down on a prickly pear cactus with 6-inch spines! And you thought Captain Crunch made your mouth sore. Apparently, camels have protrusions inside their mouths containing keratin that are tough and flexible like plastic that enables them to deal with just about any food source they come across. They are also ruminants, so everything gets chewed up more than once. (via Boing Boing)

The Cow's Hobby

From 1908. (via Undine)

Relocating Bighorn Sheep

I watched this video and thought about the people who say they've been abducted by aliens. You know these sheep are going to tell tales like that the rest of their lives, and none of the other sheep will believe them. This relocation project brought the population of North American bighorn sheep from 100 to 600 in recent years. It's one of 5 Heartwarming Stories That Are Also Totally Hilarious at Cracked. In fact, the bighorn sheep were just a small part of the story about how helicopters are the funniest way to transport animals.

Lost Chicken

From 1835. (via Undine)

Bird Personalities

(via Bits and Pieces)

Trick Chickens

(via Bad Newspaper)

A Letter from King Charles

Sir David Attenborough celebrated his 100th birthday on Friday. King Charles wrote him a nice greeting, but he needed some help getting it delivered. By the time this video ends, you'll be all verklempt. 

Goat Cure

From 1923. (via Undine)

Just Another Day at Work

I liked this photo since I first saw it, so you should indulge a proud mama for a moment. Dr. Dolittle is on the left, performing surgery in Ecuador while instructing a veterinary student. Such excursions are set up to spay and neuter animals in underserved areas and give students real-world experience, while offering a foreign trip at discount prices. She was quite proud of climbing a volcano (while further injuring a sprained ankle). But I am more proud and frankly gobsmacked that my kid can cut into a living body without harm, plus teach that skill to others.

Why Bees Mostly Ignore The Waggle Dance

Bees have always been impressive. They pollinate our crops, make honey, and wax, too. Then we found out they communicate complex ideas to each other by dancing, and that's even more impressive. They're insects! And now we find out that other bees who witness the dance understand it, but have to weigh the pros and cons of taking that bee's advice, which includes calculating odds. Bees are way more intelligent than they've been given credit for. (via Laughing Squid) 

The Swimming Lesson

When a raccoon invades your swimming pool, you may as well put him to work -as a swimming instructor! La Piscine (The Swimming Lesson) is from Faireset and his magnificent YouTube channel Parole de chat.  (via Metafilter)

Bunny Love

Whenever you hear the term "snuggle bunny" or "cuddle bunny," this is what it means. (via I Am Bored)

Do Animals Have Minds Like Humans?

We don't know exactly what's going on in someone else's mind, but we can take a guess based on their behavior. That goes for primitive species like worms with few neurons, up through animals with many neurons, to humans, who have taken the concept of "mind" a lot further. Yet we still don't know where to draw the line on which animals have "minds" as we think of them. Heck, we can't even define "mind" as opposed to sentience, self-awareness, and consciousness. 

Humans, with the most complex of all brains, have managed to use our collection of neurons to develop and understand higher concepts like empathy, morality, art, fiction, prediction, language and math, long-term planning, and civilization itself. We've become pretty good at telling others what's on our minds, although we still cannot totally experience the way someone else thinks. Kurzgesagt gives us a brief tour of how brains differ between species and how more complex brains work. There's an ad from 4:44 to 6:00. The video ends at 10:42. 

Love-Tails of Morocco

A Dogville Short from 1931.

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

(via Bad Newspaper)

Embarrassed

In other words, pledges were arrested. From 1907. (via Undine)

Backyard Wildlife

A compilation of what happens when human neighborhoods encroach on animals' territory. Don't miss the most ungraceful deer you've ever seen, or the house cat that sounds like a submarine alarm. 

Deer Rescued from a Fence

The British organization Wildlife Aid was alerted to a panicked deer who got her hips stuck in a fence. Her thrashing was more dangerous than the fence itself, so she had to be sedated for rescue. You'll be glad to know she's alright.  

Technically Correct

(via Bored Panda)

Raising an Albino Wallaby

When you hear about a mob of wallabies in a nearby park, you might assume that this all takes place in Australia, but no. Lindsay Clarity runs Animal School in East Sussex, UK! It is a shelter for all kinds of rescued animals and also an educational institution where children can learn about nature. One of the odder residents is Blossom, an albino wallaby who was abandoned by her mother at a very young age.

Clarity took Blossom in and had to learn everything about how wallaby mothers normally raise their babies, which includes carrying them around in their pouches until they are 18 months old. Yes, she did that for a year, and now she has a lifetime companion in the little Australian creature. See more from the Animal School at YouTube.