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May 30, 2006
They're Here! Humming Bird Update.
The Humming Birds are across the US now and also into Canada!
So, now that they sre here, how do we attract them, and what do we feed them to keep them around?!
One good way to enjoy the company of hummingbirds is planting a hummingbird garden. In addition to providing them a natural diet, a hummer garden is an excellent way to attract birds to your nearby feeder: since hummingbirds feed by sight on regularly-followed routes - called traplining - their inquisitive nature will quickly lead them to investigate any possible new source of food.
One of the many plants to use in your Humming Bird Garden.
Click here, for more ideas on what to Plant in your Garden.
Hummingbirds get the energy they need to maintain their astonishing metabolism primarily from flower nectar and the sugar water they find at feeders. Click Here for info on Feeders, and a recipe for nectar.
Posted by sue at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)
May 29, 2006
Monday Moment of Zen.....
Sleepy Kitty
Hope everyone is having a great long weekend!
Posted by sue at 12:26 PM | Comments (1)
May 26, 2006
Wind farm held up over threat to rare Australian parrot
It sounds like a Monty Python sketch, but the backers of a wind farm in Victoria are not amused. The Australian Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, has vetoed the scheme in order to protect the country's most endangered bird species: the orange-bellied parrot.
While some have branded the move politically motivated, others have ridiculed it, pointing to research that puts the likelihood of a parrot being chewed up in turbines at one bird every 1,000 years. Moreover, bird watchers say that orange-bellied parrots have never been seen within 30 miles of the proposed site.
Developers fear the decision may herald a new era of over-zealous protection in Australia. The wallum froglet, a tiny amphibian less than an inch long, has halted construction of a bypass on the New South Wales/ Queensland border, while in Sydney the rare Cumberland land snail threatens to block a new residential and retail estate by the Georges River...
In Melbourne, meanwhile, there was relief when the government said that it would not stop a £160m housing development going ahead despite the discovery of 60 endangered golden sun moths. The moths spend most of their lives underground, emerging for just four days before they die.
Mr Campbell said that he did not want to be blamed for the extinction of a rare parrot species. But the cynics point out that there is strong local opposition to the £90m wind farm, which was planned for a marginal constituency narrowly won by the ruling Liberal Party in 2004.
It has also emerged that in 2002 the government approved four other wind farms in Victoria, despite environmental impact studies concluding that they would kill one orange-bellied parrot every five years. There are believed to be up to 200 parrots left in the wild. But Mr Campbell is unrepentant, and has seized on news of another endangered bird, a wedge-tailed eagle, meeting a bloody end in a wind turbine in Tasmania as vindication.
Posted by sue at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)
May 25, 2006
Worlds Ugliest Dog...
With Faces only a mother could love.. the worlds ugliest Dog contest is underway! Go and place your vote!
Just a highlight of what you will see... PeeWee!
PeeWee's owner says:
Pee Wee Martini is know by some as "Pee Wee, Son of Sam" (a nickname given to him by Susie, mother of Sam). He is a two year old Chinese Crested / Japanese Chin mix. His crooked face, naked body, long tongue (that hangs out the side of his mouth 24/7), long nasty nails and punk rock mohawk say it all when asked why he should win this year's contest. He would be honored to carry the title "Ugliest Dog in the World" once held by our precious Sammy, who is missed dearly by all. Let's keep Sam's spirit alive by voting for "Pee Wee, Son of Sam"!
Posted by sue at 09:43 AM | Comments (1)
May 24, 2006
Purple Carpet for the penguins!
Nineteen African blackfooted penguins and two sea otters that were rescued from a New Orleans aquarium after Hurricane Katrina returned home Monday on a cargo flight donated by FedEx Corp.
Posted by sue at 09:42 AM | Comments (0)
May 23, 2006
Scotia Moving Forward with Killing Geese
(this article is particularly sad because of the story I posted last Thursday.)
The cries of those trying to save the geese at Collins Lake in Scotia are being drowned out. Village officials have decided to go ahead with a plan to trap and kill Canada geese living at the lake.
It had to be shut down last year after test results showed a large amount of bacteria in the lake caused by geese droppings. The US Department of Agriculture plans on trapping 150 of the birds with nets and gassing them with carbon dioxide by late June.
The culling method will cost the village nearly three-thousand dollars, but it is part of a larger effort to restore the quality of the lake. On top of killing the geese, officials say herbicide will be added to the water to help clean it.
While critics say they are horrified the village is killing the birds rather than using non-lethal methods to scare them off, village officials say this option posed the best chance of success in addressing the problem.
Scotia Mayor Michael McLaughlin says they will consider non-lethal means next year.
Posted by sue at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)
May 22, 2006
Mondays Moment of Zen.
Hampster Kiss
Posted by sue at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)
May 20, 2006
Dolphins Have Names
Bottlenose dolphins don't just whistle, click, and screech. They call themselves by name--and recognize each other's names, too. Or, so says a recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Not Just Whistling Dixie
Researchers have known for years that individual bottlenose dolphins (and members of many other dolphin species, too) emit unique signature whistles using the nasal passages beneath their blowholes (hear one). But no one knew whether the whistles actually convey identifying information, like the sounds that make up our names do.
To find out, a team of scientists synthesized a series of bottlenose dolphins' signature whistles, then called out to other dolphins through an underwater speaker system. The synthesized whistles lacked any features of an individual dolphin's voice--the same way a computer-generated version of your name would lack any features of your voice. Yet the dolphins often turned to listen when they heard the synthesized versions of their kin's whistles, even as they largely ignored the whistles of unknown dolphins.
No one's claiming that such signature whistles are equivalent to "Chuck" and "Edna." But the study clearly suggests that dolphins do more than just recognize the tone of a familiar voice. They identify and respond to signature sound patterns even when a stranger whistles them.
Not Just Whistling Names
Communication skills aren't the only thing dolphins have going for them, of course. Among their other endearing traits:
Superb swimming. Bottlenose dolphins, like the ones in the study, have been clocked at close to 20 mph (32 km/h). Other species are even faster--including killer whales (yes, killer whales are dolphins), which top out at 30 mph (50 km/h). Many dolphins are acrobats, too. Spinner dolphins often leap from the water and do flips and barrel rolls before landing in a splashy belly flop (see it).
Social skills. Dolphins travel in pods that range in size from just a handful to superpods of more than 1,000. They sometimes swim in circles around injured pod members to protect them from further harm--or even support a hurt friend at the surface to keep him from drowning. They also hunt together, circling schools of fish to feast on, or driving them to shallow water where they're easier to catch.
Mammalian mothering. The word "dolphin" comes from the ancient Greek delphis, meaning "womb." That's fitting, since mother dolphins carry their young for a year or more, then nurse them for another six months to two years. (If the new study is right, they even call them by name.)
Fish-eating grins. Bottlenose dolphins, and other species, have upturned mouths that look like a permanent smile. Inside their distinctive beaks, however, are dozens of needlelike teeth designed for slicing up fish. Beaks and teeth are actually the best way to tell a dolphin from a porpoise. Dolphins generally have longer snouts and conical teeth. Porpoises have flatter snouts and spadelike teeth.
Posted by sue at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)
May 19, 2006
Fastest Hampster Ever! =)
Some Friday Fun
Posted by sue at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2006
Man credits goose with helping him live longer
FERNAN LAKE, Idaho - A northern Idaho man diagnosed with terminal cancer says a usually cantankerous goose that befriended him on his walks has helped him live past doctors' predictions.
"I'm 73," Bill Lytle, a two-time state legislator, told the Coeur d'Alene Press. "And I'm not ready to die."
After retiring as project manager for the Bunker Hill Mining company, Lytle and his wife of 52 years, Myrna, moved to Coeur d'Alene, where Bill became one of the founding members of a walking club called the Lake City Striders.
Then last fall his skin turned yellow overnight, and doctors diagnosed pancreatic cancer, giving Lytle only months to live. But Lytle continued his walks, having to cut them down to two miles at a nearby lake, where he met the goose who has inspired him to keep going even when he wasn't feeling well.
Elderly cancer patient says 'Mr. Waddles' offers inspiration to keep going
"I have to keep walking or I won't make my next December," Lytle said.
The goose, called Mr. Waddles, is a feral domestic goose, a biologist with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said, offering no explanation for the relationship that has developed between the goose and Lytle. Myrna has thought about that as well.
'I think he knows ...'
"I wonder, why would that one goose attach himself to Bill?" she said. "I think he knows he's sick. I think animals can sense that."
The goose, about 30 pounds with a red beak and red feet, approaches Lytle when he calls and rubs its head against his arms. But it snaps at anyone else who gets too close, including Myrna, their daughter, and Bill's hospice aide.
"Sometimes he walks around me, sometimes he walks beside me," Lytle said of the near-daily meetings the two have. "I rub his neck, and the top of his head and down to his back. Every time I came down, he just kept coming out. I think it's pretty nice, that he'd always come to me."
Posted by sue at 01:01 PM | Comments (1)
May 17, 2006
Internet radio station gone to the dogs
Thai entrepreneur hopes music will cheer up canines
A Thai entrepreneur who launched an Internet radio station for dogs this week said he hopes to reach out to the kingdom's pooches and cheer them up.
Anupan Boonchuen, director of a dog grooming school in Bangkok, said he launched Dog Radio Thailand on Wednesday because he noticed that dogs seem happier when he plays music as he grooms them.
"I have close contact with dogs every day. Dogs get in a better mood if they listen to music," Anupan said Thursday.
Often while Anupan's students practice grooming for the first time, they do not know how to handle the dogs. So during class, he said he plays music because it "puts the dogs in a good mood and they're more willing to let the groomers handle them."
The programming on dogradiothailand.com mainly consists of Thai pop music, but Anupan also plans to air programs in which the DJ will "talk to the dogs in Thai" — to which the canine listener will be encouraged to respond.
"At 9 a.m., we may have a dog greeting show, in which we'll repeat 'sawasdee' ('hello') over and over ... If we say 'sawasdee,' in some houses, the dog may lift both paws in response. In some houses, the dog may lift only one paw. It depends on how the dog was trained," Anupan said.
Anupan said he had long dreamed of starting a radio station for dogs, but it always seemed too expensive. He was able to bring his project to fruition after hearing an international news story about a low-cost Internet radio station for dogs in the United States. (Read Natures Blog Entry from Nov 05 on Woof FM)
He hopes that the DJ on his new station will be able to communicate through the radio and that the dogs will respond.
"If we play a slow song, we may have the DJ howl ... because dogs howl, too, when they hear sad sounds," Anupan said.
Posted by sue at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)
May 16, 2006
tips for keeping dogs and cats safe this summer
Sunscreen, check. Plenty of fresh water, check. Swimming lessons, check. Flea control, check.
Flea control? This list isn’t for you or your kids — it’s for your pets. Summertime brings picnics, fun in the sun, and swimming in pools or open water — good times that are tarnished only by stinging or biting insects, heatstroke, sunburn, skin problems and water hazards, to name the most common summer-related dangers that face dogs and cats.
Here’s what you need to know to recognize and prevent problems:
Itchy and scratchy
When the weather turns warm, fleas hatch and animals get itchy. “We see this manifest itself as sores and scabs on dogs and cats,” says Susan McClung Davis, a veterinarian at Aliso Beach Animal Clinic in Laguna Beach, Calif. “Many animals are allergic to fleas, and all it takes is one flea for them to bite and scratch themselves raw.”
Bees, wasps, fire ants and mosquitoes are other painful pests of summer. Dogs or cats that take a curious or aggressive interest in bees or wasps are likely to receive payback in the form of a sting on the nose or head.
Fire ants often march onto the abdomen of a pet lying outdoors enjoying the sun, then sting in synchrony, which is a very painful experience. If your pet is being stung by fire ants, hose them off and get your pet to the veterinarian, says Michael Schaer, a professor and associate chair at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville.
Reactions to insect bites and stings range from slight swelling and pain to anaphylaxis, a sudden, severe allergic reaction that can be fatal if not treated immediately. Mosquito bites don’t provoke a skin reaction, but they can transmit potentially fatal heartworm disease.
“If your pet is stung, seek veterinary help right away,” Davis says.
Prevention goes a long way. “Fleas and ticks are easily controlled on pets with topical medications," she says. "Placing a product on the skin can kill fleas and ticks for as long as a month. The best way to prevent heartworm disease is by giving a heartworm preventive pill orally once a month.”
While some flea-control medications repel mosquitoes, it’s important to remember that they don’t prevent heartworm disease if a mosquito does bite your pet.
Keep them cool
Heat and humidity affect pets as well, especially those that are brachycephalic, or flat-faced, such as Pugs, Pekingese and Persians, or those that have very heavy coats.
High temperatures can lead to heat exhaustion or the more dangerous heatstroke. Animals that are outside or enclosed in cars are most at risk of heatstroke, Davis says.
Signs of heat exhaustion and heatstroke include panting excessively, fatigue, dizziness, nausea and loss of consciousness.
Cool a pet with heat exhaustion by pouring water on the coat and working it into the hair. Loss of consciousness is an emergency situation and requires immediate veterinary care.
One of the most important precautions for preventing both conditions is to never leave your pet in a car during warm months.
“You can have the inside of a car heat up to over 120 degrees Fahrenheit in less than 10 minutes,” Schaer says. “We’re not even talking about a quick run into the drugstore with the animal in a closed car. You don’t want to do that.”
If there’s absolutely no way around it, park the car in the shade with the windows down, and make sure your pet has access to water, Davis says.
Doggie paddling...
Doggie paddling
Does your dog love swimming in the pool or riding on the family boat? Be sure he knows how to get out of the pool or onto the boat. Problems occur when pets fall into pools or off boats and panic.
“Take your dog into the pool and show him how to find the stairs and climb out,” Davis says. “Then put him into the pool and see if he can get out on his own. Repeat this until he can consistently get out of the pool on his own. If you have a boat, put the dog in the water next to the boat and then ‘rescue’ him. This way he’ll be prepared if he falls off the boat unexpectedly.”
You may also want to consider purchasing a product such as a Skamper-Ramp, which can be used in pools and on boats to help the animal get out of the water.
“Skamper-Ramp works because all living creatures see white,” says the company’s marketing director, Carrie Agnew. “They see the ramp because it angles down, breaking the surface of the water and placing it at eye level to them.”
Of course, not even a Skamper-Ramp will help if your pet can’t see. “Pools are especially hazardous for blind dogs,” Davis says. “If they fall in, they cannot get out. It is important to not let your blind dog go anywhere near swimming pools.”
Wave-riding dogs — whether they're body surfing for the joy of it or chasing after toys their owners throw into the surf — face other water hazards, she adds. “They can injure their legs, especially their knees. The jarring force of the waves is hard on the ligaments. Also, dogs will occasionally drink sea water. This can be poisonous or even fatal.”
Finally, don’t forget to apply sunscreen when your pet goes outdoors.
Yes, dogs and cats are susceptible to sunburn, especially if they have thin or light-colored coats, and cats that get sunburned are more likely to develop skin cancer.
Dogs that lie on their backs enjoying the sun have gotten painful sunburns on their abdomens, Schaer says, but the areas most prone to sunburn on dogs and cats are the nose, face and ear tips — so cover them with sunscreen. Also be sure to cover the bodies of hairless pets and those with thin coats such as whippets and pugs.
You can find sunscreen made for pets at pet supply stores, or you can apply zinc oxide or PABA-free sunscreen. Be careful not to get it in your pet’s eyes.
Now that you’re prepared, enjoy the dog (and cat) days of summer.
Posted by sue at 12:45 PM | Comments (2)
May 15, 2006
Monday Moment of Zen!
"Must.......reach.......cookie!"
Posted by sue at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)
Hatchery owners charged with gunning down endangered birds
Federal authorities have charged two area men with killing hundreds of blue herons, a bald eagle and other protected migratory birds at a commercial trout hatchery in Sunderland.
Bird experts say that, given the hundreds of carcasses found at the fish hatchery, serious damage may have been done to the population of migratory fish-eating birds in the western part of the state.
Arrested Thursday were hatchery owner Michael Zak Jr., 58, of 467 Amherst Road in Sunderland, and Timothy Lloyd, 29, of 115 Park St., Easthampton.
The pair have been charged with violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It was unclear Friday night whether the men were still in custody.
The criminal complaint alleges that federal agents found “more than 250 great blue heron carcasses,” as well as the bodies of about 10 ospreys and one bald eagle on the grounds of the Mohawk Trout Hatchery, a business owned by Zak and which lies behind his home.
“Ospreys, herons and eagles are all natural predators of fish, so I think you can probably figure out for yourself their motive,” said Christina DiIorio-Sterling of the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal officials said there was no protective netting at Zak’s hatchery to ward off birds.
State fish hatcheries located in Franklin County use netting to protect their fish from predatory birds.
The woman who answered a call made to the commercial fish hatchery Friday said that Zak was not there and then hastily hung up the telephone when asked about the case. Calls to the hatchery were not answered.
The allegations...
In the complaint filed against the two men in U.S. District Court, federal Fish and Wildlife Service special agent Thomas Ricardi says that he and other agents actually watched Zak kill some of the birds as they sat in trees near the fish ponds and the concrete raceway between them.
“On October 4, 2005, (agent Andrey) Guidera and I observed Zak attempt to kill a great blue heron. Zak shouldered the rifle at an upward angle, aimed for several moments ... and then fired a single shot,” he wrote in his complaint.
The heron is a wading bird with a long neck and long legs that lives along marshes and rivers.
Ricardi said that he and Guidera later went to the tree where the bird had been sitting and recovered its corpse from the ground at the base of the trunk.
According to DiIorio-Sterling, the killing of migratory birds carries, upon conviction, a possible sentence of six months in prison and $15,000 in fines for each death. This means that for the blue herons alone the two men would face a maximum sentence of more than 125 years in prison and more than $3 million in fines.
The federal government, according to wildlife experts, can issue permits to fish hatcheries to shoot a limited number of predatory birds in order to protect their livestock, but according to Ricardi, no such permits were ever issued to Zak or to the Sunderland hatchery.
On May 6, Ricardi says, government agents watched as Lloyd, who works for Zak, used a rifle on a bipod placed on the back of a car, to shoot and kill an osprey perched in a tree near the western boundary of the fish hatchery.
“When Lloyd shot, (agent Patrick) Bosco saw the osprey being hit by the bullet,” he wrote.
According to the court filings, a necropsy was performed on a random sample of the bird carcasses recovered from the hatchery grounds and the examiner found that all of them had been killed by gunfire.
“Small caliber bullets, such as .223, .222, .22-50 or .22 Magnum were recovered from the carcasses. Several of the fragments were large enough to conduct ballistic comparisons to the rifles from which they were fired,” Ricardi wrote.
Tim Divoll, owner of Valley Sport Center in Easthampton, says Lloyd is a customer and has purchased firearms and ammunition. Those firearms include a rifle and handguns.
When asked about the allegations against Lloyd, Divoll said that he was “absolutely” surprised. “He seems like a nice young man,” he said.
Divoll said any ammunition Lloyd had purchased from him was not appropriate for shooting wildlife.
One bird lover’s reaction
“I can’t wait to see how high they hang these people,” said Patricia Carlisle of Turners Falls, when she was told of the arrests.
“It’s so senseless,” she said of the alleged shootings.
According to Carlisle, who avidly monitors the nesting bald eagles of Barton Cove, the local birds are well and on their nest.
“I have been watching them all day. They are both right in their nest protecting the two eaglets,” she said.
According to Carlisle, there is also a blue heron nest in Montague.
“I’m just in shock. I’m in no condition to comment at all,” she said.
Damage to bird |populations
Scott Johnston, who heads a department that studies bird populations for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says that 20 years ago there were only about 600 great blue heron in western Massachusetts and, while the numbers have been increasing, they have not increased that much.
“Because they have been protected, the numbers have been going up, but I doubt that they have more than doubled in that time,” he said.
Wayne R. Petersen, of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, said that he would be surprised if there are more than 900 great blue herons in the western half of the state.
“Their numbers have increased significantly in recent years. You can see nesting colonies all over the state, but some of those only have five or 10 nests,” he said.
“The population has greatly increased, but the loss of 250 birds would be notable wherever it took place,” he said.
Petersen also noted that the herons that were shot this spring were killed during nesting season and thus while they were trying to feed their young.
“This, of course raises the mortality level because, if the parents are killed the young are going to starve,” he said.
Eagles
According to Marion Lawson, of the Massachusetts Wildlife Service, there are currently only four inhabited bald eagle nests along the Connecticut River Valley from the Vernon Dam in New Hampshire down to Hartford, Conn., and five or six nests in the Quabbin Reservoir.
“That gives you 20 adult birds with about 16 eaglets. There are also a number of immature eagles (from one to four years old), which are residents but not old enough to nest. Probably five to 10 birds is a conservative number for the Connecticut River and the Quabbin area,” she said.
According to Lawson, in winter the bald eagle population in the Quabbin is much higher than it is at other times of the year because the birds will flock here from other areas to feed in the open waters of the reservoir.
The federal fish and wildlife service says that illegal shooting still poses a significant threat to individual bald eagles although increased law enforcement and public awareness have reduced shooting from being a cause of large scale mortality, as it was in the first half of the 20th century, to being responsible only for the deaths of occasional individuals.
The fish and wildlife service says that nationally from 1985 to 1990, the National Wildlife Health Research Center diagnosed over 150 bald eagle deaths due to gunshot wounds.
Simon Perkins, of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, said that, given the small number of mating pairs in the state, it would not take many deaths of bald eagles to have a significant impact on the population.
Bald eagles are still on the endangered species list.
Most osprey, according to the bird experts, live along the coast and on Martha’s Vineyard, but there are only a few hundred nesting pairs in the state.
According to Lawson, there is only one osprey nest in the Connecticut River Valley, so it is likely that the animals that federal agents say they found on the grounds of the Sunderland fish hatchery were migrants
“Of course, if the birds from that nest were shot, it puts an end to the resident population,” she said.
Ironically, today is International Migratory Bird Day.
Posted by sue at 09:39 AM | Comments (1)
May 11, 2006
Sky Watching
HERE THEY COME: More than 60 fragments of dying comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 are racing toward Earth. There's no danger of a collision. At closest approach on May 12th through 16th, the mini-comets will be 6 million miles away.
That is close enough, however, for a marvelous view through backyard telescopes. Many of the fragments are themselves crumbling, producing clouds of gas and dust mixed with boulder-sized debris. As some fragments fade, others brighten, surprising onlookers. It's an amazing display.
Of particular interest is fragment B, which has brightened 25-fold (3.5 magnitudes) since May 5th. "Fragment B is definitely in outburst," says astronomer Horace Smith, who took these pictures using a 24-inch telescope at Michigan State University:
The outburst probably signals a major break-up. As the comet-fragment falls apart, fresh veins of ice and dust are exposed to sunlight causing the ensemble to brighten. Whatever the cause, fragment B is now glowing like a 4th or 5th magnitude star, visible to the naked eye from rural areas: sky map.
Posted by sue at 08:37 AM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2006
Tangled Whale!
If you read the front page story of the SF Chronicle,
you would have read about a female humpback whale
who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps
and lines.
She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused
her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of
line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line
tugging in her mouth.
A fisherman spotted her just east of the FarraloneIslands
(outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help.
Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her.
A very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.
They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.
When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed gently around-she thanked them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.
The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was
following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.
May you, and all those you love,
be so blessed and fortunate ...
to be surrounded by people
who will help you get untangled
from the things that are binding you.
And, may you always know the joy
of giving and receiving gratitude.
Posted by sue at 02:38 PM | Comments (0)
May 08, 2006
Pennsylvania cat nurses runt pug along with three kittens
A pug puppy rejected by his mother has found a new, more welcoming family — a cat and her three kittens.
Kelly Kent, of Connellsville, said her 2-year-old cat, Zoey, has been nursing a black pug puppy since he was rejected by his mother in late March. Zoey doesn't usually like dogs but seems to have made an exception, Kent said.
Kelly Kent watches as her cat Zoey nurses a pug puppy April 19 in Connellsville, Pa. Kent said Zoey has been nursing the puppy since he was rejected by his mother in late March. Zoey doesn't usually like dogs but seems to have made an exception, Kent said.
The puppy, who belongs to Kent's neighbor, is about the same size as Zoey's kittens and regularly lines up for milk with his adopted feline siblings.
It is not unusual for mothers to adopt in nature, even if the baby is of another species, said William Shepherd, a Uniontown veterinarian. Shepherd said a puppy can drink a cat's milk, but warned that Zoey might not be able to produce enough as the young pug gets older and bigger.
The pug puppy, the runt of his litter, doesn't yet have a name.
Posted by sue at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2006
The Moon has plentiful oxygen for future astronauts. It's lying on the ground
May 5, 2006: An early, persistent problem noted by Apollo astronauts on the Moon was dust. It got everywhere, including into their lungs. Oddly enough, that may be where future Moon explorers get their next breath of air: The moon's dusty layer of soil is nearly half oxygen.
The trick is extracting it.
Apollo 17 geologist Harrison "Jack" Schmitt scoops up some oxygen-rich moon rocks and soil.
"All you have to do is vaporize the stuff," says Eric Cardiff of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. He leads one of several teams developing ways to provide astronauts oxygen they'll need on the Moon and Mars. (See the Vision for Space Exploration.)
Lunar soil is rich in oxides. The most common is silicon dioxide (SiO2), "like beach sand," says Cardiff. Also plentiful are oxides of calcium (CaO), iron (FeO) and magnesium (MgO). Add up all the O's: 43% of the mass of lunar soil is oxygen.
Cardiff is working on a technique that heats lunar soils until they release oxygen. "It's a simple aspect of chemistry," he explains. "Any material crumbles into atoms if made hot enough." The technique is called vacuum pyrolysis--pyro means "fire", lysis means "to separate."
"A number of factors make pyrolysis more attractive than other techniques," Cardiff explains. "It requires no raw materials to be brought from Earth, and you don't have to prospect for a particular mineral." Simply scoop up what's on the ground and apply the heat.
In a proof of principle, Cardiff and his team used a lens to focus sunlight into a tiny vacuum chamber and heated 10 grams of simulated lunar soil to about 2,500 degrees C. Test samples included ilmenite and Minnesota Lunar Simulant, or MLS-1a. Ilmenite is an iron/titanium ore that Earth and the Moon have in common. MLS-1a is made from billion-year-old basalt found on the north shore of Lake Superior and mixed with glass particles that simulate the composition of the lunar soil. Actual lunar soil is too highly prized for such research now.
In their tests, "as much as 20 percent of the simulated soil was converted to free oxygen," Cardiff estimates.
What's leftover is "slag," a low-oxygen, highly metallic, often glassy material. Cardiff is working with colleagues at NASA's Langley Research Center to figure out how to shape slag into useful products like radiation shielding, bricks, spare parts, or even pavement.
The Rest of the Story and More Info at NASA.
Posted by sue at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2006
Drug-Sniffing Wasps May Sting Crooks - Terrorists!
Sneaky drug smugglers and terrorists may soon meet their match: a handheld chemical detector powered by trained wasps.
Dubbed the Wasp Hound, the prototype tool houses five parasitic wasps that react to the smells of explosives, illegal drugs, and plant diseases. In theory, the insects' movements set off an alarm to alert authorities.
"They are an incredibly versatile type of system. We've really just scratched the surface," said Glen Rains, a biological engineer at the University of Georgia, in Tifton, who co-invented the device.
Known for their keen sense of smell, parasitic wasps don't sting humans and are as small as flying ants.
Researchers believe the insects are nearly ideal for the task of sniffing out bombs. Unlike dogs, the wasps can be trained within 30 minutes and bred by the thousands, providing a near limitless supply.
Other scientists are working with honeybees, rats, and fish as chemical detectors.
The Wasp Hound, which is still under development, grew out of decades of study of Microplitis croceipes, a parasitic wasp species native to Georgia.
In the wild the wasps use their antennae to detect corn borer caterpillars, which the parasites use to hatch and grow their young.
The wasps lay single eggs in the caterpillars. As the young mature, they feed on their hosts, which eventually weaken and die.
Surprise Discovery
The Wasp Hound was co-invented by W. Joe Lewis, an expert on parasitic wasps who works as an entomologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Tifton.
In the 1970s Lewis and his colleagues discovered that the wasps locate the caterpillars by detecting a chemical in their feces...
Later research revealed that the wasps' olfactory system was directly linked to their taste receptors and that the insects learn to associate certain smells with food or with corn borers.
Lewis said he soon realized that "you can train them to associate anything with food or their host."
"We knew mammals were doing this, but we had no idea invertebrates were doing this," he added.
Jerry Bromenshenk, a research professor at the University of Montana in Missoula, does similar work with honeybees, training them to detect land mines. He said his team's project and the Georgia team's work are complementary.
Bees are "wide-survey tools. We can search for anything you want to find in a wide area. We can survey areas the size of football fields in a matter of minutes," said Bromenshenk, also the CEO of Bee Alert Technology, Inc.
"The wasps serve functions we can't easily do with honeybees," he said, such as work indoors.
Wasp Miniature Camera
Teaching a small hive of flying insects is one thing. Harnessing their capability is quite another.
Lewis and Rains, the Georgia-based researchers, received funding in 1998 and began actively working on the Wasp Hound. They hope it will make it to market in five to ten years.
The Wasp Hound is a tube made of PVC pipe. At one end is a clear plastic chamber, about two inches (five centimeters) in diameter and an inch (two and a half centimeters) deep, where the wasps are housed.
"It's like a cap that you can take on and off," Rains explained. The chamber has vent holes, a fan, and a miniature camera connected to a computer.
When the wasps aren't working "they just randomly walk around" in their chamber, Rains said. But when the wasps encounter a smell they have been trained to recognize, the hungry insects congregate near the odor source, hoping for food.
The mini-cam tracks their movement, sending pictures to the computer, which analyzes the images and triggers an alarm within 30 seconds.
The insects are so sensitive that they react less or more strongly, depending on the strength of the smell they are exposed to, Rains says.
The wasps can be used for 48 hours. After they complete their shift "we just let them go," Rains explained.
The Wasp Hound has only been tested under laboratory conditions. It needs to be rigorously tested in cold weather, dusty conditions, and other real-world situations before it will be ready for widespread use, Rains said.
Before it appears on the market, the Wasp Hound needs to have infrastructure behind it—breeding laboratories and a system for packing and shipping the devices.
"An idea we're toying with is having one Hound with five cartridges for detecting five different odors," Rains said.
"We're pretty much on the forefront of this type of work," he said.
Posted by sue at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)
May 03, 2006
Feeding The Wild Birds
Bird feeding is a popular endeavor enjoyed by millions of people and birds. But birds can be at risk at feeding stations – from predators and bird diseases. Proper precautions are necessary for safe bird feeding.
Stock Fresh Seed
In wet weather, birdseed can quickly become saturated and develop mold. Maintain fresh, dry seed in the feeder and the container in which the supply is kept.
Sweep it Clean
Keeping the ground at the base of a feeder free of discarded hulls and droppings will lessen damage to turf and prevent transmission of disease (such as salmonella). In winter, scraping off a few inches of snow will suffice. For busier stations, seed trays may be used to catch jettisoned hulls and seed. Feeders can also be relocated on occasion to prevent build-up at the base.
Take a Break
Several diseases are contagious between birds. If diseased birds (those with malformed bills, bulbous growths on feet or face, or swollen, reddish, or watery eyes) are frequently visiting your feeders, take down the feeder, discard seed and clean the feeder with bleach solution (nine parts water to one part bleach). Wait a week or more before reactivating the feeding station. This will cause the temporary dispersion of feeder birds and discourage revisiting by diseased birds. The same precautions should be taken if several dead birds with no sign of predator injury are found around the feeder.
Provide Cover
Native trees and shrubs of different densities and heights give birds places into which they can retreat and feel safe near the feeders. In winter, evergreens, brush piles or even discarded Christmas trees offer crucial winter protection from predators and weather. Plants should be close enough for safe approaches and quick escape but far enough to allow for a wide visual field for feeding birds (10-12 feet from feeders).
Keep Feeders Clean
It's important to clean your feeders to remove bacteria and mold spores, even in winter. A monthly cleaning with a nine-to-one water-bleach solution will deter bacteria in plastic, ceramic, and metal feeders. A dilute vinegar solution (three-to- one) or non-fragranced biodegradable soap should be used on wood to minimize fading.
Provide Water
A few inches of clean water in a birdbath or other rough-textured container will be a welcome addition to your feeding area. Consider a dripping system for a constant source of clean water and a birdbath heater to prevent freezing in the winter. Never use additives to keep water clean or prevent freezing. Place the birdbath in a central location allowing for the vulnerable bathers and drinkers to have a full view of their surroundings. Change water and clean birdbath every 2-3 days to prevent mosquitoes from breeding as well as the buildup of algae.
Posted by sue at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2006
Eagle Update
Well it was an enjoyable weekend watching the Eagle Parents. The server was burdened under the bandwidth pressures of so many watching. We are now 5 days beyond, when the eggs should have hatched. This pair, has been sucessful year after year, in hatching out 2 babies.. I'm not so sure, that will happen again this year.
As of last night, when I shut down, there were still two eggs. This morning one of them is gone.. but no chick. That is so very sad.
We are all hoping that the second egg will still hatch, even tho the date for the event, does seem to have past.
So.. stay tuned.
Posted by sue at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)