pets
grrlscientist | February 26, 2009tags: budgerigars, animal training, cute, streaming video
I've seen a lot of examples of animal training in my lifetime, but this certainly is one of the best because it involves not one or two animals, but a small flock .. and each bird is doing just what he or she should be doing .. amazing! [5:31]
Fun with Budgies - For more amazing video clips, click here
grrlscientist | February 22, 2009tags: guest blog essay, fishkeeping, aquariums, Celebes Rainbowfish, Celebes Sailfish, Telmatherina ladigesi, pets
Adult male Celebes Rainbowfish (also known as a Celebes Sailfish), Telmatherina ladigesi.
Image: Orphaned. Please contact me so I can award proper attribution. [larger view].
As most of my readers know, I am an evolutionary biologist and ornithologist by training, and an aviculturist and birder by experience, so imagine my surprise when I was recently asked to write a guest blog essay about fishkeeping for an aquarium hobbyist blog site, The Reef Tank. How the heck did they…
grrlscientist | February 19, 2009tags: Clever Hans, A Dog Named Maggie, animal behavior, body language, streaming video
This streaming video documents a dog named Maggie and her trainer, who has taught her to resist temptation as well as to read body language. [3:39]
grrlscientist | February 16, 2009tags: Dancing cockatoo, Little Corella cockatoo, Bare-eyed cockatoo, Cacatua pastinator, Frostie, Shake your Tailfeather, streaming video
This streaming video documents a Bare-eyed (Little Corella) cockatoo, Cacatua pastinator, named Frostie, dancing to the song, "Shake Your Tailfeather" [2:42]
grrlscientist | February 1, 2009tags: unusual pets, humor, Superbowl 2009 commercial, pedigree dog food, streaming video
Ever think about getting an unusual pet like a bison, a boar, an ostrich or a rhino? See what happens to the pet owners in our Super Bowl ad, and then you'll know why you should get a dog. [0:30]
zooillogix | January 22, 2009We have no idea! Maybe from the British? But that hasn't stopped well over 100 people from asking us to sell them a tiny piglet in the comments section of this months old post. Now we have video. Anyone want to take over/under bets on how many people ask us to sell them a porker in the comments of this post?
Zooillogix - for all of your smallish rat-pig needs.
grrlscientist | January 16, 2009tags: zebroid, zorse, hebra, zebra-horse hybrid, streaming video
Here's some video of an individual zebroid (zebra-horse hybrid) that I wrote about in July 2007 [0:48]
here's more footage of this animal along with a companion [1:22];
And an old news report [1:14];
zooillogix | January 13, 2009I took this pic of my dog Mathman in the vet's office last week just minutes before his neutering. He clearly knew what was in store...
grrlscientist | January 5, 2009tags: dog, pets, animal behavior, training, streaming video
This amazing video shows what must be the world's most obedient dog [1:22]
grrlscientist | December 29, 2008tags: christmas, dogs, pets, cute, streaming video
Dog lovers will especially enjoy this video even though it is a few days late [3:19]
grrlscientist | December 16, 2008tags: Bailey the SnowDog, funny, humor, pets, dogs, streaming video
This amusing little video features Bailey the snowdog and "Rudolph the Reindeer" by Harry Connick Jr. [2:36]
The cinematographer writes;
I shot this video on VHS-C in my backyard, near Ward, Colorado (8,700' elevation) during a blizzard in the late 1990's; a local weatherman said it was the most measureable snow (if memory serves, it was 54" in 48 hours) from the least amount of moisture ever. Cheers to dogs, and to all those that love them! Please be well and Happy Holidays!!!
grrlscientist | December 12, 2008tags: the weiner dog song, humor, cute, streaming video
This silly video is all about Dachshunds .. it includes a song, too [0:38]
grrlscientist | December 11, 2008tags: budgerigar, pets, birds, documentary, streaming video
This is a video of a very strange budgerigar. Apparently the result of a mutation, the bird's plumage is extraordinarily downy and long, so much so that it is almost impossible to see the bird's face (downy feathers are due to a mutation that causes a condition known as "neotenty"; where an adult animal takes on juvenile characteristics) [0:53]
grrlscientist | December 10, 2008tags: Holidays, companion pets, parrots, humor, funny, gift wrapping
Orpheus.
Male Hawk-headed (red fan) parrot, Deroptyus a. accipitrinus, April 2008.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
I thought you might find this little essay amusing about wrapping gifts when there is a parrot in the house.
How to Wrap Gifts with a Parrot in the House:
Clear large space on table for wrapping your special gifts.
Go to cupboard and collect bag in which gifts are contained, and shut the door.
Open the door and remove bird from cupboard.
Go to closet and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.…
grrlscientist | December 6, 2008tags: safety tips, holidays, christmas, hanukkah, kwanzaa, new year's day, pets, birds, parrots
Elektra.
Female Solomon Islands Eclectus parrot, Eclectus roratus solomonensis, April 2008.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
This message was emailed to me, and I am posting it here as a public service. With the Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and the New Year's holidays upon us, we are all busy planning our family gatherings, gift giving and decorations. The season brings with it unique hazards that we all need to be mindful of so that we can ensure that our feathered family members are…
grrlscientist | December 2, 2008tags: Snowball, dancing cockatoo, behavior, streaming video
This streaming video is a clip from a longer DVD, Snowball's Snowy Christmas DVD, which is now available for Christmas gift giving. Children love Snowball and this DVD features the sulfur-crested cockatoo, Snowball, dancing to Christmas carols.
grrlscientist | November 19, 2008tags: cartoon, humor, funny, pets, cats
Image: XKCD.
I am staying with a cat named Jack in Helsinki, and of course, this means I am redicovering something about cats I'd forgotten, but this phenomenon is well-established scientifically, as you can see from the graph above.
grrlscientist | November 12, 2008tags: ecology, exotic species, introduced species, non-native species, invasive species, monk parakeets, quaker parrots, Myiopsitta monachus, Michael A Russello, Michael L Avery, Timothy F Wright
Monk (Quaker) parakeets, Myiopsitta monachus, with nest.
Image: Arthur Grosset [larger view].
Invasive species are everywhere: from plants such as Scotch (English) broom, Cytisus scoparius, whose yellow flowers bloom prolifically along roadways of North America, Australia and New Zealand to mammals such as human beings, Homo sapiens, which are the ultimate invasive species because we have…