pigeon a friend to a motherless monkey

oh -



The macaque nestles his head against his feathered friend
The abandoned monkey who has found love with a pigeon | the Daily Mail: The 12-week-old macaque was abandoned by his mother and close to death when rescued on Neilingding Island, in Goangdong Province. After being taken to an animal hospital his health began to improve but he seemed spiritless until he developed a friendship with a white pigeon.

Fotogalerij: Odin de duikende witte tijger

I'm worried that he is mad.

Planet - Fotogalerij: Odin de duikende witte tijger

Odin tall, feet on grass

beautiful white tiger, laughter

Planet - Fotogalerij: Odin de duikende witte tijger

Gazpachot:


26 July. Fearful symmetry... Do our actions in life simply mirror the contents of our consciousness, which is haunted by the ghosts of memories and emotions and dreams?



11 Aug. Dangerous playmates (cont'd)... The dangerous playmate is coveted and crowned for their natural ability, in private, to seize the moment, buck convention, voraciously spark the imagination, lift the spirits by sheer example, challenge the mind, and terrify the soul. But it ain't all serious. In fact, the most dangerous skill of all is the ability to inspire true,
uncontrollable
laughter.

"He is here to help Grandma get to heaven."

NEJM -- A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat

A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat

David M. Dosa, M.D., M.P.H.

Making his way back up the hallway, Oscar arrives at Room 313. The door is open, and he proceeds inside. Mrs. K. is resting peacefully in her bed, her breathing steady but shallow. She is surrounded by photographs of her grandchildren and one from her wedding day. Despite these keepsakes, she is alone. Oscar jumps onto her bed and again sniffs the air. He pauses to consider the situation, and then turns around twice before curling up beside Mrs. K.
One hour passes. Oscar waits. A nurse walks into the room to check on her patient. She pauses to note Oscar's presence. Concerned, she hurriedly leaves the room and returns to her desk. She grabs Mrs. K.'s chart off the medical-records rack and begins to make phone calls.
Within a half hour the family starts to arrive. Chairs are brought into the room, where the relatives begin their vigil. The priest is called to deliver last rites. And still, Oscar has not budged, instead purring and gently nuzzling Mrs. K.
A young grandson asks his mother, "What is the cat doing here?" The mother, fighting back tears, tells him, "He is here to help Grandma get to heaven."
Thirty minutes later, Mrs. K. takes her last earthly breath. With this, Oscar sits up, looks around, then departs the room so quietly that the grieving family barely notices.
On his way back to the charting area, Oscar passes a plaque mounted on the wall. On it is engraved a commendation from a local hospice agency: "For his compassionate hospice care, this plaque is awarded to Oscar the Cat." Oscar takes a quick drink of water and returns to his desk to curl up for a long rest. His day's work is done. There will be no more deaths today.
Note: Since he was adopted by staff members as a kitten, Oscar the Cat has had an uncanny ability to predict when residents are about to die. Thus far, he has presided over the deaths of more than 25 residents on the third floor of Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island. His mere presence at the bedside is viewed by physicians and nursing home staff as an almost absolute indicator of impending death, allowing staff members to adequately notify families. Oscar has also provided companionship to those who would otherwise have died alone. For his work, he is highly regarded by the physicians and staff at Steere House and by the families of the residents whom he serves.

26 July 2007

for his compassionate hospice care

Oscar the cat curls up next to nursing home patients during their final hours.-CNN.com:
"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," Dr. David Dosa said in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
"Many family members take some solace from it. They appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying loved one," said Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.
The 2-year-old feline was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third-floor dementia unit at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The facility treats people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses. After about six months, the staff noticed Oscar would make his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses. He'd sniff and observe patients, then sit beside people who would wind up dying in a few hours. Dosa said Oscar seems to take his work seriously and is generally aloof. "This is not a cat that's friendly to people," he said.
Dr. Joan Teno of Brown University, who treats patients at the nursing home and is an expert on care for the terminally ill, was convinced of Oscar's talent when he made his 13th correct call. While observing one patient, Teno said she noticed the woman wasn't eating, was breathing with difficulty and that her legs had a bluish tinge, signs that often mean death is near. Oscar wouldn't stay inside the room, though, so Teno thought his streak was broken. Instead, it turned out the doctor's prediction was roughly 10 hours too early. Sure enough, during the patient's final two hours, nurses told Teno that Oscar joined the woman at her bedside.
Doctors say most of the people who get a visit from the sweet-faced, gray-and-white cat are so ill they probably don't know he's there, so patients aren't aware he's a harbinger of death. ok. Most families are grateful for the advance warning, although one wanted Oscar out of the room while a family member died. When Oscar is put outside, he paces and meows his displeasure.
Nursing home staffers aren't concerned with explaining Oscar, so long as he gives families a better chance at saying goodbye to the dying. Oscar recently received a wall plaque publicly commending his "compassionate hospice care." good cat.

photos of Oscar - The Boston Globe

photo/day

[daily dose of imagery 29 Aug 07] house and three walkers: Salzburg, Austria.


A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania 30 Aug 07: Mr. Darcy (A Baby Pygmy Goat)

phylum chordata - class mammalia - orders:

about.com: An Introduction to Mammals
To understand mammals, it first helps to understand how they fit into the classification system of all animals. Mammals, as a group of animals, belong to the Class Mammalia. The Class Mammalia, in turn, belongs to the larger group known as the vertebrates (animals with backbones; also called the Phylum Chordata). Other classes in the Phylumn Chordata include fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and birds.
Looking within the Class Mammmalia, we can subdivide mammals into smaller groups (known as orders). Although scientists differ on the number of orders that exist within the Class Mammalia, the list below summarizes one possible approach to their classification:

• Monotremata (egg-laying marsupials) platypus
  
• Marsupialia (marsupials)
• Insectivora (insectivores) hedgehogs
  
• Chiroptera (bats)
• Dermoptera (flying lemurs)
• Macroscelidea (elephant shrews) wha...
  
• Scandentia (tree shrews)
• Primates (primates)
• Xenarthra (anteaters and relatives)
• Pholidota (pangolins)
• Lagomorpha (rabbits, hares, and pikas)
• Rodentia (rodents) two suborders: squirrel-like and mouse-like
  
• Cetacea (cetaceans)
• Carnivora (carnivores)
• Pinnipedea (seals and sea lions)
• Proboscidea (elephants)
• Tubulidentata (aardvark)
• Hyracoidea (hydraxes)
• Sirenia (dugongs and manatees)
• Perissodactyla (odd-toed hoofed mammals) horses
  
• Artiodactyla (even-toed hoofed mammals) giraffes

The odd-toed hoofed mammals include animals such as horses, zebras, rhinoceroses, and tapirs.
The even-toed hoofed mammals include animals such as pigs, boars, hippos, camels, llama, deer, elk, pronghorn, giraffe, okapi, yak, and American bison.


two sub-orders of rodents:
Squirrels and their relatives belong to the Suborder Sciuromorpha: squirrels, beavers, chipmunks, marmots, prairie dogs, gophers...
Mouselike rodents belong to the Suborder Myomorpha: mice, rats, voles, lemmings, hamsters, gerbils, jerboas...

cats, dogs, bears

Mammal Classification: Understanding How Mammals Relate to One Another (Part II):
so cats & dogs & bears are the three families that make up the Carnivore order

Carnivores
Carnivores include mammals such as dogs, foxes, wolves, bears, racoons, hyenas, and cats.
Although the term carnivore is used to refer to meat-eating animals, members of the Order Carnivora are not exclusively meat-eaters (some have mixed diets or herbivorous diets). Yet, most carnivores are well-suited for hunting. Many are fast, agile creatures with keen vision, hearing, and smell.

• Family Canidae: Dogs, foxes, wolves, coyotes, and jackals all belong to the family of mammals known as the canids. The most familiar member of this group, the domestic dog, descended from wolves over 10,000 years ago. Many canids are social creatures, forming packs, hunting together, and defending a common territory.
• Family Ursidae: The bear family includes eight species: the polar bear, American black bear, spectacled bear, giant panda, sloth bear, sun bear, brown bear, and Asiatic black bear. In general, bears feed on a mixed diet that includes insects, fish, and plants. The polar bear is unique in its eating habits though, feeding exclusively on meat.
• Family Felidae: The cats are muscular, agile hunters with sharp claws, acute vision, and specialized teeth. This family includes tigers, cheetahs, jaguars, leopards, lions, and of course, the domestic cat.

also, others orders are meat-eaters. like: Primates. also an order, within the mammal class.


MIACIDS: This ancestral group gave rise to cats, bears, dogs, skunks, mongooses, and hyaenas.
In zoological classification cats belong to
the Class : Mammalia (they are hair covered animals that suckle their young with breast milk)
the Order : Carnivora (they eat meat)
the Family: Felidae.

Genus: Within this family there are three further subdivisions called genera
Panthera (cats that roar) rooooar. like tigers and lions.
Acinonyx (the Cheetah) why's he get his own?
Felis (all other 'small' cats) like house kitties.

and each genus contains individual species, which is a group that normally breeds and produces fertile offspring.

Kingdom -three right? Plants, Animals, and.. Fungi? what do these make up? all the phyla make up a kindom. all the kingdoms make what? life on earth?
Phylum
Class
Order -remember class above order. ( kate says: 'king philip came over from germany stoned.' )
Family
Genus
Species

I was thinking whether raccoons are more like cats or like dogs. or like bears. so then I was thinking what is the difference btw cats and dogs? and bears? why classified differently? how is a pug less like a kitty cat than like a greyhound?

little orphan hedgehogs

Orphaned hedgehogs adopt cleaning brush as their mother | the Daily Mail:
The four inch long creatures are being hand-reared by staff at the New Forest Otter, Owl and Wildlife Park in Ashurst, Hants. Manager John Crooks, 41, said: "Three of the hedgehogs came to us because their mum died. They are only a couple of weeks old. The fourth one is a little bit older and was found wandering around a back garden in the middle of the day. The home owner left it alone for a while to see if it would find its mum but after a few hours it was still by itself so she brought it into to us." The hedgehogs will be fed until they are full-sized and then they will be released back into the wild.

"They are a bit like human babies - they need activities to keep them busy. Because they have very poor eyesight you have to appeal to their sense of smell and touch by giving them different scents and textures. They like natural scents and have enjoyed playing with our cleaning brushes, soil, leaves, flower pots and the like. They particularly seem to enjoy rubbing against the brush." The smells on the brush, which is used to sweep a yard, remind the hedgehogs of their natural habitat while the texture reminds them of their mother. "It may sound odd but I imagine the bristles feel a bit like their mum."

He added: "They are quite a handful and each has their own character. One is quite snappy and another fairly sleepy."