Horses! and pets/animals other than cats and dogs

#476

Hilarious video!

#477

Shout out to Fogbow's Valkyrie, Kriselda Gray!

https://mymodernmet.com/icelandic-horse ... w-doggett/

Photographer Captures the Fairytale-Like Horses Who Roam Iceland’s Epic Landscape

Photographer Drew Doggett is known for traveling the world, capturing extraordinary landscapes, people, and cultures. One of his most enchanting series to date, titled In the Realm of Legends, captures the one-of-a-kind beauty of Icelandic horses, who majestically roam the surrounding territory. Though many opt to capture the stunning landscapes that Iceland has to offer, Doggett takes it one step further by also embracing its unique equestrian population to create a union of myth and fantasy that's almost too good to be true.

During his time in Iceland, Doggett stayed on a farm with hundreds of horses. He was initially drawn to the enchanted landscape by tales of folklore. Such takes included the famous, eight-legged Icelandic horse named Sleipnir who is believed to be the spirit animal of the mythological god, Odin. The stunning equine series highlights the relationship between the majestic breed of semi-wild horses—who are believed by some to be the “real-world” descendants of Sleipnir—and the extreme environment that they live in.

Each image visualizes the horses’ powerful but calm natures amidst a wild landscape in constant chaotic motion. “The waterfalls are incredibly loud and almost violently beautiful, yet the horses were calm, standing mere feet from the millions of gallons of rushing water,” Doggett recalls. “Other times, we’d be shooting in thigh-deep snow in windy conditions, as the horses stood completely still.”

You can see more images from the series, plus more from Dogget’s portfolio on his website https://drewdoggett.com/ and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drewdoggettphotography/.

#478

Love those horses!

I had hoped to ride one of them on the trip that had to be canceled in 2021. On another trip there, I bought my grandkids little carved wooden miniatures. They didn't believe there were horses like that.

(Will be back next year.)

#479

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 10:58 am Love those horses!

I had hoped to ride one of them on the trip that had to be canceled in 2021. On another trip there, I bought my grandkids little carved wooden miniatures. They didn't believe there were horses like that.

(Will be back next year.)

Doggett's photography and video work is breathtaking. The Icelandic horses are gorgeous.

Annrc · #480

I’ve always wanted to own one!

#481

Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 10:07 am Shout out to Fogbow's Valkyrie, Kriselda Gray!

https://mymodernmet.com/icelandic-horse ... w-doggett/

Thank you for that!!! I love horses about as much as I love Vikings, so that was a double treat! I would LOVE to go to Iceland someday, but first I have to figure out how to get back into my living room. Then I can worry about the rest of the world

ETA: I went and looked at the photographs on his website. Oh wow! Stunning work - almost better than the video because you can keep looking at them

I can see why some would call them descendents of Sleipnir - they truly have a majestic grace to them that seems to echo with history. I really want to see them in person someday....

#482

The Icelandic horses have a gait that Quarterhorses and Thoroughbreds do not. It is called the tolt. It looks beautiful and you can ride it forever because it is smooth as glass.

#483

Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: ↑Sat Apr 29, 2023 6:04 pm The Icelandic horses have a gait that Quarterhorses and Thoroughbreds do not. It is called the tolt. It looks beautiful and you can ride it forever because it is smooth as glass.

Oh, cool!

RTH10260 · #484

They are back - season 2023

more at https://www.youtube.com/@PatrickConley/videos

#485

BABIES!!!!!! Count 'em! FOUR!!!!!!!!

#486

I hate to be a downer, but when people feed wild animals, particular the ones that are large and could potentially harm a human being, it NEVER turns out well for the animal. Ever. It may take a few years, who knows. And who knows how many of her offspring may have already been put down because they became a nuisance at someone else's house.

The only way to keep bears safe is for them to be forced to find food in the woods and away from human homes. I have been sickened at the number of bears in Florida that had to be put down because people simply refused to quit feeding them. One woman was asked by Fish and Wildlife over and over and over again to quit leaving food for them. And every damn bear within miles of her home has been put down - she lived in a wealthy neighborhood and, well, we can't let any of those folks have a problem with wild animals. Over a hundred were put down because of this one person.

RTH10260 · #487

This home owner does not feed the bears. He does leave a snack for Simone the mother bear. The snack hangs high over the balustrade and Simone needs "to work" to get the goodies. The kids are never fed, though they may pick up some nuts if Simone spills the tray. I understand that this home is on the edge of a subdivision next to the forest where wildlife generally comes out to feed.

#488

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 4:18 pm This home owner does not feed the bears. He does leave a snack for Simone the mother bear. The snack hangs high over the balustrade and Simone needs "to work" to get the goodies. The kids are never fed, though they may pick up some nuts if Simone spills the tray. I understand that this home is on the edge of a subdivision next to the forest where wildlife generally comes out to feed.

I am probably over sensitive to the issue when I see wild animals finding food that is left for them. As a former employee of Fish and Wildlife I myself have had to kill animals that were lured to homes. I sickened me every damn time I had to do it. I watched in horror several years ago when every black bear in the central Florida area was killed because of an asshole that had been begged and begged and begged to quit feeding them wouldn't stop. And some rich white person got bit and that was end of every black bear in the area. Every. Last. One. Was. Killed. Whether they had ever come near a home or not.

RTH10260 · #489

RTH10260 · #490

slow start, play start about 7mins marker

#491

A bear named Sampson used to come to the Potter’s house up the street from us. He ate their avocados while sitting in the pool ( shallow end) and watched TV with them. They never fed him. Occasionally they’d share videos of him being a bear.

The brown Bears here aren’t native to these mountains. They were culled in the early 1900s from YoSemite and dropped here. There are now A LOT of bears in the mountains.

Sampson visited the Potters for a couple of years without incident until someone ratted him out to Fish and Wildlife. He was captured and because he was old, toothless and habituated to humans they were going to euthanize him.

The public did not want that to happen. There was a statewide campaign to Save Sampson and Gov Grey Davis who was fighting for his political life, gave him a 6 month reprieve. Oy, you’ve never seen such a circus! There were poetry contests and a statue of Sampson was erected in library park; Save Sampson T-shirts were handed out like candy at city events.

They did it. A zoo in Orange County agreed to take him and he lived out his days in a large enclosure with his own pool.

We had bears cross our yard every day. We never fed them, they never menaced us. Sprout came up on a bear once, about 3 feet away. The bear was as freaked as Sprout was. OMG. I still get an adrenaline rush just thinking about that!

RTH10260 · #492

Suspected Russia-trained spy whale reappears off Sweden’s coast
Beluga whale was first spotted in Norway wearing a harness marked ‘Equipment St Petersburg’ in 2019

AFP in Stockholm
Mon 29 May 2023 19.02 BST

A beluga whale that turned up in Norway wearing a harness in 2019, prompting speculation it was a spy trained by the Russian navy, has reappeared off Sweden’s coast.

First discovered in Norway’s far northern region of Finnmark, the whale spent more than three years slowly moving down the top half of the Norwegian coastline, before suddenly speeding up in recent months to cover the second half and move on to Sweden.

On Sunday, he was observed in Hunnebostrand, off Sweden’s south-western coast.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... dens-coast

RTH10260 · #493

how long until it orders pizza?

#494

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 06, 2023 3:25 pm how long until it orders pizza?

I wish the starlings here would order pizza and stop emptying my feeders. Sadly, they won't share with the equally annoying sparrows.

RTH10260 · #495

Parrots Are Taking Over the World
Smart, adaptable and loud, parrots are thriving in cities far outside their native ranges

By Ryan F. Mandelbaum on July 1, 2023
Scientific American July 2023 Issue

Monk parakeets nest atop the entryway to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, N.Y. Credit: Ali Cherkis
At Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery the living get as much attention as the dead. Groundskeepers maintain the 478-acre historic landmark as an arboretum and habitat for more than 200 breeding and migratory bird species. But many visiting wildlife lovers aren't interested in those native birds. They're at the entryway, their binoculars trained on the spire atop its Gothic Revival arches. They've come to see the parrots.

The urban cemetery hosts dozens of long-tailed, dove-size parrots, lime green with gray accents on their foreheads and chests, called Monk Parakeets. (Parrots and parakeets are part of the same family.) These birds maintain barrel-size stick nests not just at this cemetery but across the city. They live in nearby Connecticut, too. Monk Parakeets and other species of parrots are in Chicago, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin. Red-masked Parakeets live on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. Rosy-faced Lovebirds decorate the palm trees of Phoenix. Parrots are present in all of Mexico's 10 largest cities, as well as Barcelona, Amsterdam, Brussels, Rome and Athens. They're in Tel Aviv. And Singapore. All around the world, parrots are taking over with a resounding SQUAWK!!!

Today at least 60 of the world's 380 or so parrot species have a breeding population in a country outside their natural geographical range. Each successful transplant has its own story: some are benign, others a threat to the local wildlife; some are abundant in their home ranges, whereas others rely on cities as a refuge from extinction. All are by-products of the pet trade and animal trafficking around the world. Because they're parrots, they're smart, adaptable, creative and loud. “They're animals that are really social, and they live in cognitively complex social environments,” says Grace Smith-Vidaurre, a postdoctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University and the University of Cincinnati, who studies the birds. “They're like humans in a lot of ways.”

https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... the-world/

#496

Impressive birds.

RTH10260 · #497

when friends come to visit ....

Home invasions and roadblocks: New Zealand on alert as ‘seal silly season’ begins
Public notice issued to watch out for the flippered creatures as they start to leave their breeding colonies and venture out into New Zealand

Tess McClure in Auckland
Fri 16 Jun 2023 21.00 BST

Sunbathing on roads, breaking through catflaps, visiting film sets, invading homes and taking in the heat of backyard spa bath covers – New Zealand’s “seal silly season” has officially begun and the country is bracing for an influx of adolescent marine mammals exploring the country’s highways, patios and golf courses.

A seal sits on a wooden floor next to carpeted stairs
Seal breaks into New Zealand home, traumatises cat and hangs out on couch
Read more
This week, the government issued a formal public notice that “seal season” had begun – and New Zealanders could expect to encounter higher numbers of the flippered young creatures out and about, exploring human-dominated spaces. From May until December, adult males and freshly weaned pups from New Zealand’s growing fur seal population will leave their breeding colonies and head out into the wider world – many for the first time. They’re young, inexperienced and prone to adolescent misbehaviour and mishaps, hitting the wider world en masse like a cohort of fresh-minted spring breakers.

“I call it seal silly season,” says Prof Louise Chilvers, an ecologist specialising in marine wildlife at Massey University. “It’s like having a teenager being kicked out of the home – they don’t quite know what to do, don’t quite know where to feed, don’t quite know what to do with themselves. They’ve got all this freedom, so they go do a bit of exploring,” she says. “Especially in the middle of winter, it’s cold, and there’s lots of nice warm places – like right in the middle of a tar seal road where it’s held all its heat from the day.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... son-begins

RTH10260 · #498

RTH10260 · #499

RTH10260 · #500