My friend Beth Cravens once illustrated a book for me and since then I adore going to her web page to see her political cartoons.  Her “yellow pages” are also pretty neat-o and since today’s is all about animals, I am proud to present artist extraordinaire … BETH!

I found this editorial on CNN.com about dolphins and why their smiles aren’t really smiles to be fascinating, heartbreaking, and an opinion that should be shared,

… the smiles you see on these animals are not true reflections of happiness. In actuality, they hate to be enclosed in their holding tanks and are often not fed until it is time to perform their daily routines. During his time as a trainer, [Ric] O’Barry learned dolphins had true feelings — they would get depressed, stressed out, even suicidal. In some parks, the trainers have to give the animals Maalox and Tagamet to treat the ulcers that develop from their stress.

Sad. I feel some guilt that I’ve been one of millions of people who’ve gone to these sea shows to watch dolphins and other sea creatures perform.

Photo by Edu Fon via Flickr Creative Commons.

Although purportedly all over the web, I just now saw this!  Scientists have discovered pigmentation by studying the melanosome patterns in living birds.  Using these findings, they’ve accurately figured out the color of a 150-million-year-old species called Anchiornis huxleyi, about the size of a chicken.  According to the New York Times,

Anchiornis had a crown of reddish feathers surrounding dark gray ones, and its face was mottled with reddish and black spots. Its body was dark gray, but its limb feathers were white with black tips.

I can’t wait to see what amazing colors other dinosaurs might have!

These are my favorite animal photos this week.  Most ALL have been found thanks to Brittney’s intrepid internet searches… Thanks Brittney!

Leeland

Cat on Cat

Love

And finally… Scary.

I already bragged once today about our own Ron from Shaktronics for his finds at PopFi, so no harm in tipping my hat again to this incredible find.  Incredibly ugly, that is.

I give you the World’ Ugliest Endangered Fish and I promise - it’s not pretty.  As in “Could I have a nightmare for the rest of my life with that?” kind of ugly.

Found in Australian waters, the blobfish is harmless,

They spend most of their time gently floating around waiting for food to pass in front of them, which sounds like quite a nice life to us!  Because they live so far from the sea surface they’re not often seen by humans.

Okay… I’m happy to have them stay at their 900 meter depth and out of my dreams.

No cat post today!  I watched Project X earlier this week and felt the lump in my throat growing all over again as Goliath was trapped in the chamber flooded with radiation.  Even their “acting” skills in this movie proved to me that chimpanzees have a high degree of intelligence.  No they aren’t on the same intellectual level as most humans, but I’ve known a handful of people who don’t measure to the intelligence of a chimpanzee.  Word.

That’s why I found this article interesting… an animal rights group in Brazil has filed for habeas corpus to free 26-year old Jimmy from his zoo cage,

Jimmy is a 26 year old chimpanzee who has spent several years alone in a cage, where he’s on exhibit at a zoo in Niterói, Brazil, just outside of Rio de Janeiro. Just last week, animal protection groups filed a motion to have Jimmy released on grounds of Habeas Corpus, arguing that he is being denied his rights to freedom of movement and to a decent life, in Rio’s Criminal Court. If the appeal is accepted and Jimmy is allowed to go free, it will not be the first time such a legal maneuver is successful, however.

It worked before, but the chimpanzee wasn’t freed in time.  On the flip side, I also vividly remember last year the story of the chimpanzee named Travis that viciously attacked a woman whose face was basically mauled off.

Photo by greenchartreuse via Flickr Creative Commons.

Thanks to Brittney for the tip.

H/T Brittney from her Misc. Etc. files.

It reminds me of the awesome picture of the couple and the squirrel from last year…

None of my animal pictures are ever this cool!

Joe Powell annually posts a caption contest for a Christmas monkey.  This year is no exception…

Here’s mine:

“Oy vey… How inappropriate to dress me like Santa while I play with my dreidel.”

Newscoma writes of raccoons and other varmints.  She is the new varmint blogger.

When I was a kid, my grandfather always told me that raccoons were most likely rabid. This was back in the day when any animal was rabid, Atticus Finch had to go and shoot them even though he was a pacifist. Or at least that’s what “To Kill A Mockingbird” taught me. See the fake knowledge I’m making up for your very own pleasure, all five of you!

This reminds me of a vacation once when we saw a raccoon rooting around in the trash can next to our cabin.  My brother very quietly sneaked out the door, tiptoed down the steps, gingerly reached, and GRABBED the raccoon by the tail lifting it up.  All four of the raccoon’s legs splayed out in panic.  My brother’s practical joke lasted only two seconds before let go of the poor creature.  We didn’t hear any more noise that night from the trash can.

To this day, I still feel sorry for that poor raccoon.

Photo from Kelley Eskridge.