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Considerations in Choosing a Dog

Choosing a pet is for some a simple thing, while for others a more than a serious endeavor. Usually, the pick of the pet can be based on location, family situation, intent, are there children, or various other factors. Where it gets complicated, or intense, is when one has to take into consideration potential health issues. And one of the more relevant issues is the propensity for hip problems. Certain breeds are more likely to develop joint issues.

Probably the most simple question when looking at a new puppy is to ask ” Did the parents, or any other pups in any of their litters ever show signs of joint issues?”. And before I start, I would recommend talking to a vet about exercises to maintain mobility, activities to be avoided, and the need or recommendation of adding supplements to a dog’s diet.

Here is a list of 9 breeds that have been shown to have a predisposition to joint problems.

1. German Shepherds: It’s well known that Shepherds are predisposed to hip dysplasia and other joint issues.

2. Labrador Retrievers: With a propensity towards obesity, amplify stress on joints.

3. Dachshunds: With their long, low bodies, they can develop back problems, especially if they become overweight.

4. Rottweilers: Have a genetic propensity to develop hip and elbow dysplasia and even arthritis.

5. Newfoundland Retrievers: Like other big breed dogs, they can hip dysplasia /arthritis partially due to rapid growth rate.

6. Great Danes: Huge frames and rapid growth tends to lead to hip/elbow dysplasia and even arthritis.

7. Saint Bernards: Huge, fast growth can cause stress on the joints leading to hip issues.

8. Old English Sheep Dogs: Suffer the same fate as other large breeds.

9. Mastiffs: Also prone to hip/elbow dysplasia, as well as candidates for arthritis.

Don’t think I’m down on any of these breeds. I had a Black Lab for quite a while. He was my best hunting partner. He loved to be out goose hunting. He was always active. He never got overweight. He never had any of these issues. I think knowledge is the greatest tool in preventing or treating conditions as best we can.

Veterinarians sometimes recommend supplements with glucosamine, MSM, and chondroitin when a dog is a young as one year, or at the time when they quit growing. This is something you, as the owner, and your veterinarian needs to talk out. After all, your dog deserves to live the best life possible. And my final advice is “Choose wisely, and enjoy your best buddy”

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Some Pros and Cons With Bull Terrier Puppies

Overall, I think bull terriers are an exceptionally good breed – they are smart and loyal and friendly – still, it is always a good idea to consider every aspect of a breed when considering getting a dog. Some dogs are good choices for small living spaces while others are definitely not. Some dogs are very docile and mellow while others are just buzzing with energy and the need to be active. All of these things and more need to be considered when thinking about getting a dog. Here are some pros and cons to a fairly popular breed, the English Bull Terrier.

On the plus side, bull terrier puppies are loyal and friendly with people. That makes them a good choice for a busy, more public lifestyle. The pups also tend to be extremely good with children so they are a good choice for families with small children. These little dogs are also very intelligent. This intelligence, coupled with their love of people, make them very easy to train, thus making them a good choice for a person new to dog ownership. Other characteristics that I consider very positive are that they are short-haired and do not shed very much – this makes for a dog who is easy to groom and take care of. And, let’s face it, not everyone who wants a dog has the time to brush it three or four times a day as is required for longer haired dogs.

On the other hand, puppies of this breed do have some potential challenges. These are not things that make it a “bad breed”, I don’t believe any animal is bad. These are just things you need to keep in mind and prepare for if you choose a bull terrier for sale for your next dog.

These puppies do not tolerate isolation very well. Being left alone too long can lead them to destroy things by chewing. They are also too short-haired to tolerate too much cold weather so, if you live in a cold climate with a bull terrier, you probably want to keep doggie sweaters on hand for it. Probably the biggest concerns with this breed are the fact that they can be chasers, meaning that they might chase and accidentally hurt smaller critters that look like prey to them. They might also be runners, meaning that they may chase after something that catches their scent and they might show affection by nibbling on your hands. Not to worry though, it is very easy to teach them good manners and appropriate behavior. Besides, every single dog breed in the world has pros and cons, bull terriers are no exception.

This article is penned by Lora Davis. Bull terrier puppies from Boss Bull Terriers in Montgomery, Alabama are playful with a mellow disposition and they are incredibly smart – that means you will get a dog that is gentle with small children but playful enough for older children and very easy to train because they are so smart! If you are looking to buy bull terrier puppy then call Boss Bull Terriers in Montgomery, Alabama – (334)721-5051!

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5 Common Behavioral Problems In Pet Parrots (And How To Fix Them)

For any pet owner, it’s important to recognize when pets are displaying behavioral problems and to know how to resolve the issue.

And, just as pets like cats and dogs can misbehave, pet parrots can exhibit a range of problem behaviors and cause frustration for their owners.

However, there are certain behavioral issues displayed by parrots which are more widely reported than others.

Read on to find out what behavioral problems to look out for in your pet parrot and what you can do to fix them.

1. Biting

Biting is probably the most common problem seen in pet parrots, and it’s often a result of how the owner approaches and treats their pet.

If you approach your pet parrot with apprehension, it will sense this and respond with a bite. And if you use your hands to shoo your bird away or cause harm, it will learn to associate your hands with something bad. Parrots and other birds don’t have hands to defend themselves so they use their beaks.

Unfortunately, not all birds are as well-treated as those from XtreemParrotlets and may be acting out of fear after experiencing abuse. So, even if you’ve always been kind to your pet parrot, it may be reacting this way due to how it was previously treated.

The best way to overcome the problem of biting is to approach your parrot calmly and only ever use your hands in a friendly way, never for rejection or punishment.

Reward your parrot when it doesn’t bite you, and avoid reacting when it does. If you scream or yelp this will reinforce the behavior and your parrot will continue to bite you.

2. Feather Plucking

This is a serious issue that close to three out of ten birds suffer from at some point, although there are many different causes for it.

A poor diet can cause brittle or frayed feathers so be sure to provide your pet parrot with a varied diet full of nutrients.

A lack of light can also lead parrots to self-mutilate. Put your bird’s cage in a sunny spot of the house so that your parrot gets a daily dose of sunshine and vitamin D.

Feather plucking can be as a result of boredom. Keep your parrot entertained with toys and make sure that its cage is big enough to move around in.

Lastly, feather plucking is often a sign of depression or loneliness. Spend plenty of time with your parrot and give it lots of attention, especially if you have recently spent time away from home or someone in the household has left.

3. Screaming

While screaming and vocalizing are common for most birds, especially at dawn and dusk, inappropriate screaming is a clear problem.

As with biting, you should ignore any screaming or sounds you don’t like and avoid looking at or going to your parrot when it’s screaming.

But, also make a point of rewarding your pet with attention and praise when it stops screaming. Gradually wait for longer periods of time before giving attention so that your parrot learns not to scream.

Screaming can be a result of boredom or stress. So, to eliminate the cause of the problem, make sure your parrot is well-stimulated with toys and plenty of human interaction.

And, just as talking or writing down our feelings can help us cope with stress, teaching your parrot to talk can help it express what it’s feeling.

4. Destructive Behavior

Destructive behavior in parrots such as making a mess of their cage or biting furniture is often a sign that your pet isn’t receiving enough mental stimulation.

Be sure to spend lots of time with your parrot, talk to it and include it in your daily activities, such as family meal times and watching television.

Get new toys for your parrot to stave off boredom and make a point of regularly talking to your parrot and praising it, especially when it refrains from destructive behavior.

5. Becoming Territorial

Territorial birds will react to or attack anyone who occupies a certain area, such as a piece of furniture, claiming it as personal territory.

Birds can sometimes become territorial as a result of hormonal changes. However, your parrot’s territoriality might be a sign that it is unhappy with its environment and isn’t as comfortable with you as you would like.

Bonding techniques such as sharing bird-safe food and giving your parrot regular baths can help, as can relaxing your parrot with soothing music. Try to create a calm, open atmosphere so that your parrot learns to live alongside you and your family without the need to claim territory.

Encourage and Engage Your Pet Parrot to Help Stop Behavioral Problems

These common behavioral problems seen in parrots are mainly a reflection of a lack of stimulation within their environment.

So, be sure to keep your parrot engaged by regularly talking to your pet, giving it toys to play with, and keeping it involved in daily activities.

And, while many of these bad behaviors should be ignored so as not to reinforce them, remember to always encourage and praise your parrot for good behavior.

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The creepy truth about Warren Jeffs
May 1, 2018
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If the name doesn’t ring any bells, Warren Jeffs has been the head of the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints for the past decade and a half. The FLDS is a branch of Mormonism that broke off from the main group in 1890 when the main LDS group banned polygamy. The 10,000 or so practitioners live in Arizona, Utah, Texas, and Canada, and Jeffs is their prophet.
But the strangeness of this church-cult goes a lot deeper than that. Jeffs himself is a lawbreaking creep who thankfully is now sitting in jail. Here’s some of the crazy stuff he’s gotten up to.
He has some weird desires
The grossest (and most illegal) thing about Warren was his relationships with young girls. But he managed to take that and make it even more disgusting. If you’re going to marry lots of young, sheltered virgins, you might find they aren’t so well-versed on what happens in the bedroom. CNN says Jeffs had an answer for this: he would teach them. If your skin isn’t crawling already, how about some more ickiness: he audiotaped these disturbing “sessions.”
In a way, that last bit became a good thing because the tapes ended up being used as a key piece of evidence during the trial that proved he had abused underage girls. His name for these teaching events? “Heavenly sessions.” Gross. In them he talks about how they have to be with him physically since God said so. God was probably pretty pissed about that comment.
Even being sent to jail didn’t stop his weird desires. He couldn’t be with his wives physically anymore, but he could call them. And when he did he wanted to hear what he was missing. Another CNN article said he would make them do it as a group every night so he could listen. They would have to shower together and then pleasure each other. We’re talking about 80 women here. (Pro tip: by enjoying it, Jeffs was breaking his own rule that sex was for procreation only and one is not supposed to like the act.)
He’s trying to create a master race using ‘seed bearers’
Originally the FLDS view on marriage was almost normal, at least as normal as polygamous marriages can possibly be: one husband, lots of wives, and dozens of their children running around. But in more recent years Jeffs changed the rules. He decided he wanted to create a “master race” ( according to Rolling Stone) and that not all men were worthy enough to be the ones impregnating their wives.
It’s almost like a gender-swapped The Handmaid’s Tale.
CNN says this select group of men will sleep with all the women in the group, and hope that they can make “better” children. Obviously, the wives have no say in this at all because “who needs consent?” seems to be the FLDS’s motto. But the husband still has responsibilities. For example, he has to be in the room when this is happening. Not only that, he is supposed to be holding his wife’s hands during the ordeal. Someone read Margaret Atwood’s classic as a goal instead of a warning.
Amazingly, these cuckolded husbands might still consider themselves lucky. They at least got to stay in the FLDS. The Guardian reports that many young men from the church (as young as 13 years old in some cases) are chased out of the group. Often they are just unceremoniously dumped on the side of the road. The reason is down to numbers: if there are too many men, they won’t all get as many wives as they want, so the boys are forced to leave and somehow make it on their own.
His schools teach fiction as fact
Whether they are taught at home or in one of the FLDS schools, kids don’t learn much that’s actually true. Of course, religious studies are a huge part of their curriculum, but they do learn some “science” and “history” as well. And just so they never stop thinking about the important stuff, an ABC News report, Secrets of Mormon Cult: Breaking Polygamy, found that Warren Jeffs’ photo is on the front of every student’s notebook.
Ex-members said they were never taught about AIDS or Santa Claus. They barely touched on the Civil War. The only thing they’re taught about the Moon is that we never landed on it because God steered Neil Armstrong away from it. And they learn that Warren Jeffs is the true president of the United States. (But that’s impossible because he hasn’t started his reality TV show yet.)
When not learning crazy things, life got even more cultish. They would spend huge parts of the day writing out the many proverbs Jeffs had come up with. Stuff like “It is here and now that we earn our salvation” and “Consider well what you love and want in life.” Okay, those don’t sound that nuts but even a broken clock is right twice a day. At the very least, they aren’t exactly original. Then there are the creepier ones like “When you disobey there must and always will be a punishment.” Talk about motivational learning.
He rules with an iron fist
The FLDS has been around for a while, but Warren Jeffs has only been in charge since 2002. Before that his father Rulon was the head honcho until he died. Then it became the Warren Jeffs show. NPR says he and his followers believe he is a prophet and his word is law since God supposedly speaks through him.
Jeffs abuses this power in a lot of ways, and not all of them involve underage girls, amazingly. For example, he gets to decide which of his male followers will go to heaven. That means you better listen to everything he says so you don’t fall out of favor. And because men need at least three wives to get past the pearly gates and Jeffs is the one who assigns them wives, it’s vital for them to be in his good graces. But what about the women’s salvation? Since husbands have complete power over their wives, they’re the ones who decide who gets saved for eternity. Imagine the pressure of having to keep your husband happy all the time and competing with other wives for his favor, all so you can be sure you’ll get into heaven.
If you do fall foul of Jeffs, you can literally lose everything. If he decides to punish a man, he can “reassign” his home, his wives, and even his children to other men. Of course, the women and children have no say in the matter.
He was one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted
When you’re a criminal, there’s only one thing to aim for: becoming one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted. It’s a prestigious list of terrible people, and if you’re going to do horrible things you may as well go big or go home. Jeffs managed to get himself on the list in 2006 when he went on the run with his favorite wife. He wasn’t too good at hiding and was caught later that year.
According to The Guardian, the charge that landed him on the list was setting up a marriage between a 28-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl. This charge would have gotten him just two years in prison, but they managed to get him on much more disgusting stuff a few years later.
The FBI was serious about catching their man, offering up to $100,000 for any information leading to his capture. You also learn some fun facts about the pedo, like that he used to be a schoolteacher and do accounting. Also his middle name is Steed, which is way too cool a name for someone so grody.
He’s serving life in prison
The way Jeffs was caught was pretty amazing.
According to Rolling Stone, it was during a routine traffic stop and he was found with 16 cellphones, three different wigs, and a tidy $56,000 in cash. It was just outside Las Vegas, so maybe he’d had a good night at the poker table.
After Jeffs was caught, he was put on trial for and convicted of marrying an underage girl to another adult man. The conviction was (somehow) overturned in 2010. Thankfully, in 2011 he was arrested again. The New York Times says this time he was on trial for his two “spiritual marriages” to a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old, and for doing things with them that are usually found in plotlines of Law & Order: SVU. He even had a special bed in the temple where he consummated marriages like this. Then Jeffs went and got the 15-year-old pregnant. And if 12 seems especially disturbing, how about this: the girl’s father officiated the wedding, which tells you how serious the problems are in this whole cult.
During his second trial, Jeffs warned everyone involved that God would seriously mess them up if they didn’t let him go. Fortunately, they didn’t let him go, nothing bad seemed to happen, and he was convicted and sentenced to serve life in prison plus 20 years, according to The Daily Beast .
His followers have to pray for him to escape
Despite getting to listen to an orgy every night, Jeffs isn’t thrilled about being in jail. After all, we all know what happens to child abusers in there. So he wants out, and rather than digging a tunnel for the next 20 years a la The Shawshank Redemption , he’s counting on the man in charge, God.
According to one ex-member, Joe Broadbent , followers have to stop whatever they are doing every hour on the hour and pray for Jeffs to break out of jail. It’s not clear if they pray for him to get really good plastic surgery after that or maybe a plane ticket to a country with no U.S. extradition treaty. Being on the lam didn’t really work out for him last time. Jeffs also insists they fast for days at a time, in order to boost the power of their prayers. And the fact that he hasn’t broken out yet? All their fault. He tells them if they were faithful enough that he would be out of there no problem. CNN says practitioners are prepared to help him escape themselves if God orders them to, but apparently that message got lost during delivery.
But according to Rolling Stone, Jeffs isn’t putting it all on his followers. He prayed so much in jail that he got open sores on his knees. To make him stop so his knees could heal, the guards had to chain him to the wall of his cell.
He lost a $16 million lawsuit against a child bride
In 2017, Jeffs lost a lawsuit that had been going through the courts for a decade. NBC News reportedhe was ordered to pay $16 million to Elissa Wall, though it sounds like hardly enough after what he put her through.
According to Deseret News , when Wall was 14 years old, Jeffs ordered her to marry her 19-year-old first cousin. It didn’t matter that she was underage, or that they were related, or that she didn’t even like or trust him — Jeffs said God had decided this marriage was taking place. Period. She was only given a week’s warning, but Wall still tried to get out of it. She knew that going against what Jeffs said could mean she would go to hell, but nonetheless she begged not to have to go through with the marriage. She was warned that refusing could not only put her own salvation at risk, but that of her family. So she gave in.
The marriage went about as badly as you’d expect. Wall would sleep in her car just to avoid her husband. In the end, Jeffs finally released her from the marriage, but she wasn’t off the hook yet. When she was 18, the leader told her that the only way to have her sins forgiven was to go through the ceremony of blood atonement. That meant walking into a temple, slitting her own throat, and bleeding to death. That $16 million seems pretty low now, doesn’t it?
Jeffs married 70 women and had dozens of children
When Jeffs’ father died, he left behind a bunch of wives, so, according to The Daily Beast, Jeffs did the only logical thing: he married most of them. Then there were the wives he already had. All in all, the estimated total is about 70 to 80 women who gave him dozens of children. And some of those children, like others in the compound, may have serious problems.
Deseret News says the issue is that because so many of the members of this insular community are related, children are starting to be born with severe birth defects. And it’s only expected to get worse. As one member said, “Around here you’re pretty much related to everybody.” But no matter how healthy you were, Jeffs was a horrible father. One of his daughters told Today that she had been molested by him more times that she could count as a young girl.
On a less disturbing note, where does one house a family of over 100 people? In a giant mansion, obviously. AOL talked to one of Jeffs’ ex-wives who wants to buy the $1.2 million, 41-bedroom house and turn it into a tourist attraction, complete with gift shop. So if you’ve ever wanted to visit Arizona for the crazy heat and so you can tour the home of one of the creepiest abusive polygamists ever, now is your chance. Get a keychain at the gift shop!
His cult is now split and going through a ‘civil war’
Just because Jeffs is behind bars doesn’t mean he wants to give up control of his cult. But his power has weakened, and according to Rolling Stone, many people have decided he shouldn’t be in charge anymore. But even though hundreds of people have been able to move on mentally, they haven’t actually moved on physically, because, well, no one likes packing, right? That has resulted in those loyal to Jeffs retaliating against their neighbors.
Some of it sounds kind of funny, like the parents who send their children to pee on the lawns of people they don’t agree with. Unwanted piss fountains aside, there are also much more serious accusations. Ex-members say they’ve had dead animals left on their porches. The window of an office was shot out. Many claim they have been driven off the road on purpose, and one person had their truck blown up.
It might be that Jeffs is the one making sure his ex-followers get the message. A private investigator who worked on the case against him says even though his power is ebbing, he’s trying to hold on and if that means acts of violence, so be it. According to the investigator, Jeffs is like a cornered animal in that the more power he loses the more desperate he becomes. Hopefully more and more people will abandon him, and he’ll be sitting in jail for the rest of his life.

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The bizarre true story of Bigfoot, America’s missing ape.
April 25, 2018
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Every part of the world has its legends, whether they’re elves, djinns, or green-suited little bearded men perched at the end of rainbows. In the United States and Canada, our local mythological figure is a bipedal, hairy primate that goes by the strange name “Bigfoot.” When the big ol’ ape isn’t tromping around the woods with his size 30-something feet, he’s getting his picture snapped by photographers, having his language secretly recorded, or starring in beef jerky commercials.
For as long as human beings have looked into the forest’s shadows, they’ve speculated about whether Bigfoot is out there. Whether these creatures are real or not, people have been telling stories about Bigfoot encounters for centuries, across many cultures and regions, to the point where even the most fervent disbeliever has to at least raise an eyebrow. Either way, Bigfoot is one of North America’s greatest icons. Here’s the true story about how this big-soled gorilla-man became a big deal.
Sasq’ets was an important figure in Native American beliefs
If Bigfoot is real, he didn’t just traipse into the country sometime after the U.S. constitution was signed. One of the most fascinating parts of Bigfoot mythology is the fact that a tall, hairy, man-like figure plays a key role in the mythologies of numerous North American indigenous peoples, according to Native Languages. For example, the Sioux believed in a powerful, burly figure they called Chiye-Tanka, or “Big Elder Brother.” The Cheynne tribe told tales of an aloof “Hairy Man” named “Maxemista,” who may have played a key role in their creation story. Even the now-familiar term “sasquatch” is merely an Anglicization of the more Halkomelem name, “Sasq’ets.”
Different tribes each had their own take on the Bigfoot figure, but for the most part, very few saw the creature as being monstrous, aggressive, or evil. Rather, as described by Indian Country Today, Bigfoot’s place in many tribal mythologies was that of a gentle guardian, a protector, a “Keeper of the Earth.” Over the centuries, as the Bigfoot legend has grown, the Oregon Historical Society states that Native Americans in Oregon have increasingly come to see Bigfoot as an important piece of their culture with great significance to their history.
Bigfoot meets the invaders
As we know today, North America was fated to become the landing dock of countless European settlers. From the 1600s onward, these Europeans experienced their own alleged Bigfoot encounters, though the colonizers found the creatures a lot scarier than the native peoples usually did. One of the more popular historical writings among cryptozoology aficionados is a 1604 passage from French navigator Samuel de Champlain , who ominously described a “frightful monster, which the savages call Gougou.” Though Champlain said Gougou was an enormous, feminine beast that devoured human beings and made horrible noises, his description was vague enough that, reading it today, Gougou could’ve been anything from Bigfoot to a swamp monster. Champlain decided that Gougou was an unholy devil of some sort, because … well, that’s what Europeans said about every weird phenomenon back then.
As the New World was increasingly colonized, reports of encounters with more distinctly Bigfoot-like creatures continued trickling in. In 1811, according to Rolling Stone, explorer David Thompson was hiking through the Rockies when he stumbled upon some seriously massive footprints, which he followed for nearly 100 yards before the trail went cold. One of the biggest stories appeared in the July 1884 edition of a British Columbia newspaper called the Daily Colonist, now archived online . The paper reported the capture of a young, gorilla-like primate called “Jacko.” Was Jacko a young Bigfoot, a hoax, a stunt? You decide. Regardless, little Jacko was never reported on again.
The 1924 Bigfoot attack in Ape Canyon
According to Slate , it was a warm summer night in July 1924, and a group of five miners decided to call it a night in their little homemade cabin, perched up in what is now called “Ape Canyon,” a narrow gorge found in the hike up Mount St. Helens in Washington. Allegedly, as the miners tried to get some sleep, a group of crazed, hairy “apemen” came screaming out of the hills and started launching heavy stones at their cabin. The creatures continued railing on the cabin all night, at one point even reaching inside through a gaping hole in the wall and attempting to steal an ax. The whole thing sounds like a real-life Evil Dead , but with Bigfoot instead of deadites.
Finally, the assault died down at daybreak, and the miners reemerged from the cabin. One miner, Fred Beck, reported that he saw an apeman standing in the distance, so he shot the creature, sending it tumbling down into the rocks. Years later, Beck went on to propose that the hostile animals he encountered were actually ghostly beings from another reality. On the other hand, many people have speculated that the “apemen” were just a gang of rowdy teenagers. Either way, it sounds like a scary night. As you’ve probably guessed, this incident is why this particular mountain gorge is now referred to as Ape Canyon.
The footprints are found, and the name “Bigfoot” is born
According to Rolling Stone, American ape sightings continued coming in throughout the next few decades. In 1940, a Canadian family reported an 8-foot apeman had come out of the woods and broken into their shed, leaving 16-inch footprints in its wake. Then, on one October morning in Northern California in 1958, workers for the Granite Logging Company found a series of giant footprints — once again, 16 inches long — submerged in the damp bed of one of their newly built roads. Less than a week later, the workers spotted a creature in the woods that “ran upright like a man, swinging long hairy arms … it looked ten feet tall.” They found more footprints the next day. The local Humboldt Times picked up the story, publishing a photo of the megalithic footprint’s cast, with journalist Andrew Genzoli lending the unknown creature a name that would soon become legendary: “Bigfoot.”
The hubbub didn’t stop there. At the construction site, footprints kept appearing. Equipment was flipped over. Workers reported feeling like something in the woods was watching them, and the paranoia grew so intense that 15 men quit. When Ray Wallace, a partner in the firm, was accused of perpetrating a hoax, he angrily retorted, “Who knows anyone foolish enough to ruin their own business?”
Anyhow, “Bigfoot” became big news. More tracks were discovered up in Washington, and spotting Bigfoot became a tradition as American as apple pie.
But hey, wait, were those big feet a big hoax?
Ray Wallace made a good argument for why the footprints weren’t a hoax (caused by him), but here’s the thing. As any good prankster knows, if you get caught, you’re left with two options: Give up or double down. Guess what Wallace chose?
In 2002, according to the New York Times, Wallace died at age 84. Once Wallace’s children finished laying their father to rest, they finally came clean with the greatest joke that their “prank-loving pop” ever pulled on the world. Evidently, the famous “feet” were wood carvings, and Ray had slowly rolled along in a truck to create the massive gait between the tracks. Ray’s son Michael told the Times , “It’s weird because it was just a joke, and then it took on such a life of its own that even now, we can’t stop it.” You know, Ray would’ve pulled it off, too, if it wasn’t for his meddling kids. Of course, he did pull it off for over half a century. Vote Ray Wallace for prankster king.
You’d think this postmortem revelation would’ve hit the sasquatch community like a baseball bat, but for the most part, believers were unfazed. That’s because even though the Wallace tracks did launch a lot of the Bigfoot hubbub, major Bigfoot researchers had long suspected that the 1958 incident was a hoax. Besides, by 1967, those tracks were overshadowed by a far more dramatic piece of evidence…
The Bigfoot video you know by heart
Maybe someday, a close-up Bigfoot selfie will be posted on Instagram. Until then, the Patterson-Gimlin footage remains the holy grail of Bigfoot evidence. Back in 1967, according to Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Roger Patterson approached his old rodeo buddy Bob Gimlin for the explicit purpose of finding Bigfoot after more giant tracks were found in Northern California. Patterson and Gimlin set out on horseback. Unlike almost every other Bigfoot expedition in history, the pair allegedly stumbled onto the legendary creature walking around the creek, just 30 meters away. Patterson, wielding the camera, jumped off his horse in an effort to get closer, accounting for the infamous shaky-cam effect.
So, was this Bigfoot, dubbed “Patty,” the real deal? Over five decades later, Patterson’s footage has become one of the most studied video clips in history, and it’s never been summarily debunked. According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, anatomy professor Jeffery Meldrum strongly believes in the footage, theorizing that when compared to other primate special effects of the time — namely, Planet of the Apes — Patty’s anatomical features are much too advanced to be a phony costume. Not everyone is convinced. In 2004, the Charlotte Observer reported that costume designer Philip Morris, then deceased, claimed to have sold a gorilla suit to Roger Patterson.
As for the men behind the video, Patterson died of cancer in 1972. Bob Gimlin maintains that the Bigfoot encounter truly happened, and says the decades of interrogation he received because of it “ruined his life.”
Bigfoot becomes a pop culture celebrity
Was the Patterson-Gimlin footage real or fake? We don’t know, but either way, it set the stage for Bigfoot mania. Since then, enthusiasm for the hairy one has never really died down. Through the 1970s, after the Patterson-Gimlin footage went ’70s viral, the public was bombed with Bigfoot TV specials, magazine articles, tourist traps, and more. Speculation over the creature’s possible existence went rampant, a phenomenon that journalist Michael McLeod describes as “the first widely popularized example of pseudoscience in American culture.” Bigfoot mania brought about plenty of other Bigfoot sightings, photos, and footprints. Who doesn’t have at least one family member or friend who claims to have spotted Bigfoot in the woods?
In the latter half of the 20th century, Bigfoot grew into one of North America’s most potent cultural icons. The wild apeman starred alongside John Lithgow in the 1987 film Harry and the Hendersons , is the focus of the Animal Planet series Finding Bigfoot, has a publishing company named after it, and became the mascot of
Jack Link’s beef jerky. Quickly being co-opted into pop culture and marketing? Now that’s American.
What Bigfoot language sounds like: The Sierra Sounds
Despite the work of such organizations such as North America Bigfoot Search (NABS) and the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), definitive proof of Bigfoot hasn’t yet manifested. All the hair samples have ended up being bears, the bodies aren’t real, Bigfoot feces never turns up in Old Man Jenkins’ cow pasture — none of that. If sasquatches are real, the creatures cover their tracks really, really well. However, if Ron Morehead and Al Berry are to believed, we might have an idea of what Bigfoot sounds like. According to Scientific American, Morehead and Berry say they captured the so-called “Sierra Sounds” by dangling a microphone over a tree in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Though the “language” in the recordings is interesting and is broadcast in many Bigfoot TV specials, such human-sounding noises could also be a relatively easy hoax, so the Bigfoot community isn’t exactly united in the call of the Bigfoot.
On the other hand, what if Bigfoot speaks without ever moving its mouth? There are some who believe Bigfoot possesses telepathic powers, but we won’t delve into that. It’s probably better to prove these creatures exist in the first place before we get all X-Men about it.
Whoa, there’s a Bigfoot in my freezer!
In 2008, according to CNN, two hikers named Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton announced that they’d found the dead body of a nearly 8-foot “half-ape, half-human” in the Georgia wilderness. They brought the “carcass” home, stuffed it in a freezer, and shared photos online, hoping to make money from the marketing and promotion rights. The deception was short-lived. Testing soon proved that the “carcass” was just a rubber costume, and the duo publicly apologized.
However, Rick Dyer’s Bigfoot fakery days were far from over. According to the Huffington Post , the Georgian man hit Bigfoot headlines again in 2012 when he claimed to have killed a Bigfoot in Texas, whom he then named “Hank.” Dyer also claimed that tests run by a “university” (cough, cough) had proven that the corpse belonged to a previously unknown species. Dyer wanted to take the dead Bigfoot on a national tour and charge admission for anyone who wanted to see Hank. C’mon, what is this, the 1800s?
Not surprisingly, Dyer’s efforts flopped again. In 2014, Dyer’s second phony Bigfoot was outed to the public, and he re-apologized. Only time will tell if Dyer attempts the same stunt again in a few years.
The DNA ‘proof’ and the call for tribal recognition
As the years go on, Bigfoot evidence gets weirder and weirder. In 2012, a veterinarian named Melba S. Ketchum brought Bigfoot back into the headlines, according to Live Science. Ketchum, citing prior experience in genetics research, claimed that after analyzing 100 DNA samples, she had uncovered genetic proof that sasquatch was real. Not only that, but Ketchum also determined that the cryptid’s humanoid features were because an earlier species of primate had mated with Homo sapiens about 15,000 years ago, resulting in the Bigfoot we (sort of) know today. Ketchum argued fiercely on behalf of her work, even asking the U.S. government to recognize Bigfoot as “an indigenous people and immediately protect their human and constitutional rights,” against potential hunters.
But then, the Houston Chronicle ‘s Eric Berger took a closer look and found some holes. In addition to discovering Ketchum had self-published her work rather than sending it to a reputable scientific journal, Berger also had Ketchum’s evidence tested by a distinguished geneticist in Texas, who wasn’t impressed with the results. Berger admitted to feeling let down about the whole thing, saying, “I’m honestly really disappointed. A world with Bigfoot would be a little softer. A little more fun. But in my world science is the arbiter of reality.” Nonetheless, Dr. Ketchum’s efforts on the “Sasquatch Genome Project” continue to this day, and she still posts updates on Facebook.
Bigfoot isn’t the only apeman myth in the world … but maybe it’s because of us?
Legends of wild apemen are prevalent in cultures all over the globe, whether it’s North America’s Bigfoot, the Yeti that prowls the Himalayas, or Australia’s Yowie. What is it that makes these half-man, half-apes so popular? Writing for The Atlantic, Edward Simon ponders if, perhaps, the widespread obsession with Bigfoot is due to a human fascination with the wilderness from which we came. A creature that is so similar to human beings, yet still so wild and free, piques our imagination — and makes us wonder, deep inside, if we’re really so evolved from our prehistoric ancestors. Perhaps Bigfoot hearkens back to the ancient concept of an uncorrupted man — call him Adam, call him sasquatch, call him whatever — whose soul has not been torn asunder by the sins of humankind.
Of course, the truth might be simpler: A world with Bigfoot is way more exciting than a world where Bigfoot doesn’t exist. Famous chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall once made the surprising confession to NPR that she believed in Bigfoot, but said, “Well, I’m a romantic, so I always wanted that.” In this one line, Goodall captures the central truth of why, when it comes to Bigfoot, hope springs eternal. So for now, maybe we should just enjoy the myth, keep our eyes on the woods, and have fun telling stories to each other.

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Historical animals that may never have existed.
April 25, 2018
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The human desire to capture, chronicle, and categorize every animal we come into contact with has resulted in a rich record of terrestrial creatures, both living and extinct. But there’s a problem with that insatiable desire to be the person responsible for discovering and classifying the fauna of the past (and sometimes even of the present) — mistakes happen, and sometimes historical animals are misidentified, cobbled together out of bones that don’t actually belong to them, or just made up entirely. That means the animals of the past may not really be animals at all, but figments of someone’s imagination and/or eventual characters in the Harry Potter franchise.
Thankfully, it’s not a mistake that biologists and paleontologists tend to make on a regular basis, but it happens often enough nowadays to be amusing. It also probably warrants correction, especially if you’re the sort of person who just can’t have fun with 140-foot sea monsters and islands that kill people.
Godzilla frog
When fossilized tracks were found in the Elk County woods near Pittsburgh in 1948, paleontologists weren’t sure what they were, but the press knew. “Heavy, definite imprints in the sandstone,” wrote a local reporter, “as though made by a giant chicken as it hopped across the surface.”
Happily, the giant chicken analogy didn’t persist because humans can handle T-rexes, mammoths, and megalodons, but giant chickens would definitely put us all over the edge. According to Wired , it was clear to paleontologists that the tracks had been made in a time before chickens — millions of years before KFC or birds of any kind. In fact, in that particular era of geologic time, insects and amphibians ruled the world. That led people to speculate that the tracks had been made by a giant frog, which would have had legs about 2.5 feet apart.
The identity of the track-leaver didn’t move beyond speculation until 1983, when two paleontologists decided to have another go and determined the tracks couldn’t have possibly been left by a vertebrate, in part because there was a long, continuous groove down the middle that a hopping animal would not have left behind. Also there was the part where no one had ever found additional evidence of giant frogs from that era. Instead, they decided, the tracks were probably left by a giant sea scorpion. Good thing giant sea scorpions are way, way less terrifying than giant frogs. Or giant chickens. Thanks, paleontologists.
A chimeric penguin
Early paleontologists were sort of like kids with boxes of jumbled legos. “Hmm, these parts don’t actually look like they came from the same set, but they were in the same box, so … that means this rocket ship has wheels and a grappling hook.”
And in that way, many fossilized creatures made the journey from never existing to totally existing to totally never existing. Just total bloopers of historical animals . One such example is the Hunter Island penguin.
According to Mental Floss , in 1980 scientists were excavating a “prehistoric trash heap” on Hunter Island in Tasmania when they discovered a set of penguin bones that appeared to be different from the bones of any other known penguin species. So they gave the bones a name — Tasidyptes hunterivan — then congratulated themselves on being such awesome species discoverers. And they lived happily ever after.
Until 2017, when someone decided to ruin everything and do some DNA testing on the bones, and oops … they were actually bones from three different very much not-extinct penguins. Curse you, modern forensics science . You are no fun at all.
Cambodia’s national not-really-an-animal
In another tale of DNA totally ruining decades of tradition and the hopes and dreams of children, another animal that probably never existed is the kouprey, which was declared Cambodia’s national animal in 1960.
In 1937, a hunter shot an odd-looking bull ox. The creature weighed nearly a ton, had crescent-shaped horns (big ones), and didn’t seem to resemble any known species of ox living in the area. Less than 100 years before that, Paul du Chaillu gained international fame for being the first Westerner to confirm the existence of the gorilla, so it was kind of a holy grail to be the discoverer of a brand new species. That’s probably why no one really questioned the conclusion that the unfortunate creature was a member of a heretofore unheard-of genus. According to National Geographic, even the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology was on board, displaying the stuffed and mounted specimen as a “new species of ox.”
Live “koupreys” existed in the wild in small numbers, which prompted its rise to the status of “Cambodia’s national animal” as well as nationwide efforts to preserve the species. And then researchers from Northwestern University in Chicago had to come along and DNA-test all the fun out of the kouprey, concluding that the animal was actually just a feral cross between two very common types of domestic oxen. Let’s give those scientists a round of applause and the Nobel Prize for party-pooping. Oh, sorry. The Nobel Prize for
scientific party-pooping.
A ginormous spider
You know what the world needs? A giant spider. You know, a Frodo-eating, Harry Potter menacing, freaking enormous spider .
Just kidding. The world does not now need — nor has it ever needed — a giant spider. So thankfully, Megarachne, the spider with a foot-long body and a leg span of 19+ inches (roughly the size of a raccoon) did not actually exist. Or did it? No! Shut up. It never existed. Please, some of us have to sleep tonight.
Here’s the story of Megarachne, as told by Wired: In 1890, a paleontologist named Mario Hunicken, who clearly wanted to be remembered as the guy responsible for haunting the nightmares of every man, woman, and child in the entire world, announced he’d discovered the remains of a giant spider in Argentina. Then he hid it away in a bank vault so no one could ever question that giant spiders once roamed the Earth.
Then in 2005, biologists reclassified Megarachne as a giant sea scorpion. Yes, that’s only marginally better than a giant spider, but still, praise all the deities. The only people who were really bummed about the reclassification were the producers of a BBC documentary featuring Megarachne as a giant spider, which was ready to air pretty much at exactly the same moment scientists decided Megarachne was never actually a thing. Everyone else can probably agree the non-existence of a giant spider really is the best thing ever.
The fake sea serpent that everyone so wanted to be real
The word “dinosaur ” was coined in 1842. After that, fossil collecting became a national pastime, but not everyone was qualified to do it. Amateurs assembled skeletons all wrong, turning upright creatures into belly-dragging iguana-beasts, and sometimes the bones of several creatures would get mixed into one skeleton, much like what happened with the never-actually-existed Hunter Island penguin.
Sometimes, though, these misassembled fossils are cool. So cool, that museums say things like, “We know this is wrong but it’s just way too cool to do anything about.” According to Atlas Obscura, in 1845 a “fossil prospector” named Albert Koch found some vertebrae from an extinct giant whale called a basilosaurus. He assembled them into a 140-foot serpent he called “the water king,” or hydroarchos. Anyone who knew anything about fossils could have called baloney on Koch’s creation, but King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia had no idea because what Prussian king knows anything about paleontology? King Wilhelm was so impressed that he paid actual money for the monster and had it displayed at the Royal Anatomical Museum, even though the museum’s scientists had their suspicions.
After that success, Koch decided to build another hydroarchos, which he sold to a museum in Chicago. It remained on display, even though curators knew it wasn’t an actual animal, until the Great Chicago Fire destroyed it in 1871. But hey, at least those curators understood the value of fun.
Prehistoric France’s own unicorn
Most of the animals found in prehistoric paintings are based on real historical animals. In Lascaux, France,
artists depicted stags, horses, cattle, bison, predators like bears and big cats, and even animals that no longer exist in Europe, like the woolly rhinoceros. But one puzzling creature in the Lascaux cave complex is one that probably never existed at all: It’s been dubbed the Lascaux unicorn, but it appears to be a composite of several animals. According to Paleolithic and Neolithic History, the unicorn is nearly 8 feet long and has the body of a woolly rhino, the shoulder of a bison, the head of a lion, and the tail of a horse. It got its name from not one but two long, straight horns that look sort of like unicorn horns except that there are two of them. The unicorn also has a giant potbelly, leading some researchers to suspect it might be a fertility symbol.
It’s always difficult to say how past observers arrived at their conclusions, though. Looking at the Lascaux unicorn, to the untrained eye it’s just another bison, albeit a fat one with really strange horns. Maybe it’s not really a composite. Maybe whoever painted it just wasn’t that great at painting. Still, it’s fun to imagine prehistoric France being full of horses, woolly rhinos, and unicorns. Unfortunately, there isn’t any additional evidence that such a creature ever existed.
A camelopehoundvaark (or something)
The Set animal is ancient Egypt’s version of the Lascaux unicorn. Some Egyptologists think it’s a composite of multiple historical animals, and others wonder if it’s a now-extinct creature. Depending whom you ask, it’s either an antelope, a greyhound, a donkey, a camel, a long-snouted mouse, a giraffe, an aardvark, a boar, a jackal, a hare, or about a bazillion other creatures that live in or around Egypt that you’ve probably never heard of.
According to Images of Set author Joan Lansberry , some Egyptologists have speculated the Set animal is the extinct Sivatherium, a strange-looking creature with a long nose and wide horns thought to be an ancestor of the modern giraffe. The Set animal was built more like a greyhound, though, which wouldn’t make the dumpy, thick-necked Sivatherium as a candidate.
Lansberry thinks the Set animal, which is often (but not always) depicted with an erect tail and erect, square-tipped ears, is actually an ancestor of the modern Saluki, an Arabian hunting dog. Traditionally, Salukis have their ears docked much the same way breeders dock the ears of a pitbull, except with square tips. That doesn’t explain the bizarre, aardvark nose and the forked tail the Set animal developed over the years, but it at least offers a logical genesis for a creature that appears only in Egyptian art and hieroglyphics.
Islands that drown people on purpose
You know that scene in The Empire Strikes Back where they landed on an asteroid and then the asteroid tried to eat them? The Greeks had an ocean-dwelling version of that creature — it was known as aspidochelone, and it wasn’t just one or two sailors who came home with stories about it. Regular sightings of aspidochelone were reported for centuries, beginning (at least as far as the historical record is concerned) in the second century A.D.
According to Ancient Origins , aspidochelone was always huge and was sometimes mistaken for an island. Particularly unfortunate sailors might stop there for a cookout, and then when the creature noticed that someone had just built a campfire on its back, it would dive back down into the water and drown everyone and their hamburgers.
Aspidochelone was probably based on a real animal. Older descriptions of it said it could attract fish with a sweet odor it emitted from its mouth, which is a behavior that could (at a stretch) be attributed to a whale. Today we admire and respect those giants of the sea, but it’s not hard to see how a second-century sailor might see an enormous whale open its mouth and jump to a “that island just tried to eat me” sort of conclusion.
The panther that roams the outback
People have been seeing Bigfoot for well over a century, and tales of the Loch Ness monster have persisted since Saint Columba in 565 A.D. Not to be outdone, a crypto creature also roams the outback of Australia. Sightings of a large, black feline have been reported for generations, but like just about every Bigfoot, Loch Ness monster, and similar animal said to exist just outside the reach of scientific evidence, no one has ever been able to find its remains or capture a decent photo of one.
Still, according to the Sydney Morning Herald , more than 500 eyewitness accounts point to something, even if it’s just a population of escaped circus animals or a very large, especially terrifying feral house cat . What’s less likely is that Australia has a native population of big cats. Australia actually has only one remaining indigenous predator (the Tasmanian devil ). Its two largest indigenous predators ( the marsupial lion and the
marsupial wolf) are both extinct.
An animal identified as a large Maine Coon cat was recently shot and killed in the Blue Mountains National Park, prompting speculation that maybe it was the source of the panther legend, although it was evidently someone’s pet and was named Gregory, which makes it a sort of unlikely explanation for “generations” of sightings. Still, the Blue Mountain Panther is probably explainable, but it’s taken a stupidly long time to find the answer.
Bigfoot gets his own national preserve
Because Bigfoot and all his cousins simply will not leave humanity alone, here’s a legend beloved by so many people that it got its own national preserve.
In Bhutan, Bigfoot is called “Migoi.” According to High Country News, Migoi is a giant man-beast standing 8 feet tall that can evade capture by walking backward and becoming invisible. Stories of the Migoi have persisted for centuries and are so widely believed that the government set aside 253 square miles of forest specifically for its protection. Yep, protecting Bigfoot was not a side benefit of establishing a national park; it was the sole reason for establishing a national park.
The good news is that other, actual creatures get protected by default simply because they happen to share a habitat with the totally-not-imaginary Migoi. The Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary is also home to the Himalayan red fox, snow leopards, the Himalayan black bear, the red panda, and a species called the “barking deer.” So although Migoi probably doesn’t really exist and probably never did, it’s at least able to do some good from its place in not-history.

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Femi Opabunmi: World Cup record-breaker hoping others can learn from end to his football dream
March 26, 2018
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Femi Opabunmi and David Beckham

Femi Opabunmi was just 17 when he faced England and David Beckham at the 2002 World Cup

Femi Opabunmi became the youngest player to represent Nigeria at a World Cup when he faced England in 2002. But just four years later his career was over, finished by an eye problem. Here he tells BBC Sport how the end of his football dream left him considering taking his own life.

I was 17 when I played for Nigeria at the 2002 World Cup – the youngest player at the tournament. I played against England – David Beckham, Michael Owen, Paul Scholes, all of them. But three or four years later the story changed. One minute flying; the next minute down.

My eye problem started. I went for surgery. They said I have glaucoma. Everything changed. Things just got worse and worse and worse. I only see with one eye now.

I woke up one morning and found out that I couldn’t see well. I just saw cloud and had to go the specialist to check. That’s when they told me I had to have an operation. After the operation, the problem remained the same.

Now I can only see with my left eye. I can’t see anything with my right. But I thank God that I can still see with one eye.

Giving up football is a very painful thing. Sometimes you think that maybe you should kill yourself. You think a lot, especially when your mates are still playing. You look at them and you shed tears. You feel bad. But in any situation, you have to be stronger.

Life is full of ups and downs.

Nigeria
Nigeria failed to advance from the group stages in the 2002 World Cup, finishing bottom in a group containing Sweden, England and Argentina

I think back. I think a lot about when I was the second top goalscorer at the Under-17 World Championship in 2001 – and third best player. And I was the youngest player to play in the World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

Sometimes I think: “What is this life about?’ I summon up the courage and I say: “When there is life, there will be hope one day.”

I put my hope in God. I keep on going. There’s nothing you can do.

Sometimes I will say: “I don’t think there is God in this world.” But my wife will give me the courage and say I should not say a bad word towards God, that God knows the perfect time and will answer everybody. Maybe God protected you from some dangers, you don’t know.

The lowest moment for me is when I have my challenges – that I can’t play football when I’m still active. It’s a painful thing.

I’ve learned a lot of lessons because nobody knows tomorrow. You can say you can play this game for a long time – and something will come up and shorten our career.

I made a lot of money – true – but it’s money I spent on my eye problem. I want to tell the young players coming up that they should always think of tomorrow in life, whatever they do.

And they should always invest – and take my own story as an example, to learn.

Femi Opabunmi was speaking to Oluwashina Okelegi for this week’s World Football show, presented by Mani Djazmi.

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King Pet Photo Contest and The Cuteness
January 2, 2018
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Here lately my daughter has really been into taking pictures of the pets. She’s always had an interest in animals. She goes from wanting to be a vet to a zoo keeper to running an animal rescue shelter all the time. With another two days left for winter break before she goes back to school I decided that it was time to kill some time with something she’s been into. In comes KingPet and the contests.

KingPet has photo contests. Photos must be of pets. There are three categories; dogs, cats and other pets. Contests run for weeks and the photos with the most votes win a cash prize. It seemed like a fun way to let my girl start interacted with the online world. With me as a safe buffer between her and it of course. It will also teach her how easy it is for pictures to travel around online. Bonus lesson!

Anyway, my girl found a picture of our dog, Shader, and wanted to enter the contest. Here’s the pic she found.

That’s a party pup! Anyway you can click on the photo to go give her a vote if you like. Or not.

However, this little contest isn’t exactly a “fair” event. People can buy votes for their or others’ photos. At least that’s how it seems. Another bonus less: We’ll not be putting money into this fun contest. There is something to be said for a cash prize, but I don’t think investing money to win money like this is the best way to go about it. I’ll be pointing this out to my girl as she works with me and the site.

My daughter also has some pictures of the cats and her hamster. Currently she’s trying to pin down the best one to use. She’s also trying to take better pictures that capture more of their faces and their personalities. I think this is great. Without me trying to teach she is learning how to improve her skills with a goal in mind. That alone makes the extra work worth it. (Yep, had to run to the store to get batteries for the camera and dig out the cable to connect it to the computer.)

All in all I think these could be fun contests and if they help her explore her interests, why not?

Peace and Love!

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Benefits playing with pets. It helps you too reduce stress, relax your mood.
November 10, 2017
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Petting a Dog lowers Blood Pressure and Heart Rate. Every individual should have a pet of their own. Petting a dog helps you to have good sleep in night. It also lowers/reduce the dieseses like Cholestrol and more likely to survive a hear attack. You get less sick or there are less chances of getting sick when you pet a dog.

They get you moving: Walking your dog and engaging in outdoors activities like tossing a Frisbee gives you a natural energy boost, and allows you to let off steam. It also makes you more physically fit, strengthening your muscles and bones, which helps not only your body, but also your self-esteem. Studies have shown that animal owners, both adults and children, have lower blood pressure, as well as lower cholesterol and triglycerides, which may be in part attributed to the more active lifestyle pets promote. Pet owners also have been noted to have better circulation, and a lower risk of experiencing major cardiac issues. And when your body feels stronger, you are less susceptible to mental health issues.

You’ll have better heart health. It improves social life, you’ll be happier, you get to exercise (take a dog for a walk or run). You will be less stressfull at work. Petting dogs helps mental health, build immunity, lessen problems like asthama or allergies. They can make you smile and stay happier and they can also helps to lessen isolation.

There are other petting benefits which you get such as when you take your pet out for a walk, Sun and fresh air elevate your mood and the sun gives you an extra dose of vitamin D. Vitamin D exposure helps fight physical and mental conditions, including depression, cancer, obesity, and heart attacks. Also, when you go outside with your pet, you are engaging with nature. Try taking a moment to listen to the trees rustling, feel the wind rushing past, and the sun upon your face. The sounds and feeling of nature can be incredibly calming.

In short petting a dog is necessary as other things are neccessary like money.

So go have some fun with your pooch or feline friend! Have a ball, with a ball, or anything else, and you will both benefit from the pleasurable together time.

And if you don’t have a pet or can’t get one right now, you can volunteer at a shelter. There are many animals that can still benefit from your love, and you will feel the benefits, too.

Hope you’ll find this use full.

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A Brief research about Cats and their different Breeds.
May 4, 2017
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The feline

Felines have been tamed for around 4,000 years. While they were once esteemed for their chasing capacities, they are currently esteemed for their brotherhood and adoring conduct.

While not notable, the aggregate things utilized for felines and cats are a clowder of felines and an encourage of little cats.

Our residential felines are known as meager felines. They contrast from extensive felines, for example, lions and tigers since they are actually dynamic during the evening and can murmur.

Felines are presently the most prevalent pet in the UK and in the US.

The catlike body and conduct

With 48 perceived feline breeds and families in Australia in addition to an interminable blend of cross breeds it’s stunning exactly how distinctive each feline can look and carry on. Yet, there are many astonishing physical attributes that all felines have, read on for additionally captivating actualities about your catlike companion.

Felines have 30 teeth (canines have 42) and the vast majority of us know how sharp they are!

Felines have an intelligent layer in their eyes, known as the tapetum lucidum, which amplifies approaching light enabling them to see up to 6 times superior to anything people can in low light. Felines (and in addition puppies) additionally have a ‘third eyelid’ called the nictitating layer which is found within corner of the eye which is an additional defensive capacity of the eye.

Felines have 32 muscles in their ears (people have just 12). This gives the ear versatility, empowering it to definitely find prey, for example, mice or the opening of their feline sustenance! Felines can likewise hear frequencies that are both beneath or more those that can be heard by people. The ear additionally has the occupation of keeping up adjust and the capacity to right themselves while falling – which is the place the expression “Felines dependably arrive on their feet” originated from.

A larger number of felines are left-pawed than right.

The surface of feline sustenance is more imperative to felines than taste and felines can frequently be very fastidious about the scents of nourishment. In the event that your feline have ever licked you, you may contrast the vibe of their tongue with that of coarse sandpaper – that is on the grounds that a felines’ tongue is shrouded in minor in reverse confronting thistle like points that guide nourishment to the back of the mouth. These unpleasant tongues are likewise impeccably intended for preparing and slurping up water.

Felines can withdraw their front paws. This keeps them sharp so they can be utilized for climbing and obviously, as compelling weapons!

Felines rub against us and scratch as a type of correspondence. They have fragrance organs on their cheeks and paws, so rubbing against us or scratching on vertical surfaces exchanges their aroma.

Around 75% of felines react to catnip. This herb fortifies those felines that are hereditarily customized to react.

Those long bristles around your felines’ mouth and face which shape an imperative piece of their feeling of touch. These stubbles are appended to nerve cells and are utilized to judge the extent of openings and in addition giving your feline data about all that he/she touches, and additionally moves in gaseous tension.

Felines can go at rates of up to 30km every hour.

The biggest type of feline in Australia is the Maine Coon. Guys can routinely weigh up to 12kgs!

Cat human relationship

Felines are useful for our wellbeing. Individuals who possess felines have a lower danger of cardio-vascular ailment than non-feline proprietors. Elderly feline proprietors experience the ill effects of dejection and depression than non-feline proprietors.

Felines can be prepared. Educate your feline to share a “high five” with you by remunerating her with an extraordinary treat each time she lifts her paw.

Felines need to associate with individuals from two weeks of age to empower them to be social towards people. Following four months of age it is extremely hard to tame a feline.

Mental reviews have demonstrated that feline proprietors are more sensible and useful than canine proprietors. They have a tendency to be more contemplative than puppy proprietors. Feline proprietors, be that as it may, recount a greater number of stories about their felines than pooch proprietors.

The record number of felines kept by any one individual was by a proprietor named Jack Wright, from Ontario, Canada who kept 689 felines!

Indeed, even inside breeds, feline conduct, identity, and once in a while appearance will differ broadly. Hereditary qualities and condition each assume a part in a creature’s improvement, and one can never be sure how a specific feline will act and respond to his people or environment. At last, your feline’s inclinations and disposition are as individual as you may be. A certain something, be that as it may, is for sure: All blossom with adoration, consideration, and regard.

Types OF CATS:

– American Bobtails are ease back to create, achieving development somewhere close to two and three years. Like catamounts, the Bobtail’s rear legs are marginally longer than the front legs, and the feet are vast and round and may have toe tufts.

The Bobtail’s most noted component, its compact tail, is 33% to one-a large portion of the length of a normal cat’s, and ought not reach out beneath the hawk. Like the Manx, the Bobtail’s tail has all the earmarks of being administered by an overwhelming quality. The tail is straight and expressive yet may bend, have knocks or be somewhat tied. Bobtails without any tails (likewise called rumpies) are not satisfactory due to the medical issues related with the abbreviated spine.

– Balinese felines are brilliant, sweet, and enjoyable to be around. Like the Siamese, they are known for their capacity to convey vocally, here and there relentless, and hence this breed is not for everybody. Profoundly social, Balinese are delicate to your temperaments and emotions and are more than willing to perk you up with some glad prattle in case you’re feeling bleak.

They are light-footed leapers and will frequently ride on their kin’s shoulders. They want to play and effectively figure out how to bring, bringing the ball or toy back for rehashed tossing. They will keep you engaged with their shenanigans, yet have a cherishing aura too. They can be very emphatic in their solicitations for consideration, additionally have an uncommon respect specific to the Balinese and Siamese breeds.

– Birmans are loving, tender, and steadfast friends with a demeanor of respect that appears to welcome veneration by their human mates. As previous sanctuary felines, Birmans appear to have turned out to be usual to veneration. They are extremely savvy and tender, as per fanciers, and exceptionally individuals arranged. They will for the most part welcome guests with interest as opposed to fear.

As a result of their delicate demeanors, Birmans are anything but difficult to deal with, look after, and show, and they make perfect pets for any individual who needs calm allies that will offer love and love as an end-result of only a little merited love.

– Burmese have an interesting scratch to their voices and sound somewhat like felines going rough from an excess of talking. Burmese are not as garrulous as their Siamese neighbors. When they have something to state, be that as it may, they’ll emphasize the message until you get out your all inclusive cat/human interpreter and deal with whatever it is upsetting them.

– Cornish Rexes are useful for people who like having their lives keep running by dynamic, curious, gazelle-like cats that affection a decent joke, insofar as it’s not on them. Everything is a diversion to the Cornish Rex, and they can be difficult to disregard when they’re in an amiable state of mind, which is more often than not. Rexes are decidedly friendly with their most loved people. With their warm softened cowhide feel, they make the ideal winter lap hotter, as well. They are smart, caution, and generally simple to deal with.

Greatly tender, Rexes are especially so around dinnertime, so dedicated, truth be told, that you can’t keep them out of your plate without a squirt bottle. Supper will never be the same again with a murmuring Cornish taking your sustenance when your back is turned, or even while you’re looking.

Some Rexes appreciate recovering and will convey back items for you to hurl over and over. They are capable climbers, leapers, and sprinters, and have gloriously deft paws. No rack or pantry is sheltered from a diligent Cornish.

– The identity of the Cymric has won a solid after regardless of the reproducing challenges. Cymrics are smart, carefree felines, and they coexist well with different pets, including puppies. Cymrics are especially noted for their dedication to their people and appreciate investing quality energy with them. As felines go, they can be effectively educated traps. In spite of their lively disposition, they are delicate and nonaggressive. Their perky yet tractable miens are useful for families with kids.

Cymrics are intense jumpers and if adequately persuaded will figure out how to rupture the most secure rack. They are additionally captivated by water, the length of you don’t dunk them in the awful stuff. Maybe this interest originates from starting on a little land parcel encompassed by it.

– Himmies, as fanciers call them, are flawless indoor feline mates. They are tender, quiet, and sweet-tempered, however they have a lively side too. Like the Siamese, Himalayans love to play bring, and a piece of folded paper or a kitty toy will engage them for a considerable length of time.

Himalayans are given and ward upon their people for fraternity and insurance. They pine for fondness and love to be petted and prepped, which is lucky, since each Himalayan family will spend some portion of every day doing only that.

Like their Persian kin, they are easygoing and won’t bug you for consideration the way a few breeds will. More vocal and dynamic than the Persian, they in any case are significantly calmer than the Siamese.

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