Chasing butterflies

The butterfly or the moth looked something like this - Image from dpugphoto

Animals seem to be quiet across the world, I couldn't find a story to post. But I have my own story for today. Yesterday I was returning home from work and I stopped at a signal. Suddenly I noticed a pastel green butterfly, or a moth am not sure, flitting across and following it close was a Common Myna. The butterfly did a small dance in the air and then I realized it was trying to escape from the clutches of the myna. But it was too slow and the myna caught it in its beak. I was watching all along with intense excitement cursing myself for being without a camera.

Then the myna dropped the butterfly. Oh! It fell right in the middle of the road and soon got run over by a passing car. Now I could see it's wings flipping in the rush of wind as each vehicle sped by, it's middle pasted to the road. The myna too hadn't lost sight of it. Another myna joined the first one and both began to circle over the dead butterfly. The first one, boldly stopped in the middle of the road, hopped over and tried to take it in its beak again. But just as it came near, a vehicle came whooshing and it quickly flew up.

This happened a couple of times. There was one time when it almost picked up the butterfly and I could see an approaching truck. I found myself muttering, "pick it up, pick it up, go, go!" But it didn't. And then it was time for me to move on. The entire drama had taken place in the space of about 60 to 90 seconds. The signal turned green on my side and the passage of vehicles stopped on the butterfly's side. But sadly, I couldn't see the ending of this enthralling pursuit. That remains a mystery.

Spot of Understanding: Chicken heads

A chick figures out the number of objects behind the screen - Image from Science News

Apparently baby chicks are not just cute but also very smart – they can count! Young chickens, which are just a few days old display basic arithmetic skills according to researchers. Rosa Rugani of the University of Trento in Italy demonstrated the chicks’ ability to add and subtract by moving identical objects behind two screens in front of the chicks. Their task was to determine, which screen obscured the most number of objects and the chicks performed with flying colors.

Previously only adult animals have been found to have a basic understanding of mathematics but not in any young animals except humans. At least all those non – vegetarians who relish chickens will hopefully benefit from their brains.

Read the study in detail

Watch a video demo

EndangeRed: Fading songs of the cuckoo

The song of the cuckoo that heralds spring may soon be lost - Image from The Telegraph

There are lots of species that are threatened and are on the endangered list but one would never expect the common cuckoo to be one of them. Well, cuckoos in Britain may soon come on the endangered list as their numbers have dropped by almost 59% since the 1960s. They are now so rare that they could come on the Red List of endangered birds within a month. Their numbers have dropped in a large part due to global warming.

Flocks of cuckoos fly an amazing 6000 miles every year from the UK to Africa to breed and roost. But climate change is making their tedious journey even harder and more so because food and water sources in Africa are drying up. The cuckoo is the only parasitic breeding bird in Europe, laying their eggs in other birds’ nests, but now only around 10,000 to 20,000 breeding pairs arrive in the UK each year according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Read more about the cuckoo

Watch a video of cuckoos

Willie the hero gets the Red Cross medal

Willie the hero - Image from SkyNews

I guess a lot of us would have forgotten about Willie the parrot. I had written about him last year, about his very brave attempt at saving a toddler’s life. Willie, the Quaker parrot, now has been awarded the local Red Cross chapter’s Animal Lifesaver Award in Denver, Colorado.

Willie’s owner Megan Howard was babysitting little Hannah last year in November. She left the toddler alone for a moment and at the precise point she started choking on her breakfast. Willie’s shrill cries of “Mama, baby,” alerted Howard and she came running to do the needful.

Samantha Kuusk, Hannah’s mother, says that recounting the episode even now brings tears to her eyes. Willie, it seems, will not be forgotten for sometime, at least by her.

Mother hen and the puppies

The hen watches over protectively - Image from Ananova

Apparently mother hen is capable of mothering anyone. A hen in Majiaqiao village, Jiashan in Anhui province, China, has adopted two puppies after their mother died of poisoning. What is more heartwarming is that the hen was the mother’s best friend.

Cao Fengying, the owner of the animals, said that the hen and the dog had been very close for two years, always playing together. Sadly, the dog was poisoned just ten days after the puppies were born and now her best friend has taken over the responsibility of bringing up her kids. The hen is very protective of her friend’s children, standing guard and letting them eat first during meal times. Ah if only all friends were like the hen!

Spot of Understanding - Songbirds have songs wired in

Zebra finch - Image from Wikipedia

New research findings on the singing of zebra finches could enlighten us more about how humans learn to speak. Michale Fee a researcher with MIT and his colleagues have fresh findings that show how songbirds like the zebra finch know how they ought to sing. They even have a separate region that enables these birds to identify mistakes in their songs. By monitoring the electrical activity of cells in the zebra finches while they sang the researchers found that some cells became active when they made a mistake allowing them to correct themselves, according to lead author of the report, Professor Richard Hahnloser, of the University of Zurich.

Read more here and listen too here

Parroting guardian

Willie the saviour - Image from CBS4Denver

We have heard of brave dogs and even cats so far. But a parrot? Well Willie the Quaker parrot saved the life of a two year old girl by alerting others to her choking. Willie belongs to Meagan who was babysitting Hannah, in Denver, Colorado. Meagan had gone to the restroom when she heard Willie screeching and flapping his wings furiously. He started saying "mama baby" repeatedly until Meagan reached the scene, where she saw Hannah blue in the face choking on her tart. Immediately, Meagan performed the Heimlich maneuver on Hannah and recued her. She said that if Willie hadn't created such a ruckus she wouldn't have come out sooner from the bathroom and it would have been fatal for Hannah. Her mom, Samantha Kuusk, was very grateful towards both Willie and Meagan for being there in time to save Hannah's life.

Watch Willie

Blue and Black

Image from Wiki

Today as I was sitting in the park after lunch, I was witness to a very sweet exchange between two crows. One of them, whom I will name as Blue for convenience, was foraging on the ground for tidbits and scratching in the dust. After a while it appeared like Blue had caught something in its mouth. A second later another crow, whom I will name Black, came and gently took the morsel out. Blue continued its ferreting and went behind some bushes. A while later Black came from somewhere with its mouth open. Now it was Blue's turn to eat. After a few exchanges in similar fashion the inseparable couple flew to a tree nearby, to pass the gentle afternoon away after a very companiably shared lunch. Ah, if only we were more amiable and got along with each other like them!

Spot of Understanding

Male zebra finch sings to its mate - Image from Science Daily

Singing has always been one of the time tested ways to attract someone you love. For birds this is a way of life. Researchers at the Riken Brain Science Institute in Saitama, Japan have found that when a male zebra finch crooned to a potential mate certain neurons in the brain got activated. In the human equivalent parts of the brain, these areas are activated when an individual takes drugs and obtains a high, following the release of dopamine. In the finch's brains, singing triggered a feeling of reward. According to Neal Hessler, "It's the clearest evidence so far that singing to a female is rewarding for male birds."

Read more on the findings and watch the video

How birds hold singing contests to obtain mates

Strange but beautiful

Etheridge with Snowy and Gladys - Image from All-Creatures

Unusual friendships are not a rarity in the animal world. This one is between Gladys the chicken and Snowy the cat who live in Middleton, England. The story begins when Jane Etheridge's bantam hen hatched a batch of 14 chickens about two and half months back. Sadly, that number was reduced to just three chickens after a fox marauded the coop leaving only feathers behind. Two of the survivors died soon and only Gladys was left. Etheridge brought a shaken and traumatised Gladys into the house to help her get her bearings. Thats when Snowy took over. For 10 year old Snowy, Gladys was like a little sibling to be taken care of. He cleaned and washed her and made her comfortable. Now Gladys is two and half months old and is inseparable from Snowy. Etheridge says that they are, "the best of friends, very much so, and when she first started going out she would not go unless they went together."

Parroting swears

Max-imum curses - Image from The Sun

What do you say when a parrot curses? More often than not you are speechless. Thats pretty much the reaction that Max the African Grey parrot gets when he hurls filthy words at visitors to the zoo where he stays. Max was donated to the zoo by his previous owner after getting thoroughly tired with his vocabulary. The five year old parrot has also learnt to mimic car alarms and mobile phone ringtones. Peter Hansom, the keeper at the zoo in Darlington, Durham, UK, says that the local schoolchildren are the ones who taught Max all the words. Hansom says he has to "hold my breath" when parents with small children in tow come and admire Max. Many times its just an innocent "hello" or "bye" but more often than not its nastier, punctuated with a lot of f*** offs. Max's favorite trick is to stick his head in tin cup in his cage and swear, probably knowing that it makes a louder sound.

Fashionable chick

Emma Phillips with her adopted ward - Image from Metro

This must be one of the most well-dressed hens we have ever seen. Buffy the hen lost all her feathers at a cramped battery farm in Brent Knoll, Somerset, England and when the RSPCA found her three weeks back she was all bald and shivering and was 2lbs underweight. Now, one year old Buffy has been given a blue and white striped knitted sweater to keep herself warm and has almost fully recovered. Deputy manager Emma Phillips has become Buffy's caretaker and she keeps the hen in nestbox in a chicken shed at the centre. She says that it is common enough to find hens in Buffy's condition, because hens like Buffy are kept in a cage about 50cm by 55cm and between three and six chickens are usually kept in this space. Thanks to the RSPCA's care Buffy has recovered enough to, "peck and scratch about." She joins the other hens in sunbathing albeit wearing her little sweater. Once she grows back all her feathers she will be re-homed in the next few months.

Watch Buffy move and shake

Buffy's "foster mom" has some things to say

Spot of Understanding

Crafty crows - Image from Telegraph, UK

So who is smarter, crows or apes? According to new research its crows. Numerous studies have investigated the abilities of the Einsteins of the avian world as crows are known. Now a team from Auckland University, led by Prof Russell Gray, has found that crows are incredibly smarter than apes and are able to solve problems using reason and understanding. Previous studies from New Caledonia had proved that they could make tools from leaves and use them to reach grub and caterpillars.

Read the full article

Watch photos and videos

The rainbow angel

Radish has learnt to ring the bell each time he wants food or water - Image from birds.about.com

My story today is about a bird who is beautiful inside out. Meet Radish, the two year old Scarlet Chested Parakeet, who was rotting away at the back of a dingy pet shop, until his current owner found him. He grew so depressed that he began plucking out his feathers causing bald spots to appear on his chest. But he was rescued just in time by Jamie who took him with her to the hospital where she worked, where she put him on a job. Radish was designated as pet and mascot of the hospital and his job was to bring a smile on the faces of terminally ill children. Jamie says, "My supervisors had taken note of the positive affects that animals can have on the sick and elderly and had been thinking about getting a bird to live in the children's ward. When I walked in that shop and saw Radish, I knew that he was the one!" Touchingly, the children have responded, to the mild mannered parrot who hates loud noises. Seeing him everyday gives them something to look forward to. There was a five year old patient who referred to him as the "rainbow angel" and Jamie says, to her he really was one.

Spot of Understanding

The New York Times carried an article, which states that crows never forget a face. Not just crows, but also their relatives, which include magpies, ravens and jays. They thrive in human dominated environments and are known for being street smart. John M. Marzluff, a wildlife biologist at the University of Washington has studied crows and ravens for more than 20 years now and after a lot of experiments with crows on the campus he discovered that they do have the ability to recognize human faces. Next time I shoo a crow I will be more careful to hide my face.

Read the entire article

More about crows and ravens

New Species: Brand new bird

Image from Reuters

A Smithsonian Institution team of researchers have found a new bird species by accident in the jungles of Gabon, a small country in Africa. The team visited the forests as part of a biodiversity project and finding undiscovered birds was definitely not part of it. They have named the little bird, the Olive Backed Forest Robin, and specify that the males have a fiery orange throat and breast, a yellow belly and an olive back with black feathers on his head. Vibrant would be an understatement for him!As the Smithsonian ornithologist Brian Schmidt said, it is a reminder "that the world still holds surprises for us."