The WM Pet Connection

Image Credit: National Marine Mammal Laboratory

• Whales don’t chew their food before swallowing it.
•  Whales are at risk of being extinct since they are actively being hunted by man.
• Whales were originally land creatures. It’s believed they had hooves and fingers.
• Narwal female whales nurse their calf for 6 months.
• The toothed whale uses it teeth to break up large pieces of food.
• Whales come in two different categories: baleen and toothed.
• A right whale's blow hole is shaped like a V.
• Blue whales reproduce from fall to winter.
• Minke whales tend to live alone throughout their life.
• Some whales have one blow hole while others have two holes.  
• Some pilot whales have been seen nursing at ten years old
• Gray Whales have a filtering system to prevent them from consuming anything besides food.
• Blue whales are the largest in the world
• Sperm whale can dive deeper than any other whale.
• Conservation movements are taking place around the world to save the whale since many of the species are endangered from being slaughtered.
• Humpback whale can be heard 100 miles away.
• Male Whales are called Bulls.
• Some whales are picky eaters.
• Pilot whales spend most of their time in deep water.
• The Narwal whale is a very social whale.

Whale Facts

By Rochelle Bergman


I sat in front of my computer most of Friday, thinking about an animal story. I came up with a blank space in between my ears.
Thinking for me includes some kind of munchy- junky foods. I walked into the kitchen.
Suddenly the skies open up and a thought jumped into my mind.
How about writing about foods with odd and weird animals in it? Why not?

The foods that might jump out to you could be chocolate- dipped crickets, which I heard are crunchy. How about worm lollipops, chocolate scorpions and citrus flavored cricket lollipops? I heard that when you get over the animal part, then they are very good.
These are the famous foods that most people have heard about. I guess that the makers of these products thought if they add chocolate, people would eat them? Would you eat a chocolate covered bug?

Eskimos along the Bering Strait make their own kind of ice cream. It is creamy and it is cold and it is full of animal fat! Ice cream in the Eskimo's way has alot of fat which includes reindeer, dried salmon eggs or fish. It all depends on the availability of the animals. I assume they need the protein because they use so much in the cold weather. To tell the truth, everyone likes ice cream, even the Eskimos!

Before I go on, Companies make sure that the animal cannot hurt anyone with venom or stingers. The animals are usually cooked and stringers and such are taken out for customer's safety.

How about eating a still pumping frog's heart as sashi in Japan?
In alot of Japanese restaurants, they serve this dish, which is called 'frog sashimi'
Sashimi means- chilled raw seafood cut up in slices. Something in my mouth that is still moving and it is a animal, I don't know if I could do that? Could you?

I always thought that the next food was just an sausage name. Now I know that blood pudding is for real. Made from cooked animal blood and fillers, this pudding can be eaten at breakfast. It goes great with bacon, eggs and a slice of pudding. The fillers can be fat, potatoes, grains and such. So when you are in Ireland and Haggis is a bore to you, maybe try this instead?

How about eating baby octopus? This dish is much different. Take a live baby octopus, dip it in a plate of Soju. (alcohol) This puts the baby in some kind of sleep and then you eat it, alive.
Do I need to say more?

I thought that octopus was on the endangered list?
Now you have it, foods to get your tongue wagging. If you can do it?

Got to go, time to feed the turtles!

The Weird And Wonderful

By Barb Williams

Image courtesy of Barb Williams

I recently became acquainted with a woman who is traveling down a long road of sadness in her life. In addition to losing her spouse, she recently lost her long time and faithful companion and pet, and her recent rescue dog has just endured surgery to remove his left eye due to glaucoma; which in itself is bad, but this poor dog had already lost his right eye to the same disease about a year ago.

Some People Have Love for Everyone, Even Through Sadness

By Heather Chadwick

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Pauline Evans

In the Northeastern United States, residents have had an easier winter season than the last one. At one point last winter the region was averaging about a snowstorm a week. This past Saturday, January 21, saw the first snowstorm of the season (unless you count the storm that happened right before Halloween 2011). It was a much more manageable storm than the first one of the last winter season, and perhaps a bit more welcome. It made taking my dogs out easier and allowed them to enjoy some snow without feeling intimidated by the large masses of snow.

As my dogs get older, I know they can't navigate through snow and slippery ground as much, especially Molly. She's starting to walk slower through the snow, as if she assumes walking even a bit faster will cause her to slip. Her age is creeping up on her, even if she doesn't want to show it. Rosie, on the other hand, will only walk slow to copy Molly. Perhaps her only sign of age is acknowledging Molly's. She still loves to run up the stairs, run away from people she doesn't know, and run to the kitchen whenever I'm headed there. She can still very much catch any treat you throw to her; Molly is slower and sometimes needs a couple of minutes to even see the treat on the floor.

Even though age is creeping up on my girls, snow is still a huge favorite. Taking them out Saturday morning, they both got super excited to see snow on the ground, and made their way down the front steps and drove their noses right into the snow. They walked through every pile of snow they could, tails vigorously wagging, and not wanting to go anywhere close to being inside. Because it was very cold, however, they didn't fight too much about going back inside. I gave them a couple of minutes to enjoy the snow, and then it was right back inside. They are old(-er) ladies after all; I don't need them to get sick with colds!

During the day you could hear snow and sleet hit the window. When it got especially heavy, the cats would sit up in high alert, while the dogs would lounge contentedly, knowing they got to enjoy the snowy weather. Strictly inside cats, my cats' idea of stormy weather is limited to sounds of wet stuff hitting the window. They always look irritated when it gets loud enough to wake them up, but never hesitate to try to inspect it via windows. Fortunately for them, that's their only exposure to weather. Like all cats, they love anything they could see out the windows, even if it's gray skies and pouring rain. Unlike the dogs (and like I'm sure most cats) they hate the idea of being wet and would rather look at it via windows than have anything else to do with it. Whenever the dogs come inside after dealing with rain or snow, they run away as fast as they can, knowing full well the dogs are going to try to shake all the wet stuff off.

At least this winter season is a lot less snowy than the last- for the dogs' sake. Now, if only winter was the shortest season, for the sake of not being freezing when taking them out. What say we switch Spring and Winter for duration of seasons? Why not make Spring longer and Winter feel like the shortest? That way, the girls can spend more time outside and I won't be freezing and annoyed with every step I walk. Anyone agree?

A Less Snow-Filled 2012 (So Far...)

Image Freelance by Sasha Father

One of a Kind Rabbit Breeder

By Rochelle Bergman


In the last couple of years, man has gone where we haven't before.
We have seen and recorded many new species of animals, from different parts of our harsh world.

The East Scotia Ridge beneath the Southern Ocean, between the Antarctia and South America (and eastward) is one place.
Cameras were put under the water in 2 places at depths at 7,874 and 8,530 feet.
What kind of world did we find? A world of the unknown.
The animals that were found did not get their energy from the sun, but from breaking down of chemicals.
There are a few hydrothermal vents down there at the bottom, some vents get as warm as 721 degrees F.
The most important find was the new species that were seen.
Yeti crabs that grow their own food on their chests. A Sea- Star with 7 arms.
An unknown pale octopus was also seen. A spiral- shelled snail, barnacles and anemones were also found.
Wow, it must of been a sight to see all of these new sea animals!

We thought we knew sharks, but we are founding that we are just touching the tip of the shark iceberg.
The first hybrid shark was found off of the coast of Australia.
The local Black-Tip shark was/is mating with its cousin, the Black-Tip. The local shark lives only in tropical waters. They have found these hybrid sharks as far away as 2,000 kilometres down the coast in cool waters.
Scientists think there might be as many as 57 different species of hybrids swimming around. Are the sharks adapting to climate change? Can this be part of a natural process that we didn't know before?
Or can this be evolution in action?

The deepest region on Earth is under water. Here in the Mariana Trench, scientists from the Scripps Institute and the National Geographic dropped cameras called dropcams into the water. They found a single cell animal called the Xenophyophores. These animals live only in the deep, dark, low temperature and high pressure environment of the deep oceans.
The team found these one cell animals 6.6 miles down in the Mariana Trench.
The Xenophyophores can concentrate high levels of certain metals. These metals are uranium, lead and mercury. This action can make these single cell animals resistant to large doses of metals.

Now we go from the water to the land.
In the last few years over 208 new animal species have been found in Asia's Mekong River Region. I am writing about southeast Asia which includes Vietnam and Myanmar.
The new species include a monkey with hair like 'Elvis" which is called the Elvis monkey. (what else would it be called?)
There is also a Psychedelic Gecko and many more new species.
This River Region is a biodiversity area which is threatened by climate change, deforestestation, habitat loss and development.
The list of the most endangered animals are found in this area. These include the giant catfish, Mekong dolphin, tigers and Asian elephants.

The area with the most new species of animals is the same area with the most endangered ones.
It makes one think, doesn't it?

A lot of the research is done to protect animals from humans. To see how animals like the shark change or adapt to our way of life.

Knowing the animals may also save them.


Got to go, time to feed the turtles!

The Weird and Wonderful

Image Masters Photography of South Florida

Veterinarians, 100% correct?