BECAUSE THIS IS AMAZING AND I AM LAUGHING SO HARD.

THERE ARE SOME PRETTY KINKY AND FLUFFY AND DARK SMUT ON AO3. CAN YOU IMAGINE BEDDING THE HUMAN MANIFESTATION OF SOME OF THE MOST ROMANTIC AND NASTY STORIES?

JUST.

What they did was take 25 cats who had stable human homes and 25 shelter cats and put them through the following test:

1) cats were given access to a familiar human who would talk to the cat for 1 minute, move to a different location, offer to pet the cat for 1 min, move to a different location, and offer to play with a wand toy for 1 min. (The preference was to compare cats to all stimuli simultaneously, but because they wanted to have the human be the same throughout the whole assay, they had to have the human change activities.)

2) cats were given access to 3 kinds of yummy cat food simultaneously: chicken, tuna, and “chicken flavored soft cat treat.” Each food was presented in 3 levels of accessibility: easy, medium difficulty, and “unsolvable” to prevent cats from actually getting at the food. Cats solved the unsolvable puzzle, so they had to make it harder! That meant that they could see how motivated cats were to consume each food in turn, and any hog cats who ate all the accessible food could still be assayed for choice by how much they hung around the food they liked best. Cats could access all three options for 3 minutes.

3) cats were given access to 3 kinds of biologically relevant kitty sniffs: a square cotton cloth that had been impregnated with the scents of gerbil, catnip, or an unfamiliar cat, and again cats had 3 minutes to investigate all the sniffs.

4) Cats had access to 3 kinds of toys: a movement toy being erratically moved by an experimenter who could not be seen or accessed by the cat, a mouse toy, and a feather toy. Cats also got 3 minutes to investigate the toy.

5) In the final phase of the experiment, cats were able to access all four of the types of stimuli, using whatever individual component each cat had liked best in the four earlier trials. Each was placed in a different quadrant of the room, so the cat couldn’t interact with all four at once. 

There were no difference between shelter and pet cats, as it turned out. you know what else the study found among the cats?

the most popular option among the four was the attention of a human. Yes, more popular than food, which came in second (admittedly, not significantly differently–19 to 14 cats–but hey, small sample size). 

Most interestingly to me, cats prefer to play with an unpredictable wand toy that has a known human on the other end to an unpredictable wand toy without a human operator. 

I continue to be impressed by the level of transparency that the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has committed to regarding medical issues with their animals. I frequently call for radical accountability and communication from the zoo industry, and they’re killing it What I really want to share with you is the video and accompanying explanation the zoo put out yesterday about what happened when Malaika went down. Since I can’t embed FB videos in tumblr, you can click through here (I highly recommend it - it’s not often the public gets to see how emergency elephant responses work) and I’ll copy their text below:

“This morning, a team of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo staff used specialized equipment to successfully assist Malaika, a 33-year-old African elephant, who was found lying on her side during an overnight check. If an elephant can’t get up on its own and is down for too long, it can cause stress to its internal organs and can be fatal. The team responded in the early-morning hours to mobilize a specialized crane-and-hoist system in the barn to help the elephant to her feet, since she was unable to stand on her own.

The team was made up of more than 20 cross-discipline Zoo staff members, including Malaika’s animal keepers, veterinary staff, maintenance and grounds personnel, The Colorado Springs Fire Department Heavy Rescue team, Broadmoor Fire Department, and more.

The Zoo’s emergency response team was able to use the barn’s hoist system to help Malaika into a sternal position (on her belly, with legs in a better position to stand). Malaika was then able to stand on her own, with the hoist strap still in place for support, at 6:47 a.m. Since then, her care team, including her keepers and veterinary staff, have been monitoring her for any additional medical concerns. She is drinking electrolyte water, eating some of her favorite treats, and taking medication for inflammation and pain.

Malaika has a history of not being able to get back up from laying down, and had to be rescued once before, on Jan. 1, 2018. Some elephants are able to lie down and get back up with no problem, but some, like Malaika, don’t ever lie down and instead just lean on objects for rest. This is partially due to a life-long issue with bowing and lack of strength in her back right leg, which is worsening as she ages.

Because of Malaika’s history, Zoo staff monitor her throughout the day and with checks every two hours overnight. Our monitoring system shows that Malaika went down around 3:45 a.m., from what appears to be a leg wobble during a deep sleep. She was discovered down during the 5 a.m. check. A core Zoo team was assembled at the elephant barn between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m., with a full team on-site by 6 a.m. Protocols were immediately put into place to help her stand.

The Zoo cares for an aging female elephant herd, so the barn is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment that helps address the inevitable complications that come with multi-ton animals that need medical assistance. Equipment includes a remote video surveillance system for animal care staff to monitor the elephants, the crane-and-hoist system that can lift a disabled elephant and a care system that provides a safe area for weighing, veterinary care and husbandry training. Outdoor wellness features of the exhibit include an exercise path, built-in enrichment activities, a pool and a spacious vacation yard, where our elephants can take time to roam and explore by themselves.

Zoo staff performs drills to practice and test protocols for situations like these. The last “down elephant” drill occurred in January 2019, which is likely one reason the procedure to help Malaika today ran as successfully as it did.

We appreciate your support and well wishes for Malaika. We will bring you an update on how she is doing in the coming days.”

Okay, so there’s a couple things I want to talk about here:

I love the full transparency here. The amount of detail on her medical history, the little things like specific times being referenced… they give a very intimate view into the incident that avoids feeling like a nice slick PR statement. They’re earning the trust of their audience with each post like this.

Down elephant drills are really important, and every zoo with elephants does them. I’ve gotten to sit through a really cool conference session where a bunch of different facilities discussed their plans and drills and how they coordinate with local emergency response. For instance, if an elephant goes down outside, and you need a crane to help stand them back up - better have done a dry run getting that piece of machinery into the habitat before you have an emergency! And yes, some zoos do have “elephant stand-ins” they’ll practice rescuing.

The reason “being down” is a problem for elephants is because the sheer weight of their body crushes their own tissues, or cuts off circulation. They can and do lay down to sleep at night naturally, but not for long periods at one time. The issues start when an elephant can’t shift position or get back up on their own. This is also a consideration for veterinary procedures involving anesthetizing elephants - the longer they’re out and laying still, the more risk there is.

it can be hard to tell sea dinos apart so here’s a handy guide on all the different kinds:

Evolution Series: A Drove of Dragons

Dragons are some of the most fantastical creatures to never have evolved. With their burning breath and aerial proficiency, they have inspired legends all over the world for thousands of years.

*The animals represented here are not to scale and don’t represent a direct line of descent, but rather plausible models for how this amazing transition could’ve happened. Also this is an April fool’s joke.*

Some cultural values and moral beliefs do in fact have more value than others, specifically the ones that respect people’s human rights.  

“My culture say it’s cool if I chop up my baby’s genitals in a way that will be a net negative on her life” is not something you have to permit in order to be a tolerant person. Sometimes the path of tolerance means acting in a way that may be seen as intolerant in order to protect others from the real intolerance at play. Someone who paints their evil actions as “just a different culture that you’re being intolerant of” is nothing but a manipulator who wants to get away with it. 

I’ve found a new favourite artist!

mr rogers was bisexual

Wolf-trap fish (Thaumaticthydiae) (image source) : this is actually a very divergent anglerfish with a long body and a lure that dangles down through the roof of its mouth. You can see how the huge upper jaw is folded almost inside-out, which is its normal resting position. The two lobes of the jaw fold downwards to close on prey.

Because of this arrangement and the location of the lure, it’s thought that this angler specializes in prey that live on the floor of the abyss.

Monognathidae (image source): this is a relative of the gulper eel, but instead of having huge pelican-like jaws, it has a unique switchblade-like lower jaw and only one tooth, situated in the roof of its mouth and supposedly venomous, though it’s hard to find sources going into any further detail on that.

Tube Eye Fish (Stylephorus) (image source) : this fish has an incredibly long, threadlike tail, huge binocular-like eyes, and fairly large jaws but only a TINY actual mouth opening. When the jaws are opened, that tiny opening results in a powerful but thin current of suction, and the eyes probably allow it to aim that vortex with extreme precision.

Grideye fish (Ipnopidae) (image source) : by the time it reaches adulthood, this fish completely loses its original eyes and instead develops a pair of concave, dish-like sensory pits that only seem to detect light and dark while emitting a faint yellow glow of their own. Why it goes to this extreme really isn’t known, so there might be something to these weird eye-pits that we don’t know yet. All grideyes are hermaphroditic and they spend a lot of time sitting on the ground, eating worms and crustaceans.