Animals are Magical

[rgray222]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Johnnycomelately (here)
From TWZ Bunker today.

RandomStranger94
3 hours ago
We are truly living in the worst timeline and nature is adapting to us.

My reaction is a little off-topic on this thread. But I feel I have to say that in so many ways that's a terribly ironic commentary on our relationship with the ever-suffering natural world around us.

I'm happy that a bird managed to make a nest from what it could find, but unmentioned here is that that bird's life very likely ended when the bomb destroyed the tree in which it had so carefully built its nest.

In all the millions of words written and spoken about this war and others, I've rarely found anyone at all who mentions or even appears to think about the impact of war and relentless high explosive on all the other living things around.

We are indeed steadily destroying this very beautiful world. The author of the tweet who wrote "We are truly living in the worst timeline" was correct.

I have often thought about war's profound impact on animals, particularly dogs. They possess the extraordinary ability to live in the present and be fully aware of the moment; this is something I strive to do but often struggle with. Their capacity to be truly present is a remarkable gift, and in "normal" times, it must provide them with a consistent feeling of happiness and a true sense of peace. However, when a dog (or most animals) are placed in a war zone, this extraordinary gift can turn into a living nightmare. The never-ending, relentless danger and chaos destroy their natural state of mindfulness, leaving them in constant distress. This reality should be a reminder that our inability to live in peace has a strong deep effect on all living beings, not just humans and animals. Peace is the starting point of for human change. Peace is the most fundamental and urgent issue of our time. Peace is not just an ideal it is the most crucial prerequsite for mankinds survival.

My apologies for getting a bit off topic but I feel strongly about this issue.

[Johnnycomelately]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
My reaction is a little off-topic on this thread. But I feel I have to say that in so many ways that's a terribly ironic commentary on our relationship with the ever-suffering natural world around us.

I'm happy that a bird managed to make a nest from what it could find, but unmentioned here is that that bird's life very likely ended when the bomb destroyed the tree in which it had so carefully built its nest.

In all the millions of words written and spoken about this war and others, I've rarely found anyone at all who mentions or even appears to think about the impact of war and relentless high explosive on all the other living things around.

We are indeed steadily destroying this very beautiful world. The author of the tweet who wrote "We are truly living in the worst timeline" was correct.

Remember that movie, where Viggo’s character leaves a note for Demi’s character? Poem by D.H. Laurence, titled Self-Pity.

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

That’s how I take this news. And how I run my life.

[RunningDeer]

Splish Splash

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Pe4WsVcArO0

[Eva2]

A beautiful welcome:

'Herd Exciting On Arrival Of New Rescue Elephant “Dok Koon” - ElephantNews

Many people still believe that elephants lack emotions and feelings. I urge you to watch this clip. Every time, upon arriving at Elephant Nature Park with new Park members, we will witness various family groups in the field become highly attentive. Sometimes it is just the truck, but more often it is the knowledge that someone is on that truck. Elephants cluster at the gate, anticipating the arrival of a truck with a new member. They‘d raise their trunks and fuss, communicating amongst themselves. Occasionally, elephants aboard the vehicle would respond with a similar Trunks Up and a cacophony of welcoming sounds.

Just 2 days ago, such a welcoming committee marked Dok Koon’s arrival. Chana‘s family, eliciting excited and curious noises reflected their raw emotions. This is the heartwarming welcome toward new elephant arrivals at Elephant Nature Park. Allowing them to freely express themselves reveals their wonderful and amazing reactions to each other.'

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=W4LHJaEWPWs

[RunningDeer]

Who's Hiding Inside a Mexican Jumping Bean?

Often sold as novelty items and exported worldwide, Mexican jumping beans are actually the seed capsules of a shrub (Sebastiania pavoniana) that have been taken over by the tiny larvae of an attractive grey moth (Cydia saltitans).

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=xtKB9YAF0ME

longer version - 4 minutes

Why Did the Mexican Jumping Bean Jump?

To find its place in the shade! Each hollowed-out seed is home to a head-banging moth larva, just trying to survive the harsh Sonoran Desert sun.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3lkdidU79TY

[Bluegreen]

New Species of Imperial Pigeon Identified





Ducula is a genus of generally large, heavy-bodied pigeons within the family Columbidae.

Collectively known as imperial pigeons, these birds live in the rainforest canopy throughout the Indo-Pacific region, and can reach considerable sizes (35 to 45 cm, or 14 to 18 inches).

Because their diet primarily consists of fruit, they likely play an important role as seed dispersers in tropical forests.

“Modern checklists recognize 42 species in the genus Ducula, a clade of large ‘imperial pigeons’ that inhabits the Indo-Pacific region,” Dr. Halley wrote in his paper in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club.

“This paper concerns a poorly known group (putative clade) of four species that occurs in the Philippines and Sulawesi, Indonesia, on opposite sides of Wallace’s Line.”

The newly described Ducula species is endemic to Tawi-Tawi Island in the Sulu Archipelago of the Philippines. Named Ducula tawitawi, or the Tawi-Tawi imperial pigeon, the bird has a white throat, unlike the brown throat of the widespread pink-bellied imperial pigeon (Ducula poliocephala), a related species found throughout the Philippines.

Its calls are also distinct, providing a second major clue that the isolated population represents a separate species.

New Owl Species Discovered in Peru





The newly described owl species belongs to the genus Bubo, a group that includes over 10 species of American horned owls and Old World eagle-owls.

Named Bubo jalca (common name is the Jalca horned owl), the bird inhabits the jalca, a cold, high-elevation grassland and cloud-forest habitat restricted to the Huancabamba Depression, a geographic dip in the Peruvian Andes that separates the páramo ecosystem to the north from the puna to the south.

“Bubo jalca is a particularly rare taxon, or at least a very scarce one, within its area of occurrence: the jalca and the adjacent cloud forest,” said Universidad Nacional de Piura ornithologist Armando Ugaz Cherre and his colleagues Argentina and Peru.

“To date, no photographs of the species are known, an indirect reflection of its singularity.”

What sets the new species apart, according to the researchers, is its call.

“Its call is distinguishable both aurally and by phrase structure on spectrograms and oscillograms and is therefore diagnostic. It utters a rapid ‘jé-cu!’ with emphasis on the first syllable, rather than the prolonged trisyllabic ‘cus-cún-go’ of the male Bubo nigrescens (with stress on the middle syllable), or the rapid bisyllabic ‘tu-cú’ of both sexes of Bubo magellanicus.”

https://www.sci.news/biology/ducula-tawitawi-15074.html
https://www.sci.news/biology/bubo-jalca-15051.html

[Johnnycomelately]

Blue Whales in the eastern Indian Ocean have a problem. They are being bitten by tiny (50 cm) Cookiecutter sharks, so-named because their bite removes a round chunk of flesh several inches wide.

The location of this study, Timor-Leste (otherwise or previously known as East Timor), is several hundred miles northwest of Darwin Australia.

The scientist in the vid suggests that this little shark species is experiencing a population bloom due to its natural predators, other shark species, being depleted by fishing/overfishing. He says that the afflicted whales look unhealthy, and that this may be due to this “parasite” shark, rather than a situation where previously unhealthy whales are more easily preyed upon by the magical little buggers.

First I’ve heard of these nasty fish, which according to some comments bite many types of critters, from Orcas to humans.

L = 13:06


Blue Whales Are Covered in Hundreds of Shark-Bite Craters (Timor-Leste)

OceanX
611K subscribers

Sep 20, 2026

Off Timor-Leste, blue whales pass through one of the ocean's great migration corridors, and many are carrying hundreds of strange, crater-shaped wounds.

Marine biologist Mark Meekan and the OceanX team set out to understand what tiny cookiecutter sharks may be doing to the largest animals on Earth. Aboard OceanXplorer, they track the whales using helicopters, drones including the SnotBot, and thermal imaging, reading the story written across their bodies without ever touching them.

What are these wounds actually costing the whales, and could they be a sign of a larger shift underway in the ocean around Timor-Leste?

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=GMJrFE27chc

[rgray222]

Baby elephant rescued from floodwaters and returned to its mother. Video 1 minute

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=a-_TZ8HSu0M

[RunningDeer]

Plumes and the Flamingos

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=51uK6eBIvdk

Plumes and the Donkeys

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=7HWquh9HZtU

[Johnnycomelately]

Fat Bear contest has a winner. How many fish helped him do that, and what are their stories?

If fish could talk. Probably last words, “Get out da way dopey!”.

’Backpack' takes 2026 Fat Bear title

Reuters
4.33M subscribers

Sep 30, 2026

Bear 89, nicknamed "Backpack," has been crowned the 2026 Fat Bear Week champion at Alaska's Katmai National Park after winning the annual online voting contest.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z1QZL3Djpug

[Ravenlocke]

Happy St Francis day, today is the feast of St Francis of Assisi and it is a jubilee year as it marks 800 years from his passing. He used to preachto animals and he also helped popularize the Christmas Nativity scene: In 1223, at Greccio, Francis arranged a living representation of the Nativity to help people contemplate the mystery of Christ's birth

Lots of people have their animals blessed on this feast day.


SG News

🚨 Pet Blessing: Hundreds of pet owners gathered at Quito's San Francisco Plaza for a mass animal blessing honoring St. Francis of Assisi. 🐕 Priests blessed dogs, cats, guinea pigs, fish, and roosters. #Quito #AnimalWelfare #SGNews

https://x.com/SGNews123/status/2106631602101240190

Manila Standard

IN PHOTOS│Pet owners bring their furry friends to the Malate Church in Manila on Sunday, Oct. 4,2026 for vaccination and blessing of animals in celebration of the Feast of Patron Saints of Animals St. Francis of Assisi and World Animal Day.

📸: Norman Cruz

https://x.com/mnlstandardph/status/2106622148605616293

Fr. Paolo D'Angona

In some places, the blessing of animals takes place on October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. The old Rituale Romanum contains several formulas for the blessing of (sick and healthy) animals. Below is a general formula (for the blessing of horses and other animals):

https://x.com/RomanoSace57080/status...68386914885984

[Ravenlocke]

Vajiram & Ravi

🐾 World Animal Day 2026 | See the World Through Their Eyes

#WorldAnimalDay #AnimalWelfare #AnimalRights #WildlifeConservation #Biodiversity #ClimateChange #UPSC2027 #VajiramAndRavi

https://x.com/VajiramRavi/status/2106542557459030282

[Inversion]

Check out the armadillo at 1:54.

10/03/26 (10:55) Ginger Cat

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AtIg4jZINN8

[RunningDeer]

Upside-Down Catfish

What's the point of being upside down all the time well near the surface of the water? Fish normally run into a problem called wave drag. This drag happens when their own movement disturbs the water making it harder to swim. If it doesn’t shake up the water, it doesn’t get so tired and saves its energy for evading predators.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=lTUTeHU1rIc

Longer version: 3:48 minutes.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=eurCBOJMrsE

[Inversion]

10/05/26 (3:43) FurEverFriends

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=o7YWLJujDuE

[Bluegreen]

57 New Species Discovered In Deep-sea Canyon Near Argentina



Including ‘Loki the Sea Cucumber.’





A mischievous sea cucumber and 56 other newly discovered marine species are making a splash in the South Atlantic Ocean. The new creatures were discovered during an expedition of the Mar del Plata Submarine Canyon off the coast of Argentina in August 2025.

This expedition focused on the Brazil–Malvinas Confluence, a region where warm subtropical currents collide with cold, nutrient-rich sub-Antarctic waters. The result is an oceanographic crossroad bustling with biodiversity. The submarine canyon itself is nearly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon (over 11,000 feet).

Among this new crop of ocean dwellers is “Loki the Sea Cucumber” (genus Peniagone). This deep-sea echinoderm is named for its appendages, which resemble the Norse god of mischief’s horns. It was discovered at 8,454-feet-deep (2,577 meters) and is one of potentially 10 new sea cucumber species discovered in this expedition.

They also found 20 new species of copepods, small crustaceans found all over the world. While the team only examined 10 percent of the samples collected during the expedition, every specimen was a species new to science.





“Discovering 57 new species and five new genera in just two weeks demonstrates the speed and power of collaborative taxonomy,” Michelle Taylor, Ocean Census’ Head of Science, said in a statement. “The deep sea holds some of the least understood ecosystems on Earth. By bringing Latin America’s scientific expertise and international experts together with, as well as connecting them to the open-access Ocean Census NOVA platform, we are drastically accelerating our understanding of marine biodiversity.”

Published 5th October 2026 by Laura Baisas - Popular Science
https://www.popsci.com/environment/5...ies-argentina/

(0:58)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=r4PpKgfygVg