Animals are Magical

[samsdice]

The very rare deersnail

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Mr Nobody (here)
If animals had a religion, humans would be the devil.

This is a quote from the famous British philosopher and author Aldous Huxley (1894—1963). He was certainly speaking for me, too.

[RunningDeer]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by Mr Nobody (here)
If animals had a religion, humans would be the devil.

This a quote from the famous British philosopher and author Aldous Huxley (1894—1963). He was certainly speaking for me, too.

AI's report:

The quote “If animals had a religion, humans would be the devil” is attributed to William Ralph Inge (1860–1954), an English clergyman and writer.

His original, longer wording was:

“We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form.”

The passage comes from his lecture The Idea of Progress, delivered in 1920 and later reprinted in Outspoken Essays: Second Series (1922).

William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) was an English Anglican priest, theologian, author, and academic philosopher. He was widely known as “the Gloomy Dean” because of his pessimistic views about modern society, politics, and human nature.

The shorter version you quoted is a modern paraphrase of Inge's original words. The message is a powerful criticism of humanity's treatment of animals.

Inge was also an early advocate of better treatment for animals. He argued that humanity's mistreatment of other creatures revealed a serious moral failing. That conviction is reflected in his famous quote about animals imagining humans as the devil.

[Johnnycomelately]

Butterfly priestess flutters by millions of devils when flying to Mexico from Canada. She is still 800 km from her destination, the Monarch Resort and Casino in the scenic foothills of Mt Popocatépetl, southeast of Mexico City. So far, over 40 days, she has averaged 60 km each day, totalling an astounding 2,300 km. But that is straight line distance, known in flying circles as “As the bird flys”. But since butterflies fly “As the butterfly flys”, she has probably flown 2 or 3 times that distance. Amazing!

We don’t yet know the name of her religion, because studies of butterfly language are riddled with riddles, probably due to the AI research assistant hallucinating about huge Mexican vacation orgies. Like, “How does this species get off on traveling thousands of miles for something that is only an internet hack away?”. It gets worse, because AIs were developed by devils, NSFA.


https://globalnews.ca/news/12099237/...fly-in-mexico/

Worth clicking, for the ~2 min vid. Shows the little electronic “tag” (solar powered), and how they glue it to the bug. Devils bein’ devilish.


First butterfly tagged in Winnipeg makes it to Mexico, expert says

By Rachel Morgan Global News
Oct 11, 2026


After a journey of approximately 2,300km over the span of 40 days, a monarch butterfly has arrived in Mexico from Winnipeg.


How exactly do researchers know? They’ve been tagging them.

A research team from the Assiniboine Park Zoo, in collaboration with Environment and Climate Change Canada, began attaching miniscule tracking devices to monarchs in August.

Laura Burns, conservation programs manager at the Assiniboine Park Zoo, said the devices run on solar power.

“There’s two tiny solar panels and each little tag weighs 0.06 grams. They are solar powered, so they’ll continue running as long as they have access to sunlight and they ping off of cell towers, cell phones and wildlife telemetry towers to track migration,” she said.

Burns said more than 1,300 monarchs have been tagged this fall across North America.


The Assiniboine Zoo tagged 29, and they are patiently waiting to see more arrive in Mexico.


“Some of them are still on the move. There are a bunch in Kansas and Missouri and Oklahoma and Texas right now,” Burns said. “A few of them will be making it to Mexico the next few days I’m hoping, if the winds are in their favor.”


The journey though, is a dangerous one.

“They could run into cars, cities, agricultural fields, predators, bad weather events. All of these things can make the journey super dangerous, and we don’t really know the direct path they take,” Burns said.


But one butterfly tagged by the Winnipeg zoo has already made it to Mexico, one of three that have been detected in the country so far this season.


“It seems like it’s within the realm of normal, but she is one of the early arrivals in Mexico,” Burns said, adding the butterfly still has approximately 800 kilometres to go before it reaches its overwintering site.

Tracking the butterfly migration also allows researchers to identify what pathways they take so they can focus on conservation efforts in those areas.

“These data will show where those pinch points are, where [the butterflies] are not making it past. And maybe we should be focusing our mitigation and conservation efforts on those spots to make the biggest impact,” Burns said.

[Eva2]

'Pelican Katta-kun Went to School For 20 years Just to Play With Students
Meet Katta-kun, the famous pink pelican who escaped Tokiwa Park zoo every day for 20 years just to attend Meiko Kindergarten in Japan! Raised by humans, Katta-kun waddled through school hallways, joined classes, and became an emotional support classmate to generations of students.

His heartwarming story captured millions of hearts, inspired television specials, and led to the anime movie The Tale of Katta-kun. Discover the incredible true story of Japan's favorite school-going pelican!'

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EmAON8YjZng

[rgray222]

I encourage you to visit the Reuters site that published this story. This is simultaneously a sad and heartwarming story, but it is worth the read. There are some wonderful images and videos. I was not aware that the world’s three species of orangutan are native only to Borneo and Sumatra. When it comes to animal conservation, it does not get much more important than this..........

Indonesian rescue centre takes in more orangutans as fires rage


A rehabilitation centre in Borneo is taking in more orangutans as the country’s worst wildfires in a decade sweep through the forest home of the critically endangered animals.

n the jungles of Indonesian Borneo, a rehabilitation centre is taking in more orangutans as the country’s worst wildfires in a decade sweep through the forest home of the critically endangered animals.

The intense wildfires, burning mainly on Borneo and Sumatra islands, began in July and could continue until November, aggravated by a severe El Niño weather pattern, the government has warned.

“I think so far this looks quite similar to the 2015 fires,” said Karmele Llano Sanchez, co-founder of Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI), who has worked in Indonesia for more than 20 years. “It’s possible that in the months to come, they (the orangutans) will also be affected by not having enough to eat, not having enough room, enough habitat, and starvation.”

The world’s three species of orangutan are native only to Borneo and Sumatra.

YIARI, in the Ketapang region of Indonesia's West Kalimantan province, is now looking after 90 orangutans, after rescuing 49 since August, foundation spokesperson Heribertus Suciadi said.

Full Story: https://www.reuters.com/investigates...re-orangutans/

[Ewan]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ponX6D2y0fQ

[Harmony]

A wonderful rescue story with a short video and story at this link:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-...coln/107291116

In short:

A routine fishing trip turned into an unlikely rescue mission when the crew spotted a kangaroo far from shore on Boston Bay this week.

Diver and farmer Jake Murray was able to keep the waterlogged animal calm as the boat ferried it back to shore.
What's next?

Once back on dry land, the animal rested on the beach before bounding away.

[onawah]

Some classic moments in this funny compilation

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mlquvEt2KnA

[Johnnycomelately]

TIL sponges are critters. Mostly filter feeders, but some are carnivores. And their skeletons are made of glass.

Back in my oilfield exploratory drilling job days, I recall reading that huge ancient coral reefs are now prime reservoirs of oil and gas. Funny-interesting, how the world works.


Discovered a ‘tropical forest’ on the Arctic seabed

Uppsala universitet
18.3K subscribers

Oct 19, 2026

A ‘tropical forest’ of sponges thrives on the Arctic seabed. Join Uppsala University researcher Paco Cardenas as he shares findings from a Greenpeace expedition, including potentially new species, and explores how deep-sea mining could threaten marine biodiversity.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=o9vMS_TZzsQ

[grapevine]

Eider Ducks

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zzTAtWgs6hM

No "quacks" at all

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=I6j2DulfdJo

A shame their home is ransacked but better than being plucked

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4BQ5Btxvg9g

[grapevine]

Wow - who'd have thought?

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=k-z9B4L-HAs

[Vicus]

Great minds think alike

[Ewan]

The Amazing Pangolin

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

Eye of the Pangolin is a pangolin documentary of two men on a mission to share the wonder of all four species of African pangolin on camera for the first time ever.

Follow their extraordinary journey to remote locations on the African continent, from arid savannah to exotic jungles. Become captivated by these extraordinary creatures as the filmmakers meet the people who are caring for and studying pangolins in a desperate attempt to save them from being poached and traded into extinction.

Timeline:
01:00 Introduction to The Pangolin Documentary
03:00 Temminck's Ground Pangolin
05:00 Why are pangolins poached from the wild?
08:00 Pangolin rehabilitation
12:30 Pangolins and electric fences
19:00 Releasing a pangolin back into the wild
23:00 White Bellied Tree Pangolin
27:00 Black-Bellied Tree Pangolin
33:05 Giant Ground Pangolin
40:05 Pangolin Conservation efforts

Filmed in Ultra High Definition, this ambitious pangolin documentary is freely available online for commercial-free viewing.

Our goal at Pangolin.Africa is to make Eye Of The Pangolin one of the most widely watched wildlife documentaries ever. If enough people learn to care for this animal, there is a chance that it can be saved. So please share this film with everyone you believe will be touched by this magical creature. If we don’t do something now, the illegal wildlife trade to the east will ensure that pangolins will disappear from the planet within the next 10-20 years.

[grapevine]

White Spotted Pufferfish

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=MVbJmRG62Mo