Share Animal Pictures: For Animal Lovers

[BigDon]

One of the bigger disappointments in my life was commiting to memory the binomial names of over 1200 species of commonly kept aquarium fishes in the early 90's, exactly one year before there was a major revamping of the entire nomenclature system.

Kind of made me surly for a while. For years afterward whenever someone would correct me, my stock reply was, "You knew what I meant, right?"

 

[DennisN]

I can just look at that bottom picture and I already know what that room smells like.

Actually, it didn't smell bad. Filtration kept the water good and we had a great HVAC system.

I think I know what you are talking about. Is it that particular smell that can be around aquariums in e.g. pet stores? I actually like that smell, I don't know why, maybe I am weird.

Maybe it reminds me of childhood. We had an aquarium at home when I was a child, and I have memories of going around pet stores looking at and buying fish.

 

[BigDon]

But it did lead me to learn a lot of other binomial names, and thereby their connections to one another.

I believe you Mr. Tre, (or is it Dr. Tre?) Why? Because if that room wasn't redolent with geosmin, as suspected, point of pride would cause you to speak up, which it did.

It would be hard for normal Smoes* to keep that operation less than odiferous.*Portmanteau of Shmuck and Joe. Rhymes with Joe. In common usage locally.

 

[BigDon]

Mr. N,

The common mantra within the home aquarium industry is "A healthy aquarium, (freshwater) should smell like a warm plant."

The filtration system of healthy marine setups smells like cucumbers, at least to me.

 

[BillTre]

There are lots of kinds of smells possible around aquariums, some worse than others.

When I was four, my family moved to the DC area. For a year we lived in an apartment across the road from the National Zoo. It was my playground!
There are lots of smells in some of their buildings. Large animals buildings smelled a lot like a barn.

I had about 10-15 tanks when I was a kid (before going to college). Only some held fish.

It would be hard for normal Smoes* to keep that operation less than odiferous.

Well, we were well aware of the a bunch of problems like you describe. Since we got a lot of grant money to make a new facility, we designed things in, via the architect and many different engineers, to address our problems and improve conditions. This approach became standard for designing new NIH funded fish rooms.
I got along well with the engineers because I knew what I wanted to do and I was clear about it.
They were able to engineer it to happen with no problem other than cost and fitting it into the building.
We eliminated leaks, improved floors (sloping to drains has to be planned!), got an HVAC (air handling; heating ventilation and air conditioning) system able to keep the humidity and temperature down, got a great aquaculture water filtration unit (used on fish farms), computer controls/monitoring.
Lots of problems (and some labor) got engineered away. This was one of the most enjoyable, long term projects I have ever been involved in.
When done, everything was better.

 

[BigDon]

Mr. Tre, have you ever found yourself elbow deep in the alimentary canal of a large red tailed catfish, (the front end) trying to retrieve a piece of tank plumbing before the purchaser arrives to pick it up, and think about what life decisions you made that lead you up to that point?

Happened to me more than once.

Gastric juices make plastic elbow joints too slippery for gut hemostats to grip so one has to go in manually.

And *nobody* is happy about it. Not you, not the fish.

Normally we would just let the beasty regurgitate the piece, but there was a time factor involved. And nobody wants to pay for a very expensive fish with obvious mechanical parts in its stomach.

After the third time in as many years I was beginning to suspect the red tails were eavesdropping on the phone calls and doing this on purpose.

Everybody else, red tailed cats have white, flat stomachs and are shipped "empty". So when one does swallow tank hardware it's ridiculously obvious that something that doesn't belong in a fish is in there.

They swallow tank hardware that has a layer of biofilm on it as that and vibration fools their antennae system into thinking it's something edible.

 

[BigDon]

The largest Red Tail we sold was Kitty. She went to the Amazon display at the Mall of The Americas. She was the store's mascot for so long that when somebody did come up with a price the boss couldn't turn down, off she went. We had to router the top of the tank off to get her out and she weighed 65 pounds.

She was, without a doubt the largest fish I every sold. The next runner ups were four large morays that were all in the 35 to 37 pound range. Well over six foot long each.

Now THOSE were a chore to pack up and send home with a buyer.

That positively gets your adrenal glands a squeezin' btw.

I was already playing "Guess what bit me today!" with my brothers. Didn't want to add that to the list.

(I once had my right thumb completely dislocated by a specimen managuensis guarding his fry.)

 

[BigDon]

Another memorable fish was Queenie. She was a mature female Butterkoferi. Most people have never seen mature ones, just adolescents. Queenie had a 180 gallon tank all to herself. For very good reason. In the wild Butterkoferi will control 40 feet of river bank as their own exclusive economic zone. In Africa!

She was the most sold live fish on Earth.

We sold her to forever homes no less than ten times. Including times we felt positive about where she was going, because we were starting to take it as a challenge. We had two buyers who had large tanks and mature males. We waited until she was showing her ovipositor, the clearest indication she ready to mate, and both times she murdered her new beau in less than 24 hours. She even killed a 20 year old red eared slider!

We ended up having to donate her to Steinhardt.

 

[BigDon]

I was a prolific poster on the now defunct Fishindex dot com. One HUGE annoyance was this one articulate, well spoken poster who was also the editor of a major newspaper in Chicago. Wrote long, well written, informative posts.

That were patently wrong. Gawd!

Especially concerning cichlids. Proper pronunciation SICK-lid, not KITCH-lid. (Not addressed at you Bill.) His premise was all cichlids were naturally herbivores and only become carnivorous or omnivorous in unnatural settings.

I had the utter pleasure of reading the actual field notes of Dr. Axelrod the younger's expedition into the native range of the Oscar in the early 70's. (In the library of Steinhardt. My boss was on the board of directors so I would hitch along with him sometimes for behind the scenes activities.) In over 500 samples the *only* stomach contents Oscars had were immature crawfish. Samples were taken from both fish markets and fish collected more than 30 miles up and down stream from said markets, to exclude local conditions.

I got dunned by the mods for constantly pointing out this guy's errors. He claimed I was bullying him.

And it sort of did look like that, I confess. But he was just a well spoken bull slinger.

 

[jedishrfu]

These are great stories. You should consider writing a book on them. They’re reminiscent of the James Herriot books All Creatures Great and Small.

The Real Big Fish or some other catchy title.

 

[BigDon]

Of course one aspect of all this biology going on around you is that much like staring into the Abyss, (not advised as the Abyss stares back), biology will take advantage of any perceived weakness and exploit YOU.

Over forty years I've been treated for "aquarium lung" on three different occasions. Aquarium lung is like trombone lung. Comes from filthy habits i.e. mouth syphoning 1300 gallons a day of aquarium water over several years. (I was a busy beaver most of the time at that place.)

It goes without saying that aquarium organisms colonizing one's lungs is double ungood. And it gets bad fast too.

On the other hand I'm sure I developed a robust adaptive immune system.

 

[BigDon]

Way ahead of you sir.

My title was going to be "All Creatures Small and Slimey."

 

[jedishrfu]

Theres a parody song that matches your title sentiments from Monty Python I think:

 

[BigDon]

And for the life of me I can't fathom this site's quote system.

Well it's 8 pm local. Time to log out and go to bed. I'll check back with all of you tomorrow.

Goodnight all.

 

[BillTre]

Never heard of this Caecilius guy (who apparently was blind), but did used to keep Caecilians (which are also blind).

The ones I kept were aquatic blind, legless, tailless amphibians which shed they skin periodically (like reptiles), and gave birth (rather than laying eggs) after 21 months of gestation. Mine got to be 2-3 feet long. I have heard of them being referred to as the salamanders of S. America.

They are very active and look a lot like wiggly snakes. My son liked taking then the school because teachers often freaked out.

 

[etotheipi]

Gosh, they're freaky! Looks like a massive worm.

 

[BillTre]

Yes.
They are sold as rubber eels (but not really eels, or fish).
Last time I tried to get some, it was not possible because the animal importation bureaucrats had trouble distinguishing them from some endangered related species.

 

[etotheipi]

Speaking of funny animals, I remember laughing for like a solid 5 minutes when I first saw these things:

It reminded me of this iconic TV show that used to be on when I was very tiny:

 

[PeroK]

It reminds me more of this:

 

[hmmm27]

The mouth on that (tardigrade) looks positively industrial.

 

[DennisN]

I was out trying a zoom lens recently (a vintage Vivitar 70-300mm), and I saw a family of Eurasian coots in the park which I tried to photograph. It was very difficult of course, since they were often moving and I was using a lens with manual focus. Most of the photos got very blurry, but some got a bit better.

An adult coot feeding a juvenile coot:

A juvenile coot:

A coot in a nest:
(this was stationary, so it was easier)

 

[dlgoff]

Speaking of funny animals, I remember laughing for like a solid 5 minutes when I first saw these things:

Reminds me of this, compliments of https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/music/music-news/pigs-fly-pink-floyds-iconic-6339009:

 

[DennisN]

Hummingbirds!
(and more, in this very nicely shot clip)

The beauty of pollination

 

[DennisN]

More birds...
(taken yesterday with a manual Meike 35 mm f/1.4 lens)

The Eurasian coot family got revisited by me:

Another Eurasian coot foraging:

(here the funny feet can be seen, quote from Wikipedia: "As a swimming species, the coot has partial webbing on its long strong toes.")

A Greylag goose:

A Canada goose:

 

[Keith_McClary]

No beavers taken into custody after theft of wood posts​

The missing posts were found nearby following a short investigation. (Courtesy of Porcupine Plain RCMP)

 

[Keith_McClary]

First-of-Its-Kind Video Shows Giant Squid Hunt Their Prey Deep in The Ocean ​

 

[DennisN]

A Canada goose:

That was wrong. It's a Barnacle goose.

 

[DennisN]

Close-ups of Western jackdaws

Today I got very lucky with the camera!

I was walking through the park and met a man sitting on a bench, surrounded by a family of Western jackdaws, about 5 or 6 of them. He had been feeding them at the same spot regularly for some time, so they had grown very accustomed to him.

Luckily I had my camera with me, with my Canon FD 50mm portrait lens fitted.
So I got the opportunity to photograph this kind of bird under great circumstances;
they were really, really calm, and I could photograph them at between 1 and 2 meters distance.
I was just sitting there talking with the man for about 20 minutes, and photographing the birds peacefully like it was nothing .

It was a very serene experience, and really fun!

Two Western jackdaws:

One jackdaw looking at me:

Beautiful bird:

The hand of the man close to one of the jackdaws:

 

[DennisN]

I returned to the "bird man" in the park, this time with a Canon FD 135 mm mounted on the camera :

Portrait of a jackdaw:

The Crow Look:

Tasty beak:

A mouthful:
(This crow was not eating the food. He/she just put loads of it in the mouth and went off storing it somewhere. )

A jackdaw on a branch:
(I wish it was a bit sharper, but with animals you sometimes just have to take what you can get )

And two more...

A little Barnacle gosling out for walk:

A coot nest with two juveniles:

 

[DennisN]

This hero rat, who even was awarded a medal for the work, is retiring.

After Years Of Detecting Land Mines, A Heroic Rat Is Hanging Up His Sniffer (NPR)

Quote: "A heroic rat named Magawa has been working for five years in Cambodia, sniffing out dozens of land mines. He is believed to have saved lives. Now, the animal is about to embark on a well-deserved retirement."

 

[Jarvis323]

There's a a squirrel nest in a tree in my yard. I've watched them for generations. Durring the major lockdown, they and the birds were my only company for months. I've been filling a large dish of fresh water every day and one of them would come by my window and get my attention when it was empy. Now I'm afraid my neighbor, with a rat problem in his chicken coup, has poisened them all. I haven't seen any in about 3 days.

 

[DennisN]

There's a a squirrel nest in a tree in my yard.

Very cool photos!

 

[Jarvis323]

And it's confirmed, they're out there right now throwing poision pellots everywhere. Makes me a little angry, especially since they've made no serious effort to solve the problem any other way, and didn't notify me or the other neighbors. The cats I've seen coming around will probably die too. Later I'll go around the neighborhood warning people to watch out for signs that their cats and dogs have been poisoned.

 

[Jarvis323]

And it's confirmed, they're out there right now throwing poision pellots everywhere. Makes me a little angry, especially since they've made no serious effort to solve the problem any other way, and didn't notify me or the other neighbors. The cats I've seen coming around will probably die too. Later I'll go around the neighborhood warning people to watch out for signs that their cats and dogs have been poisoned.

I may have spoke too soon. I went to ask what kind of poison they're using and it is one that is supposedly non-toxic for dogs and cats, and inneffective for squirrels.

 

[DennisN]

A combination of a fish photo and selfie :

The focus is not very good since it was extremely difficult to focus on the fish with a handheld camera and a manual lens (almost impossible) since the fish were always moving . Next time I will use an automatic lens instead.