[is-the-fox-video-cute]

Animal welfare = a science based approach to the needs of animals, taking the needs and behaviour of different species into account and ensuring they are treated humanely and cared for in ways that allow them to live good lives

Animal rights = an emotional approach based on the feelings of individuals who do not necessarily understand the animals they are advocating for, who often group all species needs and behaviours as one and who may end up causing more suffering to animals through failing to understand their actual needs. 

[vintagewildlife]

American red fox stalking a ground squirrel By: Brian Milne From: Natural History Magazine 1985

[vintagewildlife]

Zebra finches By: Graeme Chapman From: Wildlife of the Deserts 1980

[vintagewildlife]

American red fox with a dead squirrel By: Stephen J. Krasemann From: Natural History Magazine 1985

[vintagewildlife]

Grey fox By: Porter From: Living Mammals of the World 1969

[whats-this-mustelid]

I just think that 'animals are living intelligent creatures that have feelings and deserve to be respected' and 'when done properly farming is beneficial to both people and animals and there's nothing wrong with raising and killing animals for food, clothing, and other products' are concepts that very much can and should coexist

[talesfromtreatment]

On my way to start day 4! First lectures are feline nuisance behaviors and pitfalls in canine socialization

[talesfromtreatment]

Big takeaways:

Nuisance behaviors are normal behaviors that annoy or may pose some danger

Avoid thoughts about it being spite, dominance, or vengeance- this creates an adversarial relationship with your pet in your mind. Makes you less likely to recognize what your cat actually needs to help

Punishment should always be last option, not first. Why? Because if the punishment is delayed or inconsistent (you sleep, leave the house, etc), cat only learns that "sometimes this person just goes ballistic at me for no reason" which in turn creates *anxiety*.

Scratching? Scratching is psychologically necessary. Even declawed cats will do this even though it causes them pain.

Protect furniture with a cover. Not aversives like sticky tape, just protect. Look at what textures, heights, sturdiness, orientation, location cat is scratching. Do best to replicate with something they *can* scratch. Encourage them to use with play, attention, treats.

Climbing counters? Cats want to be high AND social.

Keep tempting items off counters. Provide nearby climbing opportunities that are slightly higher than counter. Put treats there to encourage use.

Do NOT punish when up high or on slick surface. Startle response means they can easily land wrong and break a bone.

Pouncing on ankles? Cat needs more opportunities to express hunting behaviors AND interact with you.

If pouncing through doors, keep basket of noisy toys nearby and toss a toy through door to get cat to pounce on that instead. Provide more enrichment.

It is not enrichment if the cat doesn't actually engage with it.

[dragon-hoard]

"rescued from a fur farm" you mean you BOUGHT an animal and CONTRIBUTED to the fur industry for your own pick-me cinderella hypocritical self rightousness

small animal fur farms are bougie bullshit but just admit you want a ~special pet~ rather than spin it as something non selfish

*not all fur is bad. large animal fur is incredibly useful and when well kept can last decades longer than plastic polyester bullshit

*I will not be debating anyone on this topic

[onenicebugperday]

Nut weevil (genus Curculio) on a USB cable

Photographed by Ken-ichi Ueda

[whats-this-mustelid]

I just think that 'animals are living intelligent creatures that have feelings and deserve to be respected' and 'when done properly farming is beneficial to both people and animals and there's nothing wrong with raising and killing animals for food, clothing, and other products' are concepts that very much can and should coexist

[anyonewestofbree]

When your enrichment’s too scary…..

[dimetrodone]

I’m the world’s worse advocate for wasps. Everytime I see people repeating bees=nice good pollinators wasps=bad stinging meanies, I face a deep internal struggle trying to explain how they are important to the environment without explaining wasp facts that freak them out in ways they never even thought

[dimetrodone]

“Bees might be cuter and make honey, but wasps are VERY important too, some of them are necessary as pollinators themselves! Hey anyways you wanna hear some fucked up things about figs?”

[dimetrodone]

“You hate wasps? Well think of a bug that you hate more then wasps. There’s probably a parasitoid wasp that lays their eggs inside them and their babies to devour them alive from the inside, reducing that insect species’ population!”

“Your least favourite bug is parasitoid wasps now? Well you are gonna be THRILLED and CONFLICTED about the existence of hyperparasitic wasps.”

[sadilga]

she can be your angle....or yuor devil

(obligatory disclaimer: she's just eating a treat in the second pic so it's not actually an aggressive expression)

[sadilga]

give a girl a treat and she will make the most beautiful expressions

[sadilga]

women be touching grass

[agro-carnist]

PSA for my fellow Americans: if you have a pet that needs anxiety medication for the fourth of July, I recommend getting those as soon as possible. We always run low on those as it gets closer to the holiday and clinics are still affected by medication shortages from COVID

[agro-carnist]

If you have difficulty physically getting to a vet clinic you can order prescription medication on sites like chewy.com. you just need to have your vet sign off on a prescription for them. If you need to do this please do it early to leave time for your vet to sign off on the prescription and for the medication to be shipped to you. Also if your pet has not seen the vet in over a year since vets are legally obligated to have an exam on your animal within the past year in order to dispense medication to you. Trazodone and gabapentin are prescription drugs! You cannot get them OTC. We want all of your pets to be safe during the holiday

[crevicedwelling]

MANTISES ARE RELATED TO ROACHES??

yes! while they do have differing ecologies—mantises generally are elongate, diurnal predators and cockroaches generally are flattened, nocturnal detritivores—it’s not so surprising if you take a closer look:

they are one another’s closest relatives, being grouped together in the superorder Dictyoptera, which is revealed by their many shared anatomical features.

if you compare the wing structure on these two, you’ll find the veins are very similar. to get a mantis out of a roach, evolutionarily speaking, all you’ve got to do is elongate the pronotum (roach head shield, mantis ‘torso’), elongate the legs, and enlarge the eyes.

mantises and roaches also both produce “oothecae,” tough eggcases in which eggs are protected from the environment. mantis ooths are often made of sturdy, hard foam, while roach ooths are leathery and purse-like.

the raptorial legs of mantises aren’t too greatly modified from a roach forelimb, either. roaches already have spiny legs for digging and defense; with additional spines organized in rows, there’s a powerful grasping foreleg.

additionally, some of the most basal (least changed from the original ancestor) mantises retain a number of very roach-like features, such as flat bodies, a short pronotum, and long cerci (“butt antennae”). Chaeteessa doesn’t even have the long spike at the end of the tibia segment! although I’m not entirely sure if all of these roachy structures are necessary primitive and not secondarily derived, these two do give a good look at how mantises might’ve looked before they evolved the characteristic spindly green forms you recognize today.

Metallyticus fallax

Metallyticus fallax from 115, Jalan Bukit Idaman 1, Taman Bukit Idaman, 68100 Batu Caves, Selangor, Malaysia on April 20, 2019 at 01:25 PM b

Genus Chaeteessa

Chaeteessa from Limón, Costa Rica on January 27, 2023 at 12:29 PM by Martin Galli