Interesting Animals.
I read a very interesting story about a man who was puzzled by the fact every time he would leave his workbench at home, no matter what a mess he left, it would be cleaned up and he could not figure out who or what was doing it. Was it a spirit, some alien being or was there a different explanation. He didn’t think someone would sneak in every night just to clean up. He decided to install a camera one night and the next day he couldn’t believe his eyes. There was a mouse which was determined to clean up his mess. There was a box on the workbench and the mouse would move around putting objects in the box until everything was cleaned up. It would even drag tools like a heavy screwdriver and some how get it into that box. This had been going on for two months before the camera was installed. I think the workbench was in a barn but I could be wrong. I have to wonder if the guy felt he had to reward the mouse for doing this, maybe with some cheese or peanut butter, he deserved it.
The mouse is not the only animal which has done some really strange things. Usually, animals only mate with their own species, that is why scientists couldn’t understand why an animal would try and mate with a bird. Yes, I know but it was a big bird, as a matter of fact it was a penguin. Several seals tried to do this. No one was able to figure out why. Was there some primordial instinct which came to the forefront when ancient ancestors of these animals used to mate? Could it be there were no female seals around and the males got desperate? I guess we not only will never know, but understand why they did this.
You just have to wonder how smart an Orca is. We know they are part of the dolphin family and dolphins are said to be the second smartest species on the planet. A group of Orcas were looking for seals, I guess they wanted to make a meal of one. Anyway, the found a seal but there was a problem, it was in the middle of a small floating iceberg. They looked the situation over and then decided there was an answer. The Orcas cooperated and made a large wave which flushed the poor seal into the water where it met its fate. Group cooperation is a sign of high intelligence and once again the Orcas proved how smart they are.
Every time there is a war, the animals are affected in some way. We know they died in explosions but do they get depressed? I am not sure, but it has been said since the war in Ukraine started, something strange is happening on beaches on the black sea. Dolphins have been stranding themselves. It isn’t just in Ukraine either, but also in the surrounding countries. What could be the reason for this? One expert gave his opinion and he stated the loud noises of war could be causing it.
A funny story which has to do with parrots was a personal experience my late wife and I had. We went to a place which had a parrot land with over 2,000 parrots in it. We were fascinated by them. They were all very entertaining. Then it happened, one of the birds said something which made my wife laugh. Well, the birds heard her laugh and all at once two thousand parrots were imitating her laugh. My wife got very embarrassed and everyone in the place was laughing at what happened.
Another funny experience I had with animals happened when we went to Los Vegas. We decided to go see the Hover Dam. My wife wanted to go into the gift shop and I stayed outside. As I stood there, a chipmunk came out. It started doing tricks in front of me like rolling over and standing on two legs and other things. Before you knew it, a crowd had formed and were all watching this animal perform. I was sorry I didn’t have anything to feed it. Another time when I was a kid, my mother and I had gone to the Bronx Zoo. We had gone over to the gorilla cage. I guess the gorilla had enough of people making faces and noises at him, because he figured out a way to get rid of the crowd. It was simple really, he started to throw poop at them. My mom and I left the area rapidly.
There is a story about a zoo keeper who got himself into a lot of trouble. He would go into the area where all the big cats were and they seemed to love him. One day something very unexpected happened. I say unexpected but that is how he felt not me. He was attacked by a leopard and saved by a tiger. It seems even big dangerous cats can form a bond with their handlers.
A famous story from a few years ago had do to with a toddler who fell into the gorilla pit at the Brookfield Zoo. Binti Jua ran to him and protected him from the other gorillas. The gorilla held him in her arms as if he was a gorilla baby until help arrived. It just goes to show you how kind a higher-level animal can be at times.
There are some animals that seem to be ahead of humans when born, but as humans grow, they get smarter. Take the chimp for example. At an early age they can recognize themselves in a mirror or on a video. It takes a human child about four years to be able to do this. Some animals are born with the ability to walk, but not humans who have to learn this ability. Remember when I said the Dolphin was said to be the most intelligent animal after humans? Not everyone agrees, some think it is the Orangutan which scored a 75 on an I.Q. test on live television beating one of the humans who were taking the test. As I said once before, I wouldn’t have wanted to be that person, can you imagine the ribbing he must have taken.
Animals have the ability to do something which really surprises us sometimes. Some parrots for example seem to know what they are saying and can even answer questions. It is a lesson to us because it shows we may not be the only creatures on this planet with intelligence.