Awesome Animal News!

[Nautipus]

I actually really love chickens and would have one if I could. All through grade school that's all I wanted (second to an octopus, of course)

[Lotesse]

Originally Posted by Nautipus

Oh look it's.....the Ckicken Police!

Oh - my - GOD!!! That was the best thing I've seen in days!! I've been sitting here actually laughing out loud in my quiet school library at the computer, watching that incredibly funny video. They were totally the chicken police!!! Even look how they like, each stand next to a rabbit, for a minute, keeping the rabbits in line, and then finally the chicken police casually leave the scene, letting the rabbits off this time with a warning... Way, way too funny...


Thanks so much for sharing that, Nautipus! You know, I don't log in at the ol' Moot very often, but I sure do when there's great new Awesome Animal News to check out. Grazie, bello! *kiss*

[Nautipus]

Lotesse! Where've you been?! We've all missed you! (seriously) Your welcome, but pop in more often.

[The last sane person]

Chickens rock! I had the awesomest pet chicken, Moon.....

She was smarter then some dogs I've had!

[Nautipus]

I really wish I could have had a chicken, but I know our dogs would eat 'em. We have a chocolate lab, Hershey, and she once caught a bird in flight! Nothin left, cept an explosion of feathers.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Mari

Look at this! Isn't she a beauty?
Ashera cat
I'm in love... I need to save up money... Lots of money >_<

Beautiful though she may be, I stick to my stance that wild animals shouldn't be kept as pets. Besides, she'd probably eat my other cats. And terrorise the neighbourhood. Although, considering that obnoxious little barkin'-mad, trouser-biting dog from a couple of houses down, that might actually turn out beneficial...

As much as I admire servals, but as a pet, I'd prefer abyssinians or birmanes any time.

[Mari]

Yes, well. I do agree that indeed the wild should stay in the wild. I think wolves are very pretty, but you shouldn't try to domesticate them, same with these cats. However she is a beauty and I was surprised that people are breeding these kind of cats.
*sigh* I want a cat... Wait, I said that before...
What strikes me as odd though, is when watching the vids two people say they try to preserve the servals from getting extinct by at least keeping some elements of them in the domesticated type. Why in the world, if you have enough time to breed crossbreeds to preserve some elements, don't you try breeding the original, preserving all elements?
Oh well, I hope that someday I'll be able to keep many pets and a few farmanimals.

[BeardofPants]

I'm curious, how do you guys suppose that we GOT domesticated pets to begin with, if you're against breeding new types from 'wild' stock?

[katya]

I think ligers are kind of cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cowCS_OoDSY

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by BeardofPants

I'm curious, how do you guys suppose that we GOT domesticated pets to begin with, if you're against breeding new types from 'wild' stock?

I don't see how that poses a problem. I am well aware that to get domesticated animals now, we must have domesticated wild animals at some point in the past. But I don't see why we should continue to try and turn wild animals into pets. It's not like we have a shortage of viable domestic cats. Do we actually need yet another expensive cat-breed, when efforts to maintain the wildlife populations we do have, may be more worthwhile?

[BeardofPants]

*shrug* Variation is key in evolution. And saying something like that can be equivalent to someone saying, why spend money on the space mission when we need to cure cancer? All knowledge is valuable.

[Earniel]

I'm not arguing that. But what exactly do you think can be gained from this particular situation?

[Mari]

*exclaims happily* Pretty kittiecats! *notices the looks she gets from Eärniel and BoP* Ahem. Well...I"ll just shut up then... *turns and runs*

[brownjenkins]

Maybe a new viable breed?

The fact of the matter is that, no matter what we do, 99% of the animal species that exist today will be gone in the future, just as we no longer see so many that use to exist in the past.

And wild predators are most likely to go first. So why not preserve their species at least in some modified form that can coexist with humans better?

Also, domesticating animals has a tendency to make people more sympathetic to the wild version of the animal.

[BeardofPants]

Yeah, that's sorta what I was getting at.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Mari

*exclaims happily* Pretty kittiecats!

Obviously I meant besides that, Mari.

Originally Posted by brownjenkins

And wild predators are most likely to go first. So why not preserve their species at least in some modified form that can coexist with humans better?

Also, domesticating animals has a tendency to make people more sympathetic to the wild version of the animal.

I see your point. But I don't find myself quite agreeing. Ah well.

[brownjenkins]

In a perfect world, I'd rather see us put aside all sorts of land for wildlife to flourish but, realitically, that's never going to happen.

[The last sane person]

Give me a fat ole tabby any day of the week. All I gots to say. That and wolves make good friends. As do half wolves.

[Nerdanel]

Originally Posted by Mari

Fortunately I'm not out to convert you
Is there any type of cat that you like?

Yeah, I like cats.. Amira that Sane mentions is my friend's cat (http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7.../frg1liten.jpg) I also have one at my mum's place, but I don't see him very often.
The reason why I was ranting about that white tiger was for the same reason that I'm ranting about 'pure bred' cats and dogs, too: although white tigers are extreme cases. The white colouration is a recessive and very rare characteristic in the wild, and to maintain this in captivity, very close relatives (parent-cub) are bred. This, in turn, can lead to inbreeding depression and cause severe malformation in the offspring. It also generally increases homozygosity, whereas most conservation efforts strive to decrease homozygosity and increase heterozygosity; this isn't compatible with the conservation policies that many zoos have.

I'll stop complaining now and let you continue talking about awesome animal news.

[Mari]

She's pretty! And she looks very relaxed, must be because of the big eyes.

You can complain all you want, I don't think it's complaining. I didn't know about the inbreeding thing to preserve the whiteness. Thank you for enlightening me
I'd like to preserve nature and wildlife as much as possible, but sometimes I wonder where the limit is. How far can you go and how much that is done "in order to preserve nature" is in fact just the arrogance of man?
But I'm getting gloomy and in a philosophical mood here, so I'll shut up as well.