Category Archives: Oceans and Waterways
Animals Tablet Connection
The cat ate the mouse!
Communicating with animals and members of the other species that share our world has long been both embraced and scorned by human beings. I guess it all depends on the way a person was raised to think and feel about the world.
While some humans believe we are a part of this world and have a place on it that should coexist with the environment and animals around us there is another train of thought. That train runs on what I consider a track to destruction and is now in the process of being derailed.
The other human mindset is that somehow and by some force we are preordained to be masters of this world and can do no wrong. They think that there is nothing else intelligent in the world or the universe. Their faith states that they can plunder, destroy and kill to their hearts content and still all will be forgiven and they will be provided for.
I was raised by open minded people. More than once as a child I was told that animals could communicate with people. My mom taught me that all you had to do was listen to and observe them. If you open your mind you can see that animals do communicate, if not in words, then in emotions. They feel love, pain, fear, hate, jealousy and loyalty. They let you know if they are happy or sad, excited or tired.
I have always been very close with my animal friends. I try to listen to and understand their feelings and in return I honestly believe they try to understand mine. Therefore I feel that I share a closer bond than many people do with animals.
Several decades ago animal intelligence and human patience combined to begin a dialog between mankind and the animal kingdom. Gorillas began to learn sign language. Suddenly they had an intelligent voice that we could comprehend. The most famous of them is of course Koko. She is a gorilla that I have seen throughout my life expressing herself. She has communicated love for those around her. Sorrow for the loss of her baby, a kitten she called Ball, and the entire range of emotions.
Recently our advanced technology has allowed not only more communication between primates and mankind but with other species as well. This new tech is also allowing captive animals to communicate with others of their own kind via the internet.
I find this not only an amazing development but believe it may actually be marked as a “wonder of the world” for the technology era as the great pyramids are for our past. It is truly amazing.
Orangutans in captivity no matter how “natural” their habitat is are still living in captivity. Thanks to items like video conferencing on ipads these apes may soon be having regular virtual play time with relatives and friends in other zoos. From Yahoo News:
But even more interesting possibilities present themselves once a number of zoos have their orangutans acclimated to using the iPads. Zimmerman said he hopes they will be able to use Skype or the iPad’s FaceTime feature to communicate remotely with orangutans at other zoos during “play dates.” Zimmerman said he recently visited Jahe, an orangutan at the Memphis Zoo who used to live at the Toronto Zoo. When Zimmerman showed Jahe a photo on his iPhone of some of her relatives still living in Toronto, she appeared to recognize them.
“Given an opportunity to demonstrate that intelligence, it’s pretty amazing,” Zimmerman tells Yahoo News.
The biggest obstacle for now is coming up with the funding to purchase more iPads. Orangutan Outreach refuses to use its funds on the tablets, saying its priorities must be toward conservation and helping to rescue orangutans that are victims of violence in the wild.
The ipad is giving a voice to other creatures as well. Many enlightened humans have long claimed that there is intelligence in our ocean that predates primates. Now organizations such as Speak Dolphin are introducing our high tech to ocean dwellers with surprising results.
A dolphin named Merlin became one of the first of his kind to use an ipad and now programmers are challenged to keep up with him. From boingboing:
Last week, a young bottlenose dolphin named Merlin became the first of his species to join the growing number of enthusiasts using the Apple iPad. Dolphin research scientist, Jack Kassewitz of SpeakDolphin.com, introduced the iPad to the dolphin in early steps towards building a language interface.
“The use of the iPad is part of our continuing search to find a suitable touch screen technology which the dolphins can activate with the tip of their rostrums or beaks. After extensive searching and product review, it looks like our choice is between the Panasonic Toughbook and the Apple iPad,” Kassewitz explained. “We think that once the dolphins get the hang of the touch screen, we can let them choose from a wide assortment of symbols to represent objects, actions and even emotions.”
One thing that is very new is that you may not even have to visit a zoo or the ocean to start interacting with the animal kingdom. If you read this blog there is an excellent chance that you can explore a new world in your own home.
Call me crazy, but I know that my cat talks to me. I will not call you crazy if you say you talk to your cat.
Now you can pit yourself in an IPad game against your cat. This is taking things way beyond the fluffy string and is pitting you one on one. Mano Vs. Gato. From ABC.
The game is simple enough: At one end of the screen the human slings a piece of animated cat food onto the playing board.
The goal? Get the item across the screen into a goal box before you cat stops it by putting its paw on the item.
It’s sort of a 21st century air hockey table for you and your favorite feline friend.
Sound like fun! Could it be the beginning of another form of communication? Only time will tell. I do warn our human readers though, the cats are kicking our so called superior species behinds!
Yes, your kitty who has long yearned to kill the angry birds or spread out your solitaire cards has proven that they have learned computer technology. By a rate of almost two to one the kitties are beating the tar out of the peoples. Read the stats at geekologie.
Granted it’s a game specifically designed for you to compete against your cat (or a stray that hisses and tries to bite you if you touch it!), but it’s not like the cats came up with it or anything. Created by Friskies and debuted at SXSW, ‘You Vs. Cat’ is a game you play against your little feline friends. Or, if you don’t have a cat, your dog. Your dog will suck though. Your fish? They will just die. Your roommate? He’ll just download the ‘How to Always Win at You Vs. Your Cat App’ and cheat his face off because he’s a jerk. Based on the people who have competed against Buddy (above) so far at the convention, the cats are smoking humans 2,091 to 1,250. Me? I’m smoking banana peels because my friend told me they’d get me high. “GW? Those are bananachips.” Whole Foods’ bananas were all green!
The options for knowledge from species far older than our own are beginning to open up. It is not only amazing but mind boggling.
These creatures are expressing self awareness, thoughts, feelings and emotions now. How long until we reach a true dialogue with them?
They have obviously been communicating with their own kind the entire time. It appears that we were not intelligent enough to understand them so now they are the ones bridging the gap. They have found a way through our technology for us to finally begin to hear them.
At this moment we are communicating with other forms of life. We are learning from them and they from us. Or is it just now they are able to educate our young species? Only time will tell.
It is clear that we have encountered intelligent life not from some alien world but right here at home.
The question is what will they think of us?
Destruction of their world? Mass murder of their kind? Genocide? Greed? Corruption? Pollution? Toxic waste?
Are these questions we will soon be asked about….do they even care and enjoy a pleasure we have lost? Do they just seek to live in peace, enjoy life, love, breed and die?
No matter what it is apparent that soon we will be held to a measuring stick and compared to the other intelligent species that share our world.
The following video is of wild cats playing the cat game on an IPad.
From the description of the video on You Tube:
On January 20th, 2011 the folks at the Conservators’ Center in Mebane, NC took our iPad Game for Cats to find out if exotic cats like iPad Game For Cats just as much as their domesticated cousins. It turns out, they do!
FAQ:
Q: What are the types of cats shown in this video?
A: The tigers and lions are easily recognizable. But what about the other cats? Well the smaller “house cat” size ones are called Geoffroy’s cats. The cat with the funny ears is a caracal. And the slender, playful spotted cats are called servals. You can view more pictures of these cats and more at the conservators’ center’s website:http://www.conservatorscenter.org/animals.cfm
Q: What iPad game are they playing?
A: The game is called ‘iPad Game for Cats’. It was originally designed for house cats. It is free to download and you can get it here:http://www.ipadgameforcats.com/
Penguin Sweaters
Eudyptula minor Bruny Little . This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Yes, the title of this post is correct.
Little Blue Penguins need sweaters.
I am sure you are asking yourself ‘why in the world would a penguin need a sweater?’
I asked myself the same question when I first read about the penguin sweaters. The answer really is logical. I swear.
Early this month a Liberian cargo ship ran aground in New Zealand. That one ship created an oil spill that devastated the pristine beaches of the area. It has played havoc with the local plant, fish and wildlife population.
The wildlife includes the which is the smallest of the penguin family. Now these birds need penguin sweaters because they get oil in their feathers and try to clean it out which poisons the small birds.
From our friends at Care2;
About 350 tons of oil have washed ashore on the pristine beaches near Tauranga. Over 1300 sea birds have already died. As of this writing, some 1,400 tons of heavy fuel oil are still on the ship. Rough seas continue to hamper the salvage efforts.
Among the victims are New Zealand’s Little . When they come ashore covered with oil, they need sweaters immediately. When they try to clean their feathers, they ingest toxic oil. The knitted coverings keep them from preening until they can be cleaned.
So Skeinz, a yarn store in New Zealand, has put out a call to knit sweaters for the birds Australians call “fairy penguins.” The instructions are online, as well as the address for sending the penguin sweaters (called “jumpers” in the southern hemisphere). You can check out a photo of the winsome creatures in their sweaters here.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/knit-a-sweater-save-a-penguin.html#ixzz1cD2IXdrL
It looks like these ocean birds will have warm and cute sweaters to wear until they are released into their habitat. I wish all animals who are in need could get the same response from kind people all over the world.
But then, when I stop to think about it, animals really do get a lot of help. It just never seems to be enough, does it?
From Grist dot org;
UPDATE: Skeinz, the yarn shop that posted the patterns, said they have achieved critical mass of jumpers. We’re both happy and sad about this. But they do say that they’ll stockpile sweaters if you’ve got one ready to go — or you can stockpile them yourself, in case oily penguins show up in your hometown.
Wow. People really love penguins. I hate to say this but there will be a need for penguin sweaters again because oil spills are going to continue for the foreseeable future. But these little look so very cute in their sweaters, I find myself wishing the little birds could wear penguin sweaters for better reasons. You know, as always, its the Awwwh factor.
Dolphin 56—He’s Back
Dolphins playing.
A Bottlenose Dolphin was captured in Florida in 1979, freeze branded with the number 56, then released. From that time forward Dolphin 56 has been tracked. This year Dolphin 56 has made appearances in the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of the United States.
Dolphin 56 has been spotted along the shores of Virginia, New Jersey and Maryland.Because he is quite people friendly, Dolphin 56 likes to stay in close to shore around marinas.
From WTOP;
“This dolphin is very unusual in that he does frequent areas where people are likely to be,” Driscoll adds. “Most dolphins retreat when people are around.”
Keep in mind, it’s against the law to approach, feed, touch or harass wild dolphins. Violations can lead to big fines. Driscoll says you should stay at least 50 yards away, but keep your binoculars andcamera handy.
If you get a photo of Dolphin 56, you can post it on his Facebook page. You’ll find plenty of photos there, as well as updates on where he’s been recently spotted.
Driscoll says it’s nice to hear from those who have seen him recently that Dolphin 56 still appears to be healthy and happy.
Dolphin 56 was thought to be about ten to twelve years old when he was captured and branded in 1979 and you can do the math but that means he is over forty now. That is getting into the class of senior dolphin citizen. These animals have been known to live as long as fifty years and since Dolphin 56 appears happy and healthy, there is no reason to think he won’t be around for a while longer.
It is important to remember that wild dolphins are not pets. They are wild animals and you should never try to interact or interfere with them.
If you really like dolphins and would like to help them, get involved with any group that works to clean up our oceans. The oceans need our help. Dolphins, whales, seals, fish and all other ocean life will benefit if we curtail our use of plastic and begin to take care of the waters these animals call home.