A wire was also put into a major abdominal blood vessel to ensure the vessel became lacerated in the explosion.

Scientists hoped to learn how long the animals can survive when more than a third of their blood have been removed, and hopefully help troops injured in combat or during a terrorist bombing attack.

“This work is part of our broad combat casualty care programme. Anecdotally, we are seeing evidence of people surviving because of this work,” said a spokeswoman for the Porton Down army facility, where the test was carried out.

But is it necessary to blow up live animals for this? Well guess what, none of the pigs survived (obviously).  I think this experiment is nothing but gross animal cruelty.

Source: Telegraph UK

Chris Rickard, 49, suffered a deep gash on his forehead and abdomen, as well as cuts and scratches on his chest in the 9 AM attackHe was walking his pet dog, Rocky near his home farm which had a dam nearby, when they startled a sleeping kangaroo. Rocky chased the kangaroo and the kangaroo grabbed the dog and held it underwater for 20 seconds in the dam’s waters. Imagine that!

Chris tried to save his dog and was attacked by the kangaroo instead.

“I thought I might take a hit or two dragging the dog out from under his grip, but I didn’t expect him to actually attack me,” Mr Rickard said.

“I was stuck having to hold onto the dog with both hands because it was half drowned and I couldn’t really see anything because the kangaroo just ripped into me.

“It was a shock at the start because it was a kangaroo, about 5 feet high, they don’t go around killing people. Then all of a sudden I realised the first hit gave me opened up a wide gash above my eye and blinded me. I was flailing away underwater carrying a dog with a kangaroo ripping into me.”

The kangaroo only stopped when Chris elbowed it in the throat, which made it retreat.

This incident reminded me of the movie, Kangaroo Jack. I never knew they would be so violent and intelligent at the same time. So next time you think kangaroos are nice, cuddly animals………think again!

Animals are so unpredictable.

Source: Fox News

This massive starling swarm is really startling!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Armando Del Manso was wondering what creature was killing snakes which turned up dead on his lawn, each morning, for weeks. The snakes had been viciously bitten to death, and he thought it was his dog that was responsible.

But he was surprised to see a pair of wild rabbits attacking a snake one Tuesday night, easily killing the snake in minutes.

“We were watching from the veranda with a spotlight, and I thought, who is going to believe this, they’ll think I’m crazy.” Del Manso said.

The rabbits were living under a pile of wood in his backyard, and they were having babies at that time, which may explain why they went to such lengths to attack the snakes. Although the source news describes the rabbits as rabid, I doubt that is the case. Rabbits have very sharp teeth, and they can obviously use them….in this case!

So if you are bothered by snakes, how about getting some rabbits to deal with them?

The dead snakes killed by the rabbits

Source: Cairns Australia

Fishermen near the island of Minquiers, near Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, found an isopod inside a weaver fish.

Marine biologist, Paul Chambers, said, ” When we emptied the fish bag out there at the bottom was this incredibly ugly looking isopod.

“Really quite large, really quite hideous – if you turn it over its got dozens of these really sharp, nasty claws underneath and I thought ‘that’s a bit of a nasty beast’.

“Apparently there’s not too much ill effect to the fish itself except it’s lost its tongue.”

Not all isopods are parasites though, only some species are. If you’re diving you should steer clear of them, as they can give a nasty bite.

Source: BBC

Here are some GIANT isopods.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Meet Chippy, the dog who thinks he is a cat after living with cats all his life. Chippy is an old Jack Russell dog who has apparently been living with about 40 cats from a home and rescued recently, by a pet care charity.

Chippy can hardly bark, and sleeps with a female cat named Annie, who is very protective of him, and uses a cat litter tray.He also probably ate rats which the cats brought back from hunting (or hunted them himself).

“He came to us as part of a rescue from a multi-cat household in Cirencester.

“At first we were told he was 19, blind and deaf but that wasn’t the case.

“We couldn’t leave Chippy behind because he had lived with cats all his life. I suppose, having always lived among them he just doesn’t know any different. He never learned how to be a dog.” said Liz Dart, who is now fostering Chippy.

Vets believe Chippy to be aged between 13-15 years old, which is pretty old for a dog or cat. Now he is just a gentle, old dog who needs a good home – preferably with other fellow cats.

This is such an adorable story!

Image credit: SWNS

Source: Telegraph UK

The marriage between Ram and Sita in a village near Kolkata was arranged supposedly to bring back monsoon rains which have gone missing with all that wonky weather we all now have (worldwide in fact)….

Ok, I now pronounce you husband and wife….the groom may now kiss the bride….

Source: Yahoo News

A white Bengal tiger was recently born without any stripes in South Africa. The 6 month old cub named Fareeda, is the offspring of 2 white Bengal tigers. I used to think white Bengal tigers were albino but actually they used to naturally occur in northern India, although still very rare at that. Most of the white tigers have been carefully inbred to preserve the line.

Currently there are only a few hundred white tigers in the world, either in zoos or circuses. There are also a few other stripeless white tigers existing, although they mostly have very pale stripes which can be seen in the sun. Fareeda is unique in having almost no stripes at all.

Photo credit: CATERS

“When she was born Fareeda had noticeably pale colour it did cause a stir of excitement amongst the staff. But we knew there was the possibility of the cub’s very light black and ginger stripes darkening over time existed.”

“Most white Bengal tigers are bred in the US from a single male captured in the 1950s, but Fareeda is the first to be born in Africa, which is very special,” said Odette Claassen, a keeper from the wildlife ranch where Fareeda was born.

Fareeda is specially hand reared as are all white tigers in captivity, to preserve this unique type of tiger from disappearing from the face of the earth. Actually she was born on Christmas Day last year, but her keepers waited until now to be sure that she really was a tiger without stripes (tigers may be born without stripes, but develop them later on).

Currently, there are just a handful of stripeless tigers in the world.

Source: Telegraph UK

The piglet was born with a “trunk” and protruding eyes, while also being white in color, a striking difference compared to all the other regular piglets.

The owner, Banjert Khamwiset, 38, preserved the dead piglet in formaldehyde.

“At first I thought it was just a deformed piglet, but when I examined it further I realized it was truly unique. Only one in a million piglets in Thailand are born with a trunk like that of the son of Shiva,” he said.

Soon, people started coming to Banjert’s house to view the dead piglet and offer up gifts and prayers in the hope of getting some luck in the local lottery. Many claimed to have gotten lucky, and word soon spread around.

Some even offered Banjert money to buy the dead mutant piglet, but Banjert refused to sell it, as he believes the mutant piglet will bring him a lifetime of luck.

Source: Phuket Gazzette

This reminds me of Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling. It was a collection of stories written by him in 1894 about a boy brought up by wolves in the wild.

There are real documented accounts of humans brought up by animals. Check this site out:

http://www.feralchildren.com

The boy was found by policewoman Alicia Lorena Lindgvist, who discovered the child by a canal in the Christ King district of Misiones.

“I was walking and noticed a gang of cats sitting very close together. It is unusual to see so many like that so I went for a closer look and that’s where I saw him. The boy was lying at the bottom of a gutter. There were all these cats on top of him licking him because he was really dirty.”

“When I walked over they became really protective and spat at me. They were keeping the boy warm while he slept,” the policewoman said.

The boy’s father is a homeless man who lost the boy a few days ago, and according to him, cats have always seemed to be protective of his son.

Some animal experts doubt the contention that the cats really cared for the boy and were merely acting according to instinct to huddle around some warm object (like the boy) and keep themselves warm. I think animals are smarter than that, and those cats really thought the boy needed some help….

Source: Telegraph UK