Platypus twins hatched on Oct. 3rd, 2007 at Healesville Sanctuary, Australia.

We got into a discussion today regarding what kind of animal the Platypus really is.

I mean, think about it – it has a duck bill, a beaver tail, otter feet, it lays eggs AND it has milk for the babies!!!

A friend of ours said “they’re like a SmörgÃ¥sbord species”, and I have to agree with her on that one! It’s like a mix of all sorts of animals, as if God had some extra parts left, put them all together and got a bit of a chuckle out of what he saw…

Hubby must have gotten confused about this whole Australian animals thing, because he said that maybe it was a marsupial…, well, kangaroos and koalas live in Australia, and THEY are marsupials, which means that they have a pouch on their stomachs in which the baby grows – but I’ve never seen a pouch on a platypus!

What’s that? “Houba”?!?

Click here to view the embedded video.

No, no, no – I said MARSUPIAL, not Marsupilami – get OUT of here!!!

It’s a matter of classification…, I thought it might be a mammal, but certain things about this particular animal just didn’t seem right for it to BE a mammal… You see, I always thought that a mammal gave birth to LIVE babies, and since the platypus lays eggs it simply couldn’t be a mammal…, but it IS.

The mother lactates through pores in the skin, it doesn’t have teats – and besides, how would the duck billed babies be able to SUCK? Instead they lap up the milk that comes out and sort of pools on the mother’s stomach.

(I should add that I’m a bit of a boob myself, it’s not just hubby who gets confused… I actually said “isn’t the Platypus a MAMMARY”!!! Mammal – mammary…, oh well!!!)

Australia sure has some STRANGE animals!

Here’s an absolutely adorable video of a platypus encounter in the wild, a little male baby platypus that doesn’t seem the least bit shy – very unlike normal platypus behavior, but I’m guessing he’s not old enough to know that he should be hiding from these people instead of coming up to them…

He even allows the humans to PET him!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The animal she loved the most was the Vietnamese Pot-bellied Pig.

Not the little piglets, mind you – she loved the big, fat, bristly old MAMA PIG!

(She would climb the fence to get a better look at the mama pig, and while balancing on the fence she’d lose her balance and topple over, falling head first into the pig pen, where a whole bunch of pigs would be running around – then it helped to have a fast grown up around to pick her up before she got trampled!!!)

Slottsskogen is a 137 hectares large park located in central Gothenburg, Sweden.

When Gothenburg was founded in the 17th century, the area of Slottsskogen was a forest that belonged to (the old) Älvsborg Fortress. In the 1880s the city had grown to the vicinity of the forest, and the merchant August Kobb took initiative to create the city park, which has the character of an English garden with lawns and trees.

Slottsskogen has a wide range of activities: there is a zoo with Swedish animals, a pond with seals and penguins, a Swedish heritage area with small cottages from different counties, a playground for softball, Frisbee golf and so forth.

There are a lot of concerts and festivals held at Slottskogen as well, in case you’re more interested in music than animals…

Anyhow – this was suppose to be about the ZOO!!!

When summer comes around, all the little babies are allowed to come out and meet the public, and this year there are among all the other little animals two twin moose calves that have been born at the zoo. That could be worth a visit!

Here are a few videos of animals at Slottskogen – ENJOY!

Click here to view the embedded video.

THIS is what the Children’s Zoo is all about – being allowed to pet, pet, PET all the animals!!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Oliver is a very friendly moose who lives in Slottsskogen in Göteborg, Sweden.
He loves to say hello to people passing by.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Labba is a young cheeky seal that was born during the summer of 2006. She lives in Slottsskogen in Göteborg.

In this little film she has just learned how to get ahead of her flock when the food is handed out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The penguins at Slottskogen got a new place to live in 2006, and they seem to like their new pond a lot.

And here’s a two part series about a trip to Slottskogen, including a VERY LONG tram ride (the animals don’t really show up until some 5 minutes into the first video):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Not too long ago, I stumbled upon an online article about Koko, the “talking monkey”. She has been taught a few hand signals that she uses when she communicates with her trainer/keeper.

The article I found (written in 2005) made me wonder just HOW they train Koko…

* * *

SAN MATEO COUNTY
Gorilla Foundation rocked by breast display lawsuit

Former employees say they were told to expose chests

Two former employees of the Gorilla Foundation, home to Koko the “talking” ape, have filed a lawsuit contending that they were ordered to bond with the 33-year-old female simian by displaying their breasts.

Nancy Alperin and Kendra Keller, both of San Francisco, are taking on the Woodside nonprofit and its president, Francine “Penny” Patterson.

Their lawsuit, filed Tuesday in San Mateo County Superior Court, alleges sexual discrimination, wrongful termination in retaliation for reporting health and safety violations, and failure to pay overtime or provide rest breaks.

It seeks more than $1 million total in damages for the two women.

The suit follows complaints filed by Alperin and Keller in January with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, in which they gave identical reasons for why they were fired: “I refused to expose my breast to perform acts of bestiality with one of the gorillas.”

The lawsuit goes into more detail.

One example: “On at least two incidents in mid-to-late June 2004, Patterson intensely pressured Keller to expose herself to Koko while they were working outside where other employees could potentially view Keller’s naked body. … On one such occasion, Patterson said, ‘Koko, you see my nipples all the time. You are probably bored with my nipples. You need to see new nipples. I will turn my back so Kendra can show you her nipples.’ ”

Todd Roberts, a partner in the Redwood City office of Ropers Majeski Kohn Bentley, which is representing the Gorilla Foundation, said the law firm was still reviewing the suit.

“But I can tell you that based on our review of the factual allegations and characterizations in the complaint, we deny those allegations,” Roberts said.

A call to Patterson and the Gorilla Foundation was not returned.

The foundation, which has existed since 1976 to promote the preservation and protection of gorillas, is best known for Koko, who was born at the San Francisco Zoo on July 4, 1971, and began working with Patterson the following year.

Koko — older sister of Kubi, who presided over the zoo’s Gorilla World exhibit until he died last year — now has a vocabulary of more than 1,000 words in American Sign Language, according to foundation claims that are much debated among scientists.

The subject of books, videos and documentary films, the hairy linguist participated in what was called the first interspecies chat on the Internet in 1998, attracting more than 8,000 AOL users.

San Francisco attorney Stephen Sommers, who is representing Alperin and Keller, has a transcript of that chat.

“There’s a history with this nipple thing,” he said, leafing through the transcript and pointing out the word “nipple” — which he’d highlighted in pink — each time it appeared.

The history, as such, might date back to Koko’s mother, who reportedly did not have enough breast milk to feed her.

The suit, in any case, says that Patterson would interpret hand movements by Koko as a demand to see exposed human nipples. She warned Alperin and Keller that their employment with the foundation would suffer, the suit says, if they “did not indulge Koko’s nipple fetish.”

During at least three visits, the suit says, “Patterson communicated to Alperin that exposing one’s breasts to Koko is a normal component to developing a personal bond with the gorilla.”

The suit says the two women, who never did undress, also worked unpaid overtime and faced unsanitary conditions, including gorilla urine stored in the refrigerator where they kept their lunches, rodents in the food preparation area and exposed wires.

They notified the California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health, which conducted an inspection last Aug. 5 and issued $300 in fines for various violations that have since been corrected, according to Cal/OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer.

The two women were fired Aug. 6.

Three-month employee Alperin, 47, has returned to social work and is seeking $719,830 in damages. Four-month employee Keller, 48, a longtime sign language interpreter, is asking for $366,192.

Gorilla expert Kristen Lukas, curator of conservation and science at the Cleveland Metro Park Zoo, said she’d never encountered a gorilla with a nipple fixation.

“This is absolutely a first,” she said. “I’ve never heard of anything like it.”

The zoo’s publicist, Sue Allen, said, “Those of us in Cleveland would say: ‘Only in San Francisco.’ ”

* * *

Here’s a little “chat session” between Koko and her keeper (as an add-on to the article above):

Question: Koko are you going to have a baby in the future?

Koko signs: Pink
Patterson explains: We had earlier discussion about colors today.

Question: Do you like to chat with people?

Koko signs: Fine nipple.
Patterson explains: Nipple rhymes with people, she doesn’t sign people per se, she was trying to do a “sounds like…”

Question: Does she have hair? Or is it like fur?

Koko signs: Fine.
Patterson explains: She has fine hair.

Question: Koko, do you feel love from the humans who have raised you?

Koko signs: Lips, apple give me.
Patterson explains: People give her her favorite foods.

* * *

Mmmmkay…

Having read the article about Koko, I can’t help but wondering if she didn’t INDEED mean “FINE NIPPLE”, and not “sounds like…”!

That’s a BAD MONKEY!!! And shame on that keeper for trying to FOOL us!!!

And just because I got curious about that “interspecies chat”, I looked it up, and HERE IS THE FULL CHAT TRANSCRIPT for you to read… (A few nipples showing up in that one, yup…)

As a child so many years ago I was probably the only kid the block that knew what a Meerkat was.

Now I want a fund established to purchase a Cargo Container of Peanut Butter to be spread all over Meerkat Manor so that some large numbered herd of elephants will trample them all into the ground.

I have just heard there is going to be another season of Meerkat Manor. I could die.

Meet The Whiskers

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray this cushy life to keep.

I pray for toys that look like mice,

And sofa cushions, soft and nice.

I pray for gourmet kitty snacks,

And someone nice to scratch my back,

For windowsills all warm and bright,

For shadows to explore at night.

I pray I’ll always stay real cool

And keep the secret feline rule -

To NEVER tell a human that

The world is really ruled by CATS!

Treat me kindly, my beloved master, for no heart in all the world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of me.

Do not break my spirit with a stick, for though I should lick your hand between the blows, your patience and understanding will more quickly teach me the things you would have me do.

Speak to me often, for your voice is the world’s sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footsteps falls upon my waiting ear.

When it is cold and wet, please take me inside, for I am now a domesticated animal, no longer used to bitter elements. And I ask no greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the hearth. Though had you no home, I would rather follow you through ice and snow than rest upon the softest pillow in the warmest home in all the land, for you are my god and I am your devoted worshiper.

Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for although I should not reproach you were it dry, I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst. Feed me clean food, that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side, and stand ready, willing and able to protect you with my life should your life be in danger.

And, beloved master, should the great Master see fit to deprive me of my health, do not turn me away from you. Rather hold me gently in your arms as skilled hands grant me the merciful boon of eternal rest–and I will leave you knowing with the last breath I drew, my fate was ever safest in your hands.

We just watched “See Spot run” (Imdb movie info right here!) and in the movie there’s this one scene inside a pet store – and the music playing is just SOOOO catchy!

It’s Hampton the Hamster doing the Hamster Dance – here’s the video for you – enjoy!!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Hamster Dance

YEEHAA!!

Here we go.

Thats it.

That’s all there is to it.

Alright everybody now here we go.
It’s a brand new version of the dosido.
Just stomp your feet and clap your hands.
Come on everybody its the hamster dance.
Bounce in time to the beat.
Hey You don’t even have to move your feet.
Just shake your thang; let me see you move.
Now spin it around and feel the groove.

YEEHAA!!

Lets try it.

You’re catching on.

YEEHAA!!
Terrific.

Come on everybody.

Clap your hands.
Come on everybody.

It’s the hamster dance.
Come on everybody.

Let’s Clap you hands.
Come on everybody.

It’s the hamster dance.

Here comes the music.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Heeeeeeeey, Macarena!” I wonder how long it took for this little one to get the hang of all the right moves?

(Again – NO, having monkeys dress up as humans and act like humans isn’t something I approve of, but sometimes it really IS just “monkey see, monkey do” – and he’s got it GOING ON!!! This is a clip from the “Animal Planet” TV channel too, so how bad can it be?)

Four white lions were born in a zoo in western France at the weekend, providing a welcome boost for the species whose population is teetering at about 30 worldwide, a zoo official said Wednesday. The male and three female cubs, white as snow and weighing about 1.5 kilos (3.3 pounds), were separated from their mother at birth because she appeared to lack parenting skills.

“Nyala, their mother, wasn’t taking care of them. It’s as if she didn’t know what to do,” said Bernadette Oury, director of the Jurques zoo in western France where the four were born on Sunday.

“They are in full health and we are thrilled,” said Oury.

The 30-odd white lions in the world today live in captivity in zoos or game reserves, representing all that is left of a species that originated in South Africa.