SNN (ScrollingNetworkNews) ✿ ✿ Our Mel and Sydney returned to their nesting box with plenty of bonding occurring..but after 2.5 months of Sydney in the box from Dec 2013 to mid Feb 2014, the lack of prey gifts from Mel ( perhaps due to the severe and historic drought underway in California)and they have forgone the nesting process this year as many other raptors ✿ Compared to other owls of similar size, the Barn Owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. Pound for pound, Barn Owls consume more rodents – often regarded as pests by humans – than possibly any other creature. ✿ We remind viewers that sometimes owlets may not survive - the parents will dispose of things in "The Owl Way" -viewer discretion is advised, this is nature and the "Owl way". ✿ ~ ✿ “Animals, like us, are living souls. They are not things. They are not objects. Neither are they human. Yet they mourn. They love. They dance. They suffer. They know the peaks and chasms of being.” ― Gary Kowalski, The Souls of Animals ✿ Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius." ~ E.O. Wilson

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Rare sand kittens

They may be four tiny kittens, but they are a big development for Israel's wildlife.
Four sand cats, considered extinct in Israel, were born three weeks ago at the Ramat Gan Safari near Tel Aviv.
The international family consists of mother Rotem from Germany, father Sela from Poland and of course the four youngsters born in Israel.

The sand cat (Felis margarita) has been listed as a ‘threatened species’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).'Sand cat is an extinct species in Israel, although in the world it's not extinct, it's nearly threatened,' said Keren Or, Zoological Information Coordinator in Ramat Gan Safari Park.

'But here in Israel it has been extinct because it was pushed away from the sand by other mammals.'

The zoo is taking part in European program for breeding sand cats.
Like some other desert animals, sand cats are capable of surviving without drinking - they obtain all the water they need through their food.
They prefer hunting at night - usually rodents, and occasionally hares, birds and reptiles.