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

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Don't Boar me

Also referred to as the "wild pig" or the "feral hog", the wild boar is a species that is actually a living ancestor of the common domestic pig; this makes it a living fossil. These pigs don't win awards for their beauty, they are usually dark and scruffy.

On average, adult boars have a length between 35 and 79 inches (90 and 200 centimeters), a height between 22 and 43 inches (55 and 110 centimeters, and weigh between 110 and 200 pounds (50 and 90 kilograms) Wild boars can be found naturally all over central and northern Europe, and throughout all of Asia and Indonesia; there are also introduced populations, that were brought in for hunting, all over the world. Adult males of the species live solitary lives, only joining groups to breed, while females and young piglets live in groups of around 20 known as sounders. These sounders consist of 2-3 sows (females) and multiple piglets, who are distinctive for their striped appearance.