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

Monday, February 6, 2012

Recess Fun !

Champis the bunny doesn't only hop - he also knows how to herd his masters' flock of sheep, possibly having picked up on the skill after watching trained dogs do the job.
The five-year-old pet rabbit from the small village of Kal in northern Sweden shot to online fame last week, garnering more than 700,000 YouTube hits, after a clip of his sheepherding skills surfaced on a blog.
The  video shows a persistent Champis running back and forth on the farm, trying to keep Nils-Erik and Greta Vigren's sheep together.
Dan Westman, a sheepdog breeder who shot and posted the video of his friends' remarkable bunny, said he was in awe when he first witnessed the phenomenon, noting Champis did the job even better than most dogs would.
"It's really incredible; it's a herding rabbit," he said. "He rounds them up, and if they get close to escaping through the gate he sometimes stops them," he said.

"I mean I work with sheepdogs and know how hard this is. There are very few dogs that could do what this rabbit does."
Mr Westman, who's known both Champis and its owners for years, said the beige little mix-breed bunny had never been trained for the job but seemed to have learnt the ropes all on his own.
"He's probably picked some of it up from watching the dogs. I mean he's doing what they do. But then again, he's a bit of a boss out there and lives with the other animals. So maybe he just wants to keep them together."
Despite his tiny size, Mr Westman said the sheep seem to pay their minder a world of respect, letting him herd them around when he feels they need some moving.
"I don't know what he thinks he is, but he does think he decides out there," Mr Westman said.