Month: October 2024
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A humble chat with a Shoebill. (Balaeniceps rex)
Now here’s where things get weird, shoebill storks are not only know to be generally accepting of and friendly towards humans, but bowing to them is what they perceive as a deliberate sign of respect and friendliness and they will be quite happy to interact with you afterwards. This is a natural behavior.
Can’t believe i just knew this creature minutes ago from the video of shoebil with gunshot voice
What a majestic bird.how the shoe bill is so calm and respectful, and whatever that chatter is with the beak is cute as heck. The shoe bill kind of reminds me of a guardian. Seems so intelligent, and smart. The bowing is so respectful, but i don’t quite understand what the headshaking means, but it is cute just the same.
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Wild Cassowary Chases Girl on the Beach
If you encounter a wild cassowary you have to 1. Look him in the eyes 2. Back away and 3. Hold something in front of you.
Luckily for us the thing in our hand was a GoPro so when a wild cassowary charged over we caught it on film. -
Bloodthirsty Birds turn into Vampires
On the remote Galapagos Islands, food can be hard to come by. These finches are not strong fliers, so they have found an unusual diet closer to home. Their source? Seabirds called ‘boobies’.
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Huge Bear Crawls Out From Under House
Occurred on October 3, 2024 / Monrovia, California, USA
Info from Licensor: “Mark Lanza and Mark Chou were watching a horror film (Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey) when they heard noises coming from under the house. The noises were getting increasing louder throughout the film so they decided to set up a camera to see what comes out of the crawl space of their Monrovia home. They expected a raccoon or a opossum… not a 300lb bear!
After seeing the video they realized that their cats had been upset for the last two weeks staring out the window at the area, obviously THEY knew what was under the house the whole time! Living in Monrovia we are all used to bears wandering the neighborhood and they don’t bother us… but to have one living under the house is a whole other matter. The access panel to the crawl space is now boarded up and the bear has not tried to return.”
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“Tree of Life” Grows on Salt Island in the Middle of the Dead Sea
A tree seemingly growing out of a pristine white salt island in the heart of the Dead Sea isn’t something you’d expect to see when visiting the world’s saltiest body of water, and yet that’s exactly the sight you’re treated to near the beach of Ein Bokek.
With a salt concentration over 10 times that of the ocean, the Dead Sea is incapable of sustaining any plant or animal life, so come there’s a tree growing there, and on an island made of salt, of all places? Within swimming distance of the beach in Ein Bokek, an Israeli resort near Arad, lies the iconic Dead Sea Salt Island, a surreal natural formation made of dazzling white salt and surrounded by turquoise water. At its center are a pool of shallow, inviting water, and a tree that has no place being there. And yet…
The tree of the Dead Sea is such an amazing sight that I’m surprised it hasn’t received more attention on Instagram and other travel-oriented social networks. Seeing a living thing surviving, thriving even, in the middle of a body of water famous for its inability to sustain life is quite surreal, even though everything isn’t quite as it seems.
Even though a close inspection of the tree will reveal buds on the branches and roots stretching into the salty crust of the island, it doesn’t mean that the tree sprouted and grew there. It was a local artist who brought and “planted” it on the salt island as an original art installation. Apparently, he has been visiting the tree every day, putting mud around its base to ensure that it gets all the nutrients needed to survive in this extremely harsh environment.
The Dead Sea itself is dying, with the shoreline encroaching on the water every year, and maybe the so-called “tree of life” is a metaphor for that, or maybe having something grow in the middle of the Dead Sea is the metaphor. No one really knows for sure, but then again , no one really cares. The tree exists, and it makes a great prop for Instagrammable photos…
