Learning about animals

[Major]

All good stuff, Trinity, keep in comin.

[Bella]

The ancestral origins of the Maine Coon are unknown. There are only theories and folktales. One such folktale involves Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France, who was executed in 1793. The story goes that before her death, Marie Antoinette attempted to escape France with the help of Captain Samuel Clough. She loaded Clough's ship with her most prized possessions, including six of her favorite long-haired cats. Although Marie Antoinette did not make it to the United States, her pets safely reached the shores of Wiscasset, Maine, where they mated with short-haired breeds and evolved into the modern breed of the Maine Coon

Another folktale involves Captain Charles Coon, an English seafarer who kept long-haired cats aboard his ships. Whenever Coon's ship would anchor in the New England ports, the felines would exit the ship and mate with the local feral cat population. When long-haired kittens began appearing in the litters of the local cat population, they were referred to as one of "Coon's cats”

OK I like the second tail.....erm tale

MY Maine Coon Cat

his royal highness.jpg

I'd love one of those cat's ,Trinity.Do you let it out on it's own ? I believe their behaviour is more like a dogs regarding companionship and play etc.

[trini]

Major here is when" Mommy " just birthed her

milk is good

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and last week

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She's going to be a pain in the ass to sadle train

[trini]

Hi Bella, no MB is a house cat, he adopted me. We found him as a stray and he alowed us to keep him.

[Rollup.]

Heres a piece of very interesting animal footage ...I'd title it ...just when you think theres no hope left.

Amazing piece of footage ....eight minutes long so it might be to much for those with attention span defecit syndrome ...which I think I just invented ....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

[Bella]

Another in the same vein,Zebra wins

[Bella]

Hi Bella, no MB is a house cat, he adopted me. We found him as a stray and he alowed us to keep him.

My sister was reading this book,it's a light,cheerful read about a half maine coone cat rescued from near death .I'll borrow it from her when she's finished it

http://www.readingagency.org.uk/calenda ... ks-in.html

[Major]

Another in the same vein,Zebra wins

Good morning Bella and everyone.

I would not have bet on the geeza in pyjamas getting away.

[Major]

Heres a piece of very interesting animal footage ...I'd title it ...just when you think theres no hope left.

Amazing piece of footage ....eight minutes long so it might be to much for those with attention span defecit syndrome ...which I think I just invented ....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

Absolutely brilliant piece of nature footage.

This LEARN ABOUT ANIMALS thread is my favourite.

[Major]

This the best thread I have contributed too, nature has always been close to my heart.

Well done Shine for starting it and a further well done to those who are continuing to offer little gems of nature.

Keep it comin folks, I love it.

[Major]

There are a lot of Woodpecker species.
This is the Great Spotted Woodpecker which along with the Green Woodpecker used to frequent the garden of my last house, not here.
If you can get a close up view they are beautiful but brutal.
I made a exceptionally sturdy Bluetit birdhouse for our daughter, a Green Woodpecker pecked around the .875"entrance hole, enlarged it and took the young.
To thwart them I put lead around the same hole and it pecked that away as well, so, finally I cut a sheet of tin from a baked bean tin and that buggud it up.

Some more info here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodpecker

[trini]

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Barn Owls

These pale, nearly worldwide, birds are closely associated with man through their traditional use in the Old World of barn lofts and church steeples as nesting sites. Although widely known beforehand, it was in 1769 when the Barn Owl was first officially described by Giovanni Scopoli, an Italian naturalist. The species name "alba" also refers to the colour white. Other names for the Barn Owl have included Monkey-faced Owl, Ghost Owl, Church Owl, Death Owl, Hissing Owl, Hobgoblin or Hobby Owl, Golden Owl, Silver Owl, White Owl, Night Owl, Rat Owl, Scritch Owl, Screech Owl, Straw Owl, Barnyard Owl and Delicate Owl.

Description: The Upperparts are light grey with numerous fine dark lines and scattered pale spots on the feathers. There are buff markings on wings and on the back. The underparts are white with a few black spots, occasionally none. Feathering on the lower legs may be sparse. The heart-shaped facial disc is white with a brownish edge, with brown marks at the front of the eyes, which have a black iris. Its beak is off-white and the feet are yellowish-white to brownish. Males and females are similar in size and colour, females and juveniles are generally more densely spotted.

Size: Female: Length 34-40cm (13.5-15.5") Wingspan 110cm (43") Weight 570g (20oz)
Male: Length 32-38cm (12.5-15") Wingspan 107cm (42") Weight 470g (15.5oz)

Habits: Generally nocturnal, although it is not uncommon to see this species emerge at dusk or be active at dawn, occasionally being seen in flight during full daylight. Flight is noiseless, with wingbeats interrupted by gliding.
Voice: The Barn Owl calls infrequently, the usual call being a drawn-out rasping screech. The courtship call of male at nest is a shrill repetitive twittering. Adults returning to a nest may give a low, frog-like croak. When surprised in its roosting hollow or nest, it makes hissing and rasping noises and snapping sounds that are often called bill snapping, but possibly made by clicking the tongue.

Hunting & Food: Barn Owls specialise in hunting small ground mammals, and the vast majority of their food consists of small rodents. Voles (field mice) are an important food item, as well as pocket gophers, shrews, mice and rats. Barn Owls breed rapidly in response to mouse plagues. Other prey may include baby rabbits, bats, frogs, lizards, birds and insects. Prey are usually located by quartering up and down likely looking land - particularly open grassland. They also use low perches such as fence posts to seek quarry.

Breeding: Barn Owls will breed any time during the year, depending on food supply. In a good year, a pair may breed twice. Rodent plagues cause Barn Owl numbers to increase dramatically. During courting, males may circle near the nest tree, giving short screeches and chattering calls. The majority of Barn Owls nest in tree hollows up to 20 metres high. They will also nest in old buildings, caves and well shafts. 3 to 6 eggs are laid (occasionally up to 12) at 2 day intervals. The eggs are 38 to 46mm (1.5-1.8") long and 30 to 35mm (1.2-1.4") wide and will be incubated for 30 to 34 days. Chicks are covered in white down and brooded for about 2 weeks, and are fledged in 50 to 55 days. After this, they will remain in the vicinity for a week or so to learn hunting skills and then rapidly disperse from the nest area. Young birds are able to breed at about 10 months.

Mortality: Barn Owls are short-lived birds. Most die in their first year of life, with the average life expectancy being 1 to 2 years in the wild. In North America the oldest known Barn Owl in the wild lived to be 11 years, 6 months. In Holland, a wild barn owl lived to be 17 years, 10 months old.

In England, a captive female barn owl was retired from breeding at 25 years old!
Habitat: The Barn Owl is found in virtually all habitats but much more abundantly in open woodland, heaths and moors than forested country. They usually roost by day in tree hollows but have also been found in caves, wells, out-buildings or thick foliage.

Distribution: The Barn Owl is one of the most wide-spread of all land birds. They are found on all continents (except Antarctica) and large islands and occur over the whole of Australia, including Tasmania. They occur throughout most of Britain and Europe and across many parts of Asia, Africa, and in much of North America. In South America they are found in areas of suitable grassland, as well as on oceanic islands such as the Galapagos. They were introduced to Hawaii in 1958

[Major]

http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/birds/woodpigeon.htm

Wood Pigeons, there are thousands upon thousands in our countryside raiding farmuz fieldz for food, they do not eat rubbish.
Woodies are not to be confused with these horrible dirty feral pigeons you see in town centres.
The breast of a Wood pigeon is a very dark but tasty meat.
Multi thousands are shot every year with the blessing of our island farmuz to try to stop the decimation of their cropz, they can really savage a field so very little is left to harvest.

My best day shooting woodies from a brush made hide was 666 over a field of peas in Oxfordshire. My mate shot more that I , his black Labrador did all the picking up, like lightening.

He has this massive freezer, throws all pigeon into it, when it is full he phones the game dealer who comes and digz them out with a spade, counts them best he can and pays the market rate which was 25 pence each for that lot, I never collected my share as I used his cartridges.
Our cartridges were bought in 5,000 lots to get them cheapest.

If you have a decent garden or allotment then the pigeon is your enemy.

[trini]

666 damn your shoulder must have been black and blue . I usually get aroung 10 geese, quail or pheasents a year, plus the odd deer.

[curious]

666 damn your shoulder must have been black and blue . I usually get aroung 10 geese, quail or pheasents a year, plus the odd deer.

Plus the odd deer? Are you telling us that the odd deer was a wee bit small? did it still have spots? was there a tag on the wee deer saying that its name was bambi and owned by disney? How does one define an odd deer?
Just curious