In Japan, there’s a residence that’s fit for your pet cats. Called the House of Taishido or Cat House, this home occupies 30 square meters and is three storeys high. It’s located in an urban district west of Tokyo. According to the Tokyo-based architecture firm Key Operation Inc., the home was not initially designed as a house for cats, but certain features were added later on in the design of the home, making the abode friendly for feline pets.
Another architecture firm, Fauna Plus DeSIGN, is known for designing custom homes for cats. It has designed a cat house that accommodates 16 cats at a time. Features of the house include a see-through cat tunnel that stretches around the room, small holes in the walls that serve as portals to the other rooms, a multistage cube of shelves with cat beds, a floor-to-ceiling scratching post which is covered in hemp rope, and a special staircase that serve as cat beds.
An all-white humpback whale has been regularly observed in the Australian coast over the past years. Unfortunately it’s not Moby Dick. But he’s as close as we get to seeing a real life Moby Dick.
Called Migaloo which means “White Fella”, the white whale was first seen on June 28, 1991 passing Byron Bay in Australia. The adult male whale is the only documented all-white humpback whale in the world. Described as a hypo-pigmented whale, Migaloo is suspected to be an albino whale, but there is no evidence that he is one.
If Migaloo is proven to be an albino whale, then he won’t be the only animal of his species with albinism. There have been other recorded animals lacking pigment such as a white squirrel, a white kangaroo, a white penguin, a white alligator, a white snake and a white peacock, among others. Humans also suffer from albinism, which can be dangerous because of the lack of melanin in one’s skin.
Sightings of Migaloo have been rare in the years succeeding its first sighting, but the most recent one was in August 10 of this year.
You may have looked the picture above and thought about Master Mantis from KungFu Panda. It’s actually a photographer Scott Cromwell’s pet budwing mantis. Yes, it’s a pet.
The mantis fishing expedition wasn’t as successful as the picture suggests. Cromwell took a fishbowl, placed a makeshift platform for his mantis (in the form of a wooden spatula), and waited. The mantis attempted to catch itself some dinner with its lightning fast strikes, but it is pretty challenging to catch something underwater when you’re not designed to take on underwater prey. To take the picture above, Cromwell had to take nature into his own hands, getting an already dead goldfish and “wriggling” it in front of the mantis. As you can see, the mantis had readily attacked and happily chomped down.
In case you want to watch the mantis’ valiant effort at fishing, check out the video below.
There are some things that cause discomfort even when you’re only imagining it. A good example of such discomfiting news is when an eel swims up a guy’s unmentionables. The unfortunate man in question was sitting in what was basically a tub full of small eels to cleanse his skin – something quite like the fish spa (where you basically dip your feet into a pool and let them eat layers of your skin).
Zhang Nan stepped into the bath and was chilling with the eels when he suddenly felt severe pain: an eel had swum up his penis. Fortunately, he was rushed to the hospital where they surgically removed the offending eel.
Now, if you’re thinking this was some sort of freak accident, you should take into account the Candiru catfish. They’re a species of vicious bloodsucking fish that usually drinks off bigger fish’s gills. The clip below (Jeremy Wade’s River Monsters) shows exactly what happens when said fish swims upstream in a stream of somebody’s pee.
We’ve showed you 4 ridiculous products for your pets (that will make them hate you forever), but we’re not through yet. Here are 5 more odd pet gadgets that will make you scratch your head in amazement. Some of the gadgets do have uses, but you’d think there are better ways to come up with a gadget that does the same thing. Take a look:
Goldfish Walker – Your fish might need the exercise; it might also enjoy the view outdoors.
Autoelex Pet Pavilion – This luxury pet house is equipped with carbon filter deodorizer, antibiotic air-filled environment, and temperature and humidity controls.
PoochPad PoochPant Diaper – It’s a diaper for your pooch. I’m not sure if this is the oddest item here, or if the Dog Poop Catcher is. (Pic of Dog Poop Catcher not in the article. Just too disturbing.)
Super Pet Dazzle Hamster Exercise Carriage – According to the product description in Amazon, it’s an “interactive exercise toy that encourages healthy exercise” for small animals. This is available in four different colors.
Fauna Sauna – It’s a heat lamp that uses infrared rays to keep your dog or cat warm.
Admittedly, we write a lot about zombies here (as evidenced the Zombie-Proof House and the recent release of Dead Island) and today we’re writing about a different kind of zombie. Zombie caterpillars, to be exact.
What the evil mega corporation has conspired to turn innocent leaf munchers to mindless zombies? It’s a naturally occurring virus actually. Once the caterpillar virus gets a hold of a gypsy moth caterpillar, it pilots the poor thing to climb to the top of the tree of its residence where it is vulnerable to birds or lays out to die. According to the creepy description of events, the zombie caterpillars die, melts in a few hours, and then drip virus filled ooze down the tree’s leaves to infect other caterpillars. The ones that get eaten get digested and the virus hitches a ride on the bird poo, ultimately ending up on leaves.
Scientists have studied the caterpillars’ strange behavior – they only climb to the treetops at night instead of in broad daylight – and found that one gene in the baculovirus causes this zombie hike to certain death.
Apparently, the said baculovirus is being studied to help forestry researches with controlling gypsy moth caterpillar infestation.
When the words “giant” and “warrior” are put in the same sentence, you’re probably imagining a 7-foot tall, muscle-bound guy who has several black belts in different martial arts. Well, the giant warrior wasp is exactly that guy in the insect kingdom. It’s 2.5 inches long, and has bigass jaws that are longer than its legs when open and can wrap around its head when closed.
The jaws are multipurpose: they are used to guard the nest from insect robbers and for protection, plus the jaws are used to hold the female when mating. The said macho wasp was discovered on the Mekongga Mountains in Sulawesi Island in Indonesia. It’s called Garuda, after the half human, half eagle warrior of Hindu mythology. Check out the Garuda’s photos below and tell us how you’d likely react if you see one straddling your arm.
The world’s most expensive dog sold for a whopping 1.5 million to Chinese pooch lover. You read that right: The puppy in question is a purebred Tibetan Mastiff, one of the world’s rarest dog breeds. Just like its price tag, it’s also quite expensive to take care of since it lives on a steady diet of beef, abalone and sea cucumber. It’s commoner cousins sell at around 3,000 to 5,000 dollars so even then it’s still one of the most expensive dog breeds around.
On the other hand, the richest dog had inherited a boatload of cash (12 million dollars to be exact) from his deceased owner Leona Helmsley. Anyway, check out the video below to check out the priciest dogs around.
Some owners prefer to have their pets look a certain way – big eyes, less wrinkles or folds in the face, and pointy ears – and that’s pretty much understandable. It’s also fairly easy to find pets with these traits; they can buy from a pet store or breeder, or adopt from a pound. However, there are some owners who go out of their way to make sure their pets “get” these traits. Here are four ridiculous products made to turn pets into…the animals their owners want them to be. Piercings
It’s not uncommon to find people who have piercings. Some even have multiple piercings in several parts of their bodies. What makes piercings ridiculous though is if you find them on dogs. Or cats. Or cute little kittens. Some owners have the ears, nose, or lips of their pets pierced. For what purpose? We don’t really know. Maybe the kittie’s just too cute for his taste, and he can’t stand it when the little kitten starts looking at him with its innocent beady eyes.
And another unfortunate fact: there are no professional pet piercing services.
Tattoos
Some pets have piercings, others have tattoos. It’s becoming a fad in some places, and not only dogs and cats are being inked. For sale fish in several pet shops are also getting the tattooed.
What makes tattooing your pet crazy is the pain involved in the process. A fully grown man can only take so much pain when he’s being inked, so just imagine what the animal feels when the same thing’s being done to it. It may be sedated during the process but the tattoo will hurt like hell when it wakes up.
Fur Dye
Dyeing an animal’s fur can be very harmful to it, as the chemicals contained in the dye are not usually CTFA approved. One lick and the pet will end up in the vet’s clinic (assuming the vet didn’t tell the owner it was a bad idea to dye the fur, as most vets are against fur dyeing). Oh, and one more thing: the animal looks stupid when dyed. Some dogs have been dyed to make them look like being that they are not: tigets, panda cubs, and even rainbow-colored, uhm, dogs.
Plastic Surgery
Cosmetic surgery is a widely constested procedure even among humans, so pets undergoing cosmetic procedures is as controversial. This is different from medically warranted surgery that some animals undergo in case they lose limbs or to correct problematic features that hinder the dog’s daily activities or threaten its life.
However, there are also owners who allow their pets to undergo plastic surgery to enhance their physical features. Some dogs have had nose jobs, Botox and Metacril injections, facelifts and testicle implants. This fad may have originated from competitive dog show circuits where the pets have to appear “perfect”. By what standards, we’re really not sure anymore.
Apes display some behaviors that are largely similar to human behavior. The following clip of an orangutan at the Tokyo zoo shows us just how intelligent these creatures are, and how “human-like” their actions are most of the time.
The orangutan dips the face towel into a pool of water, wrings the cloth, and then brings it to its face – perfectly mimicking (or doing) what a human would do to cool down on a hot sunny day outdoors.
