Animal Mothers

Being a mother doesn't mean you physically gave birth to a living creature. In fact, you don't even need to be the same species. These stories are about some unlikely mothers:

Photo by Tom Harvey and Keith Philpott

A golden retriever takes care of three Bengal tiger cubs that were rejected by their mother. They stayed together until the cubs were a year old. You can read about their last time together here.

Photo by Johanna Kerby

This little piglet has become one of the litter, in fact, he's "mom's" favorite. His story is actually a children's book called The Pink Puppy

Photo by Peter Greste

This young hippo was orphaned after a tsunami and when he was brought to a reserve the first animal he saw was the tortoise. The tortoise took the young hippo's attention and affection and stride and their relationship was explored by NPR.

Koko's relationships with kittens made the news. She named her first kitten All Ball because to her that's what the kitten looked like.

The real "criteria" for the term mother is the endless love, and giving of self to another. These animals display this in a beautiful way. Happy Mother's Day!

Rudy- The Tortoise with Heart

Today (May 3rd) is National Specially-Abled Pets Day. So I wanted to share the story of an animal that I work with that is "specially-abled".

His name is Rudy and he's a gopher tortoise.

Gopher tortoises are called that because they are amazing diggers, like their mammal namesake. They are known for digging tunnels (up to 40 feet long) with a den at the end. These underground burrows are havens to more than 80 different species including endangered animals like Louisiana pine snakes, indigo snakes, and the Florida mouse. Rudy was actually doing what normal gopher tortoises do when he ran into some trouble, a lawnmower to be specific. When the man discovered the tortoise, he brought him to the Audubon Zoo in hopes that the veterinarians could help him.

Rudy lost one of his front legs, but looking at the slice missing out of his shell, it's amazing that he wasn't killed. Now that he only has 3 legs, he couldn't be released because he would no longer be able to dig a burrow for protection. So he lives at the zoo in the Children's Zoo area and was named "Rudy" because like the football player, he's got a lot of heart.

I love taking Rudy out for children to see. Usually when I place him on the ground so they can watch him move, the kids laugh at him initially because it's a little awkward. Like all turtles/tortoises, he lifts his shell off of the ground to walk, but when it's time for his front leg to move, he tips forward on his missing leg's side. Rudy does not give up though. He continues to move forward, albeit a little slower than "normal" gopher tortoises. And soon, the children start cheering him on. They go from being bullies to being advocates and I think that Rudy teaches them perfectly; we should be empathetic to others that might be different than us on the outside. We are all walking through this life together.


If you want to learn about other "specially-abled" animals that help others. you can read my posts about Faith, a dog that walks on her two hind legs giving encouragement to amputees, or the Tennessee Safety Spotters, a group of Deaf Dalmatians that teach kids about safety and Deafness.

Special thanks to my friend Amanda Mazzoni for her fabulous pictures of Rudy.

National Pet Day!

April 11th is National Pet Day which was created by Colleen Paige, Celebrity Pet Lifestyle Expert and Animal Welfare Advocate.

I am lucky enough that I own both a dog and a cat, but when I was little that wasn't the case. I'm one of 6 children and when we would ask for a pet, our parents' clever response was "we have enough animals in the house".

If I had done some research, I might have had some reasons for why having a pet is a good idea. (Beyond wanting one more friend to play with)

Here's a slideshow called 27 Ways Pets Can Improve Your Health. Maybe you will have better luck convincing those in your life that getting a pet is actually good for you!

P.S. What do you think about the above collection of animals as pets? Are there any that you wouldn't consider a good pet?

You're Never Fully Dress Without a Smile

Sometimes the most healing thing is seeing a smile on a friendly face.

If that didn't do it for you, here's a whole page of smiling animals.

My favorites are the owl, elephant seal, and of course the sheep.

Hopefully this will help when you're having a bad day!

Helping Hand

I love that the lizard reached out to a friend in need!

This image, taken by Alexey Tymoshenko from Caters News, made it on "Best Image of the Week" on Yahoo!. I'd have to agree.

Animals Provide Spa Treatment Part I

Rocky, my cat has that strange habit of kneading blankets, pillows, really anything soft including us, with his paws.  Evidently it's more common than I initially thought.  Some of my co-workers call it "making bread".

One evening, my husband remarked, while being kneaded in the back by Rocky, that cats should be used for massage.  I don't know that anyone has capitalized on cats' abilities to work the knots out, but another animal has been used as massage therapists.

In Israel, you can swim in the dead sea, walk in the Garden of Gethsemane, and get a massage by several snakes.  Ada Barak is the brains behind this spa treatment idea.  She noticed that people seem to calm down when they interacted with her snakes.  With that thought in mind, she figured that using snakes in massage would be a great idea.

Evidently she's not the only one because her snakes have been giving massages since 2007.  

I don't know, what do you think?  Would you be calmed by a snake masseuse?