The S,S & P Group Beastiary Photo Thread

[salvorhardin]

Since BMUS and others have been showing pics of their favorite creepy-crawlies in another thread I thought we could do with a separate thread to show off some pics of our favorite members of the great kingdom of Animalia. So if you have a favorite pic (whether you've taken it or not), why not share it with us here.

I'll start the show off with Canut. I took this photo at the 2008 Indiana Alpaca Invitational.


I've posted a photo of our dog, Admiral Nelson, here before but who can resist a face like this?

[cosmik debris]

1. A couple of my favorites

While driving across eastern New Mexico a sudden rain shower hit. After the rain let up, thousands of these critters ran out on to the highway to warm up on the hot asphalt.



And while driving through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in northern Nova Scotia I spotted a moose with a "Y" branded on his butt. I never could find an explanation for that.

[beam me up scottie]

38. Silly cosmik, the "Y" stands for BIG YAK.

This is one of our own mooses. (mieses? moosen?)

I would love to have a tarantula to photograph, they're supposed to be shy and not at all aggressive.

[YankeyMCC]

2. A video

It's only a chipmunk but it's probably the best 'wildlife' pic, actually a video, I've ever managed to capture.

A chipmunk munching down on a nice juicy caterpillar along the banks of the Pemigewasset river in NH.


http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf.v58932

[beam me up scottie]

40. I couldn't view the video, it says it's no longer available.

I adore chipmunks, they call them "ground squirrels" down here.

[cosmik debris]

3. I demand equal time for the plant kingdom

I love taking pictures of plants having sex. My daughter says that I'm addicted to plant porn.

A spiderwort



Some yellow flower with an erection

[beam me up scottie]

6. Since this is your area of expertise,

can you tell me what this Iris is doing?:

[cosmik debris]

8. Begging for it!

Now you tell me...

Why do women get so turned on by plants showing off their genitals.

When I wave my genitals at a woman she calls the cops.

But if I bring her a hand full of plants waving their genitals around, she will shove her face right in it?

Where's the justice?

[beam me up scottie]

9. Well, if you brought me a bouquet of cut-off genitals

I would probably do the same.

How can you stand the screaming?

I know it's weird, but I very rarely pick flowers from my own garden.

[trotsky]

28. LMAO n/t

[Silent3]

4. Arthur and Lyta

These poor guys, accustomed to having the run of the house, are currently confined to a pen in a room of our temporary apartment, a room otherwise crammed with boxes of stuff from our old house. They at least get out for a bit of exercise with a partly supervised romp around the apartment every evening, but it's still not like the exercise they used to get running up and down stairs in the old house.

Having dealt, however, with cleaning and patching some of the mess made by these rabbits, in order to get the old house ready for sale, I think when our new house is ready they're going to have spend more time penned up and less time roaming free and making trouble. At least they're dealing with their current degree of confinement much better than I would have imagined.

[beam me up scottie]

39. I showed your fur kids to my bf, he thought they were stuffed animals.

Now he wants a rabbit...:spank:

[beam me up scottie]

5. Jumping Spider Porn! (seriously, this is astonishing!)

Don't worry, it's only foreplay, they stop filming just before he gets ready to kiss her and stuff.

(don't forget to turn up your speakers for this)

Jumping Spider Mating Ritual With Super Audio

Jumping spiders use their legs to communicate courtship interests to potential mates. The minuscule impacts of spider legs tapping against the ground surface are detected by nearby spiders. This "drumming" cadence signals the spider's reproductive interests. The female detects the low frequency vibrations through her legs. She responds by allowing the male to mount her.

http://www.videosift.com/video/Jumping-Spider-Mating-Ritual-With-Super-Audio

And you beat me to it, Leo, I swear I was going to start a photo thread since this is turning out to be sort of a home base for a lot of us. :hug:

[moggie]

10. I love that video!

I suppose you've seen this?

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

[beam me up scottie]

11. I LOVE THAT VIDEO!!!

I sent it to everyone I knew the first time I watched it!

The props and narration are top rate!

[mr blur]

7. Tame stuff...

Marble the One-Eyed Wonder Cat

and



Richard, Billy, Diana, Tom and Florence, the sexually-confused chickens

[beam me up scottie]

17. Um, could you explain "the sexually-confused chickens"?

Marble looks like Newton, seen here in typical ineffective kitty camouflage:

[mr blur]

18. Well they are of course all female,

but we named four of them after the members of Television, my favourite band, who are all male. The other three were named after The Supremes. As you can probably imagine, we are starved for excitement around these parts.

[moggie]

29. What is it with cats and paper bags?

They can't resist. Bags and cardboard boxes.

[beam me up scottie]

41. I think Newton really believes we can't see him.

He loves to hide so he can scare the fur off the other cats when they walk by.

[semillama]

12. This is my current favorite picture

I took this photo in Rocky Mountain NP in July. The elk were like 30 feet away. Oh, and the elevation was 12,000 ft ASL!

[TZ]

13. I've been there.--LOVE IT.

I'll have to dig up a picture I took there of a group of young bighorn sheep. They ran out in the road right in front of us, several times!

[beam me up scottie]

42. That's an incredible photo.

Those elk are so healthy they look like Quarter Horses.

BB is from Colorado, he almost cried when he saw your picture.

[TZ]

14. First here's an old thread of my skepticats..aka "Little Yak"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=247x9516

Plus this picture illustrating how smart and what a good sense of humor my kitty Sophie has:


Then this picture from the National Zoo last winter, that I just think is cool..

[beam me up scottie]

15. Did you take the picture of the lion?

I already saved it.

Your sophie does have good taste, one of my boys used to sit on the tv and try to catch the race cars going around the track.

[TZ]

16. No the pic of the lion is from the Washington Post.

I just thought it was a very cool pic.

[Heddi]

19. ooh ooh ooh my turn!

Fat Mumbles playing with the OB tampon that she thinks is a mouse. or something





Fat Mumbles playing with the oh-so-realistic rubber model of a 12-week old fetus I stole from the pro-life booth at the fair



Okay, not a pet, but my attempt at a LOLfetus


Mr Pickles!

[beam me up scottie]

43. You kill me!

:rofl:

I'm just now reading through this thread, how did the pro-lifers display the rubber fetus, with ketchup or did they have it set up like SNL's Mr. Bill?

[salvorhardin]

47. Oh noooo!

Mr. Hands' trying to abort me, Spot! :rofl:

[beam me up scottie]

48. You're as bad as I am!

:spank:

[Heddi]

63. There were a basket of them

I think if you made a donation you could get one. It's nice and rubbery and the cats LOVE it.

Anyhoo, so we're walking by and I see this HUGE Anti-Choice sign and this "councelor" berating a young woman who's probably afraid she's being pregnant or something. ANd I just walk up to the basket and take one. What the hell are they gonna do...KILL ME? heh.

I also stole a key chain that had some ridiculously simplified slogan that simplifies life and choices in a ridiculously simplified way.

The anti-abortion woman looked at me like I had geese flying out of my eyeballs. I just glared back and made grotesque comments about the fetus's lack of a butthole to my husband as we walked by. And I made the comments quite loudly as well.

I think she prayed THREE TIMES HARDER that night. Just for my sinful soul.

[realisticphish]

20. my (our) animals

Iago, the cat



Floyd, the Red Tiger Oscar



My electric blue crayfish, as yet unnamed


My other tank, including my two Tin Foil Barbs, 4 Tiger Barbs, and Red Glas Barbs, who are now sadly deceased (I think the tiger barbs beat them up)



My roommates' dog, Anakin, who is not mine, but he lives here so I don't care


Anakin and Iago

[cosmik debris]

21. That's an impressive crayfish

Has he been taking colloidal silver?

[realisticphish]

22. that's actually liquid colloidal silver that he lives in

he's a healthy motherfucker, i assure you

[Codeine]

24. OMG Iago is gorgeous.

Seriously, that is one beautiful cat. :hi:

[realisticphish]

26. thanks

i picked him out because he was so affectionate at the shelter, so he's a good package :D (though he can be a psycho, and won't let me go to the bathroom by myself for some reason)

[Codeine]

30. All cats are psycho.

Mine refuses to drink from a bowl, only from a faucet.

[realisticphish]

32. i've been thinking about

one of those pet mate water fountains, but then i realized i was swinging into crazy territory when i can barely afford food as it is

[TZ]

31. My cats do the same thing

Actually I'll call and call for them and nada..Walk into the bathroom and BINGO kitties want love.....:rofl:

[realisticphish]

33. if i don't let him in

he sits at the door and meows until i let him in

[beam me up scottie]

44. Gorgeous. How do you keep Floyd from eating everything else in the tank?

I "rescued" an Oscar from a dumb-ass that was going to flush him after he ate all the other fish.

Like it was the Oscar's fault...

[realisticphish]

64. it's actually a cool story

i bought Floyd when he was only 2.5 inches long. i introduced him into my 30 gallon, and he seemed to do alright, except that the resident 5 inch firemouth was picking on him. So, i put a divider in the tank; floyd and a red tail shark that was fighting with one of his fellows went in one side alone. they seemed to get along alright.

a while later, i decided to try getting another firemouth to go with Rocky (the aformentioned firemouth), since they are fairly social. Rocky HATED him, and picked the poor little guy apart, until he had ragged fins and hid in the corner. So i thought, what the hell, and tried putting the new firemouth into Floyd's side. Floyd was about 4 inches, and totally ignored him. The new firemouth started doing great, swimming around in the open, coming up to take food, etc. I eventually got a 20 gallon tank, and moved Floyd, the little firemouth (though Rocky had died by this time), the redtail shark, and a large pleco into it. They've made a great tank since then; Floyd is now approaching 8 inches, and the firemouth, who is unnamed as of yet, has beautiful colors and perfect fins. The firemouth actually dashes up and steals food from the oscar when i drop it in; he'll also snack on excess food that comes out of floyd's gills. I just moved them into a 30 long, when I moved, and they seem to like it a lot better; floyd's been more active than ever.

I just think it's awesome that they're basically friends, because they grew up together. This is why I love keeping fish; they always surprise you, especially when you're someone who thinks they're just living decor, rather than fairly intelligent creatures

That was a HELL of a lot to write about fish :D

[TZ]

65. Fish can be very interesting

My best friend growing up had a large fish tank with a series of oscars plecos and even ciclids (though they tended to fight and kill each other). I found their fish fascinating..and they had a pleco that got to be over a ft long!

[realisticphish]

66. must.... not.... nitpick...

oscars are cichlids too :D


but i can't wait until i have the space/money for some serious sized tanks. i'd love to do an amazon river one, about a 200 gallon, with tree roots, etc

[beam me up scottie]

67. That's incredible.

Fish are awesome. I adopted a Beta when he was going to be flushed by a coworker and he was very intelligent. I never thought I would get that attached to the little guy but I still miss him.

[realisticphish]

68. I have a betta named Ophelia

who sits on my desk. She actually jumps out of the water when i'm putting food in the water (which Floyd does too, only when he does it, it's pretty damn scary)

[beam me up scottie]

69. Yeah, Floyd would probably scare most of the fishermen down here...

I called Attila a Beta, shows how much I know about fish...

[realisticphish]

72. i've heard both

not a big deal :)

[dropkickpa]

73. I've always wanted to have a great big fish tank

But, man, fish are a lot of work! I had trouble keeping Dropkid's goldfish alive (they finally got the final flush after a year). The aquarium is my 2nd favorite part of the zoo here (elephants are #1). I could spend the entire day in the aquarium, but Dropkid always races through.

Anakin is gorgeous, and Iago is cute, but he makes me itchy.

[realisticphish]

75. thanks

i was worried about having a husky and a cat, because huskies tend to have high predator instincts, but they get along fine.

actually, fish keeping isn't all that hard, if you know what you're doing. Change the water, don't overfeed, keep the water at the right temperature, and use a sufficiently large filter. Though maybe it just seems simple to me after this long :shrug:

[dropkickpa]

76. Too hard for me!

At least right now. I'd have to get a lot of education before I try another fish tank. But I'd really love one. Perhaps when I finally buy a house (I'll ask you questions!!). Pleco's are one of my favorites, my mom used to have a 55 gallon tank and her pleco was just so cool, I could watch him for hours.

Regarding dog and cat, I bet the cat keeps him in line. Agatha (pitbull terrier, high prey drive breed also) adores the guinea pigs, she lays next to them and they mutter back and forth for hours sometimes. And if there's any animal that screams out "prey", it's a guinea pig, they're furry footballs with 1 inch (if that) legs.

[realisticphish]

78. and in south america, they eat em! nt

[beam me up scottie]

77. When I lived in Vermont I built a pond.

No fish, it froze almost solid in winter, but I had baby turtles in it every spring, frogs, minnows (not sure how they got in there) and all kinds of birds -including a blue heron that perched on my roof every morning. I created a waterfall and built my own biological filter, planted waterlilies and bog plants, it was a wonderful hobby. I could sit out there for hours.

[realisticphish]

79. i know some people

who have had their koi ponds wiped out by one heron who happens to find it. i love herons, but they're why i'll probably never build a (fish) pond

[beam me up scottie]

80. That's too bad.

He never stayed long, there weren't enough frogs to keep him satisfied, but it would really suck to have your fish picked off.
And since koi are so beautiful and so intelligent, I don't think I could stand to lose them like that.

[realisticphish]

81. one guy

put black mesh over his pond when he wasn't watching it. It worked, but it was a pain in the ass

[beam me up scottie]

82. Did the same thing but only in the fall, it was too hard to scoop all the leaves out of it every day

Aquariums and ponds are wonderful once you get that perfect balance.

With ponds it's better to wait for the algae to bloom than to try to mess around with the ph. I didn't want to be constantly dumping chemicals in it, so I would deal with the green slime for a few weeks in early summer. Once the plants started doing their thing the water was crystal clear.

[realisticphish]

83. i don't even pay attention to PH

i learned that its FAR easier to get the fish accustomed to slightly off ph levels than to chemically mess with it all the time. harder to maintain.

And algae is very counter intuitive. People act like its some vile substance, when its actually a sign of a pretty good tank

[dropkickpa]

23. Look at that face!!

The Admiral's, of course!

Agatha channeling Elvis


And giving lovin's to rope ball ("It's rope ball, it's rope ball, it's a ball made out of rope!" yes, it has a theme song)

[beam me up scottie]

45. Agatha looks like she's got a hard life.

Definitely stressed out. :D

[dropkickpa]

57. Very stressful

That couch doesn't stay on the ground all by itself!

[Codeine]

25. My little guys.

This is Oreo, a terrier mutt rescue. He doesn't live with me anymore but I still visit the little bugger. Most headstrong dog EVAR!



And here's Attitude, another rescued stray. He's a Maine Coon, and the sweetest kitty you will ever meet. In this photo he demonstrates his hatred for the big, mean, bright sun.



And here is is looking handsome.

[beam me up scottie]

46. Most of my animals are rescues too.

I think we're fortunate that they found us.

[TZ]

27. I have a request.

I would like R_A to post a picture of Smokey the WTF bear....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=247&topic_id=19115&mesg_id=19500


I smell a new assistant for Big Yak...:D
"Only you can help fight discussions with logicals counterpoints!" says smokey
the wtf bear...."

:rofl:

[Evoman]

34. Some of my favourite animals (I get obsessed with a certain animal and research it to death).

Here are some of my obsessions (in the present or past). All these pics are taken from the net (I'm too lazy to put my pics into photobucket).


Octopus



Locusts (Shistocerca I believe in this pic)




Jelly fish



Bush Cricket




Praying Mantis

[beam me up scottie]

35. Picture of a Bush Cricket on my car:

[Evoman]

36. I have a bush cricket story. It happened two weeks ago.

My girlfriend and I were driving to candy shop a cross town because we were looking for those cinnamon candy hearts (we needed them to make candy apples).

Anyways, she was driving and I was sitting in the passenger seat. All of a sudden, something comes through the window as we're driving and smacks my face and lands in my lap. It's a bush cricket. I immediatly get excited and start tellng my girlfriend about their stridulation and what not.

I try to grab him and he jumps off my lap and under the seat. I get despondent because I'm afraid one of us will accidentally step on him. So I try not to move. All of a sudden I feel something on my bare leg (wearing shorts). The bush cricket is crawling up my leg. I get it to climb into my hand and I refuse to throw it out the window like my gf asks because I'm afraid of it getting squished.

Finally we get to the store...about half a block away there is a bushy, grassy area. I run over there and let him go. My gf is more or less rolling her eyes.

Okay, lame story...but I like the damn bugs so much that I feel bad if I put them in situations were they might die.


BTW: how the hell do you take such great picture? What kind of camera do you use? Are you using macro lenses?

[beam me up scottie]

37. HA! I'll let Beloved Boyfriend know I'm not the only bug-saving weirdo.

He fell in love with me the night I made him pull over on the side of a busy highway so that I could stop traffic, run out in the middle of the road and rescue a snapping turtle.

I don't know why that did it for him, but he now feels compelled to do the same thing, even when I'm not in the car.


I have a Panasonic FZ18 and I'm still struggling with it, 18X optical zoom, Leica lenses and full auto or manual control. I had a Panny FZ10 until this spring and I absolutely loved it. I wanted something more challenging and boy did I ever get it with the FZ18.

One of the main reasons I decided on the Panny was because of its macro capabilities. I love bugs as much as you do and always wanted to get up close and personal with them.

I usually put it in burst mode when I'm working with creepy-crawlies, the little boogers aren't always cooperative. The great thing about digital is that taking hundreds of photos costs the same as taking one.

[onager]

49. Some more Egyptian critters...

I work out in farm country here in Egypt (near the Nile Delta), so I see a lot of local fauna.

And yes, I have GOT to get my Photobucket account populated...

Our car often gets stuck in herds of sheep and goats, being led by shepherds both male and female and a few herd dogs. The dogs seem to be mostly semi-feral. Islam is not kindly disposed toward dogs, so these canines spend a lot of time unemployed and just hanging around.

It's always fun to see the dogs herding lambs and kids. Their legs are not as long as the big animals, so naturally they fall behind. The dogs run up and nuzzle them back in line. I can almost hear the dog-speak: "Hey bud, speed it up! I'm not missing my treat tonight because you got lost or eaten!"

Just the other day a kid (4-legged) ran right in front of our car. His Mom ran right out behind him and chased him back to the side of the road. That really tickled me. Wish I'd had my camera.

Not long ago I was standing outside where I work, and a grey fox walked up. It wasn't a bit scared, so I guess it's used to humans. It just looked me over, as if saying: "Well, what are YOU doing here?" Or like it was trying to decide whether I was (1) a threat or (2) edible. Then it moseyed off, moving very slowly without a care in the world.

I do try to be careful, because rabies is a BIG problem here. A few months ago near my workplace, a rabid dog attacked a bunch of children waiting for the school bus. It bit several of them, but happily they all survived.

[beam me up scottie]

51. My dad was just talking about the feral dogs in Iraq.

From the top floor of their hotel they could see literally hundreds of feral dogs running in packs down by the river. It bothered my mom to see them shot by the police, but there really was no other option.
We Americans don't always shoot dogs on sight, but we regularly throw away our pets when they get too big or too rowdy, become sick, fertile or pregnant or when we just get tired of the responsibility.

Yeah, you should be careful when it comes to rabies, do you carry a pistol?

I would love to see pictures of the herds, dogs and shepherds, it's like time stood still centuries ago.

[Orrex]

50. Locking--no bestiality threads

Oops--sorry! I read the subject line wrong.

[beam me up scottie]

52. I thought I was the only one who thought that!

I didn't want to mention it and look like some kind of pre-vert.

[Orrex]

53. Oh, great...

Now people are going to think that I'm as preverted as BMUS.

:evilgrin:

[salvorhardin]

54. You say that like it's a bad thing.

:shrug:

[beam me up scottie]

55. Well, it's still better than people thinking you're as preverted as trotsky.

He's got the hots for Gardasil threads, you know.

[Orrex]

58. I remember a couple of years ago...

He and some Health woo went round-and-round from one thread to the next. It was indecent. Finally we had to spray them with the hose to get them off the lawn.

I recall that I actually PM'd him about it...

[TZ]

59. Orrex+BMUS....

Get a room already, heh? Maybe you can invite Trotsky too?:rofl:

[TZ]

56. Too late!

You sponge hating pev you......:rofl:

[beam me up scottie]

60. He hates sponges?

Has he never seen Seinfeld?

[TZ]

61. I'm a tattletale...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x8052138#8052147

Figured you ought to know just what kind of skeptic we have in our midst...:rofl:

[beam me up scottie]

62. Men who hate Sponge Bob are not sponge-worthy.

Glove World was one of my favoite episodes.

[Orrex]

70. I've only seen one episode of Sponge Bob

And that 24 minutes was the longest hundred years of my life.

[beam me up scottie]

71. I hated him at first too.

Glove World made me a convert.

And the anchovies remind me of the posters in the healthscare forum.

[dropkickpa]

74. Me too

But I came to appreciate the silliness. It actually can be really clever, and the movie sealed the deal for me with this scene


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

[Anarcho-Socialist]

84. OK, time for some furries

This is my mother's dog Phoebe, a jack russell border terrier cross. This is from two years ago when she was a puppy.






This is my sister's puppy Megan, a staffordshire terrier. This is from a month ago and she's about 7 weeks old in these.










This is my sister's cat Chloe. She is about six months old. This is taken from a month ago.

[lizerdbits]

85. Max, his royal fluffiness

The vet said he thought he had some Maine Coon but he looks more Norwegian Forest Cat to me. Whatever, his fluffiness and prettiness is apparently why I still feed him after he bites and gnaws my feet and hands all the time.

Licking butter of a knife because as you can see he is starving.



Letting me know how much he cares.


I always have to post this one, it's just funny.


Trying to figure out if that fake cat my great aunt gave me and I have no use for is real.


As a bonus here's me and my sister with our first cats, Sunny and Stormy around 1976. I'm the younger cuter one (isn't that redundant? :P )