Category: Animals

Texas Woman Shoots Husband To Protect Cat

Audrey Deen Miller has proffered a unique defense to charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon: she shot her husband to protect her cat. The police report that Miller’s husband threatened to shoot one of her cats with a pellet gun. She did him one better and shot him in the abdomen with a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun.

Source: KHOU

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Two-Headed Pelican?

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

The Daily Mail has published an amazing photograph (click to enlarge) of a two-headed pelican. You don’t see those every day. The Daily Mail even cites the Massachusetts Audubon Society that “animals with abnormalities like that usually do not live very long in the wild.”

What’s even more amazing is, not only does the pelican have two heads, it has four wings.

H/T: Jerry Coyne.

Losing His Flock: Putin Takes Highly Symbolic Flight Alone As Giant Crane

Vladimir Putin continued his effort to create a cult of personality around his superhero exploits this week. If you recall, after his being featured as a race car driver, great white hunter, jet pilot, oceanologist, martial artist and Hell’s Angel, Putin was shown as a scuba diver. While only having dived three times, Putin was filmed at an ancient Greek Black sea site where he “discovered” two sixth century urns under the water — one of which was in pristine condition with nary a seaweed adhering to its surface. As many of us suggested, Putin’s worshipful staff later admitted it was staged — as Putin was fully aware. Now Putin has decided to morph into a giant white crane – flying a motorized hand glider to guide young Siberian cranes on their migration to Asia while dressed in a white costume. It turned out to be an incredibly symbolic moment. Like many voters protesting his authoritarian policies, all but one crane saw through him for what he was and refused to follow.

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Research Links Widespread Infections From Cats and Links To Schizophrenia and Suicide

No this was not a study paid for by the National Canine Association. New research is raising some startling findings about the transmission of serious illnesses from cats, including links to schizophrenia and other psychotic disturbances. This is a lot more dangerous that “cat scratch fever.” In Britain alone, roughly 350,000 people a year are believed to be infected each year with toxoplasma. There is also a link to higher rates of suicide among cat owners.

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Meet Venus

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

Not photoshopped. Jerry Coyne has more here. Nat Geo has more here.

Fur color genes for each half of the face must reside on different loci. Coyne points out that eye color genes are no located near the fur color genes. It’s not unusual for cats, especially Siamese, to have different color eyes.