Browsing: Animals/Pets

A Brief History On August 12, 1990, American fossil collector Sue Hendrickson made the discovery of a lifetime when she found the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossilized skeleton yet found while hunting fossils in South Dakota. Digging Deeper The aptly named T-Rex fossil, Sue, is about 90% complete, and has found a home in Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History.  Sue is estimated to have been 28 years old at death, and had suffered numerous injuries in her life.  She is estimated to be just over 40 feet long, about 13 feet tall, and weighed between 9 and 15 tons.…

A Brief History On May 28, 2016, animal lovers were subjected to the horror of a zoo worker from the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden shooting a beloved adult male gorilla named Harambe to death.  A three year old boy had climbed into the gorilla exhibit and was scooped up by the big ape, causing fear that the boy would be harmed. Digging Deeper The mother of the subject child was at the zoo with perhaps four children and lost track of the boy who climbed into the gorilla exhibit.  Her inattention led numerous people to accuse her of causing…

A Brief History On April 1, 2024, there were some large white wading birds by our pond, but I Egret to say an Eagle-eyed Hawk spotted them and attacked.  I am not one to Crow about it, but I am proud of our yard, as long as no Turkey tries to vandalize the property, because that really ruffles my Feathers. Digging Deeper Just yesterday an old Buzzard smoking a White Owl cigar turned his car around on our grass, and then tried to Duck away when I approached.  He must have been Chicken!  When I confronted him, he Quailed in…

A Brief History On March 25, 1996, the European Union banned the import of beef and beef byproducts from Britain due to an outbreak of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as “Mad Cow Disease.” Digging Deeper Incurable and always fatal, Mad Cow Disease in humans is called Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, caused by a “misfolded” protein called a prion that attacks the brain.  Most victims die in 13 months after suffering psychiatric and psychomotor problems and pain.  Incubation of the disease may take 20 years or more! Another horrible brain rotting disease is caused by Brain Eating Amoebas, which infects people…

A Brief History On March 3, 2018, the track and field world lost one of its greatest runners when Roger Bannister died, the first person to run a mile in under four minutes.  Prior to Bannister’s run in 1954, many people doubted that any man could break the “four-minute barrier.”  Obviously, those doubters were wrong! Digging Deeper Bannister was involved in another historic race, this time in the finals of the 1500-meter run at the 1952 Olympics, in which he finished 4th, the incredible part being that all eight runners in that race broke the Olympic record for the 1500!…