In this adorable (yet still slightly nerve-wracking!) close-up we see a male lion licking one of its front paws. The photograph was taken by Solara Santoni, a 16-year-old from South Africa who has some wonderful animal photographs on her deviantART profile.
The photograph was taken at a Predator Park in South Africa called Jukani. She says she met him once before and was able to pet him so felt comfortable enough to get the incredible close-up above. For more, you can also check out her tumblr page at whenkittensroar.tumblr.com
Bodhi (named after Patrick Swayze’s character in Point Break) is a 3-year-old Shiba Inu breed living in New York City with his owners David Fung, 28, a graphic designer; and his fashion-designer girlfriend, Yena Kim, 26. One lazy day they decided to dress up Bodhi in one of Fung’s outfits. The photo was posted to Facebook as a joke but it struck a chord with friends and Menswear Dog was born.
The dapper dog quickly went viral, sporting the latest in mens fashion and inspiring fans with his style and panache. You can follow the fashion maven online at all of the places listed below 🙂
Andrew Knapp (AOK) is a designer and photographer from Canada. One day while walking his border collie Momo, he noticed his dog’s tendency to hide rather than return when fetching things. With a keen photographer’s eye, Knapp saw the potential and #findmomo was born on Instagram.
The concept was a hit and Knapp and Momo have quickly amassed nearly 50,000 followers. Since the explosion in popularity a website has launched (gofindmomo.com) and prints are now available with $2 going towards the local SPCA with every purchase.
It’s a fun photo series and finding Momo can be a real challenge in some of the shots! Keep in mind the project began on Instagram so most users are searching for the collie on their smartphone not on a desktop 🙂 Good luck!
“Under the sun, everyday is a good day. Another good day, Fukumaru” – Misao
12 years ago, Miyoko Ihara started taking photographs of her grandmother, Misao. Miyoko wanted to leave a living proof of her. One day, her grandmother found an odd-eyed kitten in the shed. She named the cat “Fukumaru” in hope that the God of “fuku (good fortune)” would come and everything would be smoothed over like “maru (circle)”.
Even though she is 87 years old, Misao still goes out into the fields everyday and Fukumaru always accompanies her. It has been 8 years since they first met. The grandmother whose hearing become weak and Fukumaru, who also has hearing disabilities, are always looking into each other’s eyes and feeling warmth from each other.
In 2011, Ihara released, Misao the Big Mama and Fukumaru the Cat, a 68-page hardcover book published by Little More Books. Below you will find some of the images from the beautifully shot book capturing the preciousness and beauty of daily life and companionship.
Professional food photographer Sonya Yu is the proud owner of Trotter, the most adorable French Bulldog on Instagram. With almost 16,000 followers on Instagram alone, Sonya delights her fans with pictures of her adorable dog dressed up in various costumes.
When she’s not snapping pics of Trotter, Sonya is busy taking mouth-watering food photography. On her personal Tumblr site you can find a very impressive portfolio of a wide range of shots, all in glorious big picture format.
Below is a small gallery of the Sifter’s personal Trotter favourites. Check out her awesome feed on Instagram for the rest 🙂
A hoarder in the United States was recently reported for having over 160 ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens living on her property in appalling conditions. While the hoarder’s initial intentions were good, her neglect and mental health issues created an unsuitable and unsanitary environment for these animals.
The neglected birds were living in tight quarters both inside and outside. Although the owner could not take proper care of the animals she continued to order more chicks and ducklings online and through mail order.
Many of the animals were suffering from ‘bumble foot’, a condition that causes infections on the bottom of feet. They were also living inside a screened-in porch where a slurry of feces and spilled food covered the floor. Due to inadequate housing, several of the birds did not have access to proper shelter and had lost toes and combs to frostbite. The indoor quarters were worse than the outdoors. All the birds showed signs of nutritional deficiencies.
After a year of trying to convince the owner to give up the animals, the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary and the Ulster County SPCA were able to obtain a seizure warrant to rescue the birds. All of the birds were treated for their health issues and provided veterinary care, nutritional supplements, quality food and daily vitamins in their water.
Many are now up for adoption, which you can inquire about here.
In the heartwarming video below, you can see the rescued ducks swimming for the first time in their lives. It’s fascinating to see their instinctual abilities ‘kick in’ as they quickly realize they are quite adept in the water.
Why didn’t they let the ducks just find their own way into the water instead of chasing them in?
According to their FAQ on Youtube there were a number of considerations. It is important to get the new ducks integrated into the flock swiftly because by the end of the day they would be sharing a coop to protect them from nocturnal predators, and so any issues needed to be observed and dealt with if certain ducks were being picked on, etc., so that they could separate them again if necessary.
The sanctuary also has limited staff and lots of other animals needing attention, so it was judicious for the safety of the new ducks to get them acclimated while staff members were present. Lastly, from many previous experiences they knew they would love the water once they were in. [Source]
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In this closeup we see an adorable group of baby veiled chameleons. Along with the six upfront you can also see more lurking in the background! The veiled chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus, is a large species of chameleon found in the mountain regions of Yemen, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. It is also sometimes referred to as the Yemen Chameleon.
The male veiled chameleon is primarily green in color and tends to be marked with stripes and spots of yellow, brown, and blue. Depending on the animal’s emotional state, this green will range from a bright lime green to a red olive drab. When veiled chameleons are stressed they often display strong coloration including bright yellow and sometimes even black. [Source: Wikipedia]
Located in the fertile agricultural region of Argentina’s ‘Pampas’ is a guitar shaped forest made up of over 7,000 cypress and eucalyptus trees. At over a kilometer in length (2/3 of a mile) the guitar shaped forest is quite visible for passing planes and satellites above. While it’s sheer size and scale is impressive as a piece of land art, the story of how it came to be is even more touching.
The guitar forest was planted by a farmer named Pedro Martin Ureta. Now 71-years old, it was him and his four kids that planted every individual tree decades ago. The inspiration came from Pedro’s wife, Graciela Yraizoz, who was flying in a plane over Pampa one day and noticed a farm, that through a fluke of topography, looked a bit like a milking pail. Graciela proclaimed that they should do one better and make a giant guitar on their farm, as she always loved the instrument.
Then one day in 1977 she suddenly collapsed. She had suffered from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm and died shortly thereafter, carrying what would have been the family’s fifth child. A couple years later, Pedro decided to honour his late wife’s wishes and create the guitar shaped forest she had always dreamed of.
With the help of his children, they planted and nurtured roughly 7,000 trees. The figure-eight shaped body and star-shaped sound hole are made up of cypress trees, while the beautiful blue eucalyptus trees are used to represent the six strings. Mr. Ureta admits he has only ever seen photographs of the complete guitar as a traumatic event in his youth has left him with a fear of flying.
Hospitals can be an intimidating place, especially for children. The white sterile walls and big noisy machines can scare some kids and it’s possible they become uncomfortable and uncooperative. Of course a kind and caring health care professional can overcome these obstacles; but adding a little colour, fun and awe to the typically drab interiors can do a lot to help elevate one’s mindset.
A recent post on Reddit showed a picture of the Texas Children’s Hospital’s CT Scanner below. It was fun, playful and uplifting; a total mood enhancer to an uncomfortable situation for many. That sent the Sifter on a mission to find more examples of uplifting interiors. Enjoy!
A young patient is surprised & excited to come back to her room and find that it’s been decorated as part of our disco-themed “Dec My Room” program. Photograph by Texas Children’s Hospital on Facebbok
Dr. Stephen Welty, Chief of the #2 Neonatology team in the nation, tends to newborn baby in the NICU. Photograph by Texas Children’s Hospital on Facebbok
The Royal London Children’s Hospital – London, England
Yoji Ookata is a scuba diver and self-taught underwater photographer. After diving and shooting recreationally for 18 years, Yoji took the ‘plunge’, quit his day job and has been working as a freelance underwater photographer ever since. On a recent dive in the waters of Amami Oshima (Kagoshima Prefecture), Yoji noticed strange circular patterns on the sea floor at a depth of about 25 meters (82 ft).
The patterns were about 2 meters (6.5 ft) in diameter and quite intricate. Ookata decided to enlist the help of his colleagues at NHK to help investigate what he dubbed ‘the deep sea mystery circle’. After sending down a film crew and team of scientists, the NHK aired an episode entitled, “The Discovery of a Century: Deep Sea Mystery Circle”. The findings were astounding.
It turns out the artist is a small male puffer fish who creates the patterns using his tiny fin. He works day and night in the hopes his artwork will attract a female mate (who apparently are attracted to the grooves and ridges). If chosen, the female will lay her eggs in the middle of the circle and the surrounding ridges and grooves even help protect the eggs from currents. How lovely!
