Our piqued interest on the bullfrog still doesn’t end so here’s a great short documentary from National Geographic on this ranid creature. This should clear up our opinions on frogs that they mainly live on flies.

From rodents, snakes, fish, scorpions and spiders, these eating machines basically eat anything that passes in front of them. They do not have big claws, sharp feet or fangs and yet overcome pincers, poisons and spicy stingers.

Known to swim 20 feet to shore to grab a meal and hop back into the pond to drown them, they strike their prey with swiftness and stealth. They are also canibalistic and eat smaller size of their own species.

Check out 1 videoclip on the bullfrog from National Geographic after the jump.

Spectacular captures of the American Bullfrog preying on an unlucky sparrow. Growing up to a length of 20 centimeters or 7.9 inches, the bullfrog preys on any animal that it can overpower and stuff down its throat. Their stomachs have been found to contain rodents, small turtles, snakes, frogs including bullfrogs and birds of course.

Ambush predators as they are known for, the bullfrog can be seen submerging large preys (in this case the sparrow) into the water to cut their air supply and defense.

Check out the whole sequence of the bullfrog and the unlucky sparrow with 5 more pics after the jump.

Source: Cellar

Undercover investigation by PETA at an Iowa pig factory farm reveals shocking rampant animal cruelty committed by the workers and supervisors. The video and images are horrific to the extent that some of the images shown here have been left out.

Some of the atrocities of cruelty shown were

- Piglets slammed to the floor and leaving them still wriggling to die in a bloodied pile
- beating up of the pigs to death with metal rods
- inserting rods into the sow’s vagina
- Spraying paint into the pig’s eyes and nostrils

These condemed acts and unacceptable practice shows how ugly human actions can be and the atrocities that are not known to us when we eat products such as bacon, ham or sausage.

Watch the video and gallery at your discretion and definitely not for the squeamish hearted. The images shown here are less disturbing and to see the full story and media, check out PETA’s website. If you care about animal cruelty, do check out Kentucky Fried Cruelty as well.

3 more pics of the shocking cruety to pigs at the Iowa farm after the jump.

Source: PETA

A mother pig and her piglets severely confined to a small farrowing crate during nursing.

A sow with an open sore on her nose from an apparent beating with a metal gate rod.

Sow #13319 sustained multiple cuts to her back, likely the result of being beaten and scraped with a gate rod while being moved from the gestation building to the farrowing building.

An intriguing look at how dogs drink recorded at ultra slow motion from Discovery Channel. A comparison is made between how humans drink water like a dog and a real dog drinking. This shows how surprising things can be when we change the lens of time and how we can really see and understand our world in new ways.

1 videoclip of a dog drinking water in slow motion after the jump.

The extremely rare goblin sharks are called ‘tenguzame’ by the Japanese fishermen and are best known to be found from the deep waters around Japan. It has protrusible jaws which probably makes it the strangest of all the sharks.

The goblin shark looks like some kind of prehistoric survivor and preys on deep sea small fish, octopus and crabs.

1 videoclip of the goblin shark after the jump.

These should have been posted during the Beijing Olympics which just ended days ago but nevertheless here is a cute gallery of the Guinea Pig Olympics. Various sports shown are archery, fencing, swimming, weight lifting, boxing, table tennis and others. Created by Icarus Arts as the Guinea Pig Games Calendar 2009, there’s no reason why one shouldn’t pick up this cutesy creation.

8 more pics of the Cavy Olympics after the jump.

Source: Telegraph UK

An ancient festival in Galicia Spain, the Rapa das bestas is an old practice of ‘Taming the Beasts’ and is thought to date back to the Bronze Age. Men and women alike would wrestle the untamed horses to the ground with their hands and arms to cut their manes and tails.

It’s a noble tradition where man pits his strength against a beast without ropes or weapons and only using his bare hands and courage. This Spanish fiesta goes on for three days of which after the horses are sent up to the hillside again and it does not involve cruelty and death.

17 more pics of the Rapa Das Bestas festival after the jump.

Source: Blame It On The Voices

A nice collection of amusing signs relating to animals. My favorite one would have to be the splatter zone.

14 more pics of animal signs after the jump.

Source: Outdoor Lens

Cute short from Japanese TV that puts the Japanese girl Becky in a cabin to live with two baby red pandas. Red pandas are extremely endangered creatures with only around 2,500 mature individuals and the purpose of this show ‘Tensai! Shimura Dobutsuen’ is to bring awareness to the plight of these animals.

1 videoclip of the cute Japanese girl and the baby red pandas after the jump.

Adorable sweater wearing pug that looks a bit too depressed as it hangs around outside cafe Trieste in San Francisco. Someone needs to give the little guy some love.

3 more pics of the depressed dog after the jump.

Source: Flickr Via: Vincent Chow

Herons are not known for preying small mammals but these intelligent birds are known to adapt flexibility in their feeding habits and in this case the cutesy bunny just got unlucky.

The little rabbit was drowned in the water which also makes the rabbit more slippery to down into the heron’s throat. It’s interesting to see the cycle of life in nature but its pretty disturbing to see birds that should be eating fish taking a taste of small land mammals. Perhaps the photographer should have rescued it instead of just observing but then again the heron would probably just look for another prey.

3 more pics of the unlucky rabbit after the jump.

Source: Eyje

A tiny Chihuahua dog takes on the German Shepherd fearlessly and shows it who’s the boss. It’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the fight in the dog!

Check out the fight between the tiny puppy and the German Shepherd with 1 videoclip after the jump.

This dead alien-like being found in a small town in Thailand was claimed to be born from a cow and seems at first to be a severe case of birth malformation defect. A closer examination however reveal that the alien being resembles too much of a human baby with its front legs looking more like hands than feet.

In the form of a ritual, the local residents pour baby powder onto the dead body and burnt incense in their belief of cleansing the area of evil and hopeful that it will be reincarnated peacefully.

6 more pics of the alien from a cow in Thailand after the jump.

Black bears hibernate during winter and gathers leaves, grass and twigs in their dens. These medical researchers are trying to study how bears cope with conditions that are problematic for people. The bear was probably tagged and was found and studied as seen by the measuring and weighing in the pictures. After the study, the mother and the cubs would be reburied into the den.

Check out 18 more pics of black bear hibernation study after the jump.

Source: Bad Control

A series of advertisements from Zoo Aquarium in Madrid that compares animals to people with some thought provoking lines. The approach might be somewhat misleading since animals do have their own weakness but looking from the point of view that humans are much more intelligent beings, the animals fare much better in some areas of morality.

Click on the images to view in higher resolution.

Agency: Sra. Rushmore United (Madrid)
Advertiser: Parques Reunidos, S.A.
Brand: Madrid Zoo
Market: Spain

Check out 5 more pics of the ‘Animals Teach Us To Be People’ ads from Zoo Aquarium after the jump.

Crocodiles are vicious predators that have lived through the dinosaur age and sometimes called as the living dinosaurs. Dangerous to humans and killing hundreds of people each year in the world, there is a softer side to these ambush hunters – when the little croc babies hatch from their eggs. They still look fearsome and would bite even when their teeth are not formed yet.

Check out the hatching of baby crocodiles with 5 more pics and 1 videoclip of a baby crocodile’s bite after the jump.

Interesting robots inspired by animals in nature ranging from fish, salamander, gecko, water strider and others. The last robot has got to be my favorite with its cool modular motion and genetic algorithm.

1 videoclip of robots inspired by animals after the jump.

Nature shows that an intelligent system can be derived from the ability of animal or insect as groups and scientist are now starting to study how this swarm theory actually works. The behavior of swarm intelligence will provide insights that could probably help humans manage complex systems.

3 more pics of the swarm theory from National Geographic after the jump.

View the whole slideshow of 18 slides on National Geographic.
Source: National Geographic

The turtle is one of the oldest reptile groups even more ancient than the lizards and snakes. They cannot breath in water and sea turtles comes to the dry sandy beaches at different seasons to lay eggs which are then covered and left to incubate by themselves. The turtles hatch and squirm their way to the surface and head towards the water.

Watch the hatching of a turtle egg with 4 more pics after the jump.

I’m not so sure about dogs with dye jobs but as long as the dye is non-toxic, I don’t find a problem with colorful dogs that stands out. Bring the dog out onto the streets and it will invite controversial looks from curious onlookers. Well one might argue that the dog is color blind and won’t mind what color their fur is but I wonder if it would bring any difficulty for it to find a mate.

Anyway check out more dogs with dye jobs with 14 more pics after the jump.

Source: Dog Guide