Revealing Your Inner Beast: Animal Tattoos
July 22, 2010 by admin · View Comments
[ By Marc in Art & Design. ]
People show their appreciation of nature and the ecosystem in different ways; some people join a commune and begin a sustainable, vegan existence, while others simply signify their love for nature by tattooing it onto their back. Some people do all of these things. Here are some of the coolest, and in some cases, most random animal tattoos you’ve never seen:
(Images via geniusreviews, tattooan, tattoosbydesign, free-insurance-review, tribaltattoo, wolf tattoo)
Wolves are a classic image of untamed nature. Favored by loners who are proud of their ability to howl out their emotions at the moon, it’s also great for those who have more of a pack mentality, and like how this animal is fierce and independent, but works closely and loyally in a group. It also has beautiful features and frightening teeth. These examples show there are a lot of ways to go with your wolf tattoo.
(Images via tattoo, robotnine, graphic.ward)
Giraffes would not be my first guess for an animal tattoo, but apparently they hold powerful meaning for some people. I have to say my favorite is the connect the dots example (the red lines are marker… the tattoo typically just looks like dots), though I’d worry about too much interaction from strangers itching to draw on your leg to see what it reveals.
(Images via mytipsonline, tattoobringer, cwalker71)
Elephants have held much significance in a lot of cultures, but any nature lover can appreciate their intelligence, power, and loyalty to one another. If you’ve ever seen elephants mourning over a fallen comrade, it’s heart wrenching. You have to have a lot of room and a great artist to pull this off well, but the results can be well worth it.
(Images via myspace, asseeninwi)
I originally thought a cow tattoo would be incredibly strange, imagining the image in the second photo as the only possible outcome of that train of thought. The beauty and quality of the first tattoo changed my attitude, however, as it’s beautifully done. If you want to show serenity, or loyalty to a home state known for its’ cheese, just be sure you get an inspired tattoo artist to do the work.
(Images via tattoo22, tattoospit, artbackwash, 99tattoos)
Bats are frightening, unique, and if you walk three feet in a library you’ll find yourself tripping over a book that features their mythology prominently. Whether you’ve decided to get tattooed with a bat because of your love of vampires, or it’s entirely because of your love for that particular animal, you have to be careful of what conclusions people will jump to. Regardless of the meaning behind it, bat tattoos have a lot of room to be amazing.
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Animal Suicide: Realistic or Illegitimate?
Animal suicide is seemingly easy to dismiss on the surface but merits more thought when considering how captivity, depression and other factors can affect animals.
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Animal Detectives: Feline Forensics and Intuitive Insects
March 26, 2010 by admin · View Comments
[ By Chris in Animals & Habitats, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
(Images via: PCS, Babble, AC360, Nikipedia, Stripers Online, Sock Ninja, Book Mice, Snarkerati, The Pilver)
From sniffing for bombs and drugs to tracking down missing persons, dogs have been trained to use their strong sense of smell in the pursuit of justice. While bloodhounds and other canines may first come to mind when thinking of animal detectives, they are not the only creatures that can help solve crimes and put away slime. Turns out that dog’s worst friend – the cat – and an insect that most humans would like to avoid – wasps – also have some surprising value in the world of law enforcement.
If the Cat Fur Sticks, You Must Not Acquit
(Images via: Annie’s Little Footprints, Fantasy Stock, Flickr, Onancock, Eco Test, Flickr)
Cat owners can attest to how much cats love to groom themselves, shedding tons of hair on pillows, couches, floors and other areas of the home. Often viewed as an annoyance, discarded cat hair turned out to be a crucial piece of evidence in a 1994 murder case in Canada. Inside a bloody jacket next to a murdered woman were two strands of white car fur. The jacket was believed to be owned by the woman’s ex-husband, and the fur was genetically linked through DNA analysis to a cat named Snowball, owned by the suspect’s parents. Ultimately, the cat fur contributed to conviction of the suspect, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
CSI CAT-alonia?
(Cat DNA Image via: Flickr)
(Cat Genome Image via: About)
Law enforcement officials have noted how cat fur is like a silent witness that can be brought to the scene of the crime (such as in the landmark Canada case) or carried away from the scene (such as from the home of a cat owner). Given the potential of cat fur as forensic evidence in millions of homes, an international team of scientists recently developed an extensive DNA database that includes different cat furs. The database currently features 1,396 different cat DNA sequences to be used by crime scene investigators and forensic experts. The scientists expect to add dog hair sequences to the DNA database in the future.
The Sting: Starring Paul Newman and Thousands of Wasps
(Images via: Apartment Therapy, Urban Extension, Sky Bird 1831)
Like dogs, wasps are masters at olfactory detection. In recent years scientists have trained wasps to smell for different chemicals, simply by feeding them sugar water and introducing them to a specific smell (such as caffeine). The wasps have demonstrated a quick ability to pick up on these smells in as little as 10 seconds and just 2 to 3 repeated trials. Especially interesting, the wasps will swarm to the trained smell when detected. According to entomologists, wasps display great potential to detect anything, including drugs and human remains. Given that thousands of wasps can be trained to detect a specific smell in just 10 to 15 minutes, the entomologists added that there could be a day when wasps replace the bomb-sniffing dogs that we’ve all come to love.
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Animal suicide is seemingly easy to dismiss on the surface but merits more thought when considering how captivity, depression and other factors can affect animals. 1 Comment - Click Here to Read More
Animal Suicide: Realistic or Illegitimate?
March 12, 2010 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Chris in Animals & Habitats, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
(Images via: The Inspiration Room, Pet Wise, Change, Pet Insurance, Adda or Ardor)
Defined as the intentional killing of oneself, suicide is a sad and tragic event most commonly associated with human beings. Whether animals are capable of committing suicide has been a subject of debate for hundreds of years.
Proposed Examples of Animal Suicide
(Images via: Camusnagaul, Alex Wild, BioCrawler, Dive BC)
Suicide has traditionally been thought in terms of a conscious and willful decision to live or die. To some, this idea of suicide eliminates animals from the capability of intentionally killing themselves. However, to others, animal suicide is a very realistic thing, as evident by certain events in nature and the fact that animals experience feelings such as depression. A recent study in the journal Endeavor explored a history of suggested animal suicide, noting stories from the 1800s of a depressed Newfoundland dog repeatedly trying to drown itself until succeeding, a grieving cat hanging itself after the death of its kittens, a fleeing stag leaping off a cliff rather than being swarmed by a pack of dogs, etc. In a more contemporary light, believers in animal suicide have noted flies called pea aphids exploding themselves when threatened by ladybugs, wolf spiders willingly being devoured by their young, sad whales intentionally beaching themselves, and even octopuses biting themselves to death in experimental settings.
Different Opinions on Animal Suicide
(Images via: Soda Head, James Adonis, Tico Times)
The Endeavor study notes how animals have been shown to display grief, anger, insanity and other feelings, suggesting that they are more human than people give them credit for and thus potentially capable of making “willful decisions” to kill themselves. However, what may seem like an animal killing itself to one person may be interpreted by another as an animal displaying uncharacteristic behavior as a result of an external stimuli. Consider an animal that is taken out of its natural environment and held captive in an unfamiliar setting that disrupts its natural ability to find food, which may lead to depression and an appearance that the animal has lost the will to live (see above images). To others, animal deaths may appear suicidal but be accidental (such as the scared stag mistakenly running off the cliff), or simply a natural occurrence (such as when mother octopuses and wolf spiders die shortly after birth). Opponents of animal suicide note how such deaths are done not for selfish reasons but to ensure the survival of the young. While certainly subjective, the idea of animal suicide is seemingly easy to dismiss on the surface but merits more thought and research, especially when considering how captivity, depression and other circumstances can affect animals.
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