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Leaping Foxes

10,000 Birds

In German, if you are a rodent and you are smaller than – say – a human hand, you’re a mouse. In Germany, our most common large mammalian predator is the Red Fox Vulpes vulpes. Foxes are very common in Germany and occur even within cities. You’re not a vole or a gerbil. No “gophers” etc.

Fox 173
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Tufted Titmouse Plucking a Raccoon

10,000 Birds

There are many tales of a Tufted Titmouse taking hair from humans to use as nest-lining material. Watching a titmouse take hairs from a human is something I have always longed to see but I never considered how cool it might be to see a titmouse take hair from another creature.

Raccoons 260
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More Birds Than Bullets: a book review

10,000 Birds

He tells, for example, of sitting close by a fox den, and watching a raccoon walk past it with a look of acknowledgement. The coon wasn’t scared, McMullan explains, because it can hold its own with a fox in a fight. But the coon wanted the fox to know, nevertheless, that the coon was aware of its presence.

Kuwait 248
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Comebackers

10,000 Birds

In the mid 1700s, fur-traders began introducing foxes up and down the Aleutian chain, in order to generate some more raw material work with. The foxes wreaked havoc on nesting birds, and island by island the geese disappeared, until it seemed that they were gone for good. It was thought of as a wonder-chemical, with no ill effects.

Albatross 253
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Rosefinches, Griffons and Woodcocks

10,000 Birds

The adult Griffons are used to humans and are not stressed by the visitors, but some nests are really low – the lowest being a mere 5 metres above water and chicks sometimes get scared enough to fall into the lake. The gorge meanders ever deeper, limestone cliffs rising ever higher and Griffons flying really close. And a bit more.

Europe 250
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Birding Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cape Town

10,000 Birds

As a bonus, they are often heavily visited and as a consequence the birds found in them are used to large numbers of people having picnics, regarding begonias, dating, courting, playing Frisbee, and are therefore untroubled by humans regarding them carefully. Kirstenbosch is famous for proteas.

Africa 239
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The Secrets Inside Your Dog’s Mind

4 The Love Of Animals

No one in the room–neither dog nor human–can tell which cup hides the biscuit. Understanding a pointed finger may seem easy, but consider this: while humans and canines can do it naturally, no other known species in the animal kingdom can. “Humans are unique. Hare could run a very profitable shell game.

Wolves 100