"Even a chicken likes a tipple now and again."
Australia's Pipistrelle Bat Will Be Extict Within a Year
Australia is about to lose the Christmas Island pipistrelle bat forever. Wildlife experts say the government is not doing enough. Only 20 of the small bats remain on an island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia. The small group are staying together under the bark of a tree.
Watchers say the only answer is to collect all of them and try to breed them in captivity. Otherwise, they will be lost. The government has offered to set up a breeding program for a related small bat, but this will not save the pipistrelle. A zoologist, Mr Penney, says the species will not exist this time next year.
Scientists are planning to collect the bats and set up a breeding program themselves, ignoring the government. The government is not paying attention to the scientists, so that is what will happen.
Watchers say the only answer is to collect all of them and try to breed them in captivity. Otherwise, they will be lost. The government has offered to set up a breeding program for a related small bat, but this will not save the pipistrelle. A zoologist, Mr Penney, says the species will not exist this time next year.
Scientists are planning to collect the bats and set up a breeding program themselves, ignoring the government. The government is not paying attention to the scientists, so that is what will happen.
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Conservation
Triathletes Need to Consume Carbohydrates
This subject is topical at the moment with the Olympic Games in full swing. The triathlon is a popular sport where spectators admire the determination of athletes to push through the pain barrier and keep on going to the finish. Little work has been done on understanding how much damages is done to the body.
The half triathlon also called the intermediate or Standard distance run at the Olympics has become popular with many who just want to keep fit. Tests show significant reduction in knee extensor and flexure muscle strength at the end of an event. The ability to jump up off the ground is also reduced.
Considering dehydration and stores of carbohydrates which have been lost it is no surprise that weakness continues for some time after competing. However, dehydration was only minor in tested athletes. It seems the fat and muscle loss is the main cause. Participants in triathlons should concentrate on ingesting carbohydrates as well as fluid. Keeping blood glucose high has been found to maintain muscle force. Male athletes improved their race times by consuming carbohydrates. This was not the case for females. The reason for this is not clearly understood. Female metabolism must preserve carbohydrate stores even during strenuous exercise, but carbohydrate intake is recommended for women during an event.
The half triathlon also called the intermediate or Standard distance run at the Olympics has become popular with many who just want to keep fit. Tests show significant reduction in knee extensor and flexure muscle strength at the end of an event. The ability to jump up off the ground is also reduced.
Considering dehydration and stores of carbohydrates which have been lost it is no surprise that weakness continues for some time after competing. However, dehydration was only minor in tested athletes. It seems the fat and muscle loss is the main cause. Participants in triathlons should concentrate on ingesting carbohydrates as well as fluid. Keeping blood glucose high has been found to maintain muscle force. Male athletes improved their race times by consuming carbohydrates. This was not the case for females. The reason for this is not clearly understood. Female metabolism must preserve carbohydrate stores even during strenuous exercise, but carbohydrate intake is recommended for women during an event.
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Sport
Henri Matise: Famous Artists Cats
Famous Artists Cats: George Meets Matisse
Henri Matisse, like Gustav Klimt, Pierre Bonnard and other famous artists, loved cats. He occasionally drew or painted them, but mostly he enjoyed their soothing company, just as you and I do. We're not all so different, even those of us who are not artistic geniuses.
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| George With Matisse |
Tell it to George.
We hung a framed Matisse print in over an antique hutch in our dining room. George loved to jump up on the hutch. It was a good place to get off the floor and watch the world's going on. Once in a while, he'd take a meal there.
Soon, though, we noticed him staring directly at the Matisse print. It's an expressionist symphony of softer colors with a vase and a leafy plant playing hide and seek in a window.
George spent a lot of time staring at that print, just like a visitor in a gallery stops to really sink into the art. We came to accept that our cat loved Matisse, just as we do. Then something extraordinary happened.
Some cats have abilities so extraordinary we find them hard to believe. Most me some sort of illusion or feline trickery. (They are good at trickery, after all.) Cats we know have become invisible for long periods before reappearing with a "What's the big deal?" look on their faces. Others go from one place to another in a exercise something like a quantum leap. In other words, they go from here to there without ever being anywhere between. They leap.
Every cat we know reads minds and uses telepathy to communicate, and each is usually disappointed in the results. Fortunately, they love us anyway.
Anyway, we still found it incredible when George suddenly inserted himself in a Matisse still life. One day, there he was, staring back at us as if he owned the colorful space full of fruits and birds flying in the background. And there he also was, sleeping like a lord on our sofa.
Sometimes, with cats, it's best to just shake your head and accept the unexplainable truth.
George Meets Matisse found its way into Famous Artists Cats, a collection of cats in art for which there is no explanation except that cats just do astonishing things.
Famous Artist's Cats: Magritte and The Invisible Cat
Invisible Cat From Famous Artists Cats
What artist could better inspire fresh cat art in Deborah Julian's inventive series, Famous Artists' Cats than René Magritte?
After all haven't cats already mastered invisibility and quantum leaping? Born in Belgium in 1898, Magritte went on to paint some of the most surreal psychological mysteries at a time when what we consider modern art was being invented.
In the imaginary worlds Magritte painted, business men with bowler hats drifted rigidly in space. A simple neighborhood setting was haunted at night with ungraspable foreboding. All-seeing eyes appeared.
While art lovers have always found Magritte's paintings unsettling, cats have not. Cats give every impression that they find surreal shenanigans to be the normal order of things among perpetually confused human beings. Many of us assume that cats run away when we approach because they're frightened when, in fact, it's because they just prefer not to get involved.
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| Invisible Cat by Deborah Julian Famous Artists Cats |
This explains why cats will agree to friendship only after food they like has been introduced. Depending on the cat, a period of indefinite duration follows before you might be allow to play with or even pet the cat. After that, it's a gradual transition to the point where you have a chance to give up a favorite chair because the cat likes to nap in it or even sacrifice a major section of your bed at night.
Which brings us to The Invisible Cat. In Magritte's Invisible World, he painted partially sculpted border on what appears to be a formal balcony. In the background, gray-black clouds threaten above what appears to be a vast, misty sea. Sammy, famous, among other things, for disrupting Degas' Hat Shop, was having none of it. His decision to curl up next to the rock for a moment of meditation was immediate.
Because such acts do not require any time to pass, Sammy quantum leaped from his favorite lounging place to Magritte's canvas, instantly creating The Invisible Cat.
You can find more cat art inspired by great artists in Deborah Julian's Famous Artists' Cats, a series that includes images inspired by Van Gogh, Matisse, Degas and others.
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Feral Friday
Hi there Mewmew here. Since our other blog has been hacked, we are going to try this to see if Mom can figure it out. Anyway, I am still very feral even though I arrived here as a very small kitten. Usually, if you can get a kitten born to a feral Mom really really early they can be tamed fairly well. But it took me two months before I would let Mom pat me. And I still won't let her pick me up.
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Our friend Deb over at Zee and Zoey has been putting posts up about some feral cats in Florida. She has an excellent video on this post so take a look. http://zeezoey.com/blog/the-mainstreaming-of-a-feral-cat-part-two/