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Friday, January 16, 2015

Amazing animal - Orca/Killer Whale

Orca whales are amazing, intelligent creatures. They inspire me, and I want to write about them.

Orca Facts:
(facts quoted from Killer Whales by Charnan Simon and Ariel Kazunas)

Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacean
Family: Delphiniade
Genus: Orcinus
Species: Orcinus orca
World distribution: The most widely distributed animals; found in all oceans, from the Arctic to the Antarctic; most common in colder waters.
Habits: Highly social animals; live together in groups called pods; hunt cooperatively to capture prey; make a wide variety of communicative sounds.
Diet: Fish, squid, sharks, penguins, seals, sea lions, porpoises, and other marine animals, depending upon the location.

Killer whales are the largest members of the dolphin family. The average male weighs about 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) and is between 19 and 22 feet (5.8 and 6.7 meters) long. So a killer whale probably would not fit in your living room.

This is an orca compared to an average human.

"Orcas are highly intelligent, curious, and playful. Orca social groups are very complex. They graceful, amazing, killer whales are a favorite at marine parks and on boat tours." 

Fierce hunters:
"A killer whales large jaw is lined with as many as 56 sharp teeth. Some of their teeth can be as long as 4 inches (10 centimeters). Killer whales don't need to chew their food, they swallow it whole. A killer whales black-and-white coloring acts as a camouflage to help the whale sneak up on prey. For example, a seal lying on an ice floe will most likely not see a the orca because it blends with the dark water."

An extra sense:
"Orcas have very good eyesight. They can spot prey underwater and above the surface. But even with excellent eye-sight, orcas can only see so far underwater. They have an especially hard time seeing at night. So instead of using their eyes to see, they use their six sense, which is echolocation."

Growing Up in the Pod:
"Female orcas give birth to one calf at a time. A newborn orca weighs around 400 pounds (181 kg) and is about 8 feet (2.4 m) long. Right after the orca is born the mother pushes it to the surface of the water for it's first breath. As the calf grows, other members of the pod teach it hunting and swimming skills and play with it. An orca pod is basically a big group of sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. These family members all take care of each other."
                                                      A baby nuzzling with a mother.


Orcas are very loving and smart. In fact, they have a part of the brain that humans don't.
That brings me to a point that was a big inspiration for this post. Orca whales are captured to be put in big attraction parks like SeaWorld, Loro Parque, MarineLand, and A LOT more. Mother orcas scream and cry as their babies are taken away from them. In the movie "Blackfish" they interview a fisherman who was capturing orcas. He said he just lost it when they took the babies away and started to cry. It's like taking a kid away from his mother at the park. It's mean, bad, and I hate it. Orcas belong in the wild. There was recently a walk to free Lolita, an orca whale that has been held captive at Miami Seaquarium for 40 years. Her tank is 60-by-80-feet and is 20 feet long. It's way too small. On January 17, 2015, thousands of protesters gathered from all around the world outside the Seaquarium, to ask for Lolita's release, and asked other supporters to tweet #FreeLolita on twitter. Some people say that she will die in the wild. They say Miami Seaquarium is her "home". Lolita won't die in the wild, and even if she does, she'd rather that than live miserably in her tiny tank. Lolita used to live with another whale, Hugo. But he died March 4, 1980, by repeatedly smashing his head into the walls of the tank. We'd rather see Lolita die free and happy in the wild then do what Hugo did.

Could you live in a bathtub for 40 years?
If freed, whales like Lolita, that were born in captivity, would be put into a "sea pen" - a netted off area near the coast) for rehabilitation. When they are there they would learn the skills of orcas in the wild. Lolita needs to be freed!

Another orca is Tilikum, nicknamed Tilly, who is the star of the movie "Blackfish". Tilikum is involved in the death of 3 trainers during his time in captivity: a trainer at the now-defunct Sealand of the Pacific in South Oak Bay, British Columbia, a trainer at Orlando's Sea World (which is where Tilikum is now), and a man trespassing on Sea World Orlando's property. Tilikum measures 22.5 feet long and weighs 12,000 pounds. His 6.5 foot tall dorsal fin is collapsed completely to his left side - a sign of a stressed and depressed whale.  Tilikum is the largest orca whale in captivity. As a person in "Blackfish" remarked, "If you were in a bathtub for 25 years, don't you think you would get irritated, aggravated, and maybe a little psychotic?!?" 

People seem surprised about all the killer-whale-involved deaths. That annoys me. They do not belong in captivity, never did, and never will. They are killer whales, that's right, killer, not cuddle whales.
Tilikum's collapsed dorsal fin. Orca whales need to be freed from captivity.

Some ways you can help are:
Learn more about killer whales and their captivity. Read books and watch documentaries.
Tell your family and friends. Tell them not to support places like Sea World or Seaquarium or other places that orcas are held captive.
Make your voice heard. Protest against captivity and help spread the word. Do blog posts, write articles or papers, post on social media, support social media anti-captivity accounts, and more.

Thanks for reading! Please help free the orcas.


***
Here are some sources I used to research this blog post:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_(orca)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilikum_(orca)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackfish_(film)

http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Natures-Children-Childrens-Paperback/dp/0531254798

Monday, January 12, 2015

Foster Cat Fun!

In this post, I will talk about fostering cats. One day, in 2012, we had the idea of fostering cats - and having no pets, thought it would be a fun experience, plus it would be a good cause.

Our first group:
Our first foster group was a litter of four kitties, not as small as kittens, but also not fully grown. They were brown/white tabbies and all had different personalities. One was really sweet, and we named him Sweetsie. One was shy and had swirly patterns, and we named her Swirl. One had tiger markings, therefore named Tiger. Lastly, there was the kind of naughty one, and we name him Stinker. The shelter changed Tiger's name to Susan though, and they also changed Stinker's name.
Here is a photo of Tiger (left) and Stinker (right).
Our second group:
Our next group was two gray/blue kittens, that we named Angel and Buddy S. They were sweet and cuddly and super cute!
                                                        Buddy (left) and Angel (right).
                                                                Me holding angel. :)

Third foster group:
Our third group was two kittens and their mother.
We named them BuddyJay and Buttercup. We fell in love with them and adopted Jay and Cup after fostering them. They are now almost three years old. It is slightly hard to believe, but BuddyJay is a gray long hair, and Buttercup is a tan/buff shorthair, and they are from the same litter. They are really sweet and amazing and adorable! They were only one month old when we got them.
Little BuddyJay - he was tiny and had an eye condition when we first got him.
Little Buttercup! She was an adventurous little one, but she was still wobbly on her legs when we first got her. :)
                                                       Cup and Jay now! <3

After we adopted BuddyJay and Buttercup, we took a little break from fostering, so we could monitor the kitties and slowly let them explore more rooms. Once we had had them for a long while, we started fostering again.

First cat (first cat not in a group): Our next cat was named Charlotte. Things were a little bit different with her, and all the cats fostered after her, though. She was fostered in my room, because the "kitten room" was made into a bedroom.
Charlotte was very sweet and loved to purr. She was about 1-years-old.
                                                                          Meow!!
Second cat:
Our next foster cat was kitten named Charlie.
                                                                          Purr!
He was such a cutie! Although, it's kind of hard to sleep when you have a kitten pouncing on you.
Charlie was a pretty calm kitten and loved to snuggle and play.

Third cat:
The next kitten was very hyper. He was cute, yes, but he loved to play fight with your hand or foot or anything and he was pretty naughty, adorable, but naughty. He just had so much energy.

                                                          Getting ready to pounce!

Fourth cat:
Our next cat was an adult cat name 'Jughead'.  Please know we did not name this cat - he was named by the shelter. I don't know why they named him that, all I know is I didn't like the name. Anyway, Jughead was very cute and snuggly. He did have a very bad cold/cough and so he needed care.
                                                                Mew. Aww, so cute!
Fifth cat:
Our next kitty was named Nala. She was very sweet and happy and cute. :)
                                                         She had such big, pretty eyes!


Fourth foster group:
This is actually kind of a funny story. We went to drop off the previous cat - Nala - at the shelter so she could be put up for adoption. So on the way home we were kind of talking about how we wanted some kittens. Well, we get home and a in a little while, the shelter calls. "Hi, can you take a mom and five kittens?". So we picked them up the next day, and they were so adorable! They were tiny and stayed in the crate for at least a day (probably more), because they didn't need to come out. They nursed from the mom and slept in the back of the crate. Only the mom came out to get food and water. Well, eventually, they came out. They were really cute. We fostered them during the summer of 2014, so our fostering was spread out.
                                             All of the kitties are piled up in this basket!


The kittens nursing from their mom. Purr!

So those are all the cats we have ever fostered. After the last big group, we decided to take a little break. Hopefully, we will be able to foster more soon! :)

Thanks for reading this post - I hoped you enjoyed it. Please comment, and also share this post! You can Pin it on Pinterest, email it to a friend, and more!

Monday, January 5, 2015

Hello Friends!

I am very sorry I have not posted in a long time. I have decided to do a homemade gift idea list for you. Here it is:

#1. Collage Initial
This is super fun and easy! I got this letter 'A' at Michael's but also saw some cardboard letters at Walmart. I used all different kinds of paper but stuck with a blue, green, purple, and pink theme. The butterflies are from a punch, and I pasted them on. Plus, you could use stickers. I also used some washi (craft) tape, and you can use duck tape too for an extra flare.

#2. Tagxedo / Word Cloud

I  made this on Tagxedo. You can also make them on Wordle, but you can't have detailed shapes like a cat or reindeer, etc. I think it's a really heartfelt gift. They have tons of different colors, shapes, and more on Tagxedo. Say someone you know is CRAZY about cats...this would be perfect for them! Here is the link: http://www.tagxedo.com/

#3. DIY Washi Tape Notebooks and Pencils:

These notebooks are really cute! Imagine "washi-ing" a whole set of notebooks, pencils, and more - amazing gift! Here is the link:  http://liagriffith.com/washi-tape-your-pencils-and-notebooks/
This photo and craft idea are from the blog that I linked above.

 
#4. Glass Gem Sun Catcher:
These are super pretty! Here is the link to the blog: http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/16045/glass-gem-sun-catcher-craft This photo and craft idea belong to the blog.

Well, that's it for today. I might do more gift idea posts in the future.
Any feedback on my blog or posts? You can comment if you have a Google, LiveJournal, or WordPress account.

Thanks for reading!