Nature Knows

This is the stunning vaquita, the rarest animal in the world. Only 10 of them exist.

The vaquita, also known as the Phocoena sinus, is a small porpoise that is native to the northern area of the Gulf of California.

This divine sea creature can grow to be approximately five feet long and, when fully grown, weighs around 120 pounds.

The animal has been on the endangered list for several years now, but concerns about its survival are growing.

There were 600 vaquitas in 1997. The population dwindled to 30 in 2017, and today, there are thought to be only about 10 left. Environmentalists believe fishermen’s use of gill nets is the reason behind the vaquita's increasing endangerment, Kingdoms TV reports.

Affectionately referred to as sea pandas owing to the black rings around their eyes, vaquitas are especially unique.

They are the only porpoise species that can survive in warm water. While all other species of porpoise require water that is colder than 68 degrees Fahrenheit, vaquitas reside in shallow, warm water. They are also considered to be uniquely solitary in their behavior.

According to environmental experts, traditional fishing practices in Mexico have led to the near-extinction of this marine species, even though they have not been aggressively pursued by fishermen (unlike the white rhino, which was nearly pushed to extinction due to poaching).

In Mexico, fishermen use gill nets to collect an endangered fish species called totoaba. On the black market, totoaba can fetch up to $50,000. Totoaba is a delicacy in China.

Although both totoaba fishing and gill nets are illegal in Mexico, the large payoff attracts local fishermen. This affects vaquitas as gill nets also trap the little porpoises.

Andrea Crosta of Earth League International, a wildlife trafficking watchdog group, is extremely concerned for the surviving vaquitas. He believes they may perish during the unlawful fishing season.

Crosta recently visited Mexico, where various sources confirmed that the number of live vaquitas is critically low.

For this reason, some environmentalists hope that a few vaquitas may be rescued and reared in captivity. The conservation organization Vaquita CPR undertook a rescue effort in 2017 but was not successful in its endeavor.

At the time, the female porpoise that the crew managed to rescue was unable to cope as a result of stress during her relocation to captivity and she perished shortly after being returned to the water. Nevertheless, Crosta believes it is important to keep fighting to save the vaquitas.

Organizations such as Elephant Action League and Sea Shepherd continue to monitor the Gulf of California and decipher the trafficking routes in China. "Even if they kill all the vaquitas, we owe it to them to reveal the whole story, the truth, and we want to bring those guilty to justice, who, by the way, are not the fishermen," said Crosta.

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Humanity

Dad raises the baby with DS on his own after mom decides she no longer wants to do it

His child is now in good hands. The arrival of his son Misha into the world was the happiest day of Evgeny Anisimov’s life.

The doctor then broke the news to him, right after those first moments of wonder and euphoria.

“I fear your baby has Down Syndrome.” Evgeny was yanked from the mile-high cloud he was riding on and thrown into an unexpected ocean of uncertainty and fear.

What could all of this mean? When Evgeny learned that his baby might have Down Syndrome, he was devastated.

The 33-year-old father recalled leaving the hospital in tears after the doctors broke the news to him. The tears quickly dried up, and he was embarrassed by his initial reaction.

“In my life, after all, nothing had changed, in general. I was still with two arms, with two legs. My professional knowledge had gone nowhere,” he said. “My determination, activity, curiosity, and so on—everything was with me. Everything happened as I planned, my son was born. But the child is special, his life and future destiny are already very significant.”

His sadness was transformed into determination. Evgeny realized he was being self-centered and that he should be capable of caring for the child, no matter how difficult that may be.

When he got home that evening, he turned on his computer and began researching Down syndrome. He devoured every bit of information he could find on the subject.

Fortunately, what he discovered was mostly positive. “I learned that in Europe, people with Down Syndrome are well-socialized, can live and work independently. But the decision I had already made was not influenced by that,” he recalled.

He had never considered abandoning his son, but it appears that his wife had other ideas. She desired that he be placed in foster care. Evgeny and his wife have always had a “good and trusting” relationship. After hearing about her plan, he assured her that they would get through it together.

Unfortunately, she was not persuaded. Their disagreement eventually drove them apart. “Now I understand that she was just scared at the time, she started to act according to the wrong scenario, and by then, the rubicon was already crossed and it was too late to retreat from the scenario,” he remarked.

Evgeny has since raised Mishka on his own. He tucks him in, bathes him, and prepares dinner for him every night. Although each chore is simple, the single father admits that doing it every day is difficult. He is fortunate that his mother assists him so that he can spend some time alone.

Evgeny also plans a variety of activities for Misha to help him grow physically and mentally. Since he was five months old, the child has attended weekly swimming lessons. In addition, he has begun speech therapy.

Evgeny is grateful that many people have contributed to his ability to pay for these expensive activities. “I understand that the future might bring more issues, but I hope that we will be able to overcome everything,” the loving father said.

Evgeny’s goal is to disseminate knowledge. He wants to raise awareness about Down syndrome and help families who are experiencing the same difficulties as parents of special needs children.

“I want all the articles about Mishka and me that are being published now to convey that idea to society and instill it. And I also want to support, inspire with my example those people who are or will be in the same situation as me,” he shared.

“I try to communicate with those who are within reach. I correspond with those who are far away. I hope that those who have difficulties now, as it was for us, read about us: Have no fear! Everything will be fine!”
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Animals

Woman Discovers That “Dahlia” Flowers Have Become A Hotel For Frogs

When the rest of the winter’s snow has melted and vibrant flowers start to blossom, Snohomish, Washington, locals can tell it is officially spring.

But for Allison Lamb, a rowdy but adorable set of neighbors is always the first indication. As Lamb told in an interview, they can hear all the frogs starting to croak when spring has come.

Lamb claims that the frogs that frequent her property and place of business, Snohomish Lavender Farm, are numerous and extraordinarily active.

Image Credit & More Info: Allison | snohomishlavenderfarm.com

Lamb remarked, “I have some flowers along my house, and they will climb up the walls, and they get up in my hanging flower baskets.”

Lamb frequently discovers a frog or two hopping around her house, but she was astonished to see a frog doing something she had never seen before, as when she went to check on her flower garden one day: he was taking a much-needed nap in one of her dahlias.

Lamb said that she was thrilled to see a frog napping in one of her dahlias. She raises around 200 dahlias on her property and was delighted to discover that the blooms serve as a perfectly sized hotel for frogs in addition to serving as a source of pollen for bees.

As the summer wore on, “I started seeing more and more,” Lamb remarked. Some days she might find over ten different frogs hiding in her flowers.

In the spring and summer, Lamb and her kids spend most of their mornings in their flower garden searching for pacific tree frogs. The frogs’ visit provides them with excitement and fun.

However, the frogs that scuttle inside the dahlias’ tiny petal pockets aren’t only there for amusement. They are essential to maintaining the health and vitality of the flower garden, particularly the dahlias. Lamb said, “The frogs eat the bad bugs for me.“

Of course, the frogs are not the only creatures that live in Lamb’s flower garden.

According to Lamb, the bees will spend the night in her dahlias, she also discovers small spiders finding refuge, and last year she found little gardener snakes up in her blooms.

“I also have a praying mantis, many salamanders, and a lot of caterpillars in the late summer.”

But nothing compares to the frogs huddling inside Lamb’s flowers, in Lamb’s opinion. She adores seeing them dozing among the petals with their little, green heads protruding, and she always laments their departure at the end of the summer.

Until the first frost, when the blooms die, they remain in the blossoms the entire season, according to Lamb. When it gets too cold, the frogs migrate, but Lamb is confident that they will return in the spring.
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Animals

Badly Injured Dog Rescued After Being Buried Alive in Hawaii

A badly injured dog was rescued after being buried alive on an Oahu, Hawaii, beach by her owner, who was armed with a machete.

Animal rescuers were called after the terrified dog was found on a West Oahu beach. She was swollen, severely dehydrated, covered in sores and missing most of her fur when she was found, PAWS of Hawaii wrote on its Facebook page.

“Someone had just buried her and they had a machete, so who knows what was next,” said PAWS of Hawaii, which named the dog Leialoha, the Hawaiian word for “beloved child.” The animal rescue group responded to the call and found Leialoha with fresh knife cuts to her paws.

“The man who buried her, we were led to believe, had started to cut her,” PAWS executive director Ku’ulei Durand told NAVC.

The rescued pup was in terrible condition. “She resisted [human help] the first day,” Durand said. “I went there the second day to bathe her and she just bled from every inch of her body. She is missing most of her fur and was sunburned. But I also believe she was burnt from the heat of the hot sand where she was buried. Her legs were so swollen and her skin felt cooked.”

A Local Veterinarian Provides Medical Care “We received a phone call from Paws of Hawaii saying they were bringing in a dog that was buried alive in the sand,” Dr. Kelly Dowdall-Garberson told NAVC.

Dowdall-Garberson is the owner of Aloha Affordable Veterinary Services in Aiea, Hawaii. “Leialoha came in about 1.5 hours later. Upon presentation, she was depressed and severely dehydrated. She was covered in sand. She had severe cellulitis and edema of her limbs and was unable to stand.

She was severely sunburned with multiple lacerations on her legs. She also had chronic scales and crusts.”

Durand told local news outlets that they believe Leialoha’s owner planned to kill her. “He felt he was ending her suffering by trying to end her life, instead of getting her the help she needed,” Durand said. “Her skin, if you were able to smell her, is rancid because she has so many open sores that are infected.”

“After an initial assessment and exam that showed she was stable, we performed a CBC/Chem, E. canis antibody test, parvo antigen test and heartworm antigen test,” Dowdall-Garberson says. “Her initial treatment included a subcutaneous fluid bolus, Convenia, Cerenia and B vitamins. Dowdall-Garberson’s team also also began gently bathing her to remove as much sand as possible.

“We applied coconut oil/SSD ointment to her skin,” Dowdall-Garberson told NAVC. After several hours, Leialoha began eating and drinking. Once Leialoha was stabilized, Dowdall-Garberson says she was placed with a foster family, who are caring for her with SSD ointment and probiotics.

“Leialoha has returned every 2 days for reassessment and a CBC/Chem,” says Dowdall-Garberson. “Her anemia, thrombocytopenia, leukocytosis, neutrophilia, hypoproteinemia, hyperglobulinemia, and hypoglycemia are normalizing.

She is now receiving daily probiotics, BID application of coconut oil/SSD ointment, twice weekly baths of Malaket shampoo, Metronidazole and Enrofloxacin. She has also been treated with Interceptor Plus and Credelio.”

Dowdall-Garberson, whose clinic partners with several animal rescue organizations on Oahu to provide low-cost veterinary services to animals in their care, happily reports that “Leialoha makes daily strides at home with her foster family — eating treats, seeking affection, wagging her tail and gaining weight.”

Donations for Leialoha’s continued care can be made through PAWS of Hawaii.
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Animals

Pomeranian was thrown out because he was ‘too big’ and looked like a teddy bear

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Animals

Baby otter's adorable response after getting in a pool for the first time earns over 1.6 million views

Otters are known to be great swimmers since most of their species (13 in total) live in freshwater rivers, lakes, and wetlands.

They are members of the weasel family and are found almost everywhere, except Australia and Antarctica.

When it comes to their physique, most otters are small and they have short ears and noses, long bodies, long tails, and their most notable feature is their dense fur.

Otters possess the densest fur among any other animal from any kingdom. They have as many as a million hairs per square inch in places.

Another unique thing about otters is their stinky poop. So extraordinary that their poop even has its own name, “spraints.”

According to National Geographic, “It’s thought to get its special odor, which some scientists describe as smelling like violets, from the seafood diet otters eat.”

When talking about being stinky, a fresh bath would definitely wash that foul odor away, wouldn’t it? And nothing beats this adorable baby otter’s reaction after getting the chance to experience being in a pool for the first time in his young life. Meet this cute little otter, Tororo.

Tororo lives in Japan together with his biological mom, Otsuyu, another adult otter named Odashi, and of course, his human mom who runs their YouTube channel called ‘LOUTRE.’

This family also has two Instagram accounts, uuu_chaan with 127,000 followers, and loutreosaka with 24,000 followers.

Those numbers alone would immediately tell you that they’re quite famous not just in Japan but perhaps in many other countries across the world.

They share photos and more often, videos of their everyday life and all the fun activities that they all share together as a family.

This video, in particular, has over 1.7 million views with tens of thousands of likes and over a thousand comments from people who were simply amused by the otters’ natural charisma. Stinky Tororo needs a shower.

The video started with the baby otter still comfortably dozing on his bed while the other two adult otters had just woken up on a separate bed.

Shortly after waking up, his human mama decided to bathe him inside a tiny pool. It was his first time to experience being in a pool and his human mama was kind of worried but also excited at the same time.

The water in the pool was not even an inch deep but the little otter was still skeptical about the idea.

Mama Odashi was also in the pool and off she went by cleaning baby Tororo’s fur, although the latter didn’t seem to like it that much. The sound of protest.

At some point, Tororo really sounded annoyed by everything that’s happening. Perhaps, he didn’t want to be in the pool, he didn’t want mama Odashi to clean his fur, or he didn’t want to take a bath at all.

Whatever his reason for making such a sound, both his moms (otter and human) still managed to clean the little stinky otter.

When he was finally fresh and dry, mama Odashi gave his fur some finishing touches to make sure they’re all clean and glossy.

After having that quick dip in the little pool, Tororo went back to what he does best – sleeping. What an adorable little creature!

Watch baby Tororo’s first dip in the pool by pressing that play button below.

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Pages

This is the stunning vaquita, the rarest animal in the world. Only 10 of them exist.

Dad raises the baby with DS on his own after mom decides she no longer wants to do it

Woman Discovers That “Dahlia” Flowers Have Become A Hotel For Frogs

Badly Injured Dog Rescued After Being Buried Alive in Hawaii

Pomeranian was thrown out because he was ‘too big’ and looked like a teddy bear

Baby otter's adorable response after getting in a pool for the first time earns over 1.6 million views

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