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srb445 · Sea Organ, Zadar, Croatia

Pretty amazing, right? The Sea Organ, or the Morske Orgulje, is an incredible feat of architecture designed to bring life back to one of the world's oldest cities. Zadar, a 3,000-year-old city on the coast of Croatia, was almost completely destroyed in World War II –– so many of its ancient landmarks lost forever. 

Years after a rebuilding that featured lots of plain, concrete structures, award-winning architect Nikola Bašić was brought in to bring some delight back to the coastline. That's when he came up with the idea. No doubt he was inspired by the hydraulis — a nifty little instrument built by the ancient Greeks that used water to push air through tuned pipes — or even the Wave Organ in San Francisco — a set of curved tubes built in the 1980s that amplify the gurgles and howls of the Pacific Ocean. 

But the intricate design of the Sea Organ is what sets it apart and makes it truly something to marvel at.
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“Love is king during penguin nesting time,” read the onscreen text for a video posted to the zoo’s TikTok, as the aquatic love birds scanned through a pile of colorful pebbles, searching for the perfect gift to present their partner. How romantic. Out in the wild, this adorable courtship ritual is pretty standard, at least for Gentoo penguins. Male gentoos find a polished stone or pebble to offer their potential mates—Mother Nature’s engagement ring, if you will. And just like many males of the human species, male penguins work very, very hard to find that perfect stone. 

After all, these are not only tokens of affection, but the literal building blocks of their nests, since they can withstand the wet, cold climate and protect their soon-to-be families. Luckily for the penguins at the Detroit Zoo, they had plenty of beautiful options, aka “lucky charms” to choose from. And the zoo explained in the clip, each stone was “lovingly painted with non-toxic paint” by their Tots and Teens program. 

Folks who watched the sweet pebble procuring were instantly enamored. “Oh to be a little penguin picking out a pretty rock for my love,” one viewer wrote. 

“Imagine painting a rock and then finding out a penguin uses it as an engagement rock,” wrote another. Naturally, many were reminded of the 1995 cartoon “The Pebble and the Penguin,” starring Martin Short, Jim Belushi and Tim Curry. 

 Watch below, and marvel at these little creatures whose love language is obviously gift-giving.

@detroitzoo 🌈 Oh, what luck! 🌈 The penguins were gifted some "lucky charms" to give to their mates during nesting season! 🐧 #detroitzoo #detroit #zoo #penguins #matingseason #luckycharms #paintedpebbles #pretty #cute #michigan ♬ original sound - DetroitZoo

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According to The Dodo, Rachel, a photographer was walking along the shore in Waxham, a village in the United Kingdom when she heard a cry for help. Rachel followed the sound of the cries and discovered a young seal pup in distress​. Not only was the seal was wedged between several rocks that made up a seawall, but it was buried in the sand. Only its head and a flipper poked through. Even though she was unsure that the pup could be rescued, Rachel contacted Friends of Horsey Seals (FoHS). A team of rescuers from FoHS arrived at the scene and began to quickly, but carefully dig the little guy out from the sand. “[Our team members] were able to dig the pup out and eventually lift him to freedom,” a FoHS spokesperson told The Dodo. Before the tide reached the seawall the seal was freed. While the young seal, which is no longer dependent on its mother, was dirty, he didn’t appear injured and was allowed to return to the wild. 

What incredible timing! We don’t even want to imagine what could have happened to this poor pup if Rachel hadn’t spotted him in time.
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  Staff named the pigeon Flamingo, and said he was in bad shape, showing signs of long-term malnutrition. They suspect someone had purchased him from a poultry market and dyed him pink to use him at a gender reveal party, a wedding, or some sort of event for human entertainment. 

“PSA: Please never release domestic birds to the wild. Not for weddings, funerals, celebrations, art projects, anything. (We’d hope that “don’t dye them” goes without saying, but…) They will starve or be preyed on. If you see an all-white pigeon in the wild, or any tame bird standing around looking lost, it needs your help. 

Please catch the bird and bring it to a pigeon rescue or animal sanctuary near you,” Wild Bird Fund wrote on Facebook. Since Flamingo is a domestic bird, he be unable to find food in the wild, fly well or escape predators, so being on the streets would be a death sentence for him. 

Staff has tried several different methods to remove the dye, which they believe is hair dye, but have unfortunately been unsuccessful. They are hoping those feathers will eventually molt. The dye has a very strong odor, so staff is concerned for his respiratory health, since birds are highly sensitive to certain fumes. Flamingo is weak and struggling to keep food down, but they have him on heat, oxygen and subcutaneous fluids. They also have him on medication to counteract the effects of the toxin on his digestive system. 

Although he is weak, staff refuses to give up on him and will continue to do everything they can to nurse him back to help. 

 To stay updated on Flamingo’s progress, click here to visit Wild Bird Fund’s Facebook page.

 
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  So they adopted a kitten who needed a home and named her Bloom. Manuel had no idea what they were up to. “My grandfather did not know anything about this,” Maria told The Dodo. 

“When he saw her enter my house for the first time, his eyes lit up with emotion. He has always been a great lover of animals.” All agreed it was a match made in heaven. The two of them spend all day playing, and they even take their daily naps together. “My grandfather is 100 years old, and the kitten has given him another 100 years of life,” said Maria. “He is always attentive to Bloom. They spend all day playing, and even take naps together.” At the ripe old age of 100, Manuel has found his soulmate in Bloom. Maria says it’s been a such a beautiful gift to see her grandfather so happy with his new friend and that from the moment they first saw each other they’ve had a special connection. The pair are now inseparable and the union has brought a lot of joy into the family. But as it turns out, this lovely friendship brought joy to the masses after Maria posted a video of them online and it went viral!

@mariasuarxz 100 años VS 4 mesesitos 🥰// ig: @mariasuarxz #greenscreenvideo #parati #foryou #fypシ #hazmeviral ♬ original sound - 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧👱🏻‍♀️ - Charentengker

"It has been incredible, all the love and affection that the video has received," she said. "I did not expect it to go so far." 

Maria has tried telling her grandfather that he and Bloom are now internet famous, but he didn't give it a second thought. Why should he? Manuel and kitten Bloom have more important things to do!
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  “He was amazing”. The actress announced Blue’s passing in a social media post, and paid tribute to the sweet dog. “I have cried harder over the loss of this gorgeous creature than I have in a long time,” Cuoco wrote on Instagram. “We have had to put down three dogs in the last year and this one has made me reflect.” Cuoco wrote that Blue had an extra special relationship with her partner, Tom Pelphrey. “The relationship he had with Blue was so special,” she wrote. “They were quite the duo.” She admits that this made things “rough” at the beginning: “He didn’t love me the way he loved Tom. I had never experienced this before,” the Flight Attendant star wrote. 

“All dogs love me! I could tell he was wondering why I was still here?… Tom was his, and he didn’t want to share.” “Then I finally understood because I felt the same way about Tom,” she added. “My love is so deep for him sometimes I didn’t want to share him with the world either.” Cuoco wrote that, over time, Blue came to accept both partners as his family: “Blue finally realized we were a family and we were all sticking together. Something changed. He was amazing. Protective of me and the rest of our pup crew, always on guard.” 

She wrote that Blue was equally protective of her baby daughter Matilda when she arrived. While Blue came to love the whole family, his special love and loyalty to Tom never wavered. “He was the quiet mascot of our home but Tom was and will always be his one and only,” Cuoco wrote. “They saved each other.” “Blue, it was an honor to be your second favorite human down here on earth.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kaley Cuoco (@kaleycuoco)

“He was the most beautiful dog I’ve ever seen”. In his own social media post, Pelphrey paid tribute to his close companion. He wrote that he got Blue on Christmas Eve 2018, and that the dog had been adopted and returned at least three times; he was kept in a kennel and considered “too aggressive” to have a home. 

But Pelphrey was willing to put the work in, and knew he could be the one to give Blue a home. With patience, training and “a lot of love,” he helped Blue overcome his behavior issues. “He was the most beautiful dog I’ve ever seen,” Pelphrey wrote. “I wasn’t sure if I would be able to have people to my apartment ever again- I didn’t care.” Pelphrey wrote that he stopped flying for work and started driving so Blue could go with him. The two traveled across the country together. He says that within a year Blue had come such a long way that he was “unrecognizable.” 

“It’s amazing what some love and stability can accomplish,” Pelphrey wrote. “Blue was teaching me, and I didn’t know it yet.” Like Cuoco, he remembered how Blue became a sweet protector of Matilda and their other, smaller dogs. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tom Pelphrey (@tommypelphrey)

It’s clear that both Cuoco and Pelphrey loved Blue so much, and we know they’re devastated — and the loss is made even worse by the fact that they already had to say goodbye to so many pets this past year. Last May, Cuoco said goodbye to her beloved rescue Chihuahua Dump Truck. In her tribute, Cuoco praised her dog for getting her through “some of the hardest moments I’ve had in my life.” 

In September, Cuoco announced the death of one of her horses, Bella. And last month, she mourned the death of Kingy, the first dog she and Pelphrey adopted together. While the couple have said many goodbyes, they’ve also opened their hearts to other dogs in need: in September, Cuoco and Pelphrey adopted a senior rescue dog named Red. A true lover of animals, Cuoco has always opened her home to many pets. 

“I’m not allowed to say how many I have, because I am afraid they will come knocking, saying that it’s an illegal amount,” she joked to Variety in 2021. In addition, she has used her fame as an actress to advocate for animal rights, speaking out against pet abandonment, Canadian seal hunting and horse abuse. She is a member of the Humane Society of the United States and promoted the dog rescue Paw Works. 

 Rest in peace, Blue. It’s clear you were loved a lot and changed the lives of Kaley Cuoco and Tom Pelphrey.

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  But then Adriene Buisch (Nicole) came along. She saw his story on the Canton Neighbors page and decided to take him home. She wanted to give him the love he needed. Sadly, Nicole soon discovered that Tigger had kidney failure and a golf ball-sized tumor. He was underweight and his fur was matted. With some special diet, help and a lot of love, Tigger put on a few pounds and his fur grew back nicely. But it didn’t hold Nicole back: “Though he has kidney failure and we found a tumor, he kicks it like a 12 yr old. We decided to create a bucket list full of random adventures for him.” “Though it might not be much to others, all the little trips outside are a blast for him because he loves to be outdoors…the beach being his favorite so far,” she explained. He loves the beach almost as much as he loves Nicole. “The most important part is that Tigger’s story just shows how amazing it is to adopt a geriatric pet and give them the best remaining days!” “He has forever changed our hearts and will hopefully change the hearts of others when it comes to adopting older pets!” If you are thinking of adopting a kitty, why not consider giving an older cat their forever loving home. Check out Tigger's story in the video below.

 
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  The shelter described him on Facebook as a “loyal and handsome companion” who enjoys playtime and cuddling, but it still seemed like no one was interested in adopting him. Chester needed an experienced home without young children, “one that understands his past, offers patience, and provides an environment where he can be the sole,” the shelter wrote. 

A year and a half went by, and Chester had been at the shelter for nearly 600 days. It seemed like he was never going to find a home of his own. The three other dogs he was rescued with found homes before he did.

  But then, Chester’s luck finally turned around. According to FOX 8, a woman named Lauren Reitsman heard about Chester when a friend sent her an online post. She knew she could be the perfect person to give the sweet dog a home. Lauren adopted Chester, and for his final freedom ride out of the shelter, she made it extra special by getting Chester a limo!

  The dog rode in style to his long-awaited forever home, and he is reportedly settling in well. Lauren says she plans on cooking his favorite food, meatballs. 

“He has all these people around him and he’s just bopping around just to see who he can get love from, so I think I won the lottery,” she told FOX 8.

  How amazing — we’re so glad Chester finally found a home! Please share this amazing news if you love dogs! 🐾❤️
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Walsh says he and Hel were taking a walk during Thursday’s tea-time when the Husky sniffed out a pile of blankets. That’s when Hel led his owner to his discovery. Inside that pile was a sleeping newborn baby boy. Walsh said that he would have walked right past the blanket if it wasn’t for Hel. He thought it was just a rolled-up discarded blanket and not a baby. “I turned round to grab hold of Hel so she didn’t walk over the glass, and she went off to the blanket, lying next to it, and started nudging it with her nose very gently,” he explains. Hel’s gentle nudging prompted the baby to wake up and start crying. 

“Suddenly I heard this baby cry. I think it was Hel’s gentle nudging and the heat from my Husky’s body that woke the baby up. A bigger dog or another dog with a different temperament might well have just ripped and tugged at the blanket and the baby could have been treated like a rag doll and then you’ve also got the foxes and the rats and everything in there. How would they treat a baby?” said Walsh.

  Walsh contacted the authorities who arrived on the scene where the baby was found in an area known as The Mounds 0n Shannon Road. Hel has since been hailed as a hero with many calling for the doggo to be awarded a medal or some type of mark of honor. He was taken to the hospital and was named George. “He is doing really well and is being well cared for,” a statement by the local police department read.

Baby George is healthy and doing well.

Sadly we’ve still not been able to find his mum. We’re very concerned for her and want to check she is doing okay, both physically and mentally.

We want her to know that she's not in any trouble.

Full story ⬇️ https://t.co/UyF3dRO9sV

— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) April 29, 2021

People immediately began to search for the child’s mother who could have been in need of serious medical attention after giving birth. They kept up that search for months insisting that the mother needed to be identified so they could intervene on her wellbeing. She was finally identified eight months later. Police said they are “ensuring that she gets the appropriate support and care she needs.” They also asked the public to reserve their judgment and comments. 

“As stated in our public appeals, our priority was always to ensure mom was safe and supported. We can confirm that no further action will be taken by us and, with partners, we are ensuring that she is getting the appropriate support and care she needs,” the statement said. 

Learn more about Hel the hero in the video below!

 
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  Facing a race against the clock, a ship called Moskva – the world’s toughest icebreaker at the time – was called in to help the mammals by breaking through the thick ice. 

But when the 13,000-tonne vessel reached the whales, they were too frightened by the roar of its engine and deafening propellors to follow it to their freedom. The ship’s crew members were at a loss for what to do, until someone made a wild suggestion... to play classical music. 

Beautiful music soon echoed from the Moskva’s top deck from a loud speaker, and sure enough, the whales began to follow. Writing about the incredible feat at the time, The New York Times shared some of the details published by Russian newspaper Izvestia. 

“This operation was truly experimental,” the Times wrote. “At last someone recalled that dolphins react acutely to music. And so music began to pour off the top deck. Popular, martial, classical.” 

The broadsheet continued: “The classical proved most to the taste of the belugas. The herd began to slowly follow the ship.” In the end, it was estimated that around 2,000 whales managed to escape an untimely death.

The rescue mission later became known as ‘Operation Beluga’, and cost the Soviet government about $80,000 (£58,302). Beluga whales routinely hunt and hide beneath thick ice, but they must surface every twenty minutes or so to inhale air. 

A wonderful marriage of music and nature. We wonder what they were played – ‘Deeply wailing’, perhaps?
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  Nigerian companies are now using plastic bottles to build homes that can withstand powerful earthquakes and even bullets. The technology is called the "bottle trick." The first house to be built using recycled plastic bottles was in the village of Yelwa. 

The house has turned into a tourist attraction with even government officials and traditional leaders paying a visit to see the marvel. The eco-friendly home was built with nothing but plastic bottles, sand and mud, reported Power of Positivity.

A new house of plastic bottles filled with sand in the Sahrawi refugee camps in southwestern Algeria.#westernsahara pic.twitter.com/uTZJXqpwmO

— Tateh lehbib (@Sandships) April 19, 2018

The bottles are filled with sand and the bottom of the bottle is kept facing outside, giving a unique look to the wall. They are used as "bricks" and laid on top of each other and held together by mud. While houses in most places around the world are traditionally built in a square shape, it's common for homes in Nigeria to be built in a circular fashion. 

The homes using the "bottle trick" method are also built circularly, keeping them in style with the other homes in the region. While the homes are beautifully designed, the idea is to preserve the environment by repurposing plastic. The homes being built usually come with a bedroom, living room, bathroom, toilet, and kitchen. 

Each structure is believed to require at least 7,800 plastic bottles. Companies have already built 25 structures using plastic bottles and they're expected to become very popular among the environmentally conscious. The companies said they first lay a concrete foundation, before building walls using plastic bottles and sand.

  The innovative method has attracted interest abroad, with a Greek businessman and environmentalist donating a large sum of money for the project. While the “bottle brick” technology might have caught on in Nigeria, it was initially tried in India, South America, and Central America close to a decade ago. It is a cost-effective and eco-friendly option compared with traditional brick homes, which makes it accessible to many. 

According to Yahaya Ahmed of Nigeria’s Development Association for Renewable Energies, plastic bottle houses cost 67% less than a home built from concrete and brick. He also added that with sand compactly packed in plastic bottles, the homes have 20 times the strength of bricks. Ahmed says the company has already made plans to build a three-story home using plastic bottles and mud.

  The homes are well suited to the hot Nigerian climate. The sand helps block the heat and keeps the homes cool. Plastic pollution in developing countries like Nigeria is a major issue, due to the lack of recycling centers and waste management. Plastic is dumped and this creates environmental issues. 

Companies are hoping the "brick technology" homes can help channel more of the plastic into such avenues and thus avoid plastic waste. Bottled water accounts for 20-25% of all water sales, which totals roughly 500 million liters of water per year, according to market research company Zenith International. 

These bottles are usually discarded creating a huge problem for the environment. Now, with such projects coming about, used bottles are in demand, ensuring less disposal of plastic in public spaces and bodies of water.

  While many have praised the technology and its way of repurposing plastic, some argue that it could create an even bigger issue in the long term. Because sand forms a huge part of the building, the increased demand could lead to increased digging, creating scarcity and in turn leading to increased demand for sand. 

This could cause the prices of such homes to increase drastically and negate the cost-effective aspect of it. Many still have hope that the technology could create affordable structures, aiding progress. 

The Development Association for Renewable Energies is now planning on building a school to help educate people in the region and create more job opportunities.
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This past January and February, scientists Dr. Javier Sellanes and Dr. Erin Easton led a team of international researchers, organized through the Schmidt Ocean Institute, to a remote region of the southeast Pacific. There they began to uncover strange new worlds thought to be unlike anywhere else. With the crucial help of an underwater robot, over a hundred new species have potentially been discovered. The remotely operated vehicle ROV SuBastian, a robot that can dive to previously inaccessible depths of 14,000 feet, facilitated the crew of the Falkor (too) finding many diverse species in underwater mountain ranges, better known as ridges, off the coast of Chile. The Salas y Gómez, Nazca, and Juan Fernandez ridges are home to over 200 seamounts, or individual mountains, created by volcanic activity. Each seamount provides shelter to an underwater community that seems otherworldly, with long-living, slow-growing, and slow to reproduce species found nowhere else. These species are especially vulnerable to damage from human and oceanic forces. 

Among specimens collected during the expedition, the team believes they have discovered new species of squat lobsters, which have arms longer than their bodies, and cactus-like sea urchins. They have also found vertebrates such as the Chaunacops fish, known as coffinfish. The coffinfish survives very deep underwater only by remaining motionless on the seafloor for the majority of its life. While the images of brilliantly colored and alien-like sea life are mesmerizing in themselves, the data collected by the expedition will serve a critical purpose in conservation efforts. 

In 2016, Chile banned bottom trawling on seamounts in its jurisdiction, but most of the ocean is outside of any one nation's borders. Therefore international efforts are needed to protect these magical oceanic mountain ranges. The hope is this expedition will help create a Marine Protected Area under the UN's 2023 High Seas Treaty. This will further restrict bottom trawling, a fishing method which rips up coral reefs and indiscriminately catches species from the seafloor in its net. 

Over the next several years, scientists will work to confirm that the specimens collected by the ROV SuBastian are indeed previously unknown species. Another expedition of the seamounts is already in progress, keeping the Falkor (too) crew busy. In the meantime, we can all appreciate how much beauty there is yet to be discovered under the sea. The crew of the Falkor (too) spent just over a month off the coast of Chile and discovered hundreds of undersea animals. Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) SuBastain is deployed from Research Vessel Falkor (too) at the beginning of a scientific dive. (Photo: Alex Ingle / Schmidt Ocean Institute, CC BY-NC-SA) 

This expedition resulted in images of rarely seen sea creatures, such as the whiplash squid, as well as animals thought to be previously unknown. A spiraling coral documented at 1419 meters deep on Seamount JF1, within the bounds of the Mar de Juan Fernández Multiple Uses Marine Protected Area off the coast of central Chile. (Photo: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute, CC BY-NC-SA) A rarely-seen whiplash squid (Mastigopsis hjorti) documented at 1105 meters depth after inking at Seamount 17 (Ikhtiandr) in the Nazca Ridge. (Photo: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute, CC BY-NC-SA) Oblong Dermechinus urchins documented at a depth of 516 meters on Seamount JF2. An international group of scientists aboard a recent Schmidt Ocean Institute expedition believe they have discovered more than 100 new species living on seamounts off the coast of Chile, including deep-sea corals, glass sponges, sea urchins, amphipods, and squat lobsters. (Photo: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute, CC BY-NC-SA) A squat lobster documented in coral at a depth of 669 meters on Seamount JF2. An international group of scientists aboard a recent Schmidt Ocean Institute expedition believe they have discovered more than 100 new species living on seamounts off the coast of Chile, including deep-sea corals, glass sponges, sea urchins, amphipods, and squat lobsters. (Photo: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute, CC BY-NC-SA) 

Confirming that the species are new will take several years. Erin Easton (Chief Scientist, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) and Elyssia Gonzalez (Student, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) work together in the Research Vessel Falkor (too)'s Main Lab. (Photo: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute, CC BY-NC-SA 

 The expedition explored seamounts that had never been studied prior.

 
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