Sorry traditional Cute Tuesday got canned this week guys, I have a real phobia of the dentist and I have had to come to terms with the fact that I need teeth to live. I finally made an appointment today, and then needed to hang out with Kai to help put me right again.
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Dow! Monday again, folks.
Sophie is the freaking Queen of Mean.
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WOMAN SINGLE-HANDEDLY OPERATES DOG SHELTER IN INDIA - “13-year-old Geetha was belted by her father and as always, Blackie jumped between them. The blows rained down but Blackie bore them while Geetha wept. The next day he died from the wounds in her arms. “That’s when I realised, no man can love the way animals can,” she says.”
A woman in India named S.V. Geetha Rani has loved dogs since childhood and began taking care of injured and stray dogs in the area. Eventually, she rented out an abandoned school and now runs a dog shelter called Snekalaya for Animals with approximately 176 dogs under her care. Here’s more from The Hindu:
Snekalaya’s school building hosts another 144 healthy dogs. All 176 have names, individual sleeping blankets and food bowls. By day Geetha boils batches of 15-20 kg rice, sweeps the sheds, soaks blankets and washes plates. After 5 p.m., she works at a beauty parlour with her daughter. The day’s earnings are split between them and she buys provisions with that money. JM and Sons English Bakery often donates bread and restaurant Yummy Hut gifts meat. An hour-long journey later, she’s home by 11 to spread out blankets for her dogs and catch a few winks herself. “It’s not easy but by the grace of God, we’ve never gone hungry,” she says.
Snekalaya’s premises are filling up but Geetha says she still can’t reject an abandoned or ill dog. Someday, she hopes for land and sheds of her own so that she can take in more dogs. “I didn’t bring anything when I came to this world and I can’t take anything back. So, all I want to do is look after dogs till the day I die.”
Many dogs in India now have access to food and shelter thanks to the lifelong dedication of this one woman. Click here for the full story.
Never underestimate the power of One.
I just hope one day to give half as selflessly. Peace.
notbythehaironmychinnychinchins:
reblog if you love chinchillas! I wanna be friends with you
http://kiltyascharged.tumblr.com
hi!
OHHHHH he doesn’t look the happiest about wearing that hat, hahaha! I love all the animals in clothes you post (serious weakness).
I am now nearly dead of joy and laughter.
(Source: chinchillahime, via chinchillahime)
Chinchillin’ in the Moon.
Oh my goodness!! This is the most adorable chinchilla art EVER!
(via chinchillahime)
Sophie does not enjoy photos.
2Here is the citation for the article I used as a reference for this post:
Cortes, A., Miranda, E., & Jimenez, J. E. (n.d.). Seasonal food habits of the endangered long-tailed chinchilla (chinchilla lanigera): the effect of precipitation. (2002). Mammalian Biology, 67, 167-175.
Chinchillas are folivorous generalist species (eating lots of varieties of greenery and shrubbery). This may be an adaptation to the sometimes harsh conditions and quickly changing food availability due to unpredictable rainfall in their habitat of the north central region of Chile. They are considered endemic to that area (meaning they exist in the wild NOPLACE ELSE), and even though they are heavily protected, their populations are still recorded as declining. They are an incredibly mysterious animal; quiet, secretive and nocturnal, knowledge on their natural behavior and evolutionary history is scarce. Information about their eating habits had to be gleaned from poop samples collected and analyzed later in a lab.
The study took place over two years of differing rainfall (“wet” and “dry”, respectively), and found that chinchillas in the wild ate a wide variety of plants, however they preferred dried versions of leaves/stems over fresh ones in “cafeteria tests” (where they take a chinchilla, set it in front of a bunch of bins of food, and watch what it chooses). I can see this even in my chinchillas, as most of them do not like to handle any moist food (sometimes they eat it if I hand-feed it to them…because they are spoiled).
The scientists saw evidence of mostly herbs (plants that don’t get woody stems) and shrubs (plants that do grow woody stems), with some evidence of succulent varieties being eaten as well. The majority of their diet consisted of the succulent, pictured above: Puya berteroniana (common name: blue Puya, a terrestrial bromeliad), which is also observed being used as shelter by chinchillas, and Nasella chilensis, a type of rough tussock grass. Since P. berteroniana is composed of up to 80% water, this is most likely the most reliable source of moisture for chinchillas, as they aren’t really observed drinking in their dry mountain habitat. Chinchillas have also been observed eating cacti-fruit, however none was found in this study’s dropping analysis. (N. chilensis pictured below)
Here are a few pictures of a couple of other plants that they found chinchillas ate:
Calandinia grandiflora:
And the Cordia decandra shrub:
Here is the blue Puya in flower. It looks like it is literally from outer space:
And you can even buy seeds for some of them! HERE as well as HERE !
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