Both parrots and crows are intelligent enough to be evil, but only parrots align themselves with it. Crows are culturally chaotic neutral.
Coopers hawks are chaotic chaotic. Herons are lawful evil. Vultures are neutral good.
I have never had an unpleasant interaction with a Canadian goose. I have charged at them many times and they have merely honked reproachfully at me and slowly waddled away. Apart from making a mess, I have not personally observed them acting like dicks… parrots, on the other hand, love to spread terror and will cackle evilly to express their sadistic pleasure.
When geese act like dicks, it’s usually out of an overabundance of protectiveness or territorial nature. Generally because they see you as a threat of some sort.
Parrots, though? Well. There’s a reason the parrots at my local exotic pet shop (surrenders only, no breeding/wild captures) all have signs on the cages warning people not to get too close. Parrots will bite you and laugh, or learn to call your various other pets over in order to bite them, or rip your keyboard up. Basically, they like to bite things and yell, and seem to find it fun to bite other living things.
Agami herons by nature photographer Kristin Hines. During a 2011 trip to Costa Rica with her husband, a heron biologist, Hines photographed the entire mating ritual of the Agami Heron, which no one had ever done before.
Agami herons by nature photographer Kristin Hines. During a 2011 trip to Costa Rica with her husband, a heron biologist, Hines photographed the entire mating ritual of the Agami Heron, which no one had ever done before.
1. Ocellated Turkey. I mean you have gorgeously iridescent feathers on the rest of the bird, but blue skin and orange and pink caruncles AND a magnificent drooping snood? It’s almost too much. Sadly this photo doesn’t show the snood to its greatest glory since it’s on the other side of the beak but the rest of the display makes up for it.
2. Kokako. I mean a wattlebird has to feature somewhere, and personally, while I appreciate how outrageous the ocellated turkey is, sometimes you want elegantly understated, and the kokako has you covered there. Sleek grey feathers and deep blue wattles under the bill make a heck of a statement.
3. Southern Cassowary. The undisputed winner of “most intimidating wattles” as far as I’m concerned. I don’t want to meet these wattles in a dark alley. Or dark forest. Or anywhere without a fence between me and the wattles, to be quite honest.
4. Andean Condor. Check out the wingspan on these wattles. And unlike the cassowary, I feel like I’d love to chill in the presence of a condor. Also, I like the muted tones. It sends off much less of a “don’t fuck with me” vibe without reducing any of the magnificence.
5. Temminck’s Tragopan. I mean. Just look at it. It’s almost eyeburning in its magnificence. All the tragopans deserve recognition for their amazing achievements in fleshy face decorations, but Temminck’s just has a little extra something.
Tyrannosaurus was not the most dangerous animal in the park. Having imprinted on its handler since infancy, the creature maintained a docile temperament all the way to adulthood, and indeed seemed to prefer feeding from its designated trough to pursuing prey. Its interactions with staff and guests showed at most a mild curiosity, and the only real terror the beast inspired was when it snuck up on trainers to sniff their hats.
The raptors were not the most dangerous animals in the park. Hollywood had greatly exaggerated their size, first of all, and while they had a mischievous streak (one individual in particular was fond of stealin zookeepers’ wallets), they were far from the hyper-intelligent murder lizards everyone expected. Their intelligence was less of the predatory sort and more the comical intelligence of a corvid, devoted mostly to play and caring for their fellow flock members.
The mosasaur was not the most dangerous animal in the park. Though it held no loyalty to the zookeepers, it had taken to training well enough, and would dutifully move to a specific section of the tank when signaled, giving the keepers space to carry out any business they needed to accomplish in its tank without fear of harm.
No, by far the most dangerous animal in the park was the Struthiomimus. Everyone expected it to be easy – what were these animals in pop culture beyond being fodder for the carnivores? Surely the bird-mimics couldn’t be much of a hassle. Sadly, they weren’t just any bird mimics.
No, in temperament, the Struthiomimus mimicked a swan.
Highly territorial and vicious to the bone, more keepers had suffering brutal beatings by the struthis than had been hurt by the rest of the park’s fauna combined. And when they learned to chew through the fences…
Well, let’s just say the Tyrannosaurus never experienced a more terrifying day in her life.
The crested owl (Lophostrix cristata) is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is the only species (monotypic) in the genus Lophostrix. It is a resident bird and occurs in Central America and northern South America. It is a medium sized owl, easily recognizable with its very long whitish ear tufts and otherwise darker appearance. They inhabit lowland rainforests and prefer old growth in proximity with water. The crested owl is a strictly nocturnal species, but very little is known on its behavior.
I’m guessing the dark face/crest areas serve to hide their eyes and make them less obvious to anything on the lookout for owls. Mostly it’s just made them absolutely gorgeous.
Does anyone know what this lovely little creature is? Looks like possibly a color variant of something else, the colors seem a bit splotchy to be the pattern it’s supposed to have.
BettSplendens Tumblr Evac 