Tango Time in Bremerhaven...

...heißt es nun auch für 2 schwule Pinguine im Bremerhavener Zoo am Meer...!
Wir sind entzückt über diese Nachricht...und wünschen den frischgebackenen Eltern und ihrem Nachwuchs alles Gute!!!

And Tango Makes Three...that was the story in Brooklyn Zoo some years ago, when zoo keeper Richardson helped Roy and Silo, a gay penguin couple in their endless efforts to produce their own offspring...Now it's time to tango for the zoo in Bremerhaven, after a several years of ongoing debate with sex tests in the beginning and even "woman traficking" from Sweden to get the gays straight and to normal breeding, the zoo and everybody else can now congratulate a gay couple to their first chick...

"Zwei schwule Pinguine im Bremerhavener Zoo am Meer sind glückliche Väter geworden. Sie adoptierten vor einiger Zeit ein Ei, das andere Pinguine verstoßen hatten. Beide brüteten das Ei abwechselnd aus und ziehen nun das Küken auf. Es ist nach Angaben von Zoo-Tierarzt Joachim Schöne vier Wochen alt und bekommt Fischbrei.

Das Junge hat noch keinen Namen, auch das Geschlecht steht noch nicht fest. Zoo-Arzt Schöne kündigt an, dass dem Jungtier bald eine Feder gezogen und das Geschlecht im Labor bestimmt wird. Um Nachwuchs für die vom Aussterben bedrohten Pinguine zu bekommen, wurden eigens schwedische Pinguin-Weibchen in den Zoo am Meer geholt. Doch die Weibchen erwiesen sich als zu schüchtern, sie nahmen kaum Kontakt zu den Männchen auf. Die schwulen Pinguine hielten an ihrer Beziehung fest." Und hier die überglücklichen Eltern...Vielpünktchen und Z...And here the overjoyed parents ..

Übrigens...so sieht eine schüchterne verschmähte Schwedin aus...- By the way, that's how a timid spurned Swedish penguin woman looks like...

Related articles:Story, more photos from Zoo Bremerhaven, Interview audio. Ältere Artikel inkl.Photos von Carmen Jaspersen zum Thema:Wirbel um Sextests/Spiegel, Schwule Pinguine bleiben hart/Stern

English article: BBC

Concerning Roy, Silo and Tango, the Brooklyn family, I will check for some more links (I have sort of a hundred of it...), I am pretty sure that I have already mentioned it here in the K-Files more than once as it is not only one of my favouritite children's books, it was also sent by Simba to Knut for Father's Day 2006...

Knut und das Moorhuhn - Predator news...

Um es kurz zu machen...-
To make it short... Dieses Moorhuhn hatte diese Woche keine Chance...-
This moorhen had no chance this week...Weil..., nun ja, wer ist denn hier das Raubtier?
Because...who is the predator here...? Sie können es jetzt vielleicht nicht so gut sehen, aber ich habe es!!!
Maybe you don't see it very well now, but sure I got it!!!Hier der Beweis...
Better now...?
Und das war es auch schon, viel ist ja nicht dran an so einem Moorhuhn...
And here just me with the leftovers...not that big such a moorhen....

Photo Credits : ChristinaM , please see her whole album here

Jeremy, the Sugar Puffs Bear...

This poorly kept bear is Jeremy, another famous bear in Scotland, here in a park near Dundee called Camperdown Park. In the 60's, starting 1957 as a cub, Jeremy the bear was used to advertise "Sugar puffs" on TV, until a few years later when they replaced the real bear with a cartoon one. As a result of Jeremy becoming unemployed, she was kept at Camperdown Zoo, from around 1970. Jeremy was actually a female, and she died in Dundee in 1990.



Here the successor of Jeremy...

The park made news headlines in 1986 when "Jeremy", bit the arm off ten-year-old Ross Prendergast, who had sneaked with friends into the park after hours. The bear enclosure has been enlarged since the incident, and there are now two different bears at the park.

I am sorry, I didn't find photos of the commercial with Jeremy on the net...

Photo credits :The Scotsman

Story source: here and here, about the arm incident,about sugar puff's commercials here

Meet Hercules - The Big Softie

Heute geht es um Hercules, einem Grizzly mit hohem Bekanntheitsgrad, vor allem in den 80er Jahren. Er lebte zusammen mit Andy Robin, einem bekannten englischen Wrestler und seiner Frau, die ihn 1975 von einem Wildpark gekauft haben, was heute so nicht mehr möglich wäre, was auch gut ist. Dennoch berührten mich die vielen Nachrufe auf Hercules, die ich vor kurzem per Zufall gefunden habe. Hercules gehörte nicht nur zum Wrestling circuit, sondern war ebenfalls als TV und Filmstar gefragt. So spielte er mit Roger Moore in Octopussy, machte auch eine ganze Reihe Werbefilme, wie z.B. für Kleenex Taschentücher (The big Softie).

Weltweit bekannt wurde er, als er mal bei einem Dreh ausbüchste und für 24 Tage verschwunden war. In diesen 24 Tagen hatte er rund 126 Kg abgenommen und hatte keiner Menschen-und Tierseele ein Leid angetan. Nach einem Sturz verletzte er sich seine Wirbelsäule, er schien für immer gelähmt zu sein, doch Übungen zusammen im Pool mit Andy versprachen Besserung, jedoch kam es nicht mehr zu der Operation, die seiner Wirbelsäule helfen sollte. Hercules verabschiedte sich am 04. Februar 2000 für immer von Maggie und Andy, seiner Familie...

Far smarter than the average bear!
He was a British actor of genuine stature, a shy superstar who fled across the Outer Hebrides to escape his fame and turned down a £1.3 million offer to move to Hollywood.
Today, at The Big Bear Ranch near Perth, Scotland, where he lived like an emperor, they are mourning the passing of Hercules the giant grizzly. Just as he appeared to be winning a long fight to resume his showbusiness career after a spinal problem, he died suddenly at his home.
His distraught owners, ex-wrestler Andy Robin and his wife Maggie have buried their 25 year-old 'surrogate son' with his favourite possessions in a king-sized coffin near his luxury quarters in their garden at Glendevon.
During their twenty years touring the world with Hercules, this was where he always returned, to chill out in his 45ft swimming pool listening to his favourite Sinatra tracks.The big grizzly had little respect for television egos bigger than his own and when Richard Madeley rudely pointed out a minor imperfection on the bear's nose, Hercules bared his fangs around the offending digit.
He was a classic Steiff teddy bear, with the authentic hump between his shoulders and was considerably cheaper than the highly-collectable toys when Andy bought him as a cub for £40 from a Scottish wildlife park in 1975.Hercules was already an established star when he made worldwide headlines 20 years ago.
On location filming a TV commercial in the Outer Hebrides, he went missing for 24 days. His weight dropped from 54 to 34 stone (126 kg loss) and when he was recaptured no 'prisoner' was more grateful as he swiftly consumed 120 pints of milk and dozens of eggs.
Even more grateful were the nation's cartoonists.
They gave him their coveted Golden Joker of the Year award and a Kleenex commercial dubbed him The Big Softy.He made the cover of Time magazine and went on to promote anything from Russian vodka to the Miss World contest. He secured a cameo role in the James Bond movie Octopussy, appeared on Hollywood chat shows and did cabaret in Las Vegas.
In 1994, Andy and Maggie turned down a £1.3 million offer for him to return to star in a Hollywood film because it would have meant another spell in quarentine.
His death has left a great gap in their lives.

Touched by the magic of Big Softy
by Maggie Robin

In August of 1975, Andy and I drove home with our precious cargo. No one at The Little Chef in Pitlochry could have known that the roll and tomatoe sauce that we left with was for Hercules, our nine-month-old grizzly bear. We had just collected him from the Highlands Wildlife Park in Kingussie and we were filled with excitement.
We were about to start on 25 years of more joy and laughter than anyone could ever hope for.
But on Friday February 04th 2000, shortly after 9am, Hercules passed away.
He had waited for us that morning. His eyes looked so big and bright and he had held out his big paw and gripped our hands. Unfortunately he was not feeling any better. He was simply looking to his mum and dad to say goodbye for the last time. Our big pup slipped away and left us with a terrible sadness and a gap that, at the moment, is too big to describe.Andy and I both cried all weekend and, at 1pm on Sunday, we buried Hercules in his garden beside his swimming pool, just on the spot where he loved to sleep in the sun.
We can see him from the kitchen window and we've placed bright flowers at his grave.
He has left a great gap in our lives but the memories he's left us with are wonderful.
In the 25 years since we brought Hercules home he had an unbelievably exciting life, but he always seemed to set the agenda.
His first film was for the BBC at two years and he always seemed to rise to the occasion if there was a film crew about. He had been filming TV commercials for Kleenex when he took fate by the tail and went for a 24 day tour of the Outer Hebrides - unfortunately he forgot to take us with him.

So started the real fame for Hercules. The papers named him Big Softy and he managed to steal headlines all around the world during those 24 days in 1980. He went hungry rather than harm any living creature. Our memories of Hercules, as our sadness fades, will be of times like the day I thought we'd been burgled.I came into the house to find the kitchen cupboards opened. It looked like someone had tried to steal the microwave. It was very quiet and I followed the trail of chaos. The lounge was a mess and someone had ransacked the settee.Hearing a noise, I quietly followed the sound and caught our burglar red-handed.I should have guessed, it was Herc.

He'd positioned himself squarely in the middle of our four-poster and, after removing all the bed linen, was happily ripping all the stuffing from the centre of the mattress.I was mad. I scolded Herc and chased him out of the front door of the house where he was met by two of our friends, gazing in amazement.That was the kind of day that Herc loved, a bit of mischief.

But he also had an almost eerie knack of just knowing the right thing to do when it was required.
One day a blind girl had arranged to visit Hercules. She wanted to touch him so we gently introduced her to him. She touched him, very gently at first, but she found her confidence and eventually hugged Herc and stroked his ears and head. Hercules seemed to know she needed more time and strangely just sat very still until we pulled her away. That was a lovely moment.
He travelled the world, starred in films, fronted advertising campaigns, had letters from the President of the United States and the Queen, toured America and twice sailed through the Panama Canal. And this is just a tiny piece of what he achieved.
He was Andy's pal and my pup. All 8 feet 4 inches and half-a-ton of him. We were the lucky ones. He touched us both and showed us his magic.

(Both texts found here...)

Related links & stories: Text source: Story, more here, about his 24 days trip you find something here, Hercules on wikipedia & Time Article here, where he scored No.25 of 50 animals in sports Book: Hercules The Bear-A gentle giant in the family

Linus...

...from Northern Germany joined the Rainbow community already on Wednesday...This beautiful cat belonging to my friend Barbara and living in a community well known as the "Wilde 13" in the beginning, has certainly been just at the gate of Rainbowland, waiting for Satoru to arrive...

R.I.P. Linus and take good care of Satoru...

R.I.P. Satoru...and say hello to Simba...

Satoru, the beloved cat of my good friend Tim from Dostoy's blog joined the land behind the rainbow last night. He had to be euthanized after he developped a blood clot in his main artery.
Saturo was only 6 years old and shared the last 2 and a half years with Tim who got him from a shelter. I am sure they had such a wonderful time together...
...that even the rainbows will smile...

Farewell and R.I.P., Satoru!

For those who want to see Satoru, here a little video...

Ice-cream for Daisy...

Sehen Sie,was ich sehe? Ich fass es nicht...
Do you see what I see? I can't believe it....!
Daisy kriegt ein ganzes Eis !!!
Ice-cream for Daisy!!!Hey, Sie, wo sind Sie? Hatten Sie mir nicht vorhin ein Eis versprochen?-
Hey, where is the guy,who promised me to buy an ice-cream?
Was wolltest du nochmal? Schokolade oder Vanille?-
What did you want? Chocolate or vanilla?No, dear, make it Vanilla Honey Bee for me and Peanut Butter Brittle for Knut...Aber schnell, bitte!

Wer mehr über Daisy's 64 Kollegen und Kolleginnen erfahren möchte, sollte unbedingt in Jason's Blog hereinschauen, hier erfährt man, dass es eine alte Sitte ist, den Canadian Inuit dogs speziell nach harten und langen Expeditionen, ein Eis zu spendieren...-

Just for the record, in Jason Zabokrtsky's blog you can learn that it is an old habit to treat the hard working sled dogs of Wintergreen in Ely with ice-cream only after special and longer expeditions, so maybe once or twice a year. Check the links to learn more about the amazing Canadian Inuit dogs, more dogs in the photo gallery .

Photo credits: Idefix (1,3), Jason Zabokrtsky (2), Hupsi (4), Hartmuth (5)

Grüße an Simba....( 8 months missing...)

A hush of a rainbow this morning in Rodrigues ...

And beautiful grey timber wolves in Montana...
Diese Wölfe habe ich bei Steve entdeckt, sie hätten auch Simba gut gefallen, ein kleiner Gruß ins Land hinter dem Regenbogen...-

These wolves I discovered in Steve's photostream, Simba would have loved them!!! So, just a little hello to her from the other side of the rainbow...

Photo credits: Steve Tracy...Thank you!

Hail & Thunder in Bearlin...And Greetings from the Land behind the Rainbow..

Auweia, Donner...!
Hear...? Thunder...! Und jetzt auch noch Schnee im Mai, aber komischer Schnee...!
See...! Strange snow coming down in May...Und es ist auch kein Pappelpollenschnee diesmal...
And this time it is not cottonwood pollen...Aber ich bin nicht allein...! -
But I'm not alone...!

Photo credits: DorisW (1), Monika (2), ChristinaM (3), SylviaMicky (4)

Meet Rara & Her Twins in Sapporo....

Zum Klauen süß....!!!

Auf der Suche nach ihren Namen gestern , fand ich zwar keine Namen, aber diese Fotos von Steve Tracy, der in Japan lebt und der die beiden und ihre Mutter zweimal besucht hat...Namen gibt es noch keine, da das Zoopersonal offensichtlich zögert, in die Innigkeit zwischen den Kleinen und ihrer absolut bezaubernden Mutter Rara einzugreifen...Mit dem Wissen, dass es in der Vergangenheit bereits peinliche Fehldiagnosen gegeben hat, nur zu verständlich...

Sweet, aren't they??? By the way, I am Denali, the father...and you won't steal them!

Searching yesterday for name news on the Japanese twins , I didn't find any names but I found the lovely photos of Steve Tracy, an Aussie (and Knut friend!!!) living in Japan who has visited the cubs and their Mom 2 times. Until now these little ones haven't got any names as the gender could not yet be determined, the staff seems to be hesitant to intrude into the closeness between mom Rara and her cubs and as to gender issues, we all know that in the past there had been some mis-identification causing worldwide headlines last year...


-An older post about the Japanese cubs, you find here (dt., engl, japan.).
-And here more heartwarming photos of Steve Tracy , his other wildlife photos are worthwhile too!!
-The Marayuma Zoo site, where I found Denali, shows also some lovely pics...it's all in Japanese but you can click yourself through the photos...
- And here again, the first video, and something about their first swim in April, also with video...