Understanding More About Dog Eyesight

Unlike that of humans, dog eyesight is built in ways that make canines easily focus on their prey, thus resulting to quicker motion. A lot of dog owners actually have the misconception that their pet dogs are totally color blind. But contrary to beliefs, dogs can actually see colors and they have in fact excellent night vision. Although a dog’s sense of smell and hearing is more useful, their eyesight plays a crucial role in the totality of a dog’s performance. To further understand the biological make up of your canine’s eyes, below are some helpful facts. 

From a Biological Perspective, dog’s eyes are generally similar to that of humans. The eyes have its retinal cover all around the eyeballs and are comprised of two kinds of light sensitive cells: the rods and cones. How they perceive colors and the details of their vision is controlled by the cones. During night time, their eyesight is usually controlled by the eyes’ rods, thus allowing dogs to detect motion. Because rods are highly concentrated in dogs than the cones, this allows the dogs to clearly detect motion. Its low cone concentration is perhaps the reason why myths about dogs being colorblind have become very popular over the years. 

Professional animal handlers, as well as veterinarians attest to the fact that dogs can actually see colors just similar with how a colorblind human would see. Color blind people generally are not color blind, rather they only have trichromatic or dichromatic vision. In the same way, dogs cannot distinguish specific colors like the greens and the reds. A dog’s eyes vary depending on their breed but generally, the eye angles are somewhere around twenty degrees. The position actually is ideal as it helps the dogs increase their peripheral vision, thus achieving better field of view. 

Despite the fact that the peripheral dog eyesight allows them to achieve wider fields of vision, it unfortunately disrupts the dog’s binocular vision. With that, it results to less visual acuity- disabling them from seeing things from far off. 

If you think your pet dogs have eyesight problems, it’s about the best time to have a trip to your veterinarian. Running eyesight tests for your pet dogs are very crucial in diagnosing the problems. So the moment you notice your beloved dogs rubbing their eyes on the ground too often, or they try to avoid from light, no doubt your dogs have eyesight problems. Symptoms include bulging eyes, cloudiness, dog eye discharge, eye redness, and excessive tearing. All these are tell tale signs that your dogs potentially have eye problems. 

Veterinarians will recommend specific eye tests depending on the symptoms. For example, if your dogs have dry eyes, the veterinarian may do a tear duct test. The doctor will check for the dog’s natural eye moisture by carefully inserting a strip of paper in the canine’s eyes. If you notice your dogs having eyesight problems, take your pet to your veterinarian immediately. Also, these problems can be avoided by regularly cleaning your dog’s eyes. You may also insert artificial tears in their eyes to removing dust, hair, and other obstructive particles. 

A dog eyesight is just as important as their sense of smell and hearing. To keep your dogs healthy and problem-free all the time, make sure you do regular eye check-ups.  

Dolphin Intelligence: How Smart are they Really?

Dolphins are amazing and very smart creatures. They are playful and are very sociable, which is why they need to be in constant interaction and physical contact just like humans. In fact, studies have proven that isolated dolphins are prone to become ill and are more likely to become despondent. Dolphin intelligence is not arguable at all. Most people know their impressive social interactions both with humans and with other dolphins. Dolphins are smart, that is not a question. But how intelligent these creatures are is another matter. 

So how intelligent are dolphins really? The most crucial part in determining dolphin intelligence is defining ‘intelligence’. There are studies that say that intelligence is simply one’s communication ability; while others believe it’s about self-awareness. The most notable trait of dolphins that makes them stand out from other creatures is their ability to understand numbers especially when they are cohesively working in groups. Although a lot of thorough research and studies have been conducted on dolphins kept on captive, researchers say studies are still difficult to obtain in the wild. The usual habitats of these creatures are so extensive that only few researches with conclusive reports have been produced.  

Features of Dolphins.

Dolphins come in different species, but the most common ones are the bottle-nosed dolphins. These types have a brain mass between 1,500 and 1,700 grams, a few hundred grams higher than the brain mass of humans that range only from 1,300 to 1,400 grams. Newborn human babies obtain 25% brain mass of that of adults. Comparatively, newborn dolphins have a brain mass 42% or even more of the adult dolphin’s brain. So you can just imagine how sharp a dolphin’s brain is. Moreover, dolphins can easily transmit information quicker than in humans. This is basically the result of the dolphin’s need to process sound fast for echolocation. 

Dolphin Intelligence Identification.

Perhaps the most debated notable aspect of dolphins is their ability to communicate seamlessly. Basically, dolphins emit two different types of sounds—clicks and whistles. During their early life, dolphins develop their own distinct whistle and use them to communicate among each other. A lot of observations in fact seem to stress that these creatures have their own unique language in communicating one another. One notable study that was designed for gray whales was in Scammon’s Lagoon in San Diego. In the study, researchers placed aluminum poles around the dolphins’ location and carefully observed how the dolphins dealt with the barriers. It was observed that the group seemed to huddle and ‘talk’ in whistles and clicks and one member of the group was elected to be the ‘scout’. The ‘scout’ went near the barrier, checked and investigated, before returning to the group. After several chirps and whistles, the group simply passed the barrier and successfully avoided the poles. 

Other Dolphin Potentials.

Apart from their strong communication skills, another impressive ability of dolphins is their skill on learning different variety of tricks. Dolphins can actually understand, communicate, and respond to various human commands. In fact, another dolphin intelligence study has proven how effectively dolphins can demonstrate creative responses.  Dolphins are also notable for their sense of humor. Because they are very playful, they can intelligently pull off creative pranks on other animals, something that is of very interesting observance. 

Truly, dolphins are smart and highly intelligent. This is the reason why people from all walks of life, young and old alike, love to watch and enjoy dolphin shows.

Care of Goldfish: How to Properly Take Good Care of These Pets

Raising goldfish at home is truly rewarding. They look very nice and simply relaxing to gaze at especially after a long day’s work. However, only very few people know the basics of proper care of goldfish. Thus it is very important that you totally understand what the essential requirements are needed to make your goldfish thrive and live longer. So how do you go about with your goldfish raising? Here are some goldfish care basics to get you started. 

Choosing the Right Water Tank.

As much as you can, avoid using fish bowls regardless of the number of goldfish you wish to grow. The larger the water tank is, the more likely your goldfish achieve a better quality of life. Although most goldfish owners prefer to just keep a fishbowl because it looks aesthetically pleasing, doing so will only compromise these cute little creatures. Additionally, your goldfish can easily outgrow a fishbowl and as they grow by the day, they need proper supply of oxygen- something you can’t expect to get from any ordinary fishbowl. Consequently, the larger the water tank is, the better for your goldfish. 

Consider the Size of the Goldfish.

Another essential care of goldfish tip is choosing the right size of the fish. Generally, goldfish start off very small. But they can grow even to a foot long especially if proper care is given. For first timers, it is economical to buy large tanks at the outset so you won’t end up buying ever-larger replacement fish tanks as your goldfish grows. As a rule, you need to have a 20-30 gallon tank for your goldfish. And for every additional fish, add another ten gallons to the volume of water. 

The Hood, the Light, and the Gravel Floor.

Your fish tank should have the proper hood. Keep in mind that goldfish are known to easily jump out of their uncovered fish tanks. Provide a hood to refrain this from happening. Also, the hood will also serve as a secure platform for your lighting. Moreover, fluorescent lighting is better than the typical incandescent ones as the former helps you save electricity and does not give off much heat. Essentially, lights should be lit at least ten hours a day. As for the gravel floor, make sure you go for the ones that do not stuck in the throat of your goldfish. You can either use the large ones that are too huge to swallow, or go for the very tiny ones, small enough to get caught in the throat. 

The Water.

Water with neutral pH levels has also something to do well in proper care of goldfish. Tap water is safe for use in a fish tank since it has a neutral pH (acidity level).  And since goldfish is relatively stronger as compared to other varieties, they are more likely to survive in water with pH levels less than optimal. In general, using tap water for your goldfish is safe. However, you can still double check the water pH with a test kit to ensure the water acidity neither falls nor rises substantially. 

To raise and care for goldfish is not at all that difficult. All you need is the proper knowledge and the right requirements in taking care of goldfish. Have a goldfish at home. These fishes can recognize you and even cherish your attention. Along with proper care and the right treatment, your goldfish can actually keep you company for years.

Goldfish Lifespan: Practical Tips to Make your Goldfish Grow for Years

Having goldfish at home is very relaxing. Just the sight of them swimming around the water tank is enough reason to make you feel loosened up after a day’s work. To keep your goldfish to last for years, you need to know more about how you can actually keep your goldfish lifespan longer. Essentially, you need to understand how you can properly take good care of goldfish.

One of the major factors to increase goldfish lifespan is to have the proper size of water tank. A normal tank size for a single goldfish is the twenty-gallon tank. Meaning, for a single goldfish you need twenty gallons of water, thirty for 2 goldfish, fifty for four, and so on. Of course for most homeowners, choosing the typical round glass bowl is the first option. However, these bowls provide less space, thus restricting the growth of the fish and worse, making them prone to sickness. That is why, regardless of the size of the goldfish you buy, make sure you provide them with sufficient space so that they are able to live a quality life. 

Keep in mind that before you bring in your goldfish, your water tank should be properly prepared. Doing so will help generate bacteria needed to break down the waste of the fish. Be sure you run the water tank for a number of days after you have landscaped it and filled it with water along with its filter. Monitor the concentration of ammonia, making sure you stick between the normal levels of 4 and 5ppm. You can ask your local veterinarian to know more about this. 

Cleaning the tank is also one of the major factors to consider. The number of times you clean the water tank basically depends upon the number of goldfish you have and the size of your fish tank. Bigger tanks require less maintenance. Cleaning big tanks at least once every two weeks would suffice. Furthermore, having live plants in your tank is also a good idea. Plants help absorb the nitrate, nitrite and ammonia content of the water, thus keeping the tank clean. Also, have a dechlorinator to minimize the chloramines level of the tank. Also, monitor the level of ammonia and nitrate all the time. When their average levels rise, chances are it might make the water more acidic, thus making it fatal for your fish. Furthermore, to remove dirt from the tank, you can use a vacuum. Ensure that you add more water in the tank after you vacuum and that the water temperature added should be similar of that in the tank.  

Just because you want to increase goldfish lifespan doesn’t mean it is healthy to feed them most of the time. You may have the tendency to feed your fish with practically all kinds of food. But did you know that feeding them beyond their capacity can actually restrict their lifespan and eventually cause them to die? Feeding them twice a day is sufficient. After eating, check that no leftovers are floating on the water to avoid getting the tank dirty. Remove uneaten foods immediately. 

You can easily increase your goldfish lifespan if you take your time to follow the above mentioned tips. With the right water tank and proper feeding practices, you surely will have a long way enjoying your tiny pets swimming around your aquarium.

Things to Consider with Horse Rehoming

Do you plan on adopting a horse to take care at home? Like any other pet lover, taking care of a horse at home is one hobby considered by some animal enthusiasts. If you are thinking about horse rehoming, there are certain things you need to consider. After all, horses generally require your dedication and an ample amount of your time

Horse rehoming is basically the process of acquiring, finding, rehabilitating, inspecting, or retraining unwanted horses. The main purpose of this is to place uncared for horses into new and more suitable homes conducive to their health

Owning a horse entails a lifelong commitment because horses have a lifespan that can reach up to thirty years. Just like domestic cats and dogs, horses have become more prized and loved companions. However, caring for a horse is expensive. If you are a beginner, keep in mind that you might have to shell out a huge chunk of money just to properly handle a horse at home.

Things to Consider before Owning a Horse

Having a horse at home can give you a very fulfilling experience in life, provided that you and your horse are fully prepared for your future. As a horse owner, you need to ensure that you are willing to attend to your horse every day, rain or shine. Proper horse care must be religiously practiced all the time. 

Caring and owning a horse is fun and greatly rewarding. If you have a horse or a pony, be it permanent or temporary; remember that the law requires you to properly care of it. Of course there is no ‘perfect’ way to perfectly care of horses and ponies. After all, every animal has different situations. Basically, it is up to you as the owner to practice reasonable steps to guarantee you meet all the needs of your horse; from their environment, their diet, behavior, and health and welfare

Environment.

When thinking about horse rehoming, consider having a suitable place for your horse to live. By nature, horse fear of confined places as this makes them feel trapped. Therefore, your horse should be in an environment with wide-open spaces where they can freely roam around. Furthermore, horses are athletic animals and they love to move around continuously as they look for and eat grass. The larger the space is, the better. Although keeping a horse in stables are generally safe, experts say stabled horses are a lot more exposed to fumes, toxic dust, and germs than those kept in pastures. You have to ensure, for that reason that the place where your horse lives is free from any forms of hazards and that the fences are in top condition and escape-proof.

Diet.

Providing the right diet is another major consideration. Horses should have a steady access of fresh and clean water. They have to be provided with ample opportunity to graze, ideally a twenty-four hour access. For stabled horses, their diet should be in the form of forage. Pastured horses, on the other hand, although grazing is generally enough, have to be added with hard feed and forage to achieve proper bodyweight.

If you think about horse rehoming, make sure you have fully understood all the basic requirements needed. Along with your dedication and constant care, to raise and care for a horse at home is something immensely fulfilling.

A Closer Look to Ants Life Cycle

Do you know that ants have the capacity to carry objects which are 50 times more of their body weight? It is an admirable trait considering their tiny size, right? But ants are not only admired for that aspect, their existence and way of life as a “community” are oftentimes equate to an ideal society except that they are not humans. However, they live in a way that cooperation is a natural behavior that attributes its survival in whatever conditions they are in. To help us better understand it, we will have a closer look of ants’ life cycle.

The life of an ant evolves in four cycles – egg, larva, pupa and adult. Their metamorphosis process is almost similar to butterflies and caterpillars.

The eggs are in oval tiny shape with approximate size of 1mm but the egg of a doomed queen is significantly bigger in size. Then reaching the stage of larva, they become like worm but with the absence of eyes and legs. Ant workers will vomit a certain amount of food to feed the larvae. Also at this phase of ants’ life cycle, larva keeps shedding skins due to its growing size.

Next is pupa wherein it will be covered with silk cocoon. This metamorphosis process turns the pupa into an adult.

The duration of ants’ life cycle vary. It can be within few weeks to a year. This is attributed to various factors such as surroundings, availability of food, temperature and humidity. In terms of longevity, worker ants can live up to seven years while queen ants reach up to 15 years.

Ants akin to the society of human beings have caste system too. The basic classes are workers, queen and male ants.

Ant workers are considered as the sterile females and they comprised the biggest population in their colonies. Generally their scope of work is gathering and storing food, building tunnels, defending the colonies and taking care of the larvae which involve feeding, grooming, transporting and protecting. However, this scope of work differs according to kind of ant species. For instance, some ant species categorize their worker’s jobs and responsibilities according to their size while other species divide the jobs and responsibilities according to their age.

The queen ants are destined because of their size. Generally they are twice or more bigger than the size of a worker. Their main role is to reproduce and lay eggs. Because of this nature, they are responsible too in locating the best nest site. Like a trait of any mothers regardless of the kind of specie, they also assist the workers in feeding and grooming the larvae.

Lastly, there is the male ant. Their main responsibility is to mate the queen and they die within two weeks after mating the queen. This is only the purpose of their existence. They do not even take part in any activities within the colonies.

Perhaps ants’ life cycle is totally different from the life cycle of human beings but their complex existing way of life and system has proven to be effective and efficient. They epitomize the ideal community wherein individuals cooperate with each other and are working together for the greater good of the group. Indeed it is interesting to learn how these tiny creatures can live peacefully even they are thousands of individuals in their colonies.

Your Guide to Lovebirds Breeding

Lovebirds are one of the most interesting species of birds. It’s not surprising to find people into lovebirds breeding. But as these birds are somehow delicate, you need to know how you can go about the task with surefire success. To help you in this regard, read the following useful tips.

Get the right pair.

Before you laugh, you need to get a male and female lovebird for mating. While this might sound funny at first, experienced lovebirds breeders would know that it’s very hard to tell love birds apart. Relying on the birds’ physical differences is very tricky. That’s why bird owners need to get a specialized DNA kit to identify the gender of the birds. However, it’s more advisable to have the identification done by professionals. This would help avoid hurting them or worse, creating trauma.

Provide a good and spacious breeding cage.

There are actually two types of breeding you might want to consider. Group breeding means that you would have several pairs in one spacious cage. Meanwhile, those who are just starting out might want to consider traditional breeding which only involves a pair of lovebirds. Whatever the type, you should ensure that the birds have big a cage for playing and flying around. Also, the material of the cage should be evaluated. Some wire mesh for breeding cages can prick the birds’ feet. Ensure that your cage is made for lovebirds breeding by choosing materials that aren’t accident stimulators.

Give the birds enough daylight and food.

Lovebirds aren’t fans of the dark. As such, it’s best that you give them adequate lighting. Some even go as far as putting soft, artificial light in cages. Aside from these, you can prep your lovebirds up for breeding by giving them enough food and water. Give your birds seeds, fresh fruit, and vegetables to keep them nourished. Their water container should have fresh supply every 12 hours. Clean the cage as much as you can. Note also that lovebirds must at least be 10 months old before breeding.

Attach a nesting box.

This shouldn’t be much of a problem as almost all nest boxes you see in stores are compatible with love birds. During lovebirds breeding, the birds fancy putting materials inside their boxes. With this, you have to put non-poisonous twigs from willows and fruit trees near the cage. You’ll see them stripping these twigs and putting them inside the nest box themselves. Some breeders also advise putting some flax leaves everyday as lovebirds use them in their nests as well.

Observe the birds from time to time.

Funny as it might sound, lovebirds also need privacy. Breeding won’t push through if they are continuously watched by people or other birds. You’ll know that breeding has been successful if the female spends longer time in the nesting box. At this point, you need to prep up for more food and water suppliers. Generally, lovebirds lay around four to six eggs. Never inspect the eggs and hatchlings while the birds, particularly the female, are around. Both parents will feed the hatchlings from the food supply you provide them.

Venturing on lovebirds breeding is not difficult as long as you have the heart for it. The trick is to research more about the species.  Other than that, simply enjoy the company of these truly lovable birds.

Peach Faced Lovebirds: Proper Care and Feeding

Lovebirds make very good pets at home. Even for those novice bird enthusiasts, keeping a lovebird is generally easy. There are basically different varieties of lovebirds. One of the most popular ones is the peach faced lovebirds. What are these types of birds then? Why are they very popular? How do you go about in properly taking good care of them?

The traits of these birds are typically very tiny in size but are known for its big personality. These types, love playing and interacting with people, especially with their owners, and they are very playful with new toys. When in their cage bars, these birds are often found weaving their nesting materials. Except when sleeping, drinking, or eating, you can always find these birds very active and always playing. Peach faced lovebirds think of themselves as if they were on the top of the ladder. They are often noticed wanting to go after almost anything that it believes it can conquer. And since they are active all the time, they turn any ordinary activity into an interesting game. However, at the end of the day, these birds are the sweetest particularly to their owners, often snuggling and settling down with their humans to rest. 

At home, you need to spend a great deal of your time with them. Just like any other pets, they will bond with you and will treat you as a good friend, willing to do anything just to protect you. Because they have high energy, expect them to be playful with you most of the time. 

In terms of behavior and health concerns, these peach faced lovebirds are territorial and nippy, thus it is important that you handle and reinforce them with good behavior. These breeds love to indulge themselves with seeds so better provide them with plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits or whole grains. Typically, pellet bird diet is essential as their base for nutrition. However in most cases, they are hesitant to eat pellets unless they are used to it and they were weaned onto it the moment they started eating. 

When determining the age of these pet, you can easily tell its age thru the color of its beaks. Adult birds often have orange, red, light gray or horn-colored beaks while the younger ones have black-marked beaks. 

The cage should be big enough for them to stretch their wings and legs comfortably. Add some toys or anything that catches their attention, otherwise, they might get bored and think about escaping. Cardboard tubes and mirrors make good toys. Take note that these birds are great escape artists. With that, try to secure their cages with the right locks to avoid escapes. Just like our lovable pet, once they tried to escape and one of them do made it successfully. Fortunately, we caught it before it flew away.

Also, their cages should always have ample supply of fresh water and food regularly. Offer them veggies, legumes, fruits, or pellets. Variety is the key here. Just like humans, they get bored easily when eating the same types of food over and over again. When properly taken-cared of, your pet lovebird can actually live between ten and fifteen years.

Having peach faced lovebirds at home is simply amazing. The joys they bring and the mischievous and sometimes annoying but equally relaxing behavior they show is totally one thing to look forward to after a day’s work.

How Do Birds Mate?

My wife and I have the same feeling with respect to animals, we simply care for them.

Before we got married, we bought two love birds and named them 'Pochi' and 'Etsi'. Upon researching of their species, we found out that they are a Peach-faced Lovebirds, but, with a different mutation. We were pretty amazed with their everyday activities, and, the thought that they cannot live without their companion or partner, which is every lovebirds' natural behavior. They are very energetic and intelligent couple, and also very playful. We take good care of them and show them love everyday.

Just wondering almost about 2years ago since we bought them, they not yet have born a baby bird... How do birds mate? ;) What are the factors that would most birds consider before mating? Well, this is a big challenge for us. Our goal is to find ways to help them create a big happy family.

So to all the bird lovers out there, please share us your thoughts and understanding on how do birds mate in this journal. We are really so eager to help our love birds have babies.