Southern fur seal pups in Kaikoura (NZ) have figured out a way to avoid taking their first swim in predator-filled waters. By travelling up a nearby stream, they reach a secluded waterfall pool where they can learn vital swimming skills in complete safety. A pup makes this journey only once, spending 3 days in the pool before returning to the sea with its newfound skills. From Life Story (2014).
There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who walk into a room and say ‘Here I am’ and those who walk into a room and say, ‘There you are.”
— Ann Landers
The following are examples of wildlife crossing or structures that allow animals to cross human-made barriers safely.
You were the moon of my existence; your moods dictated the tides of my heart.
Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist (c.1507-09)
Andrea Solario (c.1465-1524) Oil on wood, 47×57.2 cm.
Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA. Via Met.
Migraine gives some people mild hallucinations, temporarily blinds others, shows up not only as a headache but as a gastrointestinal disturbance, a painful sensitivity to all sensory stimuli, an abrupt overpowering fatigue, a stroke like aphasia, and a crippling inability to make even the most routine connections. The actual headache, when it comes, brings with it chills, sweating, nausea, a debility that seems to stretch the very limits of endurance. That no one dies of migraine seems, to someone deep into an attack, an ambiguous blessing.
Animal infected with Cordyceps fungus.
Never trust a survivor,” my father used to warn me, “until you find out what he did to stay alive.
סלומה 