Hello there! Now it’s fun time for some bee related riddles. Ready?
3…
2…
1…
What do you get if you cross a bee and a rabbit?
Answer: A honey bunny.
What do bees do with their honey?
Answer: They cell it.
What did the mother bee say to the baby bee?
Answer: Beehive yourself please!
What is more impressive than a talking dog?
Answer: A spelling bee.
What did the bee say when she was invited to the party?
For the answer, please stay tuned at knowledgebeatsignorance.com’s YouTube channel to find out!
Have you ever wondered what the bear in the famous “Funny bear walking like human” video say? To answer some questions from curious readers about my animal communication skill, here’s a short conversation that the bear and I had. Whether it’s an imaginary or a real conversation, only the bear and I know 🙂
Me: Isn’t it hard to balance yourself and walk on hind legs?
Bear: No, I’m comfortable doing it. It’s not difficult at all.
M: Why do you walk like that?
B: I feel more comfortable walking like this. It’s not wrong to walk like this, is it?
M: What do you mean ‘more comfortable’? Isn’t it easier for you to walk on four legs?
B: Look at my legs, they are very short! What can I see by standing on those short legs? I need better vision of my surrounding.
M: But you know what your enclosure look like. Why do you still need better vision?
B: So I know when food is approaching.
M: Don’t you get enough food already?
B: It’s never enough.
M: Then what can make you feel better?
B: Water. It’s very hot recently.
M: I mean what kind of food can make you feel better or less hungry?
B: Banana.
Do you have questions you want to ask the bear? Leave a comment below or contact us. I’ll convey your questions to the bear and publish the answers in the next few days.
A while ago I posted some experiences being a wildlife vet. I think it’s unfair if I exclude the experiences working at small animal practices. So today I’m sharing my experiences from small animal vet point of view. Here are 9 things you’ll likely experience if you’re a vet:
1. You accidentally mix patient’s name and owner’s name. Yes, it’s a very common mistake that every one of us do. Sometimes the pet’s name is easy to recognize as an animal name, such as Brownie, Fluffy, Princess, but most of times their names are very similar to someone’s names, such as Troy, Alice, Simon, etc.
2. You are not a pervert but you touch animal bums hundreds times a week, thousands times a month. Ewww… I know it sounds gross but admit it, taking your patient’s temperature is one of the most common exam you have to do on a daily (if not hourly) basis.
Come touch my cute butt! Source: pinterest.com
3. At first you might tremble when you do your first ever surgery, but as your skill improves after tens or hundreds of surgery, you now have a new hobby. Your itchy hands can’t stay away from scalpel and a day without surgery becomes a boring day.
4. When you see an animal with big protruding vein suddenly your mind says “What an easy vein to catheterize!” and when you see intact stray male dogs or cats your mind says “I’m gonna cut your balls!” I know for non vet readers it sounds crazy but trust me, it’s very normal for vets to say those things.
5. You become a detective, in some way. When you ask questions to your client regarding their pet’s health, don’t expect them to tell you the truth 100%. Instead, expect to play some detective game to see what they actually do to their pets.
6. You spend at least 6 years in vet school but ironically in your client’s mind your advice sometimes means nothing compared to those who come from pet shop owner. Moreover, your knowledge will be compared to Google, a LOT. Unfortunately a lot of misleading information is easily accessible from Google nowadays. Someone from engineer background writes an article about their own experience regarding their pet’s health and somehow it becomes a reference for your client to say your method is wrong.
7. You want the animals to be healthy, thus you are happy to see healthy animals, but hey life is a paradox. I know every vet has a favorite case and somehow you are glad to see an animal suffering from it. I have a friend who loves squeezing abscess and every time she has a patient who suffers from it she always exclaims happily “Yes, I love abscess!” I honestly don’t know which can make her happier: to see the animal heals quickly or to squeeze the pus every day for a month.
8. You are compassionate towards animals but have to be heartless sometimes. You love all your patients, but there are times when you have to put them in a deep peaceful sleep to end their pain. To say it personally, this is my weakest point.
9. There are quiet days, there are busy days. When you have no patients and have no work left to do, you complain about how boring your job is. Somehow someone hears you and within 3 minutes sends an emergency to your clinic. When you are busy scrubbing your hands for emergency surgery, another emergency comes in. Be careful of what you wish for.
Does anyone have interesting vet-related experience that you think we should know? It doesn’t matter if you are an experienced vet, a fresh graduated vet or even a future vet, you are more than welcome to share your experience by commenting below.
In the video above you can watch a very funny Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) walking on his hind legs, just like how human walks. Everyone finds this very amusing, even me! I laughed when I first saw him walking like that and still smile whenever I see him walk like that in his big open enclosure.
Many volunteers and staff asked me why he walks like that. At first I could not answer their questions but after further observation here is my educated guess:
This bear was rescued from bear bile farm where he was kept in tiny cages and fed very little amount of food, only to keep him alive so they could extract his bile liquid. With this living condition it’s not surprising that he’s malnourished, which is shown by how short his legs are and the body size is disproportionately small for his head size. He is much smaller than an adult Asiatic black bear of his age should be. Click here to see how it’s like to live in bear bile farms.
Before his current place was turned into a rescue center, it functioned as a zoo where visitors could feed him and other bears by throwing food from outside the fence. With his smaller and malnourished body, it is easier for him to stand on his hind leg because his spine can support his light body weight. Standing up and waiting for food slowly became a habit which he does on a daily basis now. Click here to read what conversation I had with this bear regarding his condition now.
It was human who took him from the wild.
It was human who put him in bear bile farm and tortured him.
It was human who saved him from the farm.
It was human who fed him and ‘taught’ him to stand like that.
It is human greed which destroys our beautiful environment.
As a wildlife vet, I feel there are some unique experiences that other occupations may not be able to offer. Sometimes it’s a funny experience, many times it’s a tough one, and most of the time it’s a very rewarding one. So here it is, my 6 personal experience being a wildlife vet:
1. You are more comfortable handling a baby animals than handling a baby human. Taking care of orphaned baby monkeys, baby bears, baby gibbons, baby orangutans, baby porcupine, and many other babies on a daily basis makes me so used to with handling baby animals, but when I was faced with my 6 month old nephew I didn’t dare to hold him. Then a scary question popped out in my mind: Am I a normal human being?
One of my babies
2. People think you are smart. Most people who ask what my job is are usually surprised when I tell them I’m a wildlife vet. Their common reactions are “Wow, you treat hundreds of animals!”, “So you understand the anatomy of each species?”, “How can you remember all the animals’ names?”, which eventually makes them say “You must be very smart to be that kind of vet”. I always smile and feel proud for a while before they ask random questions which leads to the next point.
3. You are forced to understand hundreds to thousands of animals of ANY kind. Small pets, farm animals, flightless birds, reptiles, marsupials, big carnivores, sea mammals, everything! The truth is, most of wildlife vets are specialized in some species and are not knowledgeable about other animals. Unfortunately, many people think you are not professional enough when you can’t answer their random questions about a specific animal. Now please inform me if there’s one vet who can answer all the following questions without asking Uncle Google: What’s the lifespan of Chairina scutulata? How many toes does an African elephant have? How long does a caiman incubate their eggs? Is Sumatran rhino crepuscular? How many teeth does a baiji have? Sounds fun right if you are faced with those questions? If you think I have the answers for all the questions above, I’m truly sorry to disappoint you.
Errr… You think I know the answers??
4. You cannot have a favorite. Taking care of hundreds of animals under your care, it’s not fair if you love some animals over the others. Everyone deserves the same attention. No matter how cuddly a baby tiger is, how cute a binturong is, how tame a bear is, you can’t make them your favorites. Now imagine a scene: when you give treats to your favorite animals, don’t you feel guilty when their neighbors stare at you with puppy-eyed face?
Why do you treat me differently?
5. Even though you are supposed to love all animals, there’s always one animal you prefer not to deal with. For me personally, I prefer not to deal with loris. Big animals are easier to treat because you can sedate them initially with darts. But with small animals like slow loris, you have to catch them by hand with a risk of being bitten, and when you do surgery, you have to be extra careful not to crush their tiny anatomy.
Slow loris surgery
6. You are forced to know about management. In the field most of the time you are not working with vet tech or vet nurses who understand about treatment and medication. More often than not, you are faced with illegal pet owners, keepers, or even your boss, who may or may not know about biology and animal science, but most of them don’t understand about medicating sick animals and selecting a drug of choice. When there’s emergency, you have to be able to control them no matter what, despite of age and experience, because you are the one qualified as a vet who knows animal medicine and surgery better than the rest.
Don’t miss the first part of this post. Read 6 more interesting experience here. If you also work with wildlife and have either similar or different experience with them please share in the comments below and let other readers know.
After watching a barking cat video that has gone viral (must see!) and a video of meowing dog, I was curious to see if animals can mimic human voice. To my surprise, they can! So here is the list of those 3 smart animals:
2nd runner-up – Chicken
This rooster laughs as if there was something very funny. Now doesn’t he make us laugh?
1st runner-up – Cat
The poor cat in this video is in a lot of pressure after Batman asks a question. However it’s still able to answer his question even though in fear.
Aaand…. the winner is:
Winner – Goat!
She sings more beautifully than I do! Well done, goat! You deserve it to be the winner.
Happy weekend everyone! I hope you enjoy those animal-cruelty-free videos on my blog 🙂
As a wildlife vet, I feel there are some unique experiences that other occupations may not be able to offer. Sometimes it’s a funny experience, many times it’s a tough one, and most of the time it’s a very rewarding one. So here it is, my 6 personal experience being a wildlife vet:
1. You will become thick skinned eventually. Literally! Apart from bruises, bites, scratches and other injuries from the animals (not to mention I’ve been stepped on by a rhino, kicked by a peacock, ‘stabbed’ by a porcupine), please admit that you’ve pricked your fingers with medical needle or scalpel blade that you were holding! Yes, you’re definitely not the only one! If you are a qualified vet, vet nurse, or vet tech, I’m sure you’ve experienced that stupidity at least once in your life. If you are still a student and haven’t experienced it, be patient, that moment will eventually come 😉
Fresh monkey bite. The tooth mark is still visible.
Personal experience: A cat that I tried to inject suddenly jumped off the table and kicked my left hand. My left index finger landed nicely on a 24G needle connected to a syringe containing Ivermectin. If you know how painful Ivermectin is, I know you must have similar experience before.
Other’s experience: My friend’s vet cousin accidentally injected herself with Brucella while trying to vaccinate a cow.
2. No matter how ugly an animal is, you still think they are cute. Some animals can reach that certain point when ugliness meets cuteness. Cannot imagine? Please check this post of Gollum at #3 and Alien face at #6 who are part of my personal experience.
3. Co-workers think you are dumb. Everyone always have this superior personality and think they can do better than others. Sadly enough, it also happens to us and in our daily work life. As a vet at zoo or rescue center, we simply cannot check the health of hundreds or thousands of animals in a short period of time. We mostly rely on keepers to report any abnormalities and unfortunately they report when it’s too late. A dying animal comes, we try our best to save its life, but when we can’t, people think we’re dumb.
Personal experience: It was an emergency case. I injected a dying animal with adrenaline and doxapram but in the end it died. People who don’t understand may think the animal dies because of the ‘wrong drug’ I give.
I’m sure some vets have experienced similar situation as well. A dying animal comes, you inject emergency drug but can’t save them. Then the owner blames you for injecting wrong drugs that kill their beloved pets. Please raise your hand if it sounds familiar.
4. You still smile when a very ill animal bites you. I know it sounds crazy but it’s true. Seeing the transformation of a dying, hopeless, weak animal into a healthy (but aggressive) one is one of the biggest reward of being a vet.
Personal experience: a dying slow loris was brought into our rescue center that night. It didn’t have any energy to struggle when he put IV cathether into his vein. We had to hand feed him for the first few days because he couldn’t walk. After a few days he was able to eat by himself and after a few weeks he bit my thumb when I tried to grab him for treatment. A painful but sweet bite, a sign that he was recovering well.
Please heal, but please don’t bite me. Pretty please…
5. No matter how much you hate an animal, your heart cries when they are sick. This animal ignores you at first, then slowly chases you and constantly attacks you. He has hurt you so many times with his bite even though you don’t do anything to him. You slowly hate him for being so unfriendly to you. Sometimes you wish he was not your patient at all. But when he’s sick, you’re worried and still do your best for him.
Personal experience: There are 3 aggressive macaques who pulled half of my hair off my scalp when I was feeding them. They are not scared of anything and everyone is scared of them. Feeding them is already tough, left alone medicating these crazy boys. Why do they have to be here? Duh! Suddenly one day one of them was badly injured and I couldn’t neglect him. I still took care of him despite my spiteful feeling for him.
6. Your heart melts when you see a baby animal born. Regardless how tired you are, how much you dislike the aggressive and protective mother, how hot or cold the weather at that time, either raining or windy, your heart will melt when you see a newborn wildlife cuddling with their mom. Sounds cheesy but it’s so true. You’re not the mom, but all the blood, sweat and tears suddenly paid off.
Personal experience: I didn’t sleep for 36 hours waiting for a baby rhino to be born. That day, I was the grumpiest vet ever. However I smiled widely and was in tears when I saw him for the first time and suddenly my mood just changed completely.
Newborn baby Andatu 🙂
These are the 6 experience I can share you for now. Stay tune, I’ll update the second part next week. Keep calm and save animals 🙂
Every March 3rd each year is known as the World Wildlife Day. Here’s a super cute video of a bear cub enjoying her first fish enrichment ever.
Watch the video fo funny bear cub rolling on the floor here:
This female cub and her sister were rescued last year. They arrived at our rescue center as orphaned cubs, confiscated from rich people who kept them as pets. Their mom was most probably killed by poachers.
If you travel somewhere and see cute baby animals, remember, the easiest way to get a baby animal is to kill its mother.
Enjoy your day and please don’t support illegal wildlife trade!
Happy world wildlife day 🙂
Holiztic Vet 