Compu-Chick

A mid-1980s alternative to Compuserve.



It was actually an interactive exhibit at the I.Q. Zoo, the famous animal training facility and tourist attraction in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Founded in 1955 by Marian and Keller Breland (students of the psychologist B.F. Skinner), it stayed open until 1990.

Apparently you typed in questions, and the chicken would type a response. From the "official online home of the IQ-Zoo":



I'm not sure, but maybe Google's "PigeonRank" technology, which the company revealed on April 1, 2002 to be the secret behind their search results, could have been inspired by Compu-Chick.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 29, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, 1980s

Illicit Abbatoir

• Two goats' heads
• Dried hides from reindeer and deer
• Dried trachea, tendons, ears and tails
• 100-200 dried bulls' penises
• 700 litres of bones
• 500 litres of lard

These were among the items recently discovered by Swedish police when they raided the home of a property owner in Hudiksvall municipality. The man was suspected of running an illegal, unlicensed abattoir from his home. The article notes, "Dried bull penises are often used to make bully sticks for dogs (a fact that completely passes by a surprising number of dog owners)." [TheLocal.se]

Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 26, 2016 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals

Windsurfing Swans

In the latest issue of The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, Olle Terenius of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences reports observing swans windsurfing (i.e. "using tailwind as a support for high-speed water transportation"). This is something that bird experts were apparently unaware that swans could do.

Terenius hopes to spread awareness of the phenomenon of windsurfing swans, although he notes that the general public may have been more aware that swans can do this than bird experts were. He says, "I think the reason that this is missing in the literature is that ornithologists who are out in the field only quickly note that they see a Mute swan and write it down on the list of bird observations, while the general public has observed windsurfing swans thinking that this is already a well-known phenomenon." (Science Daily)

Below are his field observations of windsurfing swans.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 22, 2016 - Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Sports

Earrings on a deer

Bettie Phillips' fifteen minutes of fame involved her decision to put earrings on a baby deer. It happened back in 1997 when she found a two-month-old deer stranded by the side of a road and "thought it would be pretty" if it had earrings. So she pierced its ears by hand, pushing the posts of two earrings through its ears.

Police later found the deer in her truck and charged her with animal cruelty.

The charge was eventually suspended, but she had to pay the $250 veterinary bill for treating its infected ears.

San Bernardino County Sun - July 11, 1997

Asheville Citizen Times - Sep 17, 1997

Galveston Daily News - Nov 20. 1997

Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 09, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Jewelry, 1990s

The Goat Lymph Cure

Original ad here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 05, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Health, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Body Fluids, 1900s

Reaction of lions to a man in a motorized cage

I'm not quite sure what's going on here. This photo (sourced to AP Wirephoto) ran in various papers (such as here) on June 26, 1963. It had the following caption:


And that's it. I've been unable to find out anything else about this strange experiment. But I'd like to know why exactly the zoo was curious about how lions would react to a guy driving around in a motorized cage?

Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 13, 2016 - Comments (5)
Category: Animals, Experiments, 1960s

Hindu Ceremonial Animal Marriages

1932 report here.

The practice of having a human marry an animal for various mystical reasons has been a part of Hindu religion for who-knows-how-long, and continues to the present.




Full article here.

And then of course there is marrying a tree as well.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Sep 10, 2016 - Comments (5)
Category: Animals, Anthropomorphism, Religion, Husbands, Wives, 1930s, Asia

Turtle Clapping

The only source that I can find for this supposedly ancient and semi-legendary practice is a single article in FIELD AND STREAM.

Was the reporter getting his leg pulled? Did the practice exist, then die off? Inquiring minds want to know!

Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 29, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Regionalism, 1960s

Adolph Heilborn’s Theories on Women

I can learn little personally about Adolf Heilborn (1873-1941). But his book THE OPPOSITE SEXES caused a bit of a stir when it appeared in 1927, given that he described the female human as the missing link between ape and male human. Naturally, there was, um, a little pushback.






Original article here.


Here is the bio of his opponent.



But maybe it was all a joke! If this bookplate belongs to the same fellow, we can see he had a sense of humor.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 26, 2016 - Comments (7)
Category: Animals, Eccentrics, Feminism, Forgotten Figures and Where Are They Now?, Science, Anthropology, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1920s, Men, Women

Cow Triplets

Cows are a definite WU theme. But in all these years, I do not believe we have ever commented on the rare instance of triplet calves. The odds of a successful gestation and delivery are "one in eight million."

Yet there was such a birth in April of 2016. And here was another from 1972.

Of course, with 1.5 billion cattle (half male? fewer than half male?) as of 2013, that could still be a lot of triplets per year.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 22, 2016 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Babies, Natural Wonders