| 7 Phenomenal Animals |
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Subject: 7 Phenomenal Animals
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7 Phenomenal Animals
Published on 11/1/2007
1
Mike, the Headless Chicken: Lived for 18 months with its head cut off
rooster (cockerel) that lived for 18 months after its head had been
cut off. Thought by many to be a hoax, the bird was taken by its owner
to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to establish its
authenticity.
On Monday September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado,
had his mother-in-law around for supper and was sent out to the yard
by his wife to bring back a chicken. Olsen failed to completely
decapitate the five-and-a-half month old bird named Mike. The axe
missed the jugular vein, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem
intact. Once his fame had been established, Mike began a career of
touring sideshows in the company of such other creatures as a
two-headed calf. He was also photographed for dozens of magazines and
papers, featuring in Time and Life magazines. Olsen drew criticism
from some for keeping the headless chicken alive. In March 1947, at a
motel in Phoenix on a stopover while traveling back home from tour,
Mike started choking in the middle of the night. As the Olsens had
inadvertently left their feeding and cleaning syringes at the sideshow
the day before, they were unable to save Mike.
2
Oscar, the cat: predicted the impending death of terminally ill
patients
Oscar was adopted as a kitten from an animal shelter and grew up in
the third-floor dementia unit at Steere House Nursing and
Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island. The unit treats
people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses, most
of whom are in the end stage of their illnesses (where death is
imminent) and are generally unaware of their surroundings.
After about six months, the staff noticed that Oscar, just like the
doctors and nurses, would make his own rounds. Oscar would sniff and
observe patients, then curl up to sleep with certain ones. What
surprised the staff was that the patients with whom Oscar would sleep
would generally die within two to four hours after Oscar's arrival.
One of the first cases involved a patient who had a blood clot in her
leg that was ice cold at the time. Oscar wrapped his body around her
leg and stayed until the woman died. In another instance, the doctor
had made a determination of impending death based on the patient's
condition, while Oscar simply walked away, causing the doctor to
believe that Oscar's streak (12 at the time) had ended. However, it
would be later discovered that the doctor's prognosis was simply 10
later.
Oscar's accuracy (currently standing at more than 25 reported
once he is discovered sleeping with a patient, staff will call family
members to notify them of the patient's (expected) impending death.
Most of the time the patient's family has no issue with Oscar being
present at the time of death; on those occasions when he is removed
from the room at the family's request, he is known to pace back and
forth in front of the door and meow in protest. When present, Oscar
will stay by the patient until he or she takes their last earthly
room so quietly that one barely notices.
Abilities aside, what makes his "last hour" companionship more
puzzling is that Oscar is described by Dr. David Dosa as "not a cat
that's friendly to [living] people." One example of this was described
in his NEJM article. When an elderly woman with a walker passed him by
during his rounds, Oscar "[let] out a gentle hiss, a rattlesnake-like
warning that [said] 'leave me alone.'"
3
Tillamook Cheddarm, the dog: world's most successful animal painter
Tillamook Cheddar is a Jack Russell Terrier from Brooklyn, New York.
Widely regarded as the world's preeminent canine artist, she has
already had seventeen solo exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. Tillie
is eight years old.
In July 2005 the artist gave birth to six healthy puppies. One of her
sons, Doc Chinook Strongheart Cheddar, continues to live with her.
Thus far, Doc has not followed his mother in her artistic forays. Her
first official biography, Portrait of the Dog as a Young Artist by F.
Bowman Hastie III, is published by Sasquatch Books (2006).
The artist's primary process is a dynamic color transfer technique. In
preparation for each of Tillie's works, her assistants assemble a
touch-sensitive recording device by affixing pigment-coated vellum to
a sheet of lithograph paper backed by mat board. The artist takes the
prepared "canvas" in her mouth and brings it to her workspace. Working
on the outside surface, she applies pressure with teeth and claws in a
methodic ritual marked by dramatic shifts in tempo and intensity. The
resultant sharp and sweeping intersecting lines complement the
artist's delicate paw prints and subtle tongue impressions, composing
an expressionistic image that is revealed on the paper beneath when
she is finished. She works with shocking intensity, sometimes to the
point of destroying her creations.
4
Alex, the parrot: could count to six, identify colors and even express
frustration
Alex (1976 - September 6, 2007) was an African Grey Parrot and the
subject of a thirty-year (1977-2007) experiment by animal psychologist
Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and later at
Harvard and Brandeis University. Pepperberg bought Alex in a regular
pet shop when he was about one year old. The name Alex is actually an
acronym for Avian Learning EXperiment.
Before Pepperberg's work with Alex, it was widely believed in the
scientific community that birds were not intelligent and could only
use words by mimicking, but Alex's accomplishments indicated that
birds may be able to reason on a basic level and use words creatively.
Pepperberg wrote that Alex's intelligence was on a par with that of
dolphins and great apes. She also reported that Alex had the
intelligence of a five-year-old human and had not reached his full
potential by the time he died. She said that the bird had the
emotional level of a human two-year-old at the time of his death.
Alex's death came as a complete surprise; the average life span for
African grey parrots is fifty years. He had appeared healthy the day
before, and was found dead in the morning. According to a press
release issued by the Alex Foundation, "Alex was found to be in good
health at his most recent annual physical about two weeks [before his
death]. According to the vet who conducted the necropsy, there was no
obvious cause of death." According to Pepperberg, Alex's loss will not
halt the research but will be a large setback. The lab has two other
birds, but their skills do not approach Alex's.
On October 4, 2007 The Alex Foundation posted the Pathology results:
"Alex died quickly. He had a sudden, unexpected catastrophic event
associated with arterosclerosis ("hardening of the arteries"). It was
either a fatal arrhythmia, heart attack or stroke, which caused him to
die suddenly with no suffering. There was no way to predict his
demise. All of his tests, including his cholesterol level and asper
levels, came back normal earlier that week. His death could not be
connected to his current diet or his age; our veterinarian said that
she has seen similar events in young (<10 year old) birds on healthy
diets. Most likely, genetics or the same kind of low-level (impossible
to detect in birds as yet) inflammatory disease that is related to
heart disease in humans was responsible."
5
Washoe, the chimpanzee: knew sign language
Washoe (around September of 1965 - October 30, 2007) was a chimpanzee
who was the first non-human to learn American Sign Language. She also
passed on her knowledge to three other chimpanzees, Loulis, Tatu and
Dar. As part of a research experiment on animal language acquisition,
Washoe developed a modest ability to communicate with humans using
ASL. She was named for Washoe County, Nevada, where she was raised and
taught to use ASL. Washoe had lived at Central Washington University
since 1980; on October 31, 2007, officials from the Chimpanzee and
Human Communication Institute on the CWU campus announced that she had
died the previous day.
6
Oliver, the "Humanzee": a human-chimp hybrid
Oliver was acquired as a young animal (around 2 years old) in the
early 1970s by trainers Frank and Janet Berger. Supposedly, the
chimpanzee had been caught in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then
Zaire). Some physical and behavioral evidence led the Bergers to
believe Oliver was a creature other than a chimpanzee, perhaps a
human-chimp hybrid: Oliver possesses a flatter face than his fellow
chimpanzees (as his front teeth were removed young, he did not develop
an exaggerated prognathus jaw); Oliver was habitually bipedal (before
being struck with arthritis), never walking on his knuckles like his
chimpanzee peers; and Oliver may have preferred human females over
chimpanzee females. During a recent Discovery Channel special, Janet
Berger herself claimed that Oliver was becoming attracted to her when
he reached the age of 16. He mounted her and tried to mate with her.
After he tried it several times it became apparent that Oliver was a
threat to Janet, and had to be sold. Still, Oliver was not the
clownish performer his chimp peers were, and other chimps avoided him.
Some people claim he did not possess a typical odor common to
chimpanzees.
7
Cacareco, the Rhino: won Sao Paulo's council elections with 100,000
votes
1958 city council elections with the intention of protesting against
political corruption. Electoral officials, of course, did not accept
Cacareco's candidacy, but he eventually won 100,000 votes, more than
any other party in that same election (which was also marked by
rampant absenteeism).
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