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Zoom memorials highlight the ironic cruelty of trying to mourn together during the pandemic

Zoom memorials highlight the ironic cruelty of trying to mourn together during the pandemic
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Earlier this month, I attended my first Zoom wedding. A week after that, I attended a Zoom baby shower.

Tomorrow, I'll attend a Zoom gathering to mourn the loss of a family friend. His name was Peter. He died of COVID-19 last week.

This gathering isn't technically a funeral or memorial service, but rather a virtual devotional taking place on Zoom at the same time as Peter's physical burial. A few close friends and family will gather at the gravesite—masked and distanced—while the rest of us share readings and prayers over Zoom to honor his interment.

It's weird. There's no other way to say it. With the wedding and baby shower, we all sort of laughed our way through the weirdness. We acknowledged the bummer of not being able to get together, but at this point we're all accustomed to having to meet virtually. Zoom celebrations are better than no celebrations at all.

But mourning this way feels...different. We can't laugh away the awkwardness of it when the Zoom meeting itself is a reminder of the tragic cause of our friend's death.

Celebratory gatherings are fun, but not necessary. Gathering when someone dies feels necessary in a way, and the inability to do that adds an extra layer of loss to the grief we're already experiencing. Normally, our whole community would gather together to honor Peter's life tomorrow. We'd put on appropriate funeral attire, stand side by side at his grave, hold hands or hug one another as we mark the momentousness of his passing. We'd all bring food and break bread together as we share stories of his life. We'd pass around tissues, crying and laughing and sharing in the oh-so-human experience of bringing together the lives he had touched.

But we can't do any of that. If we did, we'd run the risk of having to do it all over again for another friend or loved one taken too soon by this stupid virus. So we do what we can do and deal with the strange questions—What does one wear to a Zoom mourning? How long it will be before we can actually gather for a real memorial service? Will it feel like it's too late then? Will we want to do that in the midst of celebrating a return to non-distanced life?

This pandemic has taken so much, and each thing stings in its own way. The death toll itself is overwhelming, especially here in the U.S. where we have already lost more than 330,000 lives. A hundred 9/11s and counting. Five Vietnams in less than a year. It's unreal. In the beginning, we were told that all of us would likely end up knowing someone who died of COVID-19, and some people have now lost multiple family members. More will follow as we head into the deadliest month of the pandemic. That's not doom and gloom forecasting—that's the reality of the current moment.

But the loss of in-person mourning as millions are losing loved ones before they expected to is a tragedy in and of itself. There's a cruel irony in it, that we can't gather in person to mourn if we want to stop the thing that's making it so we can't gather in person to mourn. When we need the comfort of coming together the most, we can't, as indulging in that comfort could lead to even more suffering. Of all of the sacrifices we've had to make, the loss of communal mourning is one of the hardest.

And so we open our computers and enter our virtual meeting rooms and try to comfort one another through our grief amid the inevitable unmute reminders. It's weird. It all feels wrong. But it's necessary. We need to mourn our losses together. We also need to be able to mourn the fact that we're not able to do that the way we want to.

There is gratitude to be found in all of this, of course. It's pretty incredible that we live in a time when we have the technology to at least see one another's faces and hear people's voices as we share our losses at a distance. If this pandemic had hit in my childhood, we'd have had no community ability to mourn at all. A Zoom gathering to mourn is better than no gathering at all—but it's still all of the weird, wrong, sad things at once.

And what's extra painful about it is that it didn't have to be this way. Next time we have a pandemic, let's all agree to just follow New Zealand's lead, shall we? Hundreds of thousands of Zoom funerals really ought to be enough to get us all on the same page.

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Pets

Veterinarian lists 6 things pet owners do that 'give him the ick.' Pet parents, take note.

Though meant in good fun, these 'icks' contain some helpful pointers.

Photo credit: Canva

No pet owner wants to give their vet "the ick."

Ally McBeal first brought us the phrase “gives me the ick” back in 1999, and it’s had a resurgence in recent years, thanks to TikTok. While mostly reserved for describing annoyances in the dating world, the term can and has been used to describe virtually every red flag or pet peeve under the sun. Now, thanks to Dr. Frank Bozelka, we can enjoy a veterinarian version of “the icks.”

Just to be clear, the icks in question don’t come from the patients themselves…but the pet parents. While Dr. Bozelka is clearly just poking fun, he doesn’t shy away from highlighting some of the choices that pet parents make that cause some serious problems for their furry friends.

Ick #1 - Trusting a breeder's opinion over a vet’s

As Bozelka points out in his video caption, breeders “are not medical experts.” He added that while there are certainly knowledgeable breeders out there—even some who taught him breed specific tidbits—”most of the time you’re dealing with a backyard breeder who is literally just trying to dodge any responsibility.”

@dr.bozelkaervet

While there certainly are breeders that know their stuff, they are still not medical experts! Sure I’ve learned a few things from breeders about unique breeds I didn’t know, but it’s not very common. And the harsh reality of being a vet is that most of the time, you’re dealing with a backyard breeder that’s literally just trying to dodge any responsibility. So yes, our gut reaction when people say that is to cringe, sorry. I cannot stress this enough: DO NOT JUST BUY A BREED BECAUSE IT’S CUTE!!! DO! YOUR!! HOMEWORK!!! Make sure the breed is a good fit for your lifestyle, and make sure your lifestyle is a good fit for the breed! And for retractable leashes: I’ve seen far more injuries caused to dogs and humans from retractable leashes compared to other leashes. End of explanation. For number 6: stop complaining about the wait times. We know it’s frustrating. The dirty truth, however, is the vast majority of the time it’s NOT the fault of the hospital staff. It’s other owners and the cases we are seeing. #fyp #comedyvideo #satire #doglover #catlover #petlover #vetsoftiktok #drbozelka


Hence why his gut reaction when he hears someone refer to a breeder’s opinion as gospel is to “cringe.”

Even breeders agreed on this one. One wrote, “As a breeder I never give medical advice. I say: ‘please go see your vet.’ Maybe because I’m also a vet tech.”

Ick # 2 - Doing the opposite of what the vet says they would do

Next on the list: when someone asks, “If this were your dog what would you do?" then proceeds to do the opposite of what he’d do.

“Bro, why did you even ask me?” he says in the clip. Seriously, why ask if you're not even going to take the information to heart?

University Of Washington Dog GIF by Pac-12 NetworkGiphy

Ick # 3 - Not accommodating a dog that needs lots of activity

Some people desperately want, say, a husky dog because they're so beautiful and so smart. But breeds like that also have very high activity needs that require some pretty significant lifestyle changes. And yet, people complain when that same breed of dog is tearing up the house all the time because they're not giving them the physical activity outlets they require.

In other words, you can put a dog bred to race sleds through the snow into a 12' by 12' living room and expect them to just happily chill there.

Ick #4 - Buying a pet after doing zero research on the specific needs of the breed

Along the lines of the husky example, pet owners really need to understand the breed of animal they are getting.

“I cannot stress this enough: DO NOT JUST BUY A BREED BECAUSE IT’S CUTE! DO! YOUR! HOMEWORK!” Bozelka wrote in all caps.

Dog breeds in particular vary a lot and some have very specific needs that an owner may not be prepared to handle. Know what you're getting into before making a decade-plus long commitment to care for an animal.

@dr.bozelkaervet

True story… Legends has it that Hisoka aged another 2 years by the time she realized what was happening with him… Make sure to follow me on other platforms for when TikTok inevitably gets banned! YouTube: @Dr.BozelkaERvet1 Facebook and Instagram: @Dr.BozelkaERvet #fyp #comedyvideo #catlover #doglover #petlover #animallover #vetsoftiktok #drbozelka

Ick #5 - Complaining about wait times at the ER

No one wants to be made to wait when their animal needs to be seen, but there's only so much that is under the staff's control.

“We know it’s frustrating,” Bozelka writes, “The dirty truth, however, is the vast majority of the time it’s NOT the fault of the hospital staff. It’s the other owner and the cases we are seeing."

Ick #6 - Retractable leashes

Lastly, Dr. Bozelka listed retractable leashes as an ick, simply because they’re so dangerous. He’s seen “far more injuries caused” by them in comparison to other leashes, so better to be safe than sorry.

While not every vet might have the same icks as Bozelka, it’s easy to see how any one in his situation would be aggravated. Vets undergo years of education and training to help give our pets the best life possible. And when we make their job even harder, frustration is inevitable.

Dr. Bozelka has also shared things pet owners do that vets love:

@dr.bozelkaervet

Replying to @konagirl02 May not be mah best work, but it’s still important work! There are plenty of things pet owners can do to make us happy, and most of them are pretty simple! And TRUST me, for those of you that are understanding and considerate of the wait times, the vet staffs are literally singing your praises and blessing your family and friends behind close doors because of how amazing you are! Being polite and understanding about your wait is a sure fire way to get a staff to love you (at least from an ER standpoint). #fyp #comedyvideo #catlover #doglover #petlover #animallover #vetsoftiktok #drbozelka

According to the website KeepingItPawsome.com, there are a few other behaviors that vets find frustrating, including:

Overfeeding, trusting “Dr. Google” over their professional opinion, being verbally abusive or getting hysterical in the waiting room, not having pet insurance or an emergency fund, waiting too long before brining the pet in to get a check up, expecting free treatment or reduced fees, giving up on sick or old pets, trying medications or supplements without consulting them (again, Google can’t always be trusted), and last but not least—expecting a quick and easy fix.

Vets want what’s best for our fur babies. So these are good things to remember as pet parents, so that we may better help them help us.

This article originally appeared last year.


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Was the 90s the last 'great' era? Gen Xers share 8 reasons why the answer is 'no.'

Every generation has its pros and cons.

Added by Northern Irelandball to Wikifandom

A photo of Kurt Cobain.

We often view the 90s as a golden era of optimism, a “simpler” time when we weren’t so disconnected by technology, when the economy was booming and the cultural landscape was rich in great music, movies, television, you name it.

But, as with any decade, there were a great many cons to go along with those pros. Folks who were adults (or at least close to it) during the 90s can easily recall plenty of darker moments. So when they were asked, "What was bad about the '90s?" people didn’t hold back.

Interestingly enough, there weren’t as many mentions about the shifting political landscape—the paranoia set in from 9/11, the Gulf War Recession (which paved the way for Bill Clinton winning the presidency), Rush Limbaugh laying the groundwork for Fox News and thusly the Republican Party we know today, etc.—but rather, people focused on how day to day life felt.

1. For one thing, as folks mentioned, 90s diet culture was…intense. Let’s not forget that the word “heroine chic” was coined (and normalized!) during this era. And because thinness was the only body type deemed “attractive” by the media, it led to some really questionable foods that were somehow deemed healthy. Of course, diet-obsessed or not, a lot of foods that were mainstream at the time are now a bit perplexing.

"Female celebrities were shrinking to child sizes and getting praised for it. 'Thinspo' was a thing. ALL my friends group from high school and college, including myself, had eating disorders — Marlboro Light and Diet Coke for every meal. Our idea of sports was extreme cardio only. We were SO unhealthy. Thank God we were young enough to bounce back to normal without major issues."

"Maybe it was my house, but everything was 'low-fat' or 'non-fat' and tasted like sh*t. As it later turned out, the fat wasn't the problem but the sugar they put in everything."

"The 'poison food' era — full of dyes, sugar, preservatives, and artificial ingredients, packaged and microwaved in plastic for your convenience. The nutritional guidance was so bad it kicked off an obesity epidemic we’re only solving now, thanks to breakthrough medication."

2. And let’s be honest, women were not only dealing with terrible beauty standards, but misogyny as well.

“I was grabbed in various situations, pushed in corners, kissed involuntarily from the time I was 11 years old, etc. As a girl, you just had to live with it. "

"Belittling, discouraging comments towards women, especially young ones, were normal; society expected its women to be pretty and available at all times but saints and virgins in their minds and bodies. So, basically, like today."

"There was a lot of media pitting girls against girls and framing other women as competition, not friends."

"People would say the most unhinged things about my (and others') looks and hobbies, and it was socially acceptable for them to do so. It was wild that being a mean girl was encouraged. I’m so glad we’ve moved past that as a society; the '90s were a brutal time."

3. Life wasn’t so great for the LGBTQ community either.

"Between AIDS, 'don't ask, don't tell,' the Defense of Marriage Act, Matthew Shepard's murder, etc., coming out of the closet was scary as hell. We made some gains, and it felt like we were closer to acceptance, but there was so much backlash and fear."

"Growing up as a queer kid in the '90s meant I had no LGBTQ+ role models to look up to, so I learned to lie about myself in order to survive. I came out when I was in high school in the early 2000s, and more than half of my 'friends' stopped talking to me.

In middle school in the late '90s, the school psychologist tried to force me to come out so she could shame me in front of my parents. She also interviewed all my friends to try to find out if I ever acted 'gay' around them and even wanted to know if I had ever tried to kiss them; the school knew all about this. One of my friends was sent to a conversion camp, and we didn't hear from him again until Facebook became popular.

I sometimes still wonder how the hell I survived, but I'm glad I did."

“Where I grew up in the 90s we used homophobic slurs all the time to describe basically anything we didn't like for any reason. I did, everyone else did, it was just completely ubiquitous.”

4. People were also quick to note how drastically different attitudes were towards mental health. We might have seen the beginnings of shifts towards community-based care, increased focus on medication, and growing efforts to reduce stigma at this time, but it was still a stark contrast to the openness of conversation and access to resources that we have today.

"Being a child diagnosed with autism in the '90s, I was lumped in the special education classes despite not needing them, and it sucked. Back then, anyone who was autistic was typically thought of as 'slow.'"

"I never heard the words anxiety, depression, coping strategies. Everyone in my family was drinking their feelings away and denying the feelings existed."

"Mental health support was still stigmatized as something only 'crazy' people got. My dad died in '97, and I had a complete psychotic breakdown in '99. My mom cried while asking if I wanted to see a psychiatrist. Going to therapy was viewed as a death sentence."

5. On the subject of health, let’s keep in mind that smoking indoors wasn’t banned until the late 90s/2000s. And drunk driving? Pretty damn acceptable.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

"Cigarette smoke was everywhere — stores, malls, you name it. Smoking sections in restaurants were sometimes on the left side of an aisle as if that helped. It was so weird when my parents quit smoking because I stopped being nose blind to the smell. That sh*t REEKS."

"When I was a teenager, we moved, and while packing, we removed the pictures on the wall and noticed white squares left where they had been hung. The change was so gradual that none of us noticed it — so nasty. Until that point, both of my parents previously stopped smoking IN the house but still smoked elsewhere. That was the final straw that caused my father to fully quit."

"Drunk driving didn't have the stigma it does today. It took a long campaign waged by MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) to shift public perception on how dangerous drunk driving is."

"When I was a child, we had a group of family friends whose kids were all around the same age. The parents would throw house parties, taking turns hosting and partying hard while the kids played. At the end of the night, they’d all load the kids in the car and drive home absolutely hammered. Everyone was like this—not just my parents’ friend group. I’m sure it still happens today, but I haven’t seen it."

6. Raising kids in the 90s certainly had its cons, as comments mentioned the media-fueled fear of child abduction, prevalence of child abuse, gang violence, and the first school shootings.

"Columbine deeply altered my worldview. I was a kid in the '90s, and until 1999, at the age of 13, I was never concerned about a school shooting — it just wasn’t a thing…I went 13 years without the remote concern of a school shooter. Who can say that now?"

"The constant fear of being kidnapped. My mom always told my sister and me to stay close to her when we were out because too many kids were getting taken. I remember seeing posters of missing children at the supermarket, and it was sad and scary."

"Gangs were rampant in the 90s — everywhere. I grew up in a suburb, but we still had ESL, aka 'Bloods,' Crypts, New Wave, Skinheads, etc., represented. Kids were pressured into joining these gangs when they were young. I witnessed my first major gang fight in eighth grade when thirty kids began brawling after school. The next Monday, I had friends on crutches; one kid got sliced with a knife, thankfully not deep, and four others had broken bones in their hands, etc. No one talked to anyone about anything, so there were no suspensions."

"If a parent grabbed a kid by their hair, hit them, or screamed obscenities at them, the public at large would just mind their business or even jump in to defend the parents' 'right to discipline,' and teachers were allowed to beat us at school. Any adult could hit a child, and people would just stand there and agree with it. Most friends I had growing up were 'latchkey' kids and neglected at home from super young ages. They had to walk home from elementary school, cook dinner for themselves, feed their siblings, and care for the house. Parents didn’t seem to care about their kids. At night, commercials asked: 'Did you hug your child today?' And 'It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your child is?' Those commercials/PSAs started decades before, but they continued throughout the late '90s."

7. While the 90s was obviously a pivotal moment for technology, most cutting edge items weren’t fully accessible to the general public. There are just many modern-day conveniences we take for granted now.

"If your family lived in a rural area and wasn't rich enough to immediately buy a computer, you could be lonely in a way that people can't even comprehend now. I spent the last two years of high school doing nothing, watching TV and playing 16-bit RPGs repeatedly because I couldn't get anywhere or do anything."

"And yes, I know that sounds super chill nowadays, but back then, it could be very depressing — especially when you knew that the kids who had cars were going to concerts and coffee houses while you were just home alone doing nothing. It was maddening."

“Nothing was chargeable. You needed batteries.”

“It may sound strange but not having cell phones meant if you planned to meet someone somewhere and they were late, you had no idea if they were just around the corner or going to be an hour late or at the wrong place and you had to just stand there staring into space because you didn't have reddit to scroll through while you waited.”

“One of my best friends from grade school moved away. He wrote his phone number down on a piece of paper so we could keep in touch. I lost it. Never spoke to him again because I had no way to contact him.”

8. Lastly (and this one might hurt for Kurt Cobain fans) not everyone was a fan of 90s music.

"Everyone loves the music from the '90s, but it’s all so bleak. Most of the grunge bands were singing about addiction, severe depression, and barely coping. I think a lot of that bled into mainstream society. The 'alternative' music scene was rife with gut-wrenching lyrics.""

"I was in high school/college then, and I can’t go back and listen to bands like Alice In Chains, Mad Season, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam anymore. Back in the day, I listened to it constantly, and I loved it, but in hindsight, I think it harmed my psyche. Thank God I found The Grateful Dead when I did."

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Nature

These 13 stunning photos won gold in the 2021 World Nature Photography Awards

See how talented photographers capture the beauty and wonder of our world.

Tom Vierus/World Nature Photography Awards

Photographers capture some of nature's best moments.

The World Nature Photography Awards showcase the best of nature's moments caught on camera, and each year, the world's best photographers compete for gold in a range of categories. In the 2021 photo contest, Amos Nachoum from the United States won the top cash prize award of $1,000 for his image of a leopard seal about to capture a defenseless gentoo penguin. Four years later, the images are still unforgettable.

Getting the split-second photo was no easy task. Nachoum had to wait for hours on the remote island of Plano, off the Antarctic Peninsula, for the right moment at low tide when the seals entered a lagoon to catch their prey. Unfortunately, the photo is one of the last moments of the young penguin’s life. “The terrified penguin tried to escape as the game continued. But soon, the end came,” Nachoum said in a statement.

leopard seal, penguin, nature photographyWorld Nature Photographer of the Year and Gold Winner in "Behavior - Mammals" — Amos Nachoum, USA Amos Nachoum/World Nature Photography Awards

Nachoun's full photo statement: "For hours, I waited for the low tide to arrive along a shallow lagoon on a remote island off the Antarctic Peninsula. Like clockwork, the leopard seal arrived in the lagoon just before low tide. It put its head in the water and looked just like a rock sitting in the receding water. The young Gentoo penguins only dare to enter the water when it is shallow and when they got close enough to the seal, it turned its head at lightning speed, catching one of the penguins by its feet and taking it to deep water. Once the seal reached open water, I followed it and swam parallel to it, observing its actions. To my surprise, it let go of the penguin twice. Each time, the seal chased after the penguin again, as if it was enjoying the game. The terrified penguin tried to escape as the game continued. But soon, the end came."

Other winners included a remarkable shot of a humpback whale just outside New York City, a majestic photo of an orangutan in a river, and an arctic fox braving the frozen tundra in Iceland.

The photographs are a wonderful example of the dedication and care taken by nature photographers, but they’re also a reminder of our duty to care for the environment.

“The World Nature Photography Awards were founded in the belief that we can all make small efforts to shape the future of our planet in a positive way and that photography can influence people to see the world from a different perspective and change their own habits for the good of the planet. 2021’s competition saw entries come in from 20 countries across 6 continents,” the World Nature Photography Awards said in a press release.

Here are the other photographers who won gold in the 2021 contest.

macaques, baby macaque, nature photographyGold Winner in "Animal Portraits" — Tom Vierus, FijiTom Vierus/World Nature Photography Awards

"Long-tailed macaques enjoy the warmth of each other during a hot day in Bali, Indonesia. These animals show very similar behaviour to us humans including enjoying each other trusting company. The macaques are used to humans and are commonly found around temples where they tend to feed on food sacrifices by the locals."

frog, pacific tree frog, nature photographyGold Winner in "Behavior - Amphibians and Reptiles" — Shayne Kaye, CanadaShayne Kaye/World Nature Photography Awards

"This shot came out of a 'nothing' outing to a local park. It was the middle of a sunny summer day with harsh light and little activity. After going out with low expectations, I came across this tiny Pacific Tree Frog on a flower. After waiting for it to move into a more photogenic position on the flower, and trying repeatedly to catch the mottled light through the tree’s leaves above it at exactly the right spot, I got exactly what I was hoping for. It proved to me that there’s really no bad time to head into nature with a camera!"

wildebeest, vulture, africa wildlife, nature photographyGold Winner in "Behavior - Birds" — Ashok Behera, Indiavia Ashok Behera/World Nature Photography Awards

"A wildebeest’s eyes being gorged by an African vulture, keenly watched by an African fox for an opportunity to scavenge. Taken at Masai Mara, Kenya."

red ants, reflection, nature photographyGold Winner in "Behavior - Invertebrates" — Chin Leong Teo, Singaporevia Chin Leong Teo/World Nature Photography Awards

"The common red ant is ingenious at traversing terrain. When front scout ants encounter a water obstacle, they intuitively form an "ant-bridge" with their bodies, so that their ant-mates at the back of the party can cross."

tuscany, italy, landscape photography, nature photographyGold Winner in "Nature Art" — Federico Testi, ItalyFederico Testi/World Nature Photography Awards

"The natural creativity of San Quirico d'orcia, in Tuscany, Italy. Waves, shapes and tone created by light, in harmony with the universe."

lake baikal, russia, ice, nature photographyGold Winner in "People and Nature" — Sabrina Inderbitzi, SwitzerlandSabrina Inderbitzi/World Nature Photography Awards

"I crawled into this ice cave on the totally frozen Lake Baikal in Russia. First I didn't like the fact that the car and the people were in the middle of my picture, but then on a second view I found it just perfect."

goa, india, hut, nature photographyGold Winner in "Plants and Fungi" — Gautam Kamat Bambolkar, IndiaGautam Kamat Bambolkar/World Nature Photography Awards

"Entrance to a room inside an abandoned house in Goa, India. It is fascinating how mother nature takes over from where man has left."

humpback whale, new york, ocean, nature photographyGold Winner in "Urban Wildlife" — Matthijs Noome, USAMatthijs Noome/World Nature Photography Awards

"Finally got the shot I wanted: a humpback's fluke with the New York City downtown skyline in the distance. As water quality measures and conservation efforts have started to show real results over the last years, humpback whales are becoming a common sight more and more in New York waters."

new zealand, mountain reflection, nature photographyGold Winner in "Planet Earth's Landscapes and Environments" — Sam Wilson, AustraliaSam Wilson/World Nature Photography Awards

"Travelling down random dirt roads can be so rewarding when you are greeted with scenes like this. Taken on South Island, New Zealand."

arctic fox, Iceland, black and white photography, nature photographyGold Winner in "Black and White" — Vince Burton, United KingdomVince Burton/World Nature Photography Awards

"A recent trip to Iceland where we were lucky to view and photograph the rare 'blue morph' Arctic fox. The weather conditions were extreme, but that didn't seem to bother the fox."


orangutan, wildlife, nature photographyGold Winner in "Animals in Their Habitat" — Thomas Vijayan, CanadaThomas Vijayan/World Nature Photography Awards

"Mature male orangutans have large flappy cheek-pads, known as flanges, a throat sac used to make loud verbalisations called long calls. Once they reach maturity, they spend most of their time alone, about 90%. I was lucky enough to get this fully-grown, matured orangutan giving me the best pose possible."


baby orangutan, wildlife rescue, nature photographyGold Winner in "Nature Photojournalism" — Alain Schroeder, BelgiumAlain Schroeder/World Nature Photography Awards

"Sibolangit, SOCP Quarantine Centre, North Sumatra, Indonesia. The whole SOCP team works together to prepare Brenda, an estimated 3-month-old female orangutan (she has no teeth yet), for surgery. A sedative is administered, the arm is shaved, her temperature is taken, while others hold her head or her hand out of compassion for the baby. During the three-hour procedure, Dr. Andreas Messikommer, a renowned orthopaedic surgeon invited from Switzerland, will place a pin and screws to secure the damaged humerus. Brenda was confiscated from a villager in Blang Pidie on the west coast of Aceh who was keeping her as a pet."

You can find the latest World Nature Photography Award contest detail and winners at worldnaturephotographyawards.com.

This article originally appeared four years ago.






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Animals & Wildlife

A crow had to solve a 9-puzzle escape room to get some chicken nuggets. Watch her ace it.

It's no secret that crows are smart, but this is incredible to witness.

Photo credit: Canva

Crows are so smart it's almost hard to believe.

When you think of some of the smartest animals on Earth, you may think of dolphins, chimps, elephants, or even the surprisingly intelligent octopus. But do you think of crows?

We've learned a lot about crow intelligence since scientists ramped up research on corvids in the 1990s and 2000s, and we're still discovering things crows can do that people didn't think were possible. Some reports estimate that crows have the approximate reasoning and memory skills of a 7-year-old human, which is pretty darn impressive-sounding. But to watch that intelligence on display is truly mind-blowing.

crow, intelligence, stacking rings, toy, learning, corvidsCrow GIFGiphy

Mark Rober, famous for his videos detailing elaborate experiments and breaking them down so that kids can understand them, found himself in a feud with a bird after his doorbell camera captured a neighborhood crow repeatedly stealing his DoorDash deliveries. In fact, the crow was so adept at scoping out his porch, recognizing when a delivery person was there, and grabbing his chicken nuggets as soon as the coast was clear that Rober felt like he was being targeted. After the crow knocked over his drink one day for no reason and then flew away cackling, Rober said he felt like the crow was bullying him.

Wanting to see exactly how smart these birds really are, Rober decided to dig in with his own experiment. He procured a rescued crow named Cheryl from a bird sanctuary and began setting up small tasks and puzzles to observe her behavior for a few months.

crows, crow behavior, tasks, intelligence, smart animals crows GIFGiphy

"It was really interesting to see how her curiosity would drive her to figure out clever ways to interact with objects in her environment, occasionally motivated by a strategically placed treat," said Rober. "It became clear she had a few favorite objects she loved to play with, [such as a] wooden ball, as she demonstrated a surprisingly deep understanding of cause and effect."

Rober then set up a 9-puzzle gauntlet for the crow to complete in order to get a reward—the coveted "nugs" that the neighborhood crow had been so keen on. But first, he had a group of kids complete the puzzles to demonstrate the difficulty level of them and what kind of reasoning or understanding they required.

From water displacement to facial recognition to cup stacking to tool creation, watching kids complete these puzzles and then watching a crow do it—sometimes better or faster than the children—is really something.

Cheryl's run through the escape room-style gauntlet begins at the 12:45 mark, but the whole thing is worth watching:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

The fact that the first puzzle required some understanding of physics made it a seemingly difficult place to start, but Cheryl figured out the first solution faster than the kids did. Several of the puzzles relied on activities Cheryl had previously engaged in in her enclosure, but that doesn't really diminish the impressiveness of what she figured out. Realizing that she needed a hook to get the little bucket out of the cylinder and then using her claws and beak to create one? Are you kidding? And the fact that see seemed to leave a dunked chicken nugget as a gift for Rober when all was said and done? Incredible.

People were blown away watching Cheryl solve the puzzles in sequence, and some commenters even shared experiences they've had with crows.

"My dad ended up getting trained by the neighborhood crows to do tricks for them... One day he noticed the crows throwing walnuts to the ground, clearly trying to break them but without much success, so he picked up the walnuts, stomped on them until they broke, and put them on the sidewalk for the crows. He did that a few more times on separate occasions, and the next thing he knew, the crows were waiting for him just to drop walnuts straight under his feet when he was passing by. They'd call him to get his attention if he didn't notice them. They trained him very well indeed... :)"

crow, corvid, crow intelligence, birds, mark roberCrows are some of the most intelligent birds on Earth.Photo credit: Canva

"You mentioned the crows throwing nuts in front of cars to open them. I have seen a fun variation on this. When I was a royal guard, and walking guarding outside a particular castle, the crows had noticed that we walked very particular routes, so particular that you can actually see the routes as the stones are more worn there. We had steel under our boots to make sound, and they would throw their nuts on my route, using me as they do cars to open their nuts."

"I got goosebumps this was such a cool video! I have been cultivating my girlfriend relationship with my neighborhood crows now for the last 3 years. They leave me presents, they come by all the time to say hello, and follow me on my walks. One of my neighbors lovingly called me birdman yesterday, and I couldn't help but smile. Thank you for this, Mr. Rober."

"You brought up crows doing things for fun. I used to live over in West Hollywood and would head up Runyan Canyon for exercise. The crows used to love diving down the side of the canyon and then doing barrel rolls once they hit top speed. They are some of the most imaginative creatures for their size and intelligence."

Seriously, crows are incredible. Just don't get on their bad side, apparently. They'll recognize you and torment you just for the fun of it.

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A writer shared how he alters song lyrics to make chores fun. Scores of people chimed in.

It's impossible NOT sing along to people's delightful alternative lyrics.

Photo credit: Canva

Good luck not singing this every time you do laundry now.

Music is such an ubiquitous part of our lives that we often don't notice how frequently it enters our consciousness. (All the more reason to support arts education and pay working musicians what they're worth, but that's a whole other article.) One perfect example of the big role music plays is how often we sing to ourselves, sometimes in the most delightful and hilarious ways.

Writer Jonathan Edward Durham shared that he sings "La-un-dry" to the tune of The Cranberries' "Zombie" every time he does the wash, and that admission launched a chorus of people sharing how they, too, sing to themselves with altered song lyrics to make chores or mundane life tasks more interesting or fun.

Try to read through these "silly little song" responses and NOT sing along.

"When I take my dogs outside, sometimes I sing 'Come on doggies, let's go potty' to the tune of 'Barbie Girl.'" – Lindsay

"I sing 'I've got to shower' to the tune of the 90s Snap song '(I've Got) the Power.'" – Tracy

"'Simply haaaving a wonderful breakfast time' to my dog as I get his breakfast ready." – Candice

"When making mojitos (or similar non-alcoholic lime-based beverages), I like to sing, 'Macerate good limes, come on.'" – Marion

squeezing limes, mojitos, drinks, making drinks, fun songs, singing Sung to the tune of "Celebrate."Photo credit: Canva

"As I drive past a delivery driver standing on the pavement, I sing 'Stand. By. Your vaaaaan…'" – Lara

"Coffee coffee, you're the one. You make morning somewhat fun. (Sung to rubber ducky tune.)" – Charell

"I sing 'Med-i-cate the dog' to the tune of 'Celebrate' twice a day when…medicating the dog. There are verses. It's a work of genius." – Anna

"Instead of 'Rock the Casbah' I sing 'Sift the Catbox.'" – Heather

"C is for coffee, that's good enough for me. Coffee coffee coffee starts with C." – Judy

"My laundry song is to the tune of All of Me…'Laaauuuundery, I'll laaauunder you…then I'll take you to the dryer, like a warm and cozy fire.'" – Ruthie

laundry, washer, dryer, fun songs, singingSung to the tune of "All of Me" by John Legend.Photo credit: Canva

"1) Every time I put on sweatpants, I sing 'Sweat-Pants' like David Bowie sings, 'Let's Dance.' 2) When my cat Jasper has climbed up somewhere I don't want him to be, I sing, 'Get down, get down, get down, get down, get down' from the end of KC and the Sunshine Band's 'Get Down Tonight.'" – Jen

There were more. People on Instagram chimed in with even more examples, and it's apparently something so may of us do it's nearly universal, but most of us do these things when we're alone, so who knew?

"When my kids were little and I was giving them baths, I would sing 'Everybody (yeah), Wash you body (yeah), Everybody, Wash your body right, Bath time's back alright!' to Backstreet Boys' 'Everybody.' My daughter thought I made up the song and was shocked when she heard the real version on the radio one day not too long ago."

"'Pruning my hydrangea' to the tune of Losing my Religion."

hydrangea, gardening, pruning, R.E.M., fun songs Sung to the tune of "Losing My Religion" by REM.Photo credit: Canva

"Every time I realize I have forgotten to drink water, I always (mostly in my head) sing 'Why’d you have to go and make me so de-hy-drated?' like Avril Lavigne’s 'Complicated.'"

"I sing 'I have to go pee-ee' to Queen’s I Want to Break Free."

"When I have to go to the bathroom but I have to wait until I finish doing whatever I'm doing or for someone to get out of the bathroom, I sing 'I'm about to pee my pants, up in here, up in HERE' like DMX."

"Anything that has the right syllables to the Muppets Manamana. 'Banana bread... doot do de do do.'"

"Every time I say 'Pasadena' I have to stop myself from singing, 'Passss A Den Yaaaa' like I'm in The Lion King. Often, I am not successful."

In all seriousness, though, making up song lyrics to make boring tasks more fun or simply to add a little humor to your day is a super solid coping mechanism. Life isn't easy. Finding ways to eke more joy out of life, even in small ways, can add up to big shifts in our well-being.

Humans are delightfully quirky, especially when no one's looking. We need to share these things more with one another so we know we're not alone in our silly little sing-songy habits.

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