Mudfooted.com

It was the 25th of June, a cold british summer day. My girlfriend and I were visiting the peak district (UK) for a week of hiking, while camping on the way. Although the weather had been miserable, the scenery was fantastic, especially when we had arrived at the famous Stanage edge. Being fond of…

On the 24th of December 2009 after days of hard work, the first Mudfooted article (on the magnificent tool use of octopuses) was written and Mudfooted.com was born! Over the past 7 months a lot has happened. Read all about it on the next page!

Alaskan Bar-Tailed Godwits just look like any other ordinary shorebird. Recent research however has discovered that these waders are the new world record holders for non-stop flight. Every autumn, these extreme migrators fly an astonishing 11.000km from Alaska to New Zealand without any stopovers to rest or refuel. This roughly doubles the previous maximum known non-stop distance for migratory birds.

In an animal’s life there are critical periods in which certain important events must happen or otherwise that learning opportunity is lost. The most important critical period is during the first few months after birth. It is important to understand more about this so-called socialization period in animals and especially in dogs because a lack of socialization can result in serious behaviour problems of our favorite pet.

A pink insect? Yes, a pink insect! In the family of katydids which consists of more than 6400 species, a rare colour morph exists which is bubblegum pink! Although they are normally camouflaged green, one in 500 individuals is a contrasting bright pink.

While this sparrowhawk scanned the sky in search of a feathered meal, it did not notice the lesser spotted woodpecker it hunted earlier was only hiding some 50cm below it! Click the picture to see the full scene…

Sloths are mostly known as rather slow-moving adorable creatures that spend their days eating leaves and sleeping. However, a recent paper in the journal Mammalian Biology shows they might actually have a side to them that makes them a little less adorable: they were found to have developed the charming habit of climbing into an outdoor toilet and eating its contents!

In the tropical north of Queensland, Australia, a giant spider has been caught on camera eating a bird! Since Golden Orb Weavers, which can be the size of a hand, normally prey large insects, eating a bird much larger than itself is very unusual.

In the county of Leicestershire, UK, animal conservationists came up with a creative way to protect the endangered harvest mouse, Britain’s smallest mammal. With the help of a local tennis club and Wimbledon, a couple hundred used tennis balls will be re-used to become tennis-ball-homes.