Day 4335: Airborne Hippo? Sherman's Flowers

 

  

"Separated": junk mail collage, digital.

 

  

Want music?

 

    

Click : Sly & Family Stone, Family Affair

 

  

 

 

2GN2S

When Pigs Fly?

 

High-speed hippos can get airborne!

This is the first time that the animals, which can weigh more than 2,000 kilograms (2.2 tons) and spend much of their time in water, have been found to lift all four limbs off the ground when moving quickly, according to a statement from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in the UK. After analyzing videos showing 169 movement cycles from 32 hippos, researchers found that the fastest-moving animals spend around 15% of each stride off the ground. John Hutchinson, study lead author and a professor of evolutionary biomechanics at the RVC, said known about the way that hippos move on land. “Hippos were a big missing part of the puzzle,” he said. “They’re really hard to study.”

Not only do they spend a lot of time in water, they are “very aggressive and dangerous” and are more active at night.  In the videos studied by researchers, hippos tended to move fast when something motivated them, such as chasing a rival hippo or being chased by lions or rhinos, he said.

The team also found that hippos almost exclusively trot – with two diagonal limbs moving in the same direction at the same time, and then the two other diagonal limbs – no matter what speed they are moving at, whereas other mammals such as horses switch from a walk to a trot to a gallop depending on their speed. “Hippos are one of the very few four legged animals at all that just trot,” said Hutchinson. “That was a pretty neat finding.” Entire article, here.

 "Earth laughs in flowers"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A visit to Sherman Gardens in Corona Del Mar 

produced a bevy of beautiful flowers to giggle.

A green orchid? Who knew?

Lots of color everywhere.

Plants thrive in this beach locale.

Of course I meant to focus on the background ...

A casual group shot.

And a close up.

I hope you enjoyed a "flower fix" today?

 

  

 

A 3+  minute video,  Refrigerated,  here

 

 

 

  

 

Just because ...

   

 

Rare Yellow Cardinal

 

 

 

Tuesday's Smiles ...