Carol Louise Plummer @clplummer1 - Twitter Profile

Carol Louise Plummer @clplummer1

3 days ago

@PoinSpirit @OccupyDemocrats I think democrats believe equally in family—

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Mr PitBull Stories

@MrPitbull07

about 2 months ago

A pregnant sea otter washed up on the Monterey coast suffering from seizures caused by a brain parasite. Her pup was stillborn. The seizures could be managed with daily medication, but she could never return to the wild. In 2001, Monterey Bay Aquarium staff placed an orphaned two-week-old pup in her pool. She adopted it within hours. Over the next eleven years, that otter, named Toola, raised 13 orphaned pups. Ten were released into the wild. They survived at the same rate as otters raised by their own mothers, had pups of their own, and their descendants now account for more than half the sea otter population in the estuary where they were released. Before Toola, the aquarium's otter rehabilitation program had a problem it could not solve. Orphaned pups rescued from California beaches needed months of round-the-clock care: bottle feeding, swim lessons in Monterey Bay, grooming demonstrations, and foraging training. Human staff did all of it. The pups survived. They grew. They learned to eat. And when they were released, they climbed onto kayaks, approached swimmers, and treated every human they encountered as a potential source of food. They had imprinted on people. The pups that were supposed to be wild otters had become friendly ones, and a friendly otter in open water is a dead otter on a long enough timeline. Toola changed the method. Her stillborn pup had primed her body for motherhood. When staff introduced orphan #217 into her pool, she did what a wild mother would do: she groomed the pup, carried it on her belly, dove with it, and taught it to forage by demonstration. The pup never saw a human caretaker's face. Staff who handled the pup before the pairing wore dark cloaks and face shields, a costume the program called the Darth Vader disguise, so that no orphan would associate a human shape with food or safety. Once Toola took over, the disguise was no longer necessary. The pup's world was an otter, not a person. Pup #217 was released into Elkhorn Slough, a tidal estuary on Monterey Bay. He established a territory near Moss Landing's north harbor and survived for nearly 11 years. He likely sired many pups of his own. The experiment had worked on the first try. The aquarium built the entire surrogate program around what Toola proved. Non-releasable female otters were paired with orphaned pups at roughly eight weeks of age, after the pups had shed their natal coat and could dive. The surrogate taught grooming, foraging, social behavior, and the hundred small competencies that a wild otter pup absorbs from its mother over six months of constant contact. At seven months, the pup was released. The surrogate stayed and waited for the next one. Between 2002 and 2016, 37 surrogate-reared pups were released into Elkhorn Slough. A 15-year study published in Oryx, the International Journal of Conservation, tracked their survival, reproduction, and site fidelity. The results were unambiguous. Surrogate-reared otters survived at rates comparable to wild-reared otters. Ninety percent of released females and 80 percent of males stayed in Elkhorn Slough after release. They reproduced. Their pups reproduced. When the aquarium began releasing otters in 2002, Elkhorn Slough held roughly 20 sea otters, almost all males. By 2016, the population exceeded 100. Surrogate-reared otters and their wild-born descendants accounted for more than half of that growth. The otters did something else the program had not predicted. They restored the estuary. Sea otters eat crabs and sea urchins that destroy eelgrass by consuming its roots and shoots. As the otter population in Elkhorn Slough grew, crab and urchin numbers dropped, and the eelgrass came back. The estuary that had been losing its meadows for decades began recovering because the animal that had been missing from it for over a century was eating the things that were killing it. Toola raised her last pup, the famous Otter 501, and died on March 3, 2012, at approximately 16 years old.

MrPitbull07's tweet photo. A pregnant sea otter washed up on the Monterey coast suffering from seizures caused by a brain parasite. Her pup was stillborn. The seizures could be managed with daily medication, but she could never return to the wild. In 2001, Monterey Bay Aquarium staff placed an orphaned two-week-old pup in her pool. She adopted it within hours. Over the next eleven years, that otter, named Toola, raised 13 orphaned pups. Ten were released into the wild. They survived at the same rate as otters raised by their own mothers, had pups of their own, and their descendants now account for more than half the sea otter population in the estuary where they were released.

Before Toola, the aquarium's otter rehabilitation program had a problem it could not solve. Orphaned pups rescued from California beaches needed months of round-the-clock care: bottle feeding, swim lessons in Monterey Bay, grooming demonstrations, and foraging training. Human staff did all of it. The pups survived. They grew. They learned to eat. And when they were released, they climbed onto kayaks, approached swimmers, and treated every human they encountered as a potential source of food. They had imprinted on people. The pups that were supposed to be wild otters had become friendly ones, and a friendly otter in open water is a dead otter on a long enough timeline.

Toola changed the method. Her stillborn pup had primed her body for motherhood. When staff introduced orphan #217 into her pool, she did what a wild mother would do: she groomed the pup, carried it on her belly, dove with it, and taught it to forage by demonstration. The pup never saw a human caretaker's face. Staff who handled the pup before the pairing wore dark cloaks and face shields, a costume the program called the Darth Vader disguise, so that no orphan would associate a human shape with food or safety. Once Toola took over, the disguise was no longer necessary. The pup's world was an otter, not a person.

Pup #217 was released into Elkhorn Slough, a tidal estuary on Monterey Bay. He established a territory near Moss Landing's north harbor and survived for nearly 11 years. He likely sired many pups of his own. The experiment had worked on the first try.

The aquarium built the entire surrogate program around what Toola proved. Non-releasable female otters were paired with orphaned pups at roughly eight weeks of age, after the pups had shed their natal coat and could dive. The surrogate taught grooming, foraging, social behavior, and the hundred small competencies that a wild otter pup absorbs from its mother over six months of constant contact. At seven months, the pup was released. The surrogate stayed and waited for the next one.

Between 2002 and 2016, 37 surrogate-reared pups were released into Elkhorn Slough. A 15-year study published in Oryx, the International Journal of Conservation, tracked their survival, reproduction, and site fidelity. The results were unambiguous. Surrogate-reared otters survived at rates comparable to wild-reared otters. Ninety percent of released females and 80 percent of males stayed in Elkhorn Slough after release. They reproduced.
Their pups reproduced. When the aquarium began releasing otters in 2002, Elkhorn Slough held roughly 20 sea otters, almost all males. By 2016, the population exceeded 100. Surrogate-reared otters and their wild-born descendants accounted for more than half of that growth.

The otters did something else the program had not predicted. They restored the estuary. Sea otters eat crabs and sea urchins that destroy eelgrass by consuming its roots and shoots. As the otter population in Elkhorn Slough grew, crab and urchin numbers dropped, and the eelgrass came back. The estuary that had been losing its meadows for decades began recovering because the animal that had been missing from it for over a century was eating the things that were killing it.

Toola raised her last pup, the famous Otter 501, and died on March 3, 2012, at approximately 16 years old.

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Desiree

@DesireeAmerica4

about 2 months ago

Traffic on the busy highway in Anchorage highway completely froze. Nobody honked. Nobody rushed. When a mother moose and her calves got stranded, commuters stopped everything. The mother tried showing her baby how to scale the concrete barrier, but it was too steep. Without missing a beat, strangers stepped out of their cars, lifted the calf over, and reunited the family. Sometimes the whole world stops just to let humanity happen. This moment is pure. ❤️ (Video credit: ViralHog)