These 2 Pups Keep Airplanes Safe by Doing What They Love: Chasing Birds. two canines in West Virginia are actually keeping people safe while performing the same task. Border collies Hercules and Ned serve as team members at the West Virginia International Yeager Airport in Charleston. Their primary objective? To chase away animals that could collide with aircraft. ​ Per the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, birds and other wildlife strikes cause over $900 million in damage to civil and military aircraft each year. These collisions can also be fatal: Since 1988, more than 250 people have been killed globally because of them. Together with their handler and the airport’s wildlife specialist, Chris Keyser, Hercules and Ned help reduce the chances of these dangerous instances occurring. ​ The duo drives off deer, geese, starlings, killdeer, and other critters during regularly scheduled rounds, or after Keyser receives communication from airport traffic control towers regarding any wildlife near the taxiways. ​ “I like making a difference here at the airport, keeping people safe who are flying in and out of here — and especially when somebody’s in a terminal and might be sad — or just putting a smile on everybody’s face, It makes me feel good, and it makes these dogs feel good too, because it makes them feel special.

Quote of the Day “For now just remember: birds sing, babies cry, and no matter the weather, every morning is new.”

What can cats see that humans can't? 🐱 Cats can see UV light, which is invisible to humans. Cats can do a lot of things their human friends can’t: They can purr, sleep all day without consequence, and jump up to six times their own height in a single leap. But perhaps most impressive of all is their ability to see ultraviolet light thanks to UV-transparent lenses in their eyes that allow UV light to reach their retinas. This will come as little surprise to anyone who’s ever noticed their cat staring at seemingly nothing for minutes at a time, but it’s a fascinating insight into how our feline friends view the world all the same. In fact, their UV vision actually allows them to see their prey’s urine trail while hunting and distinguish between their prey and a similarly colored background. This ability may not help your housecat in any practical ways on a daily basis, as being fed from a can doesn’t require much in the way of hunting, but it’s still a cool evolutionary trick. And cats aren’t the only animals with this ability. Bees, birds, reindeer, and mice have this enhanced vision as well, though for some of them it comes with the trade-off of not being able to see the color red. Humans have kept cats as pets for at least 9,500 years. When we think of cats in the ancient world, Egypt tends to come to mind first. Egyptians considered felines sacred and some even mummified their pets, but they weren’t the first to hold cats in such high regard. There’s evidence to suggest they were beaten to the punch by at least 4,000 years: A grave in Cyprus dating back some 9,500 years contained the remains of a human and cat alongside decorative objects such as seashells and polished stones. Cats aren’t native to the island, meaning they must have been brought there by humans — perhaps “on a kind of Noah’s ark,” as archaeologist Melinda Zeder told National Geographic, theorizing that a number of non-native animals were transported to Cyprus. #Animals #Cats