And, as an elephant, she weighs three tons. That kind of weight&mdas;excuse me for saying so, ma’am—requires one strong prosthesis. It took a few years of work to get right.

In the interim, Motola was forced to use a temporary prosthesis. This was completely unbecoming of her status as a respected 48-year-old pachyderm.

But she was patient, and today she took her first steps. They were a success. To celebrate the occasion, Motola sucked up some dirt and blew it skyward like dusty fireworks. She has some work to do, but the limb held her massive frame, and she’ll hopefully be walking with some semblance of normalcy for the rest of her days.

We can rebuild her. They did rebuild her. Motola: The Million Dollar Elephant. [SFGate]

The gosling, named Betty, was found with a broken leg and delivered to the quintessentially-British-named Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital, where she was fitted with a miniature leg brace. The brace seems pretty much like what a human would have for a particularly nasty break: Steel pins and a steel rod hold the leg in place, and Better was apparently walking around in no time. Tiggywinkles (that gets me giggling every time) plans to release her back into the wild in about three weeks. [Telegraph]

According to the Courier Mail, two teenage boys were home alone for the weekend when their house caught fire, which was traced back to a laptop. Apparently the boys let the cat out, but it somehow got back inside, peed on the laptop and burnt the house down.

Both boys evacuated the house after smoke detectors went off. The well being of the cat is unknown.

I hate to state the obvious but it just goes to show: cat pee and electronics don’t mix.

[Courier Mail – Thanks Matt!]
[Image Credit: Wabisabi2015]

Tonka got in a tussle with a local dog, who bit off one of her legs. Unable to walk around properly, rescuers had the idea to strap the wheels from a Tonka truck to her underside, turning her into the fastest tortoise around.

Local resident John O’Dea, 35, has now adopted Tonka and said she loved nothing better than roaming in the vegetable patch and going for ‘walks’.

Surfer John said: ‘She is doing really well and loves roaming around the vegetable garden on her shiny new wheels.

‘She has a particular fondness for tomatoes.

‘I take her for ‘walks’ regularly around my neighbourhood, I think she likes the speed but I do get a few funny looks.

Man, that hare doesn’t stand a chance now. [Daily Mail via Neatorama]

If I could pay $1000 to never pick up a dog’s feces, I might spend that money. Alas, the PowerLoo does not prevent that egobreaking act.

Despite connecting to your outdoor plumbing lines, the PowerLoo is not a backyard doggie toilet. The PowerLoo is a backyard crap flusher (read: you pick up dog crap then place it in the toilet). And while I’m sure it adds some level of convenience to doodie disposal, the $US1000 price is on par with one of those fancy, Japanese toilets that literally air dries the cellulite from your butt. Coming this June. [PowerLoo via Treehugger via DVICE]

In the war between Man and Machine, kittens are a toss up of allegiance.

On one hand, kittens are organic lifeforms, presumably loyal to other organic lifeforms. On the other, kittens grow into cats. And for thousands of years, cats have refused to follow the human code.

What I postulate is a future in which there is a sort of war trifecta. It will be Man vs. Machine vs. Kittens. And with the feline world showing up as an insane wild card, anything can happen…though in the immortal words of John Connor, the outcome is most likely that, “We are dead!! We are all dead!! Because of kittens!!!” [Cute Overload]

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

Pets can be difficult to photograph. Once, someone quoted me $US1000 for a pet portrait! The NYTimes has a long interview with Li Ward on how to do it best.

Ward is a photographer of pets for Fat Orange Cat Studios. The photos are ok. But she’s got some good advice over there:

I also almost always shoot in burst mode, usually in slow burst at 2 to 3 frames per second.

I end up doing a lot of gymnastics during a shoot. I’m crouching, kneeling, on my back, on my side, waking up sore the next morning.

I sort of treat my still camera as a video camera. Even if I’m not actively shooting, and even if the subject is not doing something “capture-worthy,” I continue tracking through the viewfinder and recomposing. Because soon enough they will do something capture-worthy, and I’ll be ready to press the shutter the second it happens.

Treats, ham, roast beef, squeaky toys, patience. With dogs, I like making meowing sounds. Seems to get their attention every time, and as a bonus, they give the quizzical head tilt. It’s a little trickier with cats because if you make an attention-making noise more than even once, they will ignore you thereafter.

Damn cats.

I am reminded, reading all of this, of how insane pet owners are, and how a the professional pet photographer is an unsung hero of portraiture. Their subjects are only somewhat less difficult than what Annie Leibovitz has to deal with when photographing rock and movie stars.

There is the greater question of why people don’t just buy nice DSLRs and take photos of their own pets. But I suppose all the tricks and tips in here—far greater in number and substance than you’d assume a list could be for mere humans—are the answer. [NYT]

My cat discovers yet another of life’s simple pleasures: The sensation of $US500 warming one’s butt.

(Steve Jobs’ disdain for the whirring of cooling fans is pretty good at creating devices that felines enjoy parking themselves on.)

The subject of nonhuman space travel is a bittersweet one. It was an obvious—if occasionally cruel—way to sort out many of our functional uncertainties about leaving earth. In order to help humans avoid future space tragedies, these animals sometimes burned up in fiery crashes, though they generally were not, as is the preconception, often left for dead in the cold reaches of space. The various space programs’ use of animals held another sort of tragedy as well: The first creatures to slip the surly bonds were sadly unable to fathom the pure awesomeness of what they were doing.

Here are some of the best, brightest, adorablest creatures never to know that they’d been to space.

Ham, Albert and Spacebat images courtesy of NASA and JamesDuncan. Laika images from the Guardian and Thinkquest. Felix images taken from Purr-n-Furr.

Pet Airways was designed to cater to, yes, your best friend. With potty breaks and attendants checking on your pet’s comfort, they’ll travel in the lap of luxury. Sort of.

Because no humans besides the flight crew are allowed—and because there aren’t exactly effective seat-belts that’ll keep your pets from wrecking havoc on the plane—your dogs and cats will still have to travel locked up in a carrier. But at least they’ll be seated in the main cabin with temperatures that are “just right,” with fresh circulating airways away from the cargo hold. After all, says the cheesy announcer, “Our pets are not luggage… They’re paw-sengers!” Get it?

Pet Airways will begin service this coming July, in limited runs from LA, Chicago and NYC, starting at $US150 for a one-way ticket—actually not a lot more than what the airlines charge to stick your cat in the cargo hold. [Pet Airways via Laughing Squid]