Hogan and Bella

What could be more endearing than seeing a helpless little fawn being cared for by a mighty hunter?

The dog in the photo at right is Ch. Bowbridge Croc (aka “Hogan"), a champion Rhodesian Ridgeback owned by Jennifer Aftanas of Vancouver, British Columbia. From the story by Valerie Wilson, published in Vancouver Island’s “Nanaimo Daily News” on August 13, 2004:

Meantime Hogan, weighing in at about 100 pounds, decided - to the amazement of his owners that he too would lend a hand in helping young Bella recover. Originally bred in South Africa to hunt lions, hence the breed’s older name African Lion Hound. Hogan began fussing over the youngster. He kept a watchful eye over Bella, grooming her and even allowing her to cuddle up beside him in his bed. “You can come on my bed and I’m going to clean your ears!” Aftanas said of Hogan’s affection for the fawn. He looked after Bella cleaning her and helping out until she was well enough to go for recovery"

Read the whole thing.

Thanks, mom. Click on the photo for a larger view.

Rabbits

Rabbits. Every day when I look at my blog’s logs to see what brings people to read my prattling, the answer is rabbits. Specifically, a search for rabbit photos on Google Image Search.

Never mind all my pontificating on weighty subjects; never mind the strange and interesting science and technology I introduce to my readers. What really matters is my rabbit photo.

Sigh.

APOD

The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft is running around the Saturnian system, a bit like a kid who’s running around the candy store sampling all the delights on offer. Recently it made a close pass by Dione, one of Saturn’s moons, where it took the picture at right. Astronomy Picture of the Day selected it for today’s picture:

What does the surface of Saturn’s moon Dione look like? To find out, the robot Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn flew right past the fourth largest moon of the giant planet earlier this month. Pictured above is an image taken about 4,500 kilometers above Dione’s icy surface, spanning about 23 kilometers. Fractures, grooves, and craters in Dione’s ice and rock are visible. In many cases, surface features are caused by unknown processes and can only be described. Many of the craters have bright walls but dark floors, indicating that fresher ice is brighter. Nearly parallel grooves run from the upper right to the lower left. Fractures sometimes across the bottom of craters, indicating a relatively recent formation. The lip of a 60-kilometer wide crater runs from the middle left to the upper center of the image, while the crater’s center is visible on the lower right. Images like this will continue to be studied to better understand Dione as well as Saturn’s complex system of rings and moons.

Click on the photo for a larger view…