[Jacob-list] Animal Lingo

[Wayne Van Valkenburg]

Sue & Mary Allen, Isn't fantastic to be Dr.Doolittle ? They talk to us as
well as their own if we stop, lsten and observe. Very well expressed.  Wayne
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Susan J Martin" <stonecroft235 at juno.com>
To: <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 11:24 PM
Subject: [Jacob-list] Animal Lingo


> Mary, you put it so well.    Sadly, many people just do not take the time
> or perhaps they live in a non-animal environment to know about "animal
> speech."  I  have always really enjoyed listening to the animal world as
> they speak to their little ones........mother cats have a very tender
> trill that they use to call their kittens to come and nurse and get their
> baths, and that same mother cat will use a little warning growl as she is
> weaning her kittens to tell them they do not need to be nursing and
> should bug off.  Jacob ewes  have all kinds of wonderful language with
> their lambs -- the nervous knicker of a first time mom, the relaxed
> knicker that says, "hey lambie, here I am", or the urgent knicker that
> says "danger, get by my side and don't move" are just a few.  We have had
> robin nests near the house and always knew exactly when each little egg
> hatched because the parent bird was singing his heart out to the world as
> he announced his new baby.  The bluebirds do the same thing -- they are
> quietly incubating their eggs for days, and then one day they are filled
> with song and sure enough, when I peek in the box there is a tiny little
> pink fledgling.  Hens with chicks also have a vocabulary which starts as
> they are sitting on the eggs.  A normally docile, friendly hen who
> decides to become broody becomes a formidable foe -- as you near her nest
> she fluffs her feathers to twice her normal size and she emits a sound
> that in chicken talk clearly is a warning to not come any nearer....and a
> sound never used at any other time.   After her chicks hatch she too has
> sounds that indicate affection, danger, lets go this way, etc.  And,
> those of you with goats I'm sure can discuss the varied language they
> have -- right now our little Daisy May is in heat (and not happy about it
> because there are no intact male goats here) and she is talking about it
> - a rather gutteral sound totally unlike her normal sounds.  The two
> Jacob rams in the meadow next to Daisy are quite aware of her condition
> and they are talking too -- making all sorts of grunts and gutteral
> responses -- not to mention that they are also battering down the fence
> and fighting each other in an attempt to impress little Daisy May!!!!
>
> A local dairy farmer told me of a time he was cutting alfalfa with
> machinery that takes in the alfalfa and spews it out the back.  Sadly, a
> little fawn was hiding in the alfalfa and before he could stop,  the
> little fawn had gone through the equipment and was killed.  He said the
> mother deer stood at the edge of the field and literally cried at the top
> of her lungs -- and the farmer said he will never forget that sound and
> he felt terrible about what happened......and as he talked about it his
> eyes misted up a bit.
>
> God created the beasts of the field and the birds and fish before He
> created man -- and certainly the Bible says man is created in God's image
> and man has a soul -- but we need to always remember that  the wonderful
> creatures around us are also God's creatures and He has placed them in
> our care.
>
> Sue Martin
> Stonecroft Manor
> Lititz, PA
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
> Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
> Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!
>
> _______________________________________________
> Jacob-list mailing list, sponsored by Swallow Lane Farm & Fiberworks
> Jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
> http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/jacob-list