Vampire Bats Use The Sound Of Victim's Breath When Hunting

The Bats are able to hear and remember the unique pattern of an individulas breath a new study has found.
It is well known that Vampire bats feed only on blood, and when they find a victim they like, they will repeatedly return to that same source to feed on it for consecutive nights.

So how is it a mammal that is believed to have a ‘well developed’ sense of smell, able to track down an exclusive feed with such accuracy?

Apparently their brain cells are stimulated exclusively by the sound of breathing thus making their ears the unsuspecting tool of their trade. Add to this the ability to be able to differentiate between breathing sounds and patterns and then memorize them, you a have clever creature that isn’t going hungry at night!

Studies have shown that trained bats were able to identify the sounds of human breathing, from three individual subjects, making no mistake in knowing which sound belong to each subject. Funnily enough humans weren’t able to do the same thing.

So it seems these creatures have one over us humans, and along with their sense of smell, they are able to make us their prey night after night. If you think you can lie in bed and change the sounds you make when you are breathing to fool them then think again. We humans are unable to change our breathing pattern whilst asleep, so to avoid repeat attacks, you’ll need to come up with your own solution. Sleep tight!

wildlife, animals, statues, collectible, eagles, wolves, dolphins, fishes, figures, moose, bear, pig, tigers, swan

Article - WildFigurines.com Introduces The Sandicast Range To Its Already Impressive Range Of Wildlife Figurines

May saw the inclusion of one of the most prized wildlife figurine’s collection on the planet, to WildFigurines.com’s own collection – that of Sandicast.
Sandicast are renowned for their Animal sculptures by Sandra Brue, the Masterpieces of Nature to be precise. “Their quality was something we were very impressed with when first introduced to them, and immediately decided to promote their line of wildlife figurines,” says Dean of WildFigurines.com
As a wildlife figurines web site, the primary purpose of Wildfigurines.com is to offer wildlife figurines of all shapes and sizes, but more importantly to offer as much as mother nature offers in her array of wildlife species.
Sandicast’s range of wildlife figurines and sculptures has done this. Their range of wildlife spans every continent, from the North Pole to the south, from the African plains to the North American wilderness, to the oceans and seas, and even to the bush of Australia.
They also offer a range of sizes from Original Size, to Lil’ Snoozers and Junior’s, all the way up to the impressive and intimidating Life Size statues. As a lover of wildlife figurines, the small collector will find many pieces for their mantle, where as the larger statues are well suited to foyer’s and the like.
Sandra Brue’s method for creating her sculptures starts with becoming intimate with the animal itself. Trips to the San Diego zoo are not uncommon when starting a new piece, even to the extent that she sat inside the enclosure with a giant hippopotamus, only six feet away, whilst sculpting.
Sandra uses an oil-based clay that never hardens to create the original, and she will make several trips back and forth to ensure the sculpture is just right. Then she adds the hairs, one by one, an extremely time consuming affair, and just before the piece is ready for casting, she will carve her name “BRUE” to ensure authenticity.
After hand-pouring a cast stone mixture, the sculpture is checked for quality before it is hand painted using both bristle and air brushing. Finally, specially crafted glass eyes that appear real enough to create the feeling that the animal is looking at you, are inserted into the sculpture.

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Product Update

These Products Added 29th May 2006

The Feel Of Africa
Elephant Family on a Tusk
Leopards resting in a tree
North America
Native Indian Horse Bust Figurine
Northwood Bears on a Canoe Trip
Cast Iron Horse Money Bank Figurine
The Water and The Sea
Set of 2 Frog Figurines on Welcome Rock
Pelicans on a Seashell
Swinging Alligator Figurine
Home Grown Pineapple Turtle Figurine
Colorful Dolphin Figurine
The Country Feel - Great For the Kitchen
Chicken Family in the Country
Home Grown Squash Geese Figurine
Home Grown Radish Polar Bear Figurine

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wildlife, animals, statues, collectible, eagles, wolves, dolphins, fishes, figures, moose, bear, pig, tigers, swan

Free Shipping On All Orders Up Until Mother's Day

Wildlife Figurines Dealer, WildFigurines.com Is Offering Free Shipping On All Orders Up Until Mother's Day
WildFigurines.com has scrapped all shipping charges for all orders, up until Sunday the 14th May.
With Mother's Day nearing, WildFigurines.com is sending out a gift to all mothers by removing all shipping charges from all orders, whether they are single or multiple item orders.

Mothers who love wildlife figurines will receive a nice surprise from those family members wishing to make their mothers day on Sunday the 14th.

Family members wishing to take advantage of this offer will need to be quick. "When a day like Mother's Day nears, freight always takes a little longer as the number of people buying online is increasing month by month and year by year", says Dean of WildFigurines.com

When making an order of wildlife figurines, there will be no need to worry about a charge for shipping as the whole shipping charge system has been taken offline. All you will see is a zero next to your shipping charge.

Bird Beats Worm, And Returns To Do It Again And Again - Is This Normal?

I had the experience of seeing a bird completely tenderize a worm the other day, only to fly off, return and do it again repeatedly, and wanted to know if this was normal behaviour.

Sitting in a car park, waiting to pick up my children from school, I noticed some movement within some trees.

A bird (I don't know what species) had found a worm and whilst hanging on to it with it's beak, continuously bashed it into a peice of the pine wood fence it was perched upon.

After a while the worm appeared to be a lot longer and very lifeless, and the bird flew up into a tree about 30 yards away.

Then the weird part happened. After a short period of time, the bird flew back to the fence it was previously on and starting bashing the worm again.

Why did it pick that spot again when there was plenty of fence nearer to it's nest? I guessed the repeated bashings (and I mean it returned to the fence 4 times) were simply because the worm hadn't died or was not tender enough yet, but why fly all the way back to that particular spot?

I was intrigued and watched this event take place with such intensity, I didn't even notice my kids had piled into the van.

Anyone with experience in bird behaviour is welcome to add their comments and thoughts on why the bird acted in this way. Simply contact me at Info@wildfigurines.com

Article - Wildlife Animal Figurines Dealer WildFigurines.com Introduces The Heartwood Creek Range By Jim Shore.

Jim Shore has designed many a figurine in his lifetime, and WildFigurines.com has incorporated many of his animal collectibles into their range.

Jim Shore is renowned for his Heartwood Creek collection, a collection combining popular folk, authentic quilt designs, and of course his creative imagination.

"Jim Shore's Heartwood Creek range of collectible's are highly sought after, and we found that he has quite a broad range of animals including wildlife," says Dean from WildFigurines.com

Jim Shore's collectible figurines are highly sought after because they encapsulate many themes such as Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and so on.

WildFigurines.com are known for their relentless pursuit of new and exciting wildlife animal, bird and sea figurines, and the Heartwood Creek range of collectibles by Jim Shore, adds more variety in color, design and vibrancy.

The range includes all forms of the animal kingdom from the land, air and the sea, but with the artistic flair common with all works by Jim Shore.

Product Update

These Products Added 28th March 2006

Heartwood Creek by Jim Shore

Heartwood Creek Collectible Animal Figurines by Jim Shore

WildFigurines.com Gives Away Free Wildlife Animal Figurines Every Month

Since the start of 2006, WildFigurines.com has given away over $100 worth of prizes to a handful of lucky winners in their wildlife figurines monthly competition.
Two 1st prize winners, both from Pennsylvania, have each received up to $30 worth of wildlife figurines, and not only that, they were both allowed to choose their products. In fact February’s winner was able to choose two figurines, as the total value was $30.
Second prize winners were given access to the free downloads section, normally only available to purchasers of wildlife figurines, where they were free to download any or all of the wildlife themed products for use on their computer.
Examples of the downloadable products are-

· E-Calendars, which can be used on your computer. They are made from a spreadsheet program, which simply allows the user to type in certain activities for any day, and then save it. The beauty of the calendars is the magnificent photography by Scotch Macaskill, a wildlife photographer from South Africa. One calendar boasts 12 magnificent African sunsets, one for each month, and the other, 12 close-up photos of some of Africa’s most prized and loved wildlife. Value $10ea

· E-mail sound alerts, created from the natural call of some of the worlds more popular wildlife, including the roar of the lions, hooting of the owls, and communication of the dolphins. The sound alerts are a 4-5 second sound file which can easily be downloaded and integrated into Outlook Express for example, so that when you receive an email, you will hear your favourite animals. So far WildFigurines.com has only created the three but is looking to create more in the near future. Value $10ea

· Desktop wallpapers and Adoption certificates are also available, as a thankyou from the World Wild Life fund for WildFigurines.com’s continuous support. “Because our customers contribute to the WWF’s cause by way of indirectly donating, we thought they should also get something in return,” says Dean from WildFigurines.com “we don’t just give these away as part of our second prize, everyone who purchases from our web site also gets free access to our downloadable gift store.”

The competition runs all year round and has new 1st and 2nd prize winners every month. The draw takes place at the end of the month and winners are notified, usually by the first day of the next month by email.
To enter, visitors only have to visit the Monthly Competition page at Wildfigurines.com by either clicking on the ‘Competition’ link at the top of every page, the ‘Monthly Competition’ link on the left hand side of every page, or just look out for the greenback $30 bill. Once there, they simply have to fill out the form at the bottom by entering their first name and email address (last name is optional).

Winners are chosen by a random selection process and once notified 1st prize winners can simply browse the web site, choose their wildlife figurine(s) up to the value of $30 and then enter their chosen products into the ‘Contact Us’ page, where the prize is processed and shipped within 1 – 3 days. 2nd prize winners are given a secret link by email which will then take them to the gift store where they will find instructions on how to download and use all the gifts.
WildFigurines.com came up with the idea of a monthly competition late in 2005 because they realized people love to win free things, and it adds excitement to the web site.

Product Update

These Products added 16th March 2006

Check out our new range of Sandicast Wolf Figurines

See more Wildlife Figurines

Collectors Of Wildlife Figurines Will Often Be A Reflection Of The Animal They Collect

A passionate collector can depict a sense of what makes them who they are by simply surrounding themselves with an animal that displays the same attributes in the wild.

Wildlife figurines are being sought after by a large cross section of society and one has to wonder what makes collecting wildlife figurines such a popular past time. It could be assumed that people feel a sense of emptiness when they think of how quickly the habitat of the earth's wildlife is diminishing, or they feel in awe of an animal or birds unique presence in the wild. Either way they feel an attachment and decide to surround themselves with wildlife figurines, art, sculptures, decor and so on. So if this is the case, then how does one choose the animal? Well I believe in most cases they don't, the animal chooses them.

Its obvious to me that the material used to make a wildlife figurine does not seem to matter as much as the actual animal itself. When people come to our site searching for wildlife figurines, rarely do they search for the form or material along with the animal, and I think it’s because people are what they collect.

Eagles display authority in the air, and are seen this way, so a collector of eagle figurines may have a deep sense of gratitude towards authority or be an authoritarian themselves. The eagle is also known as the American eagle in North America and so a collector of American eagle figurines may feel a deep sense of patriotism.

A Dolphin has intellect and some people will see them this way, along with a sense of playfulness and willingness to swim with people. Collectors of dolphin figurines may themselves be playful or easy to get along with or admire intelligence.

Elephants display a strong desire to stay within their groups and have a strong family sense. They also mourn their losses, so a collector of elephant figurines may see family as their biggest priority in life and admire the elephant for doing the same.

The animal kingdom and its constituents display a large variety of characteristics, some unique, some shared, and some beyond civilized human capabilities, yet a collector of wildlife figurines should always be able to connect to something that gives them inspiration, harmony and a sense of self purpose.

Lion figurines, Giraffe figurines, Swan figurines, Wolf figurines, Owl and Moose figurines and are some of the other more popular wildlife figurines available at Wild Figurines, but we also sell bear figurines, horse figurines, duck figurines, tiger figurines and so on. The number of available animals, birds and sea creatures is at 66 and growing so there is bound to be an animal to suit everyone’s inspirational and spiritual needs.