Conches can also produce pearls.

Paua (also called abalone) can make pearls as well- though they are only half-pearls (called mabel pearls)

Things animals love to make:

• mucus
• calcified secretions from mucus

for the jewelry crafters and the macrame enjoyers alike, as both I love this

In Iceland, they have sufficient thermal energy to have a hot water system and a cold water system running parallel. So there are pipes that just carry hot water to buildings.

Behind the Reykjavik City Hall, there's a small hot water pipe that runs from the building out to the lake that's out there. It constantly pours a little stream of hot water into the lake, 24/7, 52 weeks a year. It leaves a little melted spot in the ice during the extensive winter months.

It's for the ducks.

Sometimes when I feel downtrodden I think of this pipe. I very much would like to see it one day. Maybe because it's the story of people who cared, who cared so much that they used their own resources to make sure that even the ducks were happy. The ducks don't attract tourists, I don't think. Surely the city has to pay for the water flowing into the lake. The ducks have no benefit to the city other than offering the peace of mind to the residents in knowing that during the long, dark, cold winter, their ducks had a place to go that was warm and inviting.

And I think about those people and wonder if everyone has that capacity to care and do good, if only they were given the chance. But to care and provide, someone first has to care for you. So maybe, I tend to think, I can provide that first care to people, and maybe one day they'll understand what it is to be loved so much that they'll care for their own metaphorical ducks. Maybe my caring is just the first step in building a better world.

I don't have a good answer to your question, unfortunately. But I do know that there is love and beauty in this world and that people are capable of increasing that love and beauty. And even though they might be bitter or spiteful or hateful or downright terrible today, somewhere under all that is someone who's capable of caring for ducks. And I will live to the end of my days believing that that specific care can and should be nurtured in everyone.

Okay that’s skillz

Training herding dogs side of tumblr, please explain

Well, there were some cuts in that video. It really is an impressive piece of work, but what they're doing is holding two groups of birds and passing little handfuls back and forth until they stay in two categories. Picking out small, pre specified animals with colored collars or dyed hair from a herd is a common herding trick used to show that the dog and handler have the fine tuned control necessary to catch a single animal. You see it in trials a lot. This is the same kind of exercise, just in bulk all at once.

Runner ducks are the most sensitive species that is often herded, with the biggest flight distance. The dogs have to listen to the shepherd's cues to figure out when to pass a little handful back and forth, but they never have to come near the ducks because they're working by pushing on the flight distance, which is far away.