Omer 2019 Day 42: Cheetahs (again)

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Omer 2019 Day 42: Malchut in Yesod, Leadership in Connection

Cheetahs (again)

Image by sharonjoy17 from Pixabay

Although we've already done cheetahs, male cheetahs in particular have a unique style of leadership. While technically they are still considered a "solitary" cat (the only truly social cat is the lion), male cheetahs will form coalitions with brothers or other solitary males nearby. As they establish their territory, they are believed to share and rotate the responsibility of maintaining and protecting their territory among themselves, and even split up mating rights with females nearby. They will also split up or share hunting responsibilities, sometimes working together to bring down a larger prey species, or will hunt and bring back food in sequence.

This year's animal Omer is a collaboration between myself and my friend Halli, a PhD in animal science. Thank you for counting the Omer with us!

Omer 2019 Day 41: Honeybees

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Omer 2019 Day 41: Yesod in Yesod, Foundation in Connection
Honeybees

Image by cocoparisienne from Pixabay

Fun Erin fact: When I was little, maybe four or five, I made up a song about honeybees that my parents recorded (on VHS). I am sitting in my pajamas on the floor of our front room in December, waving my hand through the air with my thumb and forefinger pinched together, singing, "Buzz, buzz, buzz. Buzz, buzz, buzz. Ouch! It stung me!"

Stinging aside, honeybees are an important part of our ecosystem. They pollinate plants to help them grow and make delicious honey for us to eat! Each bee has a role (queen, worker, or drone) and they work together to build and maintain their colony. Japanese honey bees have even developed a way to protect their colony against invasive Japanese giant hornets by surrounding the hornet in a massive ball of bees, overwhelming it with their own body heat until it dies.

This year's animal Omer is a collaboration between myself and my friend Halli, a PhD in animal science. Thank you for counting the Omer with us!

Omer 2019 Day 40: Flamingos

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Omer 2019 Day 40: Hod in Yesod, Glory in Connection

Pink Flamingos

Today is Pink Flamingo Day. Flamingos live in large groups, called a flamboyance, and I'm not sure how much more glorious you can get than a mass of large pink birds called a flamboyance.

Their flocks are made up of thousands of birds. Like starlings, flamingos find protection in numbers - when threatened, they all move in one fluid motion to find safety. The group also allows birds to mate - they do a series of group mating dances, and when they find a mate, they are monogamous and both parents care for their child.

Photo by zoosnow from Pexels

This year's animal Omer is a collaboration between myself and my friend Halli, a PhD in animal science. Thank you for counting the Omer with us!