Multiple people with professional bird experience that I’ve spoken with believe so! One noted that a some birds get so “into the scritch” that at times they will lose their balance or cease being aware of their surroundings (as you can see in this video) but that we don’t really know why. It looks like this owl was having a super good scratch, ended up leaning a little farther back that the human was in a good position to support, lost his balance, and recovered. It’s all good and yes, actually cute.
(It’s worth noting, of course, that this is an interaction that can only occur because the person has a strong history with the owl and a lot of previously developed trust. This isn’t something you should ever consider doing with an owl you don’t know and haven’t been trained to work with.)
Update on this tiny rat: He was a rescue who grew up big and strong and was adopted, his name is now “Pickles” and there’s a 7 year old girl who loves him a LOT. https://www.facebook.com/rachiesrats is the rescue for anyone interested. ❤
when little baby rats first learn to groom themselves and their hands are too big and they’re uncoordinated so they do a bad job but they’re really trying
reblog if you agree
In Austria, we call kittens at that age “Autodromkatzerl”, which translates to “bumper car kittens”, because of the way their tail sticks up. It’s not a really common word, but a very cute one, I think
this is a genuinely delightful bit of knowledge, thank you for sharing this!! omg