Pet fashion really took off in recent years, so I wasn’t that surpised to see these horses dressed in traditional Bavarian dresses.

Dirndl dresses are famous all around the world for being Bavaria’s traditional outfits, thousands of Bavarian women wear them, and now, apparently even horses. German designer Hildegard Bergbauer used to create drindl dresses only for women, but has recenlty began taking orders for house pets and even horses.

The horses do look elegant in their brand-new drindl dresses, but I do believe the young Bavarian beauties holding them look even better.

Photos by Alexandra Beier/REUTERS

via Sina

Having a goat as a member of the Royal Army might seem funny to most people, but it has been a British tradition for more than 200 years.

Lance Corporal William Windsor has served in the army for the last eight years, traveling overseas, meeting royalty and leading military parades. His comrades from the 1st Battalion of the Royal Welsh said goodbye to their loyal colleague as he walked by to the trailer that took him to the zoo, where he will spend his retirement.

Billy the Goat is a Kashmir goat and was offered as a gift to the Royal Army, by the Queen herself. Billy’s replacement will be announced in June, when another kid goat will be picked from a heard in Great Orme, North Wales.

Photos by PA and REUTERS

via Daily Mail

Balancing on a wire is a tough job for a human, let alone for a goat. Still, the animal trainers at a Chinese circus managed to teach this goat how to keep its balance while having a small monkey perform stunts on its head.

And I thought Eskil Ronningsbakken’s balancing stunts were impressive. What this goat does is ten times cooler.

via bbs.163.com

Cats are great climbers, that’s not a big secret, but a cat climbing up a 13-foot dry wall? Now that’s something you don’t see every day.

Charlie is a very special seven-year-old cat from Falkirk, Britain, who has the very special skill of climbing buildings. As you’ve probably guessed, this is the talent that got him the very cool nick-name Spider-cat.

Charlie began climbing up to his owner’s flat, on the first floor of an apartment-building, after he got bored of waiting for someone to open the front door of the building, after his daily walk around the bloc. One day he just went to the back of his owner’s home, took a long look at the obstacle in front of him and just jumped up the wall. Using his front paws for grip and his behind paws for leverage, he made it up to the first floor and started miaowing until someone opened the door for him. Since that faithful day, Charlie the Spider-cat has been climbing up the dry-wall on a regular basis.

Check out the incredible video of Charlie doing what he does best, after the photos.

Photos by PA

via Daily Mail

Australian vet performs life-saving operation on a frog.

A female tree frog had been nearly sliced in half by a lawnmower, but a talented vet, with a soft spot for frogs, managed to fix her back to life. Stephen Cutter spent 30 minutes in surgery, stitching the skin on the frog’s back, after it had been ripped by the blades of a lawnmower.

The procedure was very delicate, considering frogs are very sensitive to chemicals used to clean wounds on humans and other animals. But the good doctor managed to rescue the brave amphibian who fought for her life, and is now almost fully recovered.

This is not the first time doctor Cutter has saved a frog, as he confessed he has also operated and saved frogs hit by cars. Victoria, named after the Victa lawnmower that injured her, is now set to be released on the outskirts of Litchfield National Park, and has every chance of living a normal, healthy life. That’s if she doesn’t get in front of a lawnmower again.

Photos by Barcroft Media Read More »

Smelly-dog-owners around the world, rejoice! The Dog-o-Matic washing machine has arrived.

Invented by Romain Jarry, a 31-year-old Frenchman, the Dog-o-Matic is a pet washing machine that turns your pooch from filthy to fluffy in just 30 minutes. Jarry says his machine proved a real success in his home town of St Max, and he’s now thinking of introducing it to the rest of France, and soon Britain.

He claims the Dog-o-Matic isn’t harmful to animals, as they just sit inside waiting to be washed and dried. I reckon that depends on how used the animals are to water, the puppy in the photos doesn’t seem very calm and comfortable. All the pet-owner has to do is put the dog/cat inside the Dog-o-Matic, set the wash cycle and select the animal’s size.

I have a feeling the Dog-o-Matic will be in a world of trouble once PETA hears about it, those guys don’t joke around when animal cruelty is mentioned

via Daily Mail

Primates and dogs don’t normally get along too well, but Suryia the orangutan and Roscoe, a Blue Tick hound have become best friends.

Their beautiful friendship began when Roscoe followed some of the caretakers at a South Caroline animal shelter through the gates. As soon as she saw him, Suryia ran to him and started playing. Since that day, there’s nothing the two love more than swimming and rolling around together. The friendly orangutan even takes her buddy on his daily walks and occasionally feeds him some of her monkey biscuits. When bored, the two take a ride on Bubbles, a 27-years-old African elephant.

Word of their bizarre but beautiful relationship reached the media and now Suryia and Roscoe will be featured on one of Oprah‘s special shows, called Amazing Animal Friendship. National Geographic also paid them a visit.

Their bond might seem incredible, but if tigers and pigs can be friends, then anything is possible.

Photos by Barry Bland/Barcroft Media

via Daily Mail

Invented during the 1930s as a cheap form of recession entertainment, donkey basketball remains a popular sport in midwest America.

Basically, the tow four-player teams have to shoot hoops while riding on the donkeys. The animals often just lay down, crushed by the players’ weight and, in these situations, competitors are allowed to dismount and drag the donkey to the hoop. Donkeys can carry up to 68kg, but many of the donkey basketball players weigh considerably more.

This unusual sport is played mostly in school gyms, by school staff and local celebrities. PETA has denounced donkey basketball as animal cruelty, but the folks in Iowa, where these pics were taken, say they don’t pay much attention to that. ‘We’re just a bunch of good ol’ boys and farmers down here in rural Iowa, so we’re not worried about PETA.’ said Angela Stufflebeam, event organizer.

Before the beginning of a donkey basketball match, an announcement is made, saying the animals are treated humanely. But protesters say the donkeys are starved so they don’t defecate during the match, they are often kicked, pulled by their tails and ears, and get stressed by the chaotic atmosphere.

Donkey basketball has been banned in Portland, Oregon, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, but it’s still thriving in Iowa.

I say this is just as bad as riding ponies on thin ice.

via Daily Mail

Photos by The Associated Press

Sure, rabbits hop all the time, but not many do it over miniature fences, like showjumping horses.

15-year-old Matthew and Thomas Haslam are the proud owners and trainers of some of the smartest pets in Britain. Bubbles and Lilac are two of the twenty rabbits that like to jump over small fences, in the boys’ backyard. These two have shown particular skill and have participated in the Ultimate Pet Show, between the 2nd-4th May.

The two boys suffer from Asperger’s Syndrome, a sort of Autism and spending up to seven hours a day, for the last nine years, playing with rabbits has really helped them a greatr deal.

via Daily Mail

Yes, you read right, some bats really are adorable. The tiny White Bats of Honduras are among the cutest rodents on Earth.

Also known as Ectophylla Alba, the Honduran White Bats are only 37-47mm long and can be found in Central America and The Caribbean. They cut the side veins of the Heliconia plant leaves causing them to fold into a protective tent. The small bats live in colonies of up to six individuals, one mail and a harem of females.

The natural tent protects the White Bats from rain and predators and they only take flight when their home is no longer safe.

Imagine you were coming home at the end of hard day at work, only to find a stranger in your house. Not only that, but as you approach the door, he pops out and scares the living sh*t out of you. Not a very pleasant feeling, is it? Well now you know how this little bird must have felt.

Afghanistan is better known for dog fighting, but the new generation is trying to make a change…for the worst, by introducing donkey fighting.

Dog fighting had been forbidden as a sport by the Taliban, but since the American invasion and the fall of the old regime, the cruel sport has returned, drawing huge crowds,l near the capital of Kabul. Unfortunately, the younger generations apparently have no intention of wising-up, instead they’re introducing a new blood-sport, donkey fighting.

These photos, taken near a German armed forces encampment, in Kunduz, show a young boy pitting to poor donkeys into fighting each other, while the other children watch the violence display smiling.  Just like other people watch ouzel fights or horse fights. Read More »

Sriracha Zoo is already popular for the unlikely friendships that have developed there between tigers and other animals like pigs and dogs.

Over 400 Bengal tigers are on display at Sriracha Zoo, where they make up what is called Happy Families, with pigs and other animals. Mature tigers take naps right next to full-grown pigs,m which they would normally devour without remorse.  Piglets fed by tigresses, and tiger cubs by pig surrogate mothers.

This is not the first example of unlikely friendships we’ve posted on OddityCentral, but it is one of the most amazing. Here are a cat and dog acting all buddy-buddy.

via Mirror.co.uk

Note to self: Never take part in a poney race on thin ice. It’s just not the smartest thing to do.

The worst aspect of this predicament is those poneys got a very cold bath they certainly didn’t need on such a cold day. I’m sure it was a pretty funny experience for their human owners, since no one was harmed, but I’d say this qualifies as animal cruelty.

via Fishki

Panda Bear takes revenge on human kind by attacking a guy that ventured into his territory at the Zoo.

You can’t really hold it against this fluffy creature. After all mankind almost wiped out the Pandas, although, like many other animals, they did absolutely nothing threatening. I don’t understand how someone can hurt one of the cutest creatures on Earth, for whatever sum of money, but that’s just me.

If you ask me, it’s that idiot’s fault for invading the animal’s territory, otherwise Panda‘s are really harmless beings. Maybe he wanted to put his head in the bear’s mouth, like the croc master.