Jaunted

Tags: Halloween Travel / Animals / Fall Travel / Zoos / → All Tags

Get Your 'Boo' At The Zoo With The Top Halloween Zoo Events

If you’re looking to start off your Halloween celebrations a week early, then think about checking out your local zoo. Boo at the Zoo parties take place all across the country, and we’ve highlighted a few of them. They might be intended for kids, but whatever; we’re heading out to show off our Jon Gosselin and Lady Gaga costumes anyway.

· San Francisco Zoo
San Diego isn’t doing anything for the season, so we’ve made our way up to San Francisco for their Boo at the Zoo shindig. Things run this weekend on October 24 and 25 from 10am to 4pm. Kids will receive a dollar off their admission for attending in costume, but adults get no discount for arriving dressed up—and will probably be made fun of by the animals. Make sure you don’t wear rubber masks, because apparently they scare the animals—they probably don’t like those tiger Ed Hardy shirts either.


You’ll make your way around the zoo checking out the lions, tigers, and bears while stopping along the way to fill your bags with treats. Make sure you visit the pumpkin "chomp 'n stomp" stops where the critters get to enjoy their own snacks for the season. The Halloween stuff is included with your $15 daily admission.

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Tags: Animals / National Parks / Cars / Road Trips / → All Tags

Heading To A National Park? Leave Your Bear-Bait Minivan Behind

On your next road trip to one of the country’s national parks you may want to consider taking the Prius rather than the minivan. Scientists have revealed their findings from a recent study, and apparently bears love minivans and SUVs.

In an article published in this month’s Journal of Mammalogy we learn that black bears within Yosemite National Park prefer to steal some human snacks from the insides of larger cars. Researchers looked at data between 2001 and 2007 to see if there were any connections between over 900 car break-ins caused by black bears at the park. Almost half of the vehicles that were broken into were either minivans or SUVs.

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Tags: Bahamas Travel / Animal Travel / Animals / Nassau Travel / Water Sports / → All Tags

How To Become An 'Aquarist For A Day' In The Bahamas

What do you do after you've built a 140-acre aquatic-themed luxury resort in the Bahamas and filled it up with over 50,000 marine animals tucked away in various lagoons and displays? If you're the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island, you launch an array of different packages that guests can purchase to interact with everything from mantas to sea lions. These programs are on top of the resort's older offerings, which include the chance to interact with dolphins rescued after Katrina created havoc in the Caribbean.

The new "Snorkel With The Mantas" program starts at $79/person and gives guests the opportunity to swim in waters filled with giant manta rays. Up to eight guests go into the reef at a time, splashing alongside the 10-foot wingspan rays. To round out the experience there are also zebra sharks, jacks, snappers, and schools upon schools of shiny tropical fish. Participants looking for something a little more playful can sign up for the new Sea Lion Interaction, which involves pretty much what you'd expect from the name.

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Tags: Pet Travel / Airline News / Animals / American Airlines / → All Tags

How To Make Sure Your Pet Gets On Your Flight

Last week, American Airlines and Sherpa Pet Group gave away two trips (one to Miami and the other to San Francisco) to pet owners who schlepped out to a PETCO store in New York with their suitcases packed, and ready to go. The stunt was timed to promote Sherpa’s new Guaranteed On Board™ pet-travel program. Which sounds fancy in name, but is really just a way to make sure crazy pet parents do their homework before bringing an overweight Fluffy to the airport in a non-compliant purse. Say, one from Juicy Couture.

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Tags: Rental Cars / Animals / Cars / Enterprise / Scary Travel / → All Tags

Forget Snakes In Planes; They're In Our Rental Cars Now

We’ve all received rental cars that had a less than stellar appearance, especially when it comes to the car’s interior. Besides the many lovely odors, stains are the rule rather than the exception. Above all, our favorite is when former drivers have decided to install some type of foodstuff into the upholstery. Thankfully, despite all our rental car troubles, we’ve never received a car with a living critter inside. However, that’s exactly what a Florida woman found when she rented a car from Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Last week a college student hopped into her rental ride, and immediately hopped right back out. There was a red rat snake just hanging out on the dashboard of the car, and at over a yard in length, it was not a welcome surprise. Luckily, the snake wasn’t poisonous, and the rental car company sent out an animal trapper to capture the stowaway.

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Tags: Airport News / Animals / Bird Strikes / Oregon Travel / → All Tags

One Airport's Plan To End Bird Strikes And Rid Runways Of Frisky Fowl

People are sick and tired of birds screwing things up not only at New York-LaGuardia, but also at the Eugene, Oregon airport, and they are going to do something about it. Instead of nets or supersonic noisemakers, airport officials are evicting the foul fowl. After all, it’s the airport’s land now, so if you don’t pay the rent you’re out at the end of the month.

The airport is considering filling in a couple of ponds around the runways. The thought is, that without a place to call home, the troublemaker birds will pack up and get the hell out of town. They can’t just call the local dirt dude though, they are requesting permission from the US Army Corps of Engineers and the State Department of Lands—who knew you had to get so much permission?

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Tags: Sharks / Killer Beaches / Animals / Dangerous Travel / Beach Travel / California Travel / → All Tags

Sharks Close Down Cali Beaches, But Not On Porpoise

For those planning to splish splash with their flippy floppies this weekend in Santa Cruz, the plans have changed. Apparently Shark Week just doesn't want to end, but instead of it being in high definition, it’s being played out for real off the coast of the Golden State.

This week, a hungry shark proceeded to nom nom nom on a porpoise. The poor porpoise washed ashore, and researchers are trying to figure out what kind of finned critter exactly was responsible for the attack. Obviously with beach visitors spotting sharks off shore, people are being kept out of the water.

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Tags: Quirky Travel / Animals / Bats / Africa Travel / → All Tags

Are You Batty Enough to Vacation in Zambia?

Plenty of people go to Africa to see animals, but most are looking for exciting safari animals like lions or maybe rhinos. But if you head to Zambia in November, you can experience something that the experts consider to be near the top of the wildlife calendar for unique experiences.

You might be surprised to learn that this wildlife fantasy come true is actually the migration of a million fruit bats. Apparently they show up every November in Kasanka National Park in Zambia at just the time the fruits on the local trees ripen – smart bats.

Tourists get to climb to a 60-foot high tree-top "hide" to watch the bats, and sunset sounds especially creepy – the sky becomes black with bats as they head off for their evening meal. There are expensive-sounding tours run out of Britain for £3,599 ($6,000) per person just for the week, and at that price we wonder if the tourists might just be a bit batty already.

Related Stories:
· Rhino Travel: Kenya is Back in Black [Jaunted]
· Minimal Impact Lion-Spotting in Botswana [Jaunted]

[Photo: Shek Graham]

Tags: Jellyfish-Invasion-Map / Killer Beaches / When Animals Attack / Animals / Japan Travel / → All Tags

Giant Jellyfish Are Totally Crashing Sea of Japan's Party

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water ... giant jellyfish! Actually, to be more specific, they're named "Nomura's jellyfish" and this season, ocean currents are pushing them from Chinese waters into the Sea of Japan, where they prove fatal for expensive fishing nets.

Although the creatures can be up to 6' long and weigh up to 450 pounds (of jelly?), they aren't the malicious, stinging sort. No, they're simply the ruining-a-Japanese-town's-livelihood sort, which is what occurs when the beasts rip through pricey nets and ruin major catches, sending villages that rely on the fishing trade into an economical depression.

Past invasions of the Nomura's jellyfish have occurred in 2005 and 2007, so it looks like it's becoming a regular thing, especially since researchers posit that "overfishing, pollution or rising ocean temperatures may have depleted the kinds of fish that prey on Nomura's jellyfish in the polyp stage." So, who wants to do some scuba diving in the Sea of Japan with us?

Related Stories:
· Japanese fishermen brace for giant jellyfish [CNN]
· Killer Beaches: Jellyfish Hung Out To Dry, For Now [Jaunted]
· Killer Beaches Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: AFP/Getty]

Tags: Animal Travel / Animals / Pigs / Beaches / Beach Travel / Caribbean Travel / → All Tags

Caribbean Beach Overrun by Family of Cute Pigs

I like animals as much as the next guy, but I'm not sure I'd be thrilled about swimming with pigs. It would be impossible not to think about that scene from Y tu mamá también where the porcine invaders befoul a tent that the protagonists had pitched on a remote beach, rendering it uninhabitable. But if you've never seen the film and you're not particularly bothered by pig shit, then make a beeline for Big Major Spot Island in the Bahamas. There, on aptly-named Pig Beach, a family of cute piggies frolics and swims with tourists, hamming it up (sorry) for the cameras and generally proving that they're just as smart as dogs and twice as funny. The brown and pink boars and piglets are known as the famous Swimming Pigs of the Exumas, and they've been an island fixture for generations, rooting around in the underbrush and living off scraps fed to them by passing boaters. You won't see me there, though, as I'm skeeved enough by the water quality of non-pig beaches.

[Photo: worldmaxtravel.com]

Related Stories
· Never Mind Swine Flu, These Pigs are Swimming in the Bahamas [worldmaxtravel.com]
· Animal Travel [Jaunted]

Tags: Pet Airways / Pet Travel / Airline News / New Airlines / Animals / → All Tags

Pet Airways Takes Off and 'Paws-engers' Seem Pleased

When we first heard of Pet Airways we honestly thought it was just a prank. We really wanted to believe, but were skeptical that we were being taken for a ride. That’s why we were actually pretty excited once we learned that it was the real deal, and yesterday, pets all over the country finally had their travel dreams come true. The pet only airline launched their first flights from Republic Airport on Long Island.

Although things just started yesterday, the demand for the airline seems to be pretty strong. The airline’s founders said that they’ve been overwhelmed with the public’s response to their new offering, and that flights had already been booked up for the next two months. Maybe it's time for them to add a second plane; for now, they're just starting with one that can hold about 50 four-legged friends.

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Tags: Animals / JFK / Turtles / Airport Hell / Runway Drama / → All Tags

Wherein We Politely Ask Our Animal Friends To Stop Shutting Down Airports

Just to be very clear: if we were in the midst of a blurry, rushed JFK layover and they delayed flights for 90 minutes because of a turtle orgy, we would be hard-pressed to maintain our pristine environmentalist credentials. Seriously:

Dozens of turtles, presumably on a mating spree, shut down a runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport Wednesday morning for 35 minutes, causing flight delays of an hour and a half... It is unclear whether the turtles pair off, or if the numbers indicated it was a group activity... These turtles were 8 to 10 inches long and weighed 2 to 3 pounds.

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