Sometimes it’s the unexpected gifts that change your life. When I moved from the city to the country four years ago, it was a big step. The sounds of sirens and car horns were suddenly replaced by birdsong and the rustling of trees. But the real adventure began when my best friend showed up with a gift that would change my life forever: three hens and a magnificent rooster we named Heinrich. „Animals can be hard work, but without them everything is much harder,“ she said at the time – a sentence that turned out to be more profound than…

How cutely she wiggles her long ears and gazes longingly at the carrot I give her … There is something almost meditative about watching Ronja the Donkey munching on it. Donkeys exude an incredible calm. Stroking and grooming them is just as relaxing, and the feeling of well-being this generates is probably mutual. The closer you get to these grey animals (although they are not all grey!), the more you have to love them. Here are some key facts about donkeys and their long, and not always happy, history as human companions. It is their clever and social nature that…

In the untouched wilderness of Africa, a little girl grew up who teaches us an extraordinary lesson about the relationship between humans and animals. Tippi Degré, often referred to as the ‘real Mowgli’, spent her childhood closely connected to wildlife – from majestic elephants to spotted wild leopards. She talks to the animals and they react. She reads their body language and understands the sounds they make. The pictures her parents took of her and her furry friends as animal film makers are incredibly moving. Her unique ability to communicate with wild animals not only opens up a magical window…

Nearly everybody loves ladybugs. Many a poet has serenaded them in their poetry – even the Brothers Grimm. Ladybugs have even become one of the most important symbols of luck there is. What’s more, all gardening fans count themselves very lucky if these little guys feel at home in their plant paradise. That’s why, in German, they’re also known as “Glückskäfer”, or “lucky beetles”. Just as May beetles are out in May, ladybugs are out in June… some places in Germany even celebrate ladybug festivals! Read on to find out why this is, and to learn many more astonishing facts…

Cunning comic hero, rebellious cartoon character, cute main character in children’s stories, the famous rabbit drawn by Albrecht Dürer, Master Lamp from the fairy tales or, of course, the Easter bunny: hardly any other animal is such a widespread star in literature, art & culture, film and TV. Roger Rabbit, Bugs Bunny (who even has a star on the Walk of Fame in LA), Peter Rabbit and many of their pals and friends are loved by young and old alike. And the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland by author Lewis Carroll has achieved cult status. The real animals are…

Not only are goats exceedingly charming animals with impressive, timeless hairstyles – they are also real masters of survival and agility. These four-legged friends with horns have more brains than many people would give them credit for at first glance. They have conquered the world. It seems as though no obstacle is too great for the goat. And, what’s more – they’re incredibly cute! At the same time, we shouldn’t forget that, regretfully, the main reason that humans keep goats is for their milk and their meat. In many regions of the world, goat is the most commonly eaten meat…

It is often the unexpected encounters and experiences that one recalls. While researching our article on sanctuaries, we had one of those moving encounters with four turkey hens and a male one. I’m Johannes and am part of the Velivery editorial team. Today I would like to tell you about the turkeys that captured my daughter’s and my heart. While we were researching sanctuaries for the article, we found the ‘Land of the Animals’ – a sanctuary for farm animals, which is run by a vegan community totally devoted to animals. Because the farm is not very far from our…

Everyone who eats a plant-based diet is already protecting animals. Many choose a life without animal products because they reject the unfair treatment of our furry friends on this planet as well as animal rearing conditions especially factory farming. This is the calling of people who work in sanctuaries. People who are consistent in actively advocating for animals in need. We have zoomed in on the subject of sanctuaries in order to present you with some food for thought. Animal welfare has a long tradition dating back to ancient times. But although progress has also been made, there are still…

Bees enjoy a great reputation. In Germany, everyone knows the famous children’s cartoon about a bee called Maja, and her best friend Willi. But their reputation doesn’t stop there. As busy bees in the truest sense, these multi-talented little creatures are not only fundamentally important for any plant with blossoms or shoots – they are, above all, known and loved for their high productivity rate which provides real treasures: sweet honey, wonderfully-scented wax and soothing propolis are three good reasons to explain why people keep bees. As their products are so precious, there is almost no other animal population which…

Here at velivery, animals are very close to our hearts. To help us better understand the animals we share our planet with, we want to make a habit of taking a closer look at some astounding animals and how they behave. This time, we’re heading to the sea to take a look at the octopus. This cephalopod gets its name from the Greek words oktṓ (“eight”) and poús (“foot”) and means, loosely translated, “eight-footed”. In German, octopi are also known by the term “Kraken”, and they are classified as a species of squid. So let’s take a closer look at…

We all have that one friend who knows everything about us. Who listens when we’re full of crazy ideas or when we have the weight of the whole world on our shoulders. That friend we can call if our car breaks down on the motorway in the middle of the night. Whose door we knock on when we need a safe place to retreat to. But we humans aren’t the only ones capable of real friendship and empathy. Friendships exist between animals, too. And they can exist between animals of different species, colors, sizes and destinies. Some animal friendships exist…

Thanks to the branding of a particular brand of European chocolate, some European children imagine cows as being lilac, and as passing their time on mountaintops where they make delicious chocolate. When they grow up, the lilac chocolate fantasy is replaced by a rather boring idea of cows: ruminant, slow and lactating, cows are generally seen less as cute or sweet and instead as cumbersomely large. The situation gets even more precarious for factory-farmed cows. All that counts is how much milk they can produce. The more liters they can produce per day, the better. They are also judged by…

Goose season is here again. Different species of wild geese have come together and are making their way south. The north of Germany, in particular, is an area that’s known worldwide by ornithologists (who study birds) who go there to witness the spectacle of umpteen thousand geese coming together alongside other bird species to set off on their annual migration. While their relations commence their long journeys (often of over 6000km), domestic geese in Germany have a not-so-nice time ahead of them: they’re about to be eaten to celebrate St Martin’s Day or Christmas. Thousands of animals have to lose…

Good friends stick by you through thick and thin. True friends will never let you down, whatever scrapes you get yourselves into. True friends are friends for life. Friendship can have so many beautiful facets, and it’s always astounding to learn where and how friends find each other. Here’s an example of how friendship is not limited to a single species, or even limited to human beings. In fact, that couldn’t be further from the goose. “Goose, Highland bull together 10 years” – this was the title of an article in the Gisborne Herald. The small, New Zealand-based regional daily…

Samson the pig’s life was nearing its end, but he didn’t want to end up as ham. He was spending his latter years in a horsebox which had originally been intended for ponies. Every morning, he slid open the door and went out to have his morning wash. Pigs are very clean animals. Even if the typical image of a pig suggests something very different, these animals keep strict separation between the places they eat, sleep and go to the toilet in. After his daily morning stroll, Samson picked up his “friend” Maria from the neighboring pen – the chicken…