Does this portend a future war between apes and humanity? Local media in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are interpreting a spate of chimp violence perpetrated against people as motivated by…
Animals
Coyote: “Hi I’m a coyote, we’re from out of town!” Scientist: “There goes the neighbourhood!” Newly discovered urban coyotes could be an early sign that larger carnivores will soon start to eye…
Today, this news, tomorrow, a bird parliament. Crows living in a controlled environment have shown that they possess a sophisticated form of reasoning believed to be a hallmark of humanity alone, Wired…
May we hold animals accountable for their actions in a court of law? Via Maisonneuve, Drew Nelles on the surprisingly widespread historical practice, including the lynching of an elephant, the excommunication of…
The rich, complex musical symphonies produced by nature are now being irrevocably destroyed. The Guardian writes: When musician and naturalist Bernie Krause drops his microphones into the pristine coral reef waters of…
Isn’t culture supposed to be what separates us from the animals? Now what does humanity have that sets us apart, just toilets and puns? Live Science writes: These chimp handshakes, which are…
When I have children someday, our weekend afternoon trips will be to the other zoo. Atlas Obscura on your new favorite cultural institution, the Portland, Maine-based Cryptozoology Museum, which offers Bigfoot poop,…
I see a future of interspecies jazz combos. Via the Indian Express: Elephants “sing” like humans but at a frequency so low we can’t hear them, scientists have claimed. Researchers have found…
Most of the pet-oriented phone apps have been dismal as one would expect (chasing a virtual mouse bouncing across the screen, et cetera), but Paint for Cats should be cherished for allowing…
Watch your back, because the zoo animals we imprison are plotting against us and growing smarter by the day. Is it morally acceptable to hold in bondage creatures intelligent enough to craft tools and devise a path to freedom? Via Digital Journal:
Five chimps caused panic at a German zoo after they escaped using a ladder constructed out of tree branches. In a separate incident, police in Las Vegas shot and killed a chimp and tranquilized another after they escaped.
Jurassic Park fifty years prior? Cabinet Magazine on a strange form of zoology in Nazi Germany, centered around the cordoning off of untainted forests for the re-creation of pure, ancient breeds of…
Writes Ed Yong on Discovery News:
To become both a lover and a fighter, the male spider Nephilengys malabarensis snaps off his penis inside his partner while they have sex. He becomes better at fending off other males who try to mate with her, because his now-lightened body can fight for longer without tiring. And while he’s playing the guardian, his detached genitals can continue pumping sperm into the female. Through self-castration, he gets more stamina, and he gets more stamina.
I first wrote about the self-castrating spider a few months ago. Then, Daiqin Li from the National University of Singapore confirmed that the severed penis continues to pump sperm into the female. That allows the newly minted eunuch to fertilise her remotely, while also blocking the way to other males…
Via CTV News:
More than a century’s worth of matrimony wasn’t enough to keep them together.
After 115 years as an item, two tortoises at an Austrian zoo have decided to call it quits.
Trouble began recently when Bibi and Poldi started to pester one another in the cage they’ve shared at the Klagenfurt Austrian Zoo, where they’ve resided for 36 years.
The two hulking creatures grew up together and, until now, have been inseparable. But now, the star-crossed tortoises refuse to share a cage with one another. “We get the feeling they can’t stand the sight of each other anymore,” Zoo Director Helga Happ told Austrian Times.
Reports Talia Ralph on Global Post: Animal poachers in India can now be shot on sight, after lawmakers in the western state of Maharashtra passed legislation Wednesday to defend tigers, elephants, and…
I wonder if the military will discover any conscientiousness objectors using this technology with the dolphins they have been training. While it is public knowledge they are used to rescue naval swimmers…
A touching story, courtesy of The Delight Makers: Author and legendary conservationist Lawrence Anthony died March 7. His family tells of a solemn procession on March 10 that defies human explanation. For…
I remember reading long ago an article about how man’s own psychological and sociological biases can shape how they view scientific phenomenon. (Sadly, as this was in the pre-Internet days, I can’t…
Add one more expensive and unnecessary expenditure to the many made by obsessive dog owners: an MRI scan to reveal their innermost thoughts. Via LiveScience:
Fido’s expressive face, including those longing puppy-dog eyes, may lead owners to wonder what exactly is going on in that doggy’s head. Scientists decided to find out, using brain scans to explore the minds of our canine friends.
The researchers, who detailed their findings May 2 in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, were interested in understanding the human-dog relationship from the four-legged perspective.
“When we saw those first [brain] images, it was unlike anything else,”…
Fair to say there is a serious problem within government when it accidentally kills a symbol of its country…? Disturbing report from Tom Knudson in the Sacramento Bee: …in most cases, they…
Ann Gibbons writes on Science: When human ancestors began scavenging for meat regularly on the open plains of Africa about 2.5 million years ago, they apparently took more than their fair share…
Imagine if our ancestors hadn’t stumbled upon Australia, and the continent were still populated with its magically large fauna of thousands of years ago. UPI writes: Human hunting caused the extinction of…
The Economist notes that in our strange and economically unstable times, many are turning to eating meats from odder, less desirable animals. One tidbit is that mad-cow disease has broken out in…
Reports the AP via Newsday: For the first time, scientists have found evidence of flu in bats, reporting a never-before-seen virus whose risk to humans is unclear. The surprising discovery of genetic…
Elizabeth Flock writes in Washington Post
If you were watching the Oscars … you would have seen an ad that said only one percent of the money the Humane Society of the United States raises from the public goes to local, hands-on pet shelters. The ad was financed by a Web site called HumaneWatch.org.
But are the reports genuine?
Both Web sites that released the reports are part of the Center for Consumer Freedom, an NGO founded by Richard Berman, a Washington D.C., lawyer, public relations executive, and lobbyist. Berman runs at least 20 others pro-business non-profit Web sites, including TeachersUnionExposed.com, FishScam.com and ActivistCash.com. Berman has long come under fire by activists who say his NGOs are “front groups” used to lobby for corporate interests. A site called Bermanexposed.org is entirely devoted to investigating Berman and the studies his groups has released.
It’s hard to even fathom an imaginary creature as good this — presenting the world’s best animal, chameleons that lay golden eggs and can stand on a match tip, found on a…