Many animals share human characteristics such as problem-solving and game-playing, and display various forms of intelligent behavior. Here are some videos that may surprise you. Skateboarding dogs Dogs who have learned how to skateboard seem acquisto cialis on line to love it, and there are plenty of videos on YouTube of skateboarding dogs. I like [more...]
Chimpanzees are the closest living relatives of humans, in terms of the similarity of their DNA. Although thousands of chimpanzees are held in captivity around the world, the public is rarely able to interact closely with them. However, at Tenerife’s Monkey Park (in the Canary Islands) it’s possible to touch a chimpanzee. At Monkey Park [more...]
It caused some consternation when viewers discovered that the polar bear cubs in the BBC’s “Frozen Planet: Winter” documentary were filmed in an artificial den at a zoo. While showing a snow-covered arctic hill, David Attenborough narrated: “Beneath the snow, new lives are beginning”. The scene then showed a mother polar bear with her tiny [more...]
(This is a guest post) Humans are omnivorous. Meat is a pillar of our diet, that enabled our continued evolution to larger brains. But there are limits. We don't consume our kin—cannabalism incurs universal opprobrium. And we extend our kin to include great apes like the chimpanzee. Globally there is now also a veritable outrage over Japan's [more...]
There’s a widespread belief that swans can cause considerable harm. In the United Kingdom, many people “know” that a swan is strong enough to break an arm with its kick. In other places, people believe that a swan can break an arm with a whack from its wing, or with a jolt of its beak. [more...]
Most people are familiar with the words canine (relating to dogs) and feline (relating to cats), but many other animals or animal groups get their own adjective. These are called collateral adjectives, and are generally derived from the genitive form of the Latin genus name. Here is a list of collateral adjectives. Ant: myrmecine. Bear: [more...]
An elephant is a remarkable animal, and I am fortunate to have had the privilege to be able to touch one. The skin of an elephant, as you might expect, is tough and rough. It’s also wrinkled into deep folds, and more than likely to be covered in parts by a thin layer of mud [more...]
A game reserve combines nature conservation with travel and adventure. Some game reserves also incorporate animal tracking and hunting, but those are not the kind of game reserves we’re discussing here. We’ll take as our example the game parks run by SANParks, the South African National Parks authority. The game reserves are huge tracts of [more...]
Many people yearn to see large African animals in the wild—and many African countries have game reserves where elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes and lions roam free. But there’s a catch—how to avoid the risk of contracting malaria? Malaria is a dangeous and sometimes life-threatening disease. The cause of the disease is a parasite of the [more...]
The Labrador Retriever is one of the most popular dog breeds worldwide. According to American Kennel Club (AKC) dog registration statistics, the Labrador Retriever has been America’s top registered breed for the last 18 years. Ranking of the most popular dogs in the U.S. (2008) 1. Labrador Retriever 2. Yorkshire Terrier 3. German Shepherd Dog 4. [more...]
UK supermarkets now label some meat, fish, and eggs as “freedom food” or “freedom foods”. If this sounds pretty much the same as free range food to you, look again. You may have been confused by the similar-sounding words free and freedom. ‘Freedom Food’ is the name of a programme designed to improve the lives [more...]
According to a 2007 Harris poll (1), 88% percent of pet owners consider their pets members of their family, and as family members they also receive holiday gifts and birthday presents. Sixty-five percent of pet owners have bought their pet a holiday present and thirty-seven percent have bought their pet a birthday present. Dogs – 71% [more...]
In an earlier article, we looked at ways in which scientists could control the movement of rats and other animals by radio control. Those ratbots were living animals with electrodes implanted in their brain and connected to a radio control receiver. Now we look at the reverse situation – using the brain cells of a [more...]
According to the AVMA (1), there are more than 72 million pet dogs in the U.S. and nearly 82 million pet cats. Ownership A little more than 43 million households own dogs and nearly 37.5 million households own cats. The average number of dogs per household is 1.7. Cat owning households have an average of [more...]
Since 2002 it has been possible to remotely guide rats under human control. John Chapin and Sanjiv Tawlar achieved this at the State University of New York. The rat is fitted with a tiny backpack which contains a radio receiver. There are wires from the receiver into a part of the rat’s brain called the [more...]
The story of goats climbing trees sounds like a hoax, doesn’t it? But goats in Morocco can climb the argan tree, and a dozen or more goats can be found in one tree at the same time. The goats climb the trees to eat the small fruit. They either spit out, or excrete undigested, the [more...]
Travel to Yellowstone National Park or the Black Hills of South Dakota, and chances are that you’ll run across a herd of hefty mammals known as buffalo — or are they bison? In American English they’re the same species, although some language purists would insist that you refer to the animals as bison alone. Here’s [more...]