Lonely sheep, like lonely people, are much happier when they see pictures of friends and family. A group at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge has found that the sight of a friendly face reduces stress in sheep
When state Fish and Wildlife agents recently found a black bear passed out on the lawn of Baker Lake Resort, there were some clues scattered nearby — around three dozen empty cans of Rainier Beer. It seems he tried the Busch beer, that was also in the cache, but didn’t like it — via Rogue Sun
A giant colony of ants stretching 100km has been discovered in Melbourne, threatening local insect species. The ants, which were imported from Argentina, are ranked among the world’s 100 worst animal invaders. Although they exist in their usual smaller group size in their homeland, the colonies have merged in Australia to create one massive super colony
A Mowgli-like wild boy who appears to have been raised by a dog since he was three months old has been discovered living in a remote part of Siberia seven years after he was abandoned by his parents
My cat has the power of Mr Miyagi or some other karate dude who can break thick planks of wood with their head. On sunday evening Jasper was running about in super-hyper-kitty-mode. Mum was opening a cupboard door made of 1/2 inch thick tasmanian oak or something, and Jasper just ran straight through it splitting the wood in twain!
I could totally understand if he broke it off its hinges, but no, he actually split the wood. Jasper is a little over a year old so he’s still a littlish cat, but clearly there is martial artistry in his blood.
I might change his name to Grasshopper.
While studying ground squirrels, researchers noticed that some of them made faint whispering sounds, as if they had lost their voices. But when these silent screams
were processed by a bat detector, an abundance of ultrasound was detected. The researchers believe the whispers might be secret alarm calls — that the squirrels’ predators cannot hear — via meta-roj blog
A new-born baby rhinoceros in a Berlin zoo is in plaster after his mother carelessly trod on his foot one day after his birth. Patna, born last week to mother Betty and father Belur, will have to wear a plaster cast on his left lower leg for up to five weeks to heal a broken leg
A Texas man, Richard Swift, was charged with animal cruelty in the death of a young dog whose snout was taped shut to prevent it from barking and disturbing his afternoon nap. The prick then booted it outside for several hours in 35°C heat, the dog could not cool down by panting and had to be euthanised after suffering from heat stroke
Pilgrim, a supplier for Kentucky Fried Chicken, suspended a worker without pay and is investigating three others after an animal rights group released video of workers kicking, stomping and throwing birds against walls at a West Virginia plant
The US Fish and Wildlife Service is planning to drop Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the eastern United States, despite the fact that the removal of protections would likely preclude the return of wolves to their historical range in the Northeast. Although wolves in the upper-Midwest have made many gains, and now number more than 3,000 in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, wolf experts believe that the Northeast has prime wolf habitat and could support a population of the canines. The new plan would make it difficult to either reintroduce wolves in the Northeast, or protect those that naturally migrate from Canada
Goldfish could be banned as prizes at fairs and children prohibited from buying pets under a new UK draft animal welfare bill. Ministers believe children under 16 are not mature enough to have pets
Italy is finally cracking down on the many fickle pet owners who dump their cat or dog on the roadside as they head to the beach for their summer vacation
Miners once used canaries to judge whether a mine was safe from poisonous gases and now Australian scientists at the University of Melbourne are using insects found in your garden to measure carcinogenic arsenic levels in old gold mines
A US motorist found a slithery surprise not covered in his rental car agreement when a ball python stuck its head out from between his legs. He was completely in shock,
said Madison, Wisconsin, police officer Laura Walker. I mean, he said he was lucky he didn’t crash the car
The Iranian daily newspaper Etemaad has reported the controversial story of a woman who claims to have given birth to a frog. While it is unclear how this could have happened, the paper carries quotes from medical experts who say there are human characteristics to the animal. It has been speculated that the woman, who has not been named, unknowingly picked up the larva while she was swimming in a dirty pool — via Die Puny Humans
Have a geezer at my kitten, Olaf. He’s named after Olaf Stapledon. He’s an odd beast, and he demands breakfast by punching my eyeball vigorously at 6am. I think the patch on his nose makes him resemble a koala.
He’s nine months old and already the size of a wombat (or something furry that’s bigger than a breadbox, at any rate). Neibi and I got him from the Cat Protection Society, and he came with free microchip, vaccinations, and acute ringworm.
A blind man drove a golf cart for two miles through the winding streets of Peachtree City, accompanied by his guide dog — and an inebriated friend giving instructions — before running into a parked car
An angry buzzard is terrorising a quiet English country road by dive-bombing passing cyclists. Paul Taylor, 71, says the bird of prey used its beak and claws to rip a three-inch gash in his head as he cycled along the stretch of road near Holsworthy in Devon, western England
Virtual, moving fences controlled from a laptop could one day herd cattle to fresh fields for grazing. A farmer would control multiple herds from a single server at home as if they were playing a video game. Although static virtual fences already keep dogs inside yards in affluent US neighbourhoods, no-one has attempted a moving virtual fence before, nor attempted to apply the idea to large herds of animals. Basically we download the fences to the cows,
says Zack Butler, of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. We say: ‘Today stay here, tomorrow go somewhere else
The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently reported that a record 55 red wolf pups [BugMeNot] have been born in 11 litters in North Carolina this spring. More than 100 red wolves now roam 1.5 million acres in the northeastern part of the state. This year’s promising wolf census comes on the heels of a judge’s decision that temporarily halted the building of a landing field by the US Navy that Defenders and others charged would be harmful to wolves and migratory birds in the area
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