Researchers discovered a legless lizard and a tiny woodpecker along with 12 other suspected new species in Brazil’s Cerrado, one of the world’s 34 biodiversity conservation hotspots.
The Cerrado’s wooded grassland once covered an area half the size of Europe, but is now being converted to cropland and ranchland at twice the rate of the neighboring [...]
Continue reading about Legless Lizard And Tiny Woodpecker Among New Species Discovered In Brazil
You have to feel sorry for vultures. For animal campaigners they are a difficult case. Other, more photogenic, slightly less sinister creatures may gain the world’s sympathy at the drop of a hat, but raising money to save the world’s most proficient scavenger is a different matter.
As far as the Asian vulture is [...]
Continue reading about Dead as a dodo? Why scientists fear for the future of of the Asian vulture
The idea that some animals navigate by “seeing” Earth’s magnetic field has been shown to be feasible in laboratory tests, a new study says.
First proposed about 30 years ago, the theory suggests that sunlight absorbed by molecules in the eyes of animals such as birds and bats triggers a chemical reaction.
This reaction [...]
Continue reading about Animals Use “Chemical Compasses,” Study Says
Yeah, zoos are fun. So are cartoons. And I certainly see the appeal of a teddy bear.
But why are kids so over-the-top crazy about animals? I am especially struck by the fact that some of the most popular cartoon and children’s-book animals are among the least appealing animals in real life. Mice, for instance. [...]
Growing up, my family had a much-beloved dog, Paddy-Wack (”Knick knack paddy wack, give your dog a bone…”), but we don’t have a pet now. I’m very thankful that our building doesn’t allow them, because the Big Girl would constantly be pestering me about it, if not. I definitely wouldn’t want the responsibility of having [...]
A storm is brewing, which means that coastal fisherman Zbignew Struck, 46, is taking in his salmon nets in the Bay of Puck in Poland.
“The storm could tangle the nets”, he says from the cabin of his boat.
There is another reason for the haste: Struck has cast his nets into the sea without permission.
“I [...]
Continue reading about Rampant overfishing endangers Baltic fish stocks
The mission was to get Simba al-Tikriti out of Iraq and to a new life in Britain.
First, a roadside bomb nearly wiped out the taxi heading to the border with Kuwait. The next step was to hide under tarps in the back of a truck. More hardship awaited: six months caged by authorities in England.
But [...]
Continue reading about The `Cat Lady of Baghdad’ battles on, saving strays of Iraq
New York has become the first state in the nation to ban the electrocution of animals in a particularly gruesome way to harvest their fur.
The law bans the practice of anal and genital electrocution of fur-bearing animals, including mink, foxes, chinchillas and rabbits. The misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail.
National animal [...]
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When Gary Mikus learned that an incurable nerve disease was starting to paralyze the hind legs of his German shepherd, he immediately dismissed the idea of putting the dog to sleep.
Then he spotted an ad in a pet food store: “Eddie’s Wheels For Pets. Help for Handicapped Pets.” Now the dog named Bear, which has [...]
Continue reading about Custom wheelchairs recover mobility for pets
German scientists are engaging bats to kick-start natural reforestation in the tropics by installing artificial bat roosts in deforested areas. This novel method for tropical restoration is presented in a new study published online in the science journal Conservation Biology this week. Detlev Kelm from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin [...]
