tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77619235200198011292024-03-13T08:40:25.472-04:00PawpertyAnimals, Animals, Animals!Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-81965942616624222012016-05-22T12:04:00.002-04:002016-05-22T12:36:15.267-04:00Biscuit After SurgeryBiscuit recovered from Surgery and went on to lead what I think is the best life we could have possibly given him. He had a terrible swish in his hind legs when he walked so we knew that if arthritis kicked in it wouldn't be pretty. No one ever knew for certain how old Biscuit was when he was rescued - the guesstimate was 8 or 9. But who knows? He was up there for sure though he still had loads of life in him. He loved, loved, loved to walk. He would take his leash off the hook and bring it to us.
The first 2 years we had him, I lost my job so I was home for during that time trying to make a career of freelance writing. In that time, the bond Biscuit and I had was not something very easy to describe. It was different from Bali and Bella. I suppose a lot of it had to do with the horrible life he had before he got to us. He was fixated on me, definitely my dog. He loved us both but no doubt his loyalty was to me. Given his age, I knew we wouldn't have him for a long time. I tried to imagine life without him (I'm morbid that way) but I couldn't. Can you ever, really? Imagine it, I mean. Turns out we had him for 6 six years in all and the end was something I would rather forget if I could.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IMZ0U9Txa5o/V0HX7sRf1TI/AAAAAAAAAQw/CLXl-IlkUqE2YXi6qytLLIIlTZerwQSSwCLcB/s1600/Bisc%2Bon%2Bcouch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IMZ0U9Txa5o/V0HX7sRf1TI/AAAAAAAAAQw/CLXl-IlkUqE2YXi6qytLLIIlTZerwQSSwCLcB/s320/Bisc%2Bon%2Bcouch.jpg" /></a></div>Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-35935516657470873212016-05-21T21:05:00.001-04:002016-05-21T21:05:53.800-04:00BiscuitThe head of Rosie Animal Adoption told me that when Biscuit was rescued, it was from one of the worst and most notorious puppy mills in Quebec (more on Quebec puppy mills another time). That said, it was a government agency that intervened on the rescue and the case was so hush hush, that no information about Biscuit could be released as it was before the courts. All I was told was that Biscuit was in very bad shape when rescued - he was so fat he could hardly walk (either puppy mills free feed or barely feed at all I was told), he had ear mites, eye infections, his teeth were rotting...you get the picture. It also seems as though he may have lived in someone's home as he knew all his basic commands for sit, down, stay...upon rescue, he was transported to a vet in the city of Lasalle, where he was cleaned up and neutered.
When we picked him up from the couple fostering him and got him home, he attached himself right to me. It was clear he had never been on furniture as when invited up he didn't seem to know what to do. Didn't take him long to figure it out.
There was something really weird though: he had a very large testicle that was hanging from his back end. It was never quite explained to us and I couldn't understand it since he had been neutered. We took him into to see our own vet and at the time, he had a student following him around the office. He took him aside to discuss the testicle but left it at that, so we left the vet's office and didn't think anything of it.
I woke up Christmas morning to find Biscuit lying in the living room panting. He had also gone to the bathroom in the house - unusual given we were told and saw for ourselves how clean he was. The testicle was also really hot. I called my sister-in-law (hubby was working) to pick me up and take him to the 24 emergency vet. When we got there I called Rosie's and they said no matter what it is, they would pay for it and they would get there as quick as they could. When the vet examined him, I was told he was going into septic shock and that whoever neutered him had botched the job. Rosie's arrived and the vet gave us 2 scenarios: they do surgery and if the infection has moved into his abdomen, they may not be able to save him. If the infection hasn't moved, it would likely be a good outcome. Cost: close to $4000. Rosie's said they are in the business of saving animals so go ahead and do the surgery. I don't know how we would have done it, but we would have found the money even though Biscuit had only been with us 3 days. I was already attached. There was no Go Fund at that time.
Biscuit had the best possible outcome: infection hadn't moved and they were able to clean him up and remove that unsightly testicle. No climbing or jumping for a while so I set up a mattress in the living room and slept with him and Bella there.
Here is Biscuit after Surgery and with Bella on the mattress - Biscuit is on the mattress and Bella is half on half off lol
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Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-32770119953395364382016-05-21T18:27:00.000-04:002016-05-21T18:31:08.362-04:00Death of your DogIf you're anything like me when it comes to dogs you have had that have died, you think that when they do go, there can never possibly be another that you will feel as close to or love more than you did the one before. I have had 3 dogs and I know that that's what I thought every time one of them died. Bali and Bella were the first. They were a male and female black and blonde Lab respectively. They died about 6 months apart. They were both 14 years old. I had never intended to have to go through that so close together, but when you rescue a dog, their age is their age. As it turns out, Bella, the rescued one, was only 6 months younger than Bali. It's going on about 7 years now since they both went to Rainbow Bridge. What a wonderful notion that is, the Bridge. A place where all dogs go after they die, where they are free of any and all pain they may have suffered. Where they can run free to their heart's content. Where the saying goes, that they will meet you there too one day. I don't know what I believe in after death...I want to believe there's something. I wish I could know for sure...if it Rainbow Bridge, or something like it, well, what more is there to say?
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After Bali and Bella, came our blond Lab Biscuit. I remember the first time the vet saw him, he said, wow, he's about a 1000 biscuits! He was a big boy, no doubt. Biggest Lab I ever saw. Close to 100 pounds when we got him. Outside of the SPCA, I didn't know much about dog rescue. I mean, I guess I knew that these organizations existed but I just never paid much attention. Rosie Animal Adoption came to me not long after Bali's death. We still had Bella but while she was still with us, her age had caught up to her and she was a shell of her old self. I guess with Bali being my first dog, having had him from the time he was 8 weeks old and having been with me through so many heart aches and difficulties, it only deepened the grief I felt when he died. I started looking online for another male Lab, maybe a week into Bali's death. I don't know what it was I was looking for just that I felt like I needed another dog as quickly as possible. I wasn't trying to erase Bali's memory or replace him (or maybe I was) but I was so distraught I felt like if I had the distraction of another dog to care for, the pain might not be so bad. I came upon Biscuit's picture and told my husband that this was the one. He said how can you know that, you never even met him. I said I just know.
I placed a call to Rosie's and after they vetted me, I was told I could go and pick Biscuit up. I remember being a little surprised there was no meet and greet with the dog first but at that time, if you were the right adopter in their eyes, the dog was yours. And so it was that Biscuit became ours just 3 days before Christmas.
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Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-48938001564064176352012-11-20T07:00:00.001-05:002012-11-20T07:01:51.650-05:00Chimps and Mid-Life Crisis <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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NEW YORK (AP) — Chimpanzees going through a midlife crisis? It sounds like a setup for a joke.
But there it is, in the title of a report published Monday in a scientific journal: "Evidence for a midlife crisis in great apes."
So what do these apes do? Buy red Ferraris? Leave their mates for some cute young bonobos?
Uh, no.
"I believe no ape has ever purchased a sports car," said Andrew Oswald, an author of the study. But researchers report that captive chimps and orangutans do show the same low ebb in emotional well-being at midlife that some studies find in people.
That suggests the human tendency toward midlife discontent may have been passed on through evolution, rather than resulting simply from the hassles of modern life, said Oswald, a professor of economics at the University of Warwick in England who presented his work Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A second study in the journal looks at a younger age group and finds that happiness in youth can lead to higher income a few years down the road.
More on that later. Let's get back to those apes.
Several studies have concluded that happiness in human adults tends to follow a certain course between ages 20 and 70: It starts high and declines over the years to reach a low point in the late 40s, then turns around and rises to another peak at 70. On a graph, that's a U-shaped pattern. Some researchers question whether that trend is real, but to Oswald the mystery is what causes it.
"This is one of the great patterns of human life. We're all going to slide along this U for good or ill," he said. "So what explains it?"
When he learned that others had been measuring well-being in apes, "it just seemed worth pursuing the hunch that the U might be more general than in humans," he said.
He and co-authors assembled data on 508 great apes from zoos and research centers in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Singapore and Japan. Caretakers and other observers had filled out a four-item questionnaire to assess well-being in the apes. The questions asked such things as the degree to which each animal was in a positive or negative mood, how much pleasure it got from social situations, and how successful it was in achieving goals. The raters were even asked how happy they would be if they were the animal for a week.
Sounds wacky? Oswald and his co-authors say research suggests it's a valid approach. And they found that the survey results produced that familiar U-shaped curve, adjusted to an ape's shorter lifespan.
"We find it for these creatures that don't have a mortgage and don't have to go to work and don't have marriage and all the other stuff," Oswald said. "It's as though the U shape is deep in the biology of humans" rather than a result of uniquely human experiences.
Yes, apes do have social lives, so "it could still be something human-like that we share with our social cousins," he said. "But our result does seem to push away the likelihood that it's dominantly something to do with human life."
Oswald said it's not clear what the evolutionary payoff might be from such discontent. Maybe it prods parents to be restless, "to help find new worlds for the next generation to breed," he said.
Frans de Waal, an authority in primate behavior at Emory University, cautioned that when people judge the happiness of apes, there may be a "human bias." But in an email he called the results "intuitively correct" and said the notion of biological influence over the human pattern is "an intriguing possibility."
Even happiness researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California, Riverside, who thinks the U-shaped pattern in people is a statistical mirage, says she can't write off the ape result the same way. "I'm not really sure what it means," she said. "I am finding this very intriguing." Maybe it will spur more thinking about what's going on in both apes and humans, she said.
Oswald is also an author of a second report in the journal that finds new evidence that being happy can help young people earn more money later on. Prior research had also reached that conclusion, but Lyubomirsky and University of Virginia psychology professor Shige Oishi called the new work the best evidence yet.
"Wow," Oishi said in an email. "This is a very strong paper" in its approach.
Researchers drew on data from a huge sample of young Americans who were surveyed repeatedly. They were asked to rate their positive feelings such as happiness and hopefulness at age 16 and again at 18, and their satisfaction with life at 22. Researchers then compared their ratings with their income around age 29. The data came from nearly 15,000 participants at age 16, and at least 11,000 at the latter two ages.
Higher income at age 29 was consistently linked to greater happiness at the earlier ages. The least happy 16-year-olds, for example, went on to average about $10,000 a year less than the happiest. That disparity shrank by about half when the researchers statistically removed the effect of other influences such as ethnicity, health and education.
A happiness effect even appeared between siblings within their own families.
What's going on? Most likely, happiness raises productivity and helps a person work effectively with others, factors that promote success in the workplace, Oswald said. The study found that happier people were more likely to get a college degree and get hired and promoted.
Ed Diener, an authority on happiness research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said optimism probably plays a role because it helps people persist in their efforts and take on difficult goals. Since several studies, including his own, have now linked happiness to later income, that idea seems reliable, he said.
Parents should recognize that "the psychological well-being of their children is important in how well the kids will do in simple dollar terms later on," Oswald said. And unhappy people should realize that they might have to strive harder than others to focus on work and promotion rather than their unhappiness, he said.
By: Malcolm RitterPawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-80350839473399084112012-11-17T09:06:00.001-05:002012-11-17T09:06:49.306-05:00Extraordinary white humpback whale documented off Norway<a href="http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/41905/extraordinary+white+humpback+whale+documented+off+norway/#.UKeZ9JM9rJY.blogger">Extraordinary white humpback whale documented off Norway</a>Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-70628210934937919232012-11-17T09:05:00.001-05:002012-11-17T09:05:51.765-05:00Orcas scare diver from water, then pursue dog toward shore (video)<a href="http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/41898/orcas+scare+diver+from+water+then+pursue+dog+toward+shore+video/#.UKeZswXy-1c.blogger">Orcas scare diver from water, then pursue dog toward shore (video)</a>Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-38337187685876669592012-09-13T19:08:00.000-04:002012-09-13T19:08:41.116-04:00New monkey species discovered; only second such find in 28 years<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Scientists in the Democratic Republic of Congo claim they have discovered a new species of monkey, making it only the second such discovery in nearly 30 years.
The claim is published in the journal Plos One, in which the team of U.S. scientists have named the find Cercopithecus Lomamiensis. The team says the monkey, which locals call the Lesula, has been known among inhabitants of the Congo's Lomami forest basin for years but had never been seen by the outside world until now.
"We never expected to find a new species there," said the project's lead scientist, John Hart. "But the Lomami basin is a very large block that has had very little exploration by biologists."
The Lesula has large yellow eyes, a long narrow nose and a pink-colored face under its golden fur. It is reportedly very shy, requiring Hart's team to set up remote monitoring devices to detect the animals in their natural habitat.
Interestingly, the team first made its apparent discovery when scientists came across an unidentified monkey tethered to a post and belonging to the daughter of a local schoolteacher.
"Right away I saw that this was something different," Hart said. "It looked a bit like a monkey from much further east, but the coloring was so different and the range was so different."
For three years, Hart worked with geneticists and anthropologists as he labored to determine whether the monkey actually belonged to a previously unclassified species.
"I knew it was important to have a collaborative team of experts," he said.
Eventually an ancient, common genetic ancestry was linked between the Lesula and the Owl Face monkey. Scientists at New York University and Florida Atlantic University say they believe the species' split may have occurred after a series of rivers broke apart the animal's natural habitat.
Hart is working with Congolese authorities to establish a national park in the basin that will help protect the Lesula and other animals that reside there.
"The challenge now is to make the Lesula an iconic species that carries the message for conservation of all of DR Congo's endangered fauna," Hart said.
By Eric Pfeiffer, Yahoo! NewsPawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-18422563080613827222012-09-13T19:05:00.000-04:002012-09-13T19:05:27.556-04:00Dog stands guard over deceased owner’s grave for six years<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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An extremely dedicated dog has continued to show its loyalty, keeping watch on its owner's grave six years after he passed away.
Capitan, a German shepherd, reportedly ran away from home after its owner, Miguel Guzman, died in 2006. A week later, the Guzman family found the dog sitting by his grave in central Argentina.
Miguel Guzman adopted Capitan in 2005 as a gift for his teenage son, Damian. And for the past six years, Capitan has continued to stand guard at Miguel's grave. The family says the dog rarely leaves the site.
"We searched for him, but he had vanished," widow Veronica Guzman told LaVoz.com. "We thought he must have got run over and died.
'The following Sunday we went to the cemetery, and Damian recognized his pet. Capitan came up to us, barking and wailing as if he were crying."
Adding to the unusual circumstances, Veronica says the family never brought Capitan to the cemetery before he was discovered there.
"It is a mystery how he managed to find the place," she said.
Cemetery director Hector Baccega says he and his staff have begun feeding and taking care of Capitan.
"He turned up here one day, all on his own, and started wandering all around the cemetery until he eventually found the tomb of his master," Baccega said.
"During the day he sometimes has a walk around the cemetery, but always rushes back to the grave. And every day, at six o'clock sharp, he lies down on top of the grave, stays there all night."
But the Guzman family hasn't abandoned Capitan. Damian says the family has tried to bring Capitan home several times but that he always returns to the cemetery on his own.
"I think he's going to be there until he dies, too. He's looking after my dad," he said.
By Eric Pfeiffer, Yahoo! News
Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-29916784801123248012012-06-25T19:47:00.002-04:002012-06-25T19:47:55.886-04:00Bulldog Adopts Litter of Orphaned Kittens<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wtCcWTHCCNU/T-j4SO9cAxI/AAAAAAAAANA/G2Q3yjmCS58/s1600/470_2410510.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="224" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wtCcWTHCCNU/T-j4SO9cAxI/AAAAAAAAANA/G2Q3yjmCS58/s320/470_2410510.jpg" /></a>
Molly, a two-year old American Bulldog, is one busy pooch. She gave birth to a litter of puppies only six weeks ago, and now she has a bunch of hungry kittens to look after too.
Related: Kitten Takes 412-mile Ride in Car Bumper
According to the Dothan Eagle, when mother cat "Kitty Kitty" was hit by a car, Molly allowed her four orphaned kittens to nurse. Both dog and cat were raised by Elbert Bristow, 84, of Columbia, Alabama. They gave birth only a day apart. "I've had dogs all my life. I've trained bird dogs and coon dogs," Bristow told the Eagle, "but this is the first time I've ever had a dog take a litter of kittens."
Bristow says the kittens, which include one orange, one white, one grey and white, and one with Siamese-type markings, follow Molly around just like she was their mom. She spends 5 to 10 minutes with them at a time, and lies down and lets them eat. Bristow keeps the puppies separated on another part of his property.
"It is unusual, very unusual," says Bristow. Still, it's not the first time a dog has adopted a kitten. Dogs have been documented mothering cats, piglets, and even baby tigers.
By Sarah B. Weir, Yahoo! blogger | ParentingPawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-2525391020982640212012-06-25T10:57:00.000-04:002012-06-25T10:57:14.631-04:00Animal smarts: What do dolphins and dogs know?<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TWMv1HTk_TY/T-h8FInAneI/AAAAAAAAAMw/_BhzAb4zf0M/s1600/053a0db3b6e97611130f6a706700dc09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="172" width="190" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TWMv1HTk_TY/T-h8FInAneI/AAAAAAAAAMw/_BhzAb4zf0M/s320/053a0db3b6e97611130f6a706700dc09.jpg" /></a>
It's not just man's closer primate relatives that exhibit brain power. Dolphins, dogs and elephants are teaching us a few lessons, too.
Dolphin brains involve completely different wiring from primates, especially in the neocortex, which is central to higher functions such as reasoning and conscious thought.
Dolphins are so distantly related to humans that it's been 95 million years since we had even a remotely common ancestor. Yet when it comes to intelligence, social behavior and communications, some researchers say dolphins come as close to humans as our ape and monkey cousins.
Maybe closer.
"They understand concepts like zero, abstract concepts. They do everything that chimpanzees do and bonobos can do," said Lori Marino, a neuroscientist at Emory University who specializes in dolphin research. "The fact is that they are so different from us and so much like us at the same time."
In recent years, animal researchers have found that thought processes in critters aren't a matter of how closely related they are to humans. You don't have to be a primate to be smart.
Dolphin brains look nothing like human brains, Marino said. Yet, she says, "the more you learn about them, the more you realize that they do have the capacity and characteristics that we think of when we think of a person."
These mammals recognize themselves in the mirror and have a sense of social identity. They not only know who they are, but they also have a sense of who, where and what their groups are. They interact and comprehend the health and feelings of other dolphins so fast it as if they are online with each other, Marino said.
Animal intelligence "is not a linear thing," said Duke University researcher Brian Hare, who studies bonobos, which are one of man's closest relatives, and dogs, which are not.
"Think of it like a toolbox," he said. "Some species have an amazing hammer. Some species have an amazing screwdriver."
For dogs, a primary tool is their obsessive observation of humans and ability to understand human communication, Hare said. For example, dogs follow human pointing so well that they understand it whether it's done with a hand or a foot; chimps don't, said Hare, whose upcoming book is called "The Genius of Dogs."
Then there are elephants.
They empathize, they help each other, they work together. In a classic cooperation game, in which animals only get food if two animals pull opposite ends of a rope at the same time, elephants learned to do that much quicker than chimps, said researcher Josh Plotnik, head of elephant research at the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation in Thailand.
They do even better than monkeys at empathy and rescue, said Plotnik. In the wild, he has seen elephants stop and work together to rescue another elephant that fell in a pit.
"There is something in the environment, in the evolution of this species that is unique," he says.
By SETH BORENSTEIN | Associated PressPawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-29036314349994528242012-06-25T10:54:00.000-04:002012-06-25T10:54:18.694-04:00What was he thinking? Study turns to ape intellect<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yY_ioHQuttg/T-h7UIaTKOI/AAAAAAAAAMk/W6MBVYNsu-U/s1600/332d584db6ef7611130f6a7067004f12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="127" width="190" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yY_ioHQuttg/T-h7UIaTKOI/AAAAAAAAAMk/W6MBVYNsu-U/s320/332d584db6ef7611130f6a7067004f12.jpg" /></a>
The more we study animals, the less special we seem.
Baboons can distinguish between written words and gibberish. Monkeys seem to be able to do multiplication. Apes can delay instant gratification longer than a human child can. They plan ahead. They make war and peace. They show empathy. They share.
"It's not a question of whether they think — it's how they think," says Duke University scientist Brian Hare. Now scientists wonder if apes are capable of thinking about what other apes are thinking.
The evidence that animals are more intelligent and more social than we thought seems to grow each year, especially when it comes to primates. It's an increasingly hot scientific field with the number of ape and monkey cognition studies doubling in recent years, often with better technology and neuroscience paving the way to unusual discoveries.
This month scientists mapping the DNA of the bonobo ape found that, like the chimp, bonobos are only 1.3 percent different from humans.
Says Josep Call, director of the primate research center at the Max Planck Institute in Germany: "Every year we discover things that we thought they could not do."
Call says one of his recent more surprising studies showed that apes can set goals and follow through with them.
Orangutans and bonobos in a zoo were offered eight possible tools — two of which would help them get at some food. At times when they chose the proper tool, researchers moved the apes to a different area before they could get the food, and then kept them waiting as much as 14 hours. In nearly every case, when the apes realized they were being moved, they took their tool with them so they could use it to get food the next day, remembering that even after sleeping. The goal and series of tasks didn't leave the apes' minds.
Call says this is similar to a person packing luggage a day before a trip: "For humans it's such a central ability, it's so important."
For a few years, scientists have watched chimpanzees in zoos collect and store rocks as weapons for later use. In May, a study found they even add deception to the mix. They created haystacks to conceal their stash of stones from opponents, just like nations do with bombs.
Hare points to studies where competing chimpanzees enter an arena where one bit of food is hidden from view for only one chimp. The chimp that can see the hidden food, quickly learns that his foe can't see it and uses that to his advantage, displaying the ability to perceive another ape's situation. That's a trait humans develop as toddlers, but something we thought other animals never got, Hare said.
And then there is the amazing monkey memory.
At the National Zoo in Washington, humans who try to match their recall skills with an orangutan's are humbled. Zoo associate director Don Moore says: "I've got a Ph.D., for God's sake, you would think I could out-think an orang and I can't."
In French research, at least two baboons kept memorizing so many pictures — several thousand — that after three years researchers ran out of time before the baboons reached their limit. Researcher Joel Fagot at the French National Center for Scientific Research figured they could memorize at least 10,000 and probably more.
And a chimp in Japan named Ayumu who sees strings of numbers flash on a screen for a split-second regularly beats humans at accurately duplicating the lineup. He's a YouTube sensation, along with orangutans in a Miami zoo that use iPads.
It's not just primates that demonstrate surprising abilities.
Dolphins, whose brains are 25 percent heavier than humans, recognize themselves in a mirror. So do elephants. A study in June finds that black bears can do primitive counting, something even pigeons have done, by putting two dots before five, or 10 before 20 in one experiment.
The trend in research is to identify some new thinking skill that chimps can do, revealing that certain abilities are "not uniquely human," said Emory University primatologist Frans de Waal. Then the scientists find that same ability in other primates further removed from humans genetically. Then they see it in dogs and elephants.
"Capacities that we think in humans are very special and complex are probably not so special and not so complex," de Waal said. "This research in animals elevates the animals, but it also brings down the humans.... If monkeys can do it and maybe dogs and other animals, maybe it's not as complex as you think."
At Duke, professor Elizabeth Brannon shows videos of monkeys that appear to be doing a "fuzzy representation" of multiplication by following the number of dots that go into a box on a computer screen and choosing the right answer to come out of the box. This is after they've already done addition and subtraction.
This spring in France, researchers showed that six baboons could distinguish between fake and real four-letter words — BRRU vs KITE, for example. And they chose to do these computer-based exercises of their own free will, either for fun or a snack.
It was once thought the control of emotions and the ability to empathize and socialize separated us from our primate cousins. But chimps console, and fight, each other. They also try to soothe an upset companion, grooming and putting their arms around him.
"I see plenty of empathy in my chimpanzees," de Waal said. But studies have shown they also go to war against neighboring colonies, killing the males and taking the females. That's something that also is very human and led people to believe that war-making must go back in our lineage 6 million years, de Waal said.
When scientists look at our other closest relative, the bonobo, they see a difference. Bonobos don't kill. Hare says his experiments show bonobos give food to newcomer bonobos, even when they could choose to keep all the food themselves.
One reason scientists are learning more about animal intellect is computers, including touch screens. In some cases, scientists are setting up banks of computers available to primates 24-7. In the French word recognition experiment, Fagot found he got more and better data when it was the baboons' choice to work.
Animal cognition researcher Steve Ross at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago agrees.
"The apes in our case seem to be working better when they have that control, that choice to perform," he said.
Brain scans on monkeys and apes also have helped correct mistaken views about ape brain power. It was once thought the prefrontal cortex, the area in charge of higher reasoning, was disproportionately larger than the rest of the brain only in humans, giving us a cognitive advantage, Hare said. But imaging shows that monkey and ape prefrontal cortexes have that same larger scale, he said.
What's different is that the human communication system in the prefrontal cortex is more complex, Hare said.
So there are limits to what non-human primates can do. Animals don't have the ability to communicate with the complexity of human language. In the French study, the baboons can recognize that the letters KITE make a word because through trial and error they learn which letters tend to go together in what order. But the baboons don't have a clue of what KITE means. It's that gap that's key. "The boundaries are not as sharp as people think, but there are certain things you can't overcome and language is one of them," said Columbia University animal cognition researcher Herbert Terrace.
And that leads to another difference, Ross said. Because apes lack language skills, they learn by watching and mimicking. Humans teach with language and explanation, which is faster and better, Ross said.
Some of the shifts in scientific understanding of animals are leading to ethical debates. When Emory University researcher Lori Marino in 2001 co-wrote a groundbreaking study on dolphins recognizing themselves in mirrors, proving they have a sense of self similar to humans, she had a revelation.
"The more you learn about them, the more you realize that they do have the capacity and characteristics that we think of as a person," Marino said. "I think it's impossible to ignore the ethical implications of these kinds of findings."
After the two dolphins she studied died when transferred to another aquarium, she decided never to work on captive dolphins again. She then became a science adviser to the Nonhuman Rights Project, which seeks legal rights or status for animals. The idea, Marino said, is to get animals such as dolphins "to be deemed a person, not property."
The intelligence of primates was one of the factors behind a report last year by the Institute of Medicine that said the National Institutes of Health should reduce dramatically the number of chimpanzees it uses in biomedical research.
The NIH is working on new guidelines that would further limit federal medical chimpanzee use down from its current few dozen chimps at any given time, said NIH program planning chief James Anderson. Chimps are a special case, with their use "very, very limited," he said. But he raises the question: "What happens if your child is sick or your mother is dying" and animal research might lead to a cure?
The issue is more about animal welfare and giving them the right "not to be killed, not to be tortured, not to be confined unnecessarily" than giving them legal standing, said David DeGrazia, a philosophy and ethics professor at George Washington University.
Hare says that focusing on animal rights ignores the problem of treatment of chimps in research settings. He contends that for behavioral studies and even for many medical research tests they could be kept in zoos or sanctuaries rather than labs.
Animals performing tasks in near-natural habitats "is like an Ivy League college" for the apes, Hare said. "We're going to see them do stunning and sophisticated things."
By SETH BORENSTEIN | Associated PressPawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-59014237080149247052012-06-25T10:50:00.002-04:002012-06-25T10:50:35.277-04:00World loses species with death of Lonesome George<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3dHd1_j7by8/T-h6a4Xv6BI/AAAAAAAAAMY/O0N8Jls9-BE/s1600/george-JPG_135323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="227" width="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3dHd1_j7by8/T-h6a4Xv6BI/AAAAAAAAAMY/O0N8Jls9-BE/s320/george-JPG_135323.jpg" /></a>
Lonesome George has died, leaving the world one species poorer.
The only remaining Pinta Island tortoise and celebrated conservation icon passed away Sunday, the Galapagos National Park Service said in a statement.
Estimated to be more than 100 years old, the creature's cause of death remains unclear and a necropsy is planned.
Lonesome George's longtime caretaker, Fausto Llerena, found the tortoise's remains stretched out in the "direction of his watering hole" on Santa Cruz Island, the statement said.
Lonesome George was discovered on Pinta Island in 1972 at a time when tortoises of his type were already believed to be extinct. Since then, the animal had been part of the park service's tortoise program.
Repeated efforts to breed Lonesome George failed.
"Later two females from the Espanola tortoise population (the species most closely related to Pinta tortoises genetically) were with George until the end," the park service said.
In honor of Lonesome George, the park service said it was convening an international workshop in July on management strategies for restoring tortoise populations over the next decade.
The Galapagos Islands, situated about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) off Ecuador's coast, is considered a haven for tortoises.
By AFPPawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-24631926029503517342012-06-18T21:19:00.003-04:002012-06-18T21:26:09.205-04:00Dog herds tigers in South AfricaTo view video: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/dog-herds-tigers-165151518.html
Border collies were bred to herd—sheep. But what's a herding dog to do without a flock? Easy. Round up a pack of tigers.
Meet Solo, the tiger-herding dog. The 4-1/2-year-old pooch grew up at Seaview Lion Park in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and has had to make due with a litter of big cats to boss around.
The video shows the black pup with white paws running circles around the Siberian tiger cubs while managing to keep a safe distance from their claws or jaws.
The collie's instincts come in handy for wrangling his charges on to a truck that takes them to a watering hole and back. "You can see that when we come to the dam and the tigers stray away out of their little area, then he'll go and bring them back into position and bring them back towards the water," Ashley Gombert, the manager of the wildlife park, told ITV.com.
Gombert added that the canine is comfortable around the cubs since it has known the cubs since their birth. Solo also plays and herds hyenas and jackal pups.
What, your dog sits on command? That's…great.
By Claudine ZapPawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-86636425062078750702012-06-11T22:14:00.000-04:002012-06-11T22:14:44.415-04:00Turtle Couple Calls it Quits After 115 Years TogetherBibi and Poldi have been together longer than most humans have been alive: both are 115 years old, and have known each other nearly since birth. The two giant turtles share a cage at a zoo in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt, where they have been living for the past 36 years. But it looks like that time might be coming to a close, and Bibi is ready to move on.
In recent weeks, Bibi has started attacking her partner (how’s that for a sign that the relationship is over?), biting off chunks of Poldi’s shell and carrying out “several further attacks” — prompting the two to be physically separated. Zoo officials say that the giant turtles, weighing over 220 pounds each, could kill each other if they wanted to
Apparently, it’s quite rare for turtles to separate after having been paired for so long. It’s certainly not for lack of effort: zoo workers have tried marriage counseling through the form of bonding games and creating good feelings through food. Nothing has worked.
But maybe the underlying tension between the two is pretty simple. The zoo’s director, Helga Happ, told the Austrian Times: “We get the feeling they can’t stand the sight of each other anymore.”
By Erica HoPawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-75488882004419722892012-06-09T09:59:00.001-04:002012-06-09T09:59:43.405-04:00Chimpanzee Sanctuary Gives Former Research Chimps a Happy Retirement<div><iframe frameborder="0" width="576" height="324" src="http://d.yimg.com/nl/shine/animalnation/player.html#vid=29592436&browseCarouselUI=show"></iframe></div>
We recently visited Save the Chimps. It's a very unique chimpanzee sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida. Most of the chimps there are former research chimps who endured difficult living conditions in harsh facilities where they were often confined to cages.
Today, their lives are very different. There are no cages at Save the Chimps, just twelve islands, separated by moats and filled with tall grass and platforms for them to climb. The chimps live in family groups of 20-25 on the islands, where they are free to interact with each other. They play with each other, groom each other, and hug each other. It's a great place to be a chimp.
If you want to find out more about Save the Chimps, you can visit their website at www.savethechimps.org.
By Bridget Marquardt | Animal Nation –Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-80501572419750118842012-06-03T09:27:00.000-04:002012-06-03T09:27:06.759-04:00Community, officials at odds over free-roaming dog<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GBOBGb6sRzA/T8tlykb9DYI/AAAAAAAAAMI/TUo8nUhCz3o/s1600/177f4e6a34f4260f110f6a70670010e2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="125" width="190" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GBOBGb6sRzA/T8tlykb9DYI/AAAAAAAAAMI/TUo8nUhCz3o/s320/177f4e6a34f4260f110f6a70670010e2.jpg" /></a></div>
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Blue the dog doesn't have a home. And he apparently doesn't want one. But the blue-eyed Australian cattle dog has $1,800 in savings, a Facebook page and an air-conditioned dog house.
He also has a lawyer, who is working to get him an exemption from local leash laws so he can continue his free-wheeling lifestyle in southern New Mexico's lakeside community of Elephant Butte, where he was abandoned as a puppy a decade ago.
The City Council has scheduled a June 13 meeting, where supporters of Blue, who is also known as Bluedog, hope to end an impasse over his fate.
Janice Conner, co-owner of Butte General Store and Marina, says it all began about 10 years ago when the dog was abandoned at Casa Taco, where Blue was cared for by the owner until he died two years ago.
After that, Blue made his way to the general store, where he was fed and peacefully coexisted until last spring, when a 48-year-old woman was fatally mauled by pit bulls in nearby Truth or Consequences.
After that, Conner says a woman started complaining to the city when Blue would follow her and her dog on a nearby walking path. And this spring, Conner's husband, Bob Owen, was cited for having Blue off-leash, prompting the legal skirmish that caught the attention of Albuquerque attorney and lake property owner Hilary Noskin.
Noskin says she is working pro bono, trying to win an exemption for Blue so he can live out the rest of the years in front of the store he now calls home.
"He's one of my favorite clients," says Noskin. "He is a sweet, sweet dog. He doesn't meet any vicious dog standards. Somebody said he snarls ... but I am not sure I believe that."
City Manager Alan Briley says the city hopes to reach a compromise on Blue, but he noted that the safety of the dog and the community comes first. He says the city has received complaints about Blue snapping and growling and almost being hit by cars crossing the street.
Conner says Blue has rebuffed several attempts at adoption, always making his way back to the store where he has become a community mascot of sorts. She says residents have dumped more than $1,800 in a jar for his care — funds she says she keeps for legal bills or medical issues. Residents have also built him a dog house with heating pads for the winter months and air conditioning for the summer.
"Everybody just loves this dog. People who can't afford a dog bring their kids here to play with Blue. ... He is the only dog I know who got four plates of Thanksgiving dinner at his dog house," Conner said.
Conner says she has collected more than 1,100 signatures in support of Blue, who is on Facebook as Bluedog EB-Mascot.
She says she just wants to find a way for Blue to "remain the way he always has. He was here before we became a city, so all we are asking for is for the city to grandfather him in as a representative of the community."
By JERI CLAUSING | Associated PressPawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-39723708943130664862012-06-03T09:17:00.000-04:002012-06-03T09:17:18.484-04:00Three rare elephants found dead in Indonesia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Three critically-endangered Sumatran elephants have been found dead in an oil palm plantation in western Indonesia and are believed to have been poisoned, an NGO said Saturday.
Villagers found the dead animals on Thursday in a government-owned oil palm plantation in the eastern part of Aceh province. They were estimated to be four and five years old, local environmental group Fakta said.
"We suspected that they died after consuming bars of soap laced with poison we found near the carcass," the group's chief Rabono Wiranata told AFP.
"It seems that the elephants have died around one week," he said.
The animals are usually either killed by villagers, who regard the beasts as pests that destroy their plantations, or by poachers for their tusks.
Early last month, two other Sumatran elephants were found dead in the west of the province.
There are fewer than 3,000 Sumatran elephants remaining in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, marking a 50 percent drop in numbers since 1985.
WWF changed the Sumatran elephant's status from "endangered" to "critically endangered" in January, largely due to severe habitat loss driven by oil palm and paper plantations.
Conflicts between humans and animals are increasing as people encroach on wildlife habitats in Indonesia, an archipelago with some of the world's largest remaining tropical forests.
AFPPawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-86588336492942175262012-04-01T18:22:00.001-04:002012-04-01T18:22:37.753-04:00Incredible Osprey video -<a href="http://www.arkive.org/osprey/pandion-haliaetus/video-00.html#utm_source=social-network&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=species-osprey">ARKive - Osprey video - Pandion haliaetus - 00</a>Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-37536406890548132352012-04-01T12:59:00.001-04:002012-04-01T12:59:49.797-04:00A Must see - Fiona update!!!<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hFmdWOO25hQ?fs=1" width="480"></iframe>Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-29867469716654411092012-04-01T12:37:00.000-04:002012-04-01T12:37:35.577-04:00Mama dog takes care of abandoned pigletMother Nature is amazing!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KQocv6sb34k/T3iD1PfKH-I/AAAAAAAAALs/frLiq0sFwnA/s1600/Dog-and-piglet-01-634x422.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="213" width="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KQocv6sb34k/T3iD1PfKH-I/AAAAAAAAALs/frLiq0sFwnA/s320/Dog-and-piglet-01-634x422.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vkf1GuiKPpc/T3iD0A0tc_I/AAAAAAAAALM/co9JUuAZRMA/s1600/Dog-and-piglet-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="254" width="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vkf1GuiKPpc/T3iD0A0tc_I/AAAAAAAAALM/co9JUuAZRMA/s320/Dog-and-piglet-02.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K0k9Xpa9xMA/T3iD0a2GgpI/AAAAAAAAALY/X55DvYFLcA0/s1600/Dog-and-piglet-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="259" width="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K0k9Xpa9xMA/T3iD0a2GgpI/AAAAAAAAALY/X55DvYFLcA0/s320/Dog-and-piglet-03.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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From the owner of the two animals…<br />
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The pigs run wild on our land and the sow had given birth to a litter of five in our forest. I found Paulinchen [the piglet] all alone and when I lifted her up she was really cold.<br />
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I felt sure some local foxes would have taken the little pig that very night so I took it into my house and gave her to Katjinga [the dog].<br />
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She had just finished with a litter of her own, who are now 10 months, so I thought there was a chance she might take on the duties of looking after her.<br />
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Katjinga is the best mother you can imagine. She immediately fell in love with the piggy. Straight away she started to clean it like it was one of her own puppies.<br />
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Days later she started lactating again and giving milk for the piggy. She obviously regards it now as her own baby.<br />
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Via The Daily MailPawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-43957379633346577552012-04-01T12:31:00.002-04:002012-04-01T12:31:56.622-04:00Hippo nose-eaterSimply delicious!!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1noTmKjWpAI/T3iC5Dezw-I/AAAAAAAAALA/kWCyDguedlw/s1600/Hippo-Nose-eater-634x634.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1noTmKjWpAI/T3iC5Dezw-I/AAAAAAAAALA/kWCyDguedlw/s320/Hippo-Nose-eater-634x634.jpg" /></a></div>Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-9889214643275034062012-03-24T10:06:00.000-04:002012-03-24T10:06:42.088-04:00Animals without borders<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QRxiWwm9e9Q/T23UrbE9lrI/AAAAAAAAAK0/VHIpmMFm30Y/s1600/20120324_STP505.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="180" width="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QRxiWwm9e9Q/T23UrbE9lrI/AAAAAAAAAK0/VHIpmMFm30Y/s320/20120324_STP505.jpg" /></a></div>IN A rare bit of good news for wildlife in Africa, last week saw the launch of the world's biggest conservation area stretching across five southern African countries—Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Kavango/Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) has been in the works since 2003; a memorandum of understanding was inked in 2006, followed by a fully fledged treaty to establish the park in August 2011. The area under conservation has expanded during the process, from under 300,000 to 440,000 square kilometres, nearly the size of Sweden.<br />
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Kaza encompasses over 20 existing conservation areas and national parks including Victoria Falls, a UNESCO World Heritage site shared by Zambia and Zimbabwe and by some measures the world’s largest waterfall, and the Okavango delta in Botswana. Linking the areas up in this way is meant to allow vegetation to thrive and animals to return to their natural migration routes along protected corridors. Among the park's denizens will be 325,000 elephants, almost half the total number in Africa.<br />
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The hope is that a co-ordinated approach will be more effective at tackling poaching and other wildlife-related crimes since the five countries can now share patrols and information. Pooled resources should also go further to protect the landscape and attract investors and tourism to the region. Development and the welfare of the 1.5m people living in the park are priorities, too. The parks are to draw on the expertise of the World Wildlife Fund, an advocacy group, in techniques which allow local communities to benefit financially from conservation efforts on their land. <br />
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This park is just one (albeit the grandest) of a number of transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) inside the South African Development Community, a club of 14 countries from the region. As well as addressing environmental problems, which seldom respect national borders, TFCAs have been dubbed “peace parks” by some, because of their beneficial effect on regional diplomacy. The opening of Kaza, then, is an encouraging landmark all round.<br />
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The Economist Mar 23rd 2012, 15:17 by A.W.Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-21583721145076156092012-03-03T23:03:00.000-05:002012-03-03T23:03:00.921-05:00WWF - Latest News - Taking Tigers Out of American Backyards<a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2012/WWFPresitem27118.html?utm_source=wwf-facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=mar01-1415&utm_campaign=species#.T1LpMJ8Eh3k.blogger">WWF - Latest News - Taking Tigers Out of American Backyards</a>Pawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-91741256952607597292012-02-28T18:33:00.000-05:002012-02-28T18:33:24.978-05:00Apps for Apes: Orangutans using iPads to paint and video chat with other apes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zdwKlw5Mtzk/T01j5rP-QXI/AAAAAAAAAKo/vSaq0lvbFUg/s1600/ape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="214" width="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zdwKlw5Mtzk/T01j5rP-QXI/AAAAAAAAAKo/vSaq0lvbFUg/s320/ape.jpg" /></a></div>Orangutans across the world may soon join the ranks of millions of humans as proud owners of new iPads. As strange as that may sound, a conservation group is testing its "Apps for Apes" program, allowing orangutans to communicate with each other remotely via the iPad's video chat technology.<br />
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Orangutan Outreach founder Richard Zimmerman has already donated iPads to zoos in Milwaukee, Houston, Atlanta and Florida, and will soon send iPads to the Memphis Zoo, the Center for Great Apes in Florida and to the Toronto Zoo. Orangutans are considered to be amongst the most intelligent of primates, making them a good case study for the interactive technology.<br />
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"It's not a gimmick," Zimmerman told Yahoo News in a phone interview Tuesday. "If they don't want to do it, they won't. There are actual measurable benefits."<br />
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Zimmerman said that orangutans in zoos and other primate facilities usually receive all the food and love they need. However, during winter months they are forced to spend long periods of time indoors, which is counter to their natural habitat. And living indoors for extended periods of time can result in boredom and stunt social growth among other primates.<br />
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"They need stimulation, especially indoors," Zimmerman tells Yahoo News. "The zoo keepers can see the benefit from this sort of enrichment. We're doing this as enrichment as opposed to research. But researchers are getting involved, that's just not our jurisdiction."<br />
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Scientists and layman alike have long speculated on ways to better indoctrinate primates and other animals with human technology. Dolphins have already demonstrated an ability to interact with iPad technology with researchers using it as a language interaction device between dolphins and humans. There are even several iPad games made specifically for cats.<br />
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But even more interesting possibilities present themselves once a number of zoos have their orangutans acclimated to using the iPads. Zimmerman said he hopes they will be able to use Skype or the iPad's FaceTime feature to communicate remotely with orangutans at other zoos during "play dates." Zimmerman said he recently visited Jahe, an orangutan at the Memphis Zoo who used to live at the Toronto Zoo. When Zimmerman showed Jahe a photo on his iPhone of some of her relatives still living in Toronto, she appeared to recognize them.<br />
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"Given an opportunity to demonstrate that intelligence, it's pretty amazing," Zimmerman tells Yahoo News.<br />
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The biggest obstacle for now is coming up with the funding to purchase more iPads. Orangutan Outreach refuses to use its funds on the tablets, saying its priorities must be toward conservation and helping to rescue orangutans that are victims of violence in the wild.<br />
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Zimmerman said so far he has been unable to reach Apple directly about any possible donations for the project. "I could get them to the zoos tomorrow," Zimmerman said, if Apple were to make such a donation. "Our Plan B has been to hopefully get their attention through this effort."<br />
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If you'd like to make a direct donation to Orangutan Outreach, you can do so here: http://redapes.org/help-us<br />
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By Eric Pfeiffer | The SideshowPawpertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01081169750353987980noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7761923520019801129.post-56077065484591130662012-02-27T22:03:00.000-05:002012-02-27T22:03:01.949-05:00Dogs' Feet Give Japan Scientists Paws For ThoughtEver wonder how dogs can walk barefoot in the snow? Now a Japanese scientist may have the answer — an internal central heating system.<br />
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The secret lies in how dogs circulate their blood to prevent cold surfaces from chilling the rest of their bodies, according to Hiroyoshi Ninomiya, a professor at Yamazaki Gakuen University, just west of Tokyo.<br />
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The system uses warm, oxygenated blood to heat the cold blood that has been in contact with a cold surface before returning it to the dog’s heart and central circulation.<br />
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“Dogs exchange heat at the end of their legs. Arterial blood flows to the end of their legs and then heats up venous blood before returning it to the heart,” Ninomiya said of his findings, published in the journal Veterinary Dermatology.<br />
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“In other words, they have a heat exchange system in their feet.”<br />
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Ninomiya studied a preserved dog’s leg under an electron microscope and found that because of the proximity of arteries and veins in the foot pad, the heat in the blood carried from the heart to the arteries is easily conducted to the cooler blood in the veins.<br />
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This heat transference maintains a constant temperature in the foot pad, even when exposed to extremely cold conditions.<br />
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Dogs are not alone in having this sort of heat exchange system, which is shared by other animals such as dolphins, Ninomiya said.<br />
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But not all dogs thrive in the cold, due to refining by breeders seeking specific traits, he added.<br />
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“Dogs evolved from wolves, and so they still have some of that ancestry remaining,” he said.<br />
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“But that doesn’t mean that one should always go and drag around in the snow all the time. There are many varieties of dogs nowadays that are not able to stand the cold.”<br />
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