Animals & Pets 01 (May 08 - Jun 14)

[purplecloud]

Pepper .. I love the San Diego zoo too ... was there in 2006 .... gee .... i didnt koe abt the gorillas ...... shacks!!!

[kennynah]

did u know that male gorillas have the shortest "erm" in the animal kingdom....u see, God is fair one... have some, dont have some...hahahaha...

[la papillion]

Taken from bizarro's website. I simply love his works

[winston]

It's Fun to Know: Cloning Spot

If you can't bear to live without your pet dog, two competing South Korean labs might be able to help you out when he passes away. For a fee ranging from $50,000 to $100,000, either one will clone the little fella.

So far, the labs' best customer has been the South Korean government, which has commissioned several dogs cloned from a renowned drug-sniffing dog in hopes that the clones will be easier to train.

( Winston's comment: Actually, the best sniffing dogs are owned by the drug-lords. They pay top dollars for the best dogs )

The labs hope to expand into the international pet-cloning market within the next several months.

(Source: Reuters)

[winston]

That's why Fido finds you a yawn
Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Dogs find human yawns contagious, suggesting they have a rudimentary capacity for empathy, British scientists said.

Although yawning is widespread in many animals, contagious yawning - a yawn triggered by seeing others yawning - has previously only been shown to occur in humans and chimpanzees.

It turns out, however, that man's best friend is highly sensitive to catching human yawns, with 72 percent of 29 dogs tested yawning after observing a person doing so.

Writing in the latest edition of the journal Biology Letters, Atsushi Senju and colleagues at London's Birkbeck College said this behavior shows dogs are skilled at reading human social cues and "may relate to their capacity for empathy."

REUTERS

[winston]

It's Fun to Know: Snake Venom

Like fine wine, snake venom takes on different characteristics depending on the geographic location it comes from. Researchers working in Costa Rica found that the chemical makeup of venom in a particular species was different for populations found on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts.

They also discovered that - again, like fine wine - age is a factor. The venom from newborn snakes was substantially different than the venom from older snakes.

These new findings could lead to more effective antivenins, which are used to treat snakebites in humans.

(Source: LiveScience)

[winston]

Mourning gorilla holds on to body of her baby

A gorilla at a zoo in the German city of Muenster is refusing to let go of her dead baby's body several days after it died of unknown causes.

Allwetter Zoo spokeswoman Ilona Zuehlke says the three-month-old male baby died on Saturday but its 11-year-old mother continues to carry its body around. Zuehlke says such behavior is not uncommon to gorillas.

Zuehlke says the mother ''is mourning and must say goodbye.'' The mother gorilla is named Gana.

Signs were posted near Gana's enclosure Wednesday to explain the situation to visitors. A staff member is also present to answer questions.

The baby was named Claudio and was Gana's second baby. She had a female baby in 2007 that now lives at the Stuttgart Zoo.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

[winston]

It's Fun to Know: About Alcoholic Animals

Tree shrews in Malaysia can't get enough of their favorite drink - fermented nectar. They guzzle the shrew equivalent of nine glasses of wine a day! The source of their alcoholic feast is the flower buds of the bertam palm tree. Inside the buds, yeast ferments pollen to a frothy brew that can be up to 3.8 percent alcohol. This is the highest alcohol content in a naturally occurring source.

Amazingly, the shrews suffer from none of the typical consequences of imbibing - like loss of coordination and motor skills. Scientists are studying how the tiny mammals, which look like a mix between a squirrel and mouse, can take so much alcohol without any ill effects.

(Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

[winston]

It's Good to Know: How They're Keeping Grandma Happy

An increasing number of studies indicate that owning a pet has a positive effect on the health and well-being of the elderly. A study by Judith Siegel of the UCLA School of Public Health, for example, showed that it reduced the number of times they had to visit their doctors. Dr. Warwick Anderson of the Baker Medical Research Institute found that older pet owners had significantly reduced levels of known risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

And a study published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences found that "animal-assisted therapy can effectively reduce the loneliness of residents in long-term care facilities."

Having a pet also appears to help reduce stress, blood pressure, and anxiety. And, as a result, many nursing and retirement homes are now allowing their residents to keep a small dog or cat. Aside from improving the general health and well-being of their owners, the pets seem to know when other residents are feeling down and will seek them out to comfort them.

(Source: The New York Times)

[kennynah]

i have been comtemplating keeping a pet dog, for over 30 years now...first my mother was against the idea....then now, my wife is not so hot about pets in the house ....

but anyways, appreciate anyone with pet dogs, share some experiences here...

for example... why do dogs smell constantly? cannot tahan that man...