Critter News

JUNE 5, 2009

Those patterns hint at the ancient origins of human hilarity and suggest that other social species - including apes, dogs and rats - really, truly laugh as well. A prominent researcher in the specialized field of animal laughter, Jaak Panksepp of Washington State University, said it definitely goes farther back than that. "I

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Critter News

JUNE 9, 2009

Animal Person , someone who is clearly smarter than me, has a great analysis about the recent "Pepper" series in Slate about animal research. At least he didn't try to make me feel happy or warm and fuzzy about animal research. Animal Person points out this comment made by Daniel Engber, the author.

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10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2021

As all my cats are indoor animals, I do not feel particularly responsible or guilty for this. Interestingly, these heronries frequently seem to be near highway exits – either because these relatively ugly places are less likely to be disturbed by humans, or because this shortens the commute of those birds working in downtown offices.

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10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

Some differences in animal behavior are quite striking. Another puzzling thing to me, as for me, the ideal number of people to live with would be somewhere between zero and one but definitely not above 1. It concludes that human activity influences the breeding activity of the lapwing. of catching extremely small fish.

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Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

” Definitely not. For me, they all fall squarely in the “Uncanny Valley”: “The uncanny valley is a term used to describe the relationship between the human-like appearance of a robotic object and the emotional response it evokes. You may also see that the animal is shrouded in fog and also quite wet.

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Pandas Birds Mammals China 205

Reddit Animals

MAY 21, 2023

Claim 1: A gorilla can definitely kill any animal below 400 lbs easily and still put up a good fight for those above that weight class The truth: Forest leopards in Africa are known to kill gorillas, and while rare, the current record is skewed heavily in favor of the leopard coming out the better in these encounters.

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Gorillas Leopards Killing Apes 52

Animal Person

JANUARY 6, 2010

I did tweet about " Scientists Say Dolphins Should Be Treated As 'Non-human Persons' " yesterday, as I think this is a Gray Matter for a lot of people and might be interesting to explore. You could be for or against animal rights and believe the gateway theory. You could be for or against animal rights and believe the gateway theory.

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Dolphins Animal Rights Rights Animal 100

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 17, 2011

Grief, friendship, gratitude, wonder, and other things we animals experience. Scientific research shows that many animals are very intelligent and have sensory and motor abilities that dwarf ours. Dogs are able to detect diseases such as cancer and diabetes and warn humans of impending heart attacks and strokes. by Marc Bekoff.

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10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2017

Falcon Wild is a new book in that long tradition, and this one features a more realistic (though still very slightly romanticized) portrait of a human/animal partnership. Given the horrible consequences of irresponsible falconry for birds, it’s definitely a plus to see the text emphasize this.

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Falcons Wolves Dolphins Montana 118

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2020

It’s impossible to think of him being bothered by the wet, cold ground when there’s some count to be made definite after years of thinking about it, some esoteric puzzle to be finally solved. To humans, birdsong is akin to Joycean language, isn’t it? Like he does, say, for the Canyon wren.

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Animal Person

FEBRUARY 26, 2010

I've been having a difficult time blogging both here and at Animal Rights & AntiOppression lately because I feel like my thoughts are like " Groundhog Day." There are few animal rights stories in the news. Not the day, the film, where Bill Murray experiences the same day over and over again. People are talking. And acting.

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10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 15, 2013

For example, we think that chimpanzees and humans shared a common ancestor that resembled chimps a lot more than humans, and in fact, we consider living chimps to be a pretty close analog to this common ancestor. In human evolution, teeth did a two step from typical ape-sized teeth to mega-teeth to teeth small for an ape.

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Apes Humane Mammals Research 194

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2022

Like humans preferring snack food and alcohol at night, these spoonbills also have diet preferences depending on the time of the day: “The diet of Spoonbills appeared to differ between night and day because their prey exhibited pronounced nocturnal activity” ( source ). So she took over a bit later.

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Australia Birds Parrots Ostriches 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2016

Animal control authorities had been on his trail for weeks. Local animal control, the police, and our rehabilitation center were all called, but he proved uncatchable. Death threats came rolling in from frightened parents, and the police were furious that animal control authorities couldn’t do their job.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Mice Indiana Game 131

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2022

If I was an ornithologist aiming for a grant, I would now definitely highlight the need for more research on this topic. The researchers are quite aware of the differences between humans and birds and thus have completely ignored another explanation for this behavior. The Hair-crested Drongo is a bit more common here.

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Animal Person

JUNE 20, 2009

Bea sent me a link to an article in Gourmet called " Humane Slaughterhouses ," by Rebecca Marx, that is absurd. They believe you can take a life that doesn't want to be taken in a humane way, and I don't agree. The animal is an "it," but I wouldn't expect anything more in this type of article. It’s how we treat humans, too.

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4 The Love Of Animals

MAY 14, 2013

My human kept me in an enclosed porch because, let’s face it, I was crawling with fleas and pretty filthy. We dogs are wired by nature to be humans’ companions. After all, dogs have the longest history of co-habitation with humans of any animal. But there’s a special bond between a dog and its human rescuer.

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Animal Person

JUNE 22, 2009

Stephanie's post about " The Compassionate Hypocrite " on Saturday reminded me of what Catherine Friend and other " compassionate carnivores " are doing in addition to twisting the definition of compassionate beyond recognition. It's impersonal and hideously ugly and the animals suffer greatly. It's cruel. No argument here.

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Animal Person

APRIL 14, 2009

There is a profound difference between what Sea Shepherd does and what the Animal Liberation Front does, but there are also similarities, and those similarities increase in number if a direct action by the ALF (or anyone else) is an open rescue and therefore a direct defense of sentient nonhumans being attacked by humans.

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Animal Liberation Front UCLA Animal Liberation Primates 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

Here's the good news: This is a very readable explanation of how animals in the Hundred Heartbeat Club (there are 100 or fewer individuals in the wild today) got to be in the club. This is irksome, as the premise is that we need to save the animals (and which ones is an interesting discussion) because we will suffer if they are gone.

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Animal Ethics

JANUARY 30, 2012

The legal rights of nonhuman animals might first be achieved in any of three ways. For example, the Treaty of Amsterdam that came into force on May 1, 1999, formally acknowledged that nonhuman animals are “sentient beings” and not merely goods or agricultural products. Wise , “ The Evolution of Animal Law Since 1950 ,” chap.

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Animal Person

MAY 25, 2010

I've decided that 20 lessons is a good number to stop at, and today I'll discuss what are probably the two most controversial ones, about the animal rights movement. The Appeal of Cliques The first six Lessons Learned from 4 Years of Animal Person and numbers 7-10 hinted about cliques, but only the negative aspects. Lesson #11.

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Animal Rights Movement Vegan Lifestyle Animal Rights 100

Animal Person

JULY 4, 2009

And though The Omnivore's Dilemma definitely promotes the eating of animals if those animals were "farmed" a certain way (and locally), there's so much helpful information in it about the food supply, in general, that it's tough to tell people not to read it.

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Kazakhstan Horses Ethics Farming 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 18, 2009

Because I've been thinking about the evolution of my own thinking--and languaging--regarding animal rights. Both animal rights groups and animal welfare groups use "compassion" frequently. Then again, so do people who kill animals for a living. After all, they "love" the animals they kill. I don't think so.

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Animal Person

JUNE 26, 2009

Felony animal cruelty is the cruel killing of an animal, and he is also being charges with 19 counts of improperly disposing of an animal body.) The four counts of burglary he is being charged with carry a heftier sentence than the animal killing. The outrage I've been seeing and hearing is typical, as we like cats.

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4 The Love Of Animals

OCTOBER 29, 2009

As the name suggests, they rescue rabbits, but they also rescue other small animals like ferrets, and other small rodents. Today, Rabbit Meadows shows definite signs of age, wear and tear from weather and badly needs an upgrade. Rescue Spotlight: Rabbit Meadows originally appeared on 4 The Love of Animals on October 29, 2009.

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Rabbits Rescue Rabbit Rescue Ferrets 100

Animal Person

JUNE 13, 2009

I watched Home earlier in the week and you can watch it on YouTube here , though a huge flat screen is definitely preferable. It's amazing to observe as someone learns about what we humans have done to this planet in such a short period of time, and how dire the situation really is. But that's me.

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Factory Farm Factory Farming Vegan Factory 100

Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 29, 2008

Once a definite social movement got under way in the West with its objective the restricting of man's treatment of animals, it moved with relative rapidity. Moral philosophers began to regard it as an obvious truth that it is wrong to treat animals cruelly. But not so far as seriously to limit man's domination of the world.

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Animal Ethics

AUGUST 11, 2008

One aspect of the question of whether animals have rights may now be treated. If animals have rights, then these are welfare rather than option-rights. Some philosophers admit rights only for beings who are capable of choice, and this is reflected in definitions of 'rights' as 'ranges of action' or 'spheres of autonomy'.

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10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2017

My transition from being a kid interested in all kinds of animals to being a full-on birder happened when I was around 11 years old, in the early 1980s (oh dear!). Yes, in the face of all the human tragedy the Cold War caused it may seem a miniscule aspect, but to a young boy who was passionate about birds, it wasn’t. Azure T**s.

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Animal Person

OCTOBER 22, 2010

Some people seem to think that animals' souls are different from those of humans, while others think they're the same. Charles is definitely with me in spirit, but I don't know if there is a spirit. Charles and Lars had a similar, playful energy, and I must say I like the idea that they're playing together somewhere.

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4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 22, 2010

De-mystify the labeling on a lot of pet food – “natural,&# “raw,&# “human grade,&# “FDA approved&#. Human Grade” is far superior to the “feed grade” found in most pet food. Human grade” ingredients may include leftovers after the “restaurant grade” portions have been removed.

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Animal Person

OCTOBER 17, 2011

She has definitely slowed down, but she looks great and has perked up a bit now that it's regularly under 90 degrees and the humidity decreases by the week. And the same should be true for nonhuman animals. Violet's stunning, and that's what everyone notices first and comments on.

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10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2017

And, the next time I travel south (and, there’s an excellent chance that will happen within the next year), I will definitely once more read The New Neotropical Companion , by John Kricher, the latest version of this nature classic. Kricher has expanded subject coverage and updated, revised, re-arranged, and rewritten text.

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South America Ecuador Reptiles America 150

10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2012

Albinism is a congenital condition whereby the animal is unable to produce pigmentation from its melanocytes (colour cells). Mike’s squirrels were described in one of the comments as “blond” I prefer this as there is definitely colour in the squirrels’ fur, it is just very pale. Are they restricted to Kent UK?

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Squirrels North Carolina Missouri North America 223

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2018

Many birds sing local dialects, and human languages are dynamic, they can’t help but change, evolve over time. “Birdiness” No, not an official word but, um, so what? It’s what they do, otherwise, we might be speaking some long forgotten Homo sapiens root language.

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Costa Rica Owls Eagles Birds 121

Animal Ethics

JUNE 28, 2009

Though factory-style production worsens it, the root problem is animal use. Since using animals is cultural, not part of our biological nature or in any way necessary, animal use is by definition inhumane—unkind where we could as a society choose kind. It is inhumane to humans as well, E. So the solution is simple.

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