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Acclimatisation Societies of New Zealand

10,000 Birds

New Zealand has a very odd biota these days. They took dogs to Australia, chickens across the Pacific, rabbits to England, horses to the New World, and then brought potatoes back. So that New Zealand would end up with quite a few species of animal not originally found here is hardly surprising of itself.

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Getting the Bill – Taste, Touch and Smell in Birds

10,000 Birds

Whilst catfish have around 100,000 taste buds, rabbits around 17,000 and humans approximately 9,000, birds rarely exceed 100 of these receptors. But certain bird species go against the grain here and some even appear to have a better sense of smell than many mammals, humans included. Let’s talk about taste.

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The Emotional Lives of Animals

4 The Love Of Animals

Dogs are able to detect diseases such as cancer and diabetes and warn humans of impending heart attacks and strokes. In many ways, human emotions are the gifts of our animal ancestors. Dogs can differentiate dilutions of 1 part per billion, follow faint odor trails, and are 10,000 times more sensitive than humans to certain odors.

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When conservation and animal rights collide

10,000 Birds

Animal rights is concerned with preventing the suffering or even use of animals by humans. This is a very serious business here in New Zealand. New Zealand has been the recipient of a higher than average number of introduced species, in particular a range of mammals from elk to mice.

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The Gap Between Wildlife and the Animal Rights Movement

10,000 Birds

I know on some level, I think that’s something almost all of us can get behind…no one, except the most callous and cold-hearted of the human race things its fine to torture animals, or deny that they are capable of pain and suffering. . – The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive Animal rights. The logic of this is ridiculous.