Critter News

JUNE 16, 2010

From what I recall, chimpanzees share at least 95 percent of human DNA, although the number that floats around the most is 98.6 If chimpanzees have consciousness, if they are capable of abstractions, do they not have what until now has been described as "human rights"? The following is from The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan.

Animal 100

Animal Medical Research Apes Research 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

There are the endemics, which are odd in their own way, and then there introduced species, which are so varied in their type and origin that you get the feeling you’ve arrived at the aftermath of a small zoo that escaped. In many ways, that is exactly what happened. Not everything that was brought and released established itself.

New Zealand 162

New Zealand Possums Rabbits Ferrets 162

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 22, 2015

Somewhere below that mysterious eagle, at the far shore of the lake, lies one Bengal Tiger … and further to the right – two more! But, in the next year, 2009, only one human was killed by a tiger, leading to a conclusion that all the tigers in the conflict area (practically, the wider reserve buffer zone) have been wiped out.

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Tigers India Killing 2012 250

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2012

In responding to Suzie’s post defending wildlife rehabilitation I began to think again about the areas in which animal rights and animal welfare overlap with the field of conservation, and the ways in which they don’t. Animal rights is concerned with preventing the suffering or even use of animals by humans.

Animal Rights 266

Animal Rights Rights New Zealand Animal 266

Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 19, 2008

At the risk of being a killjoy, let me say that there should ( morally ) be no zoos. Like humans, they have a right to liberty. Mark Spahn sent a link to this blog. Wild animals belong in the wild. They do not exist for our amusement, entertainment, or education.

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Zoos Morals Humane Rights 40

Animal Person

OCTOBER 30, 2010

I'm giving the book a vegan/animal rights message because that's my lens. There is no mention of food or skin or zoos. They don't stay where they are (Megatropolis), I think, because humans are destroying it and building cities with evil factories that enslave animals. But that's because the message isn't developed.

Factory 100

Factory Vegan Homelessness Animal Rights 100

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 12, 2008

The land ethic, it should be emphasized, as Leopold has sketched it, provides for the rights of nonhuman natural beings to a share in the life processes of the biotic community. The conceptual foundation of such rights, however, is less conventional than natural, based upon, as one might say, evolutionary and ecological entitlement.

Ethics 40

Ethics Animal Liberation Whales Whaling 40

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

If there are human fishing activities then all the better – Marabous will gather in numbers around fishermen’s docks and fish markets, in fact anywhere where fish are cleaned and scraps disposed of, allowing these intelligent birds to obtain a free meal.

Africa 244

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 244

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2023

What most people do not know is that this common occurrence was actually the inspiration for a Johnny Cash song, “ Boy named Sue “ Of course, as this song was written for humans rather than for birds, the situation was adapted accordingly. Read it there if you want.

China 241

China Research India Zoos 241

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2018

Pink Pigeons were featured on episode four of the second season of The Zoo , the excellent television series about The Bronx Zoo,* and their story was disturbing. Meanwhile, on The Zoo, the keepers have been creating an environment for Thelma and Louise so they can nurture the hoped-for egg from The Stud and Serendipity.

Mauritius 102

Mauritius Stud Zoos Eggs 102

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

In fact, the Dodo belonged to a clade (sometimes called Raphini) of 15 remarkable, bizarre, intriguing island-adapted pigeons, some of which are still alive today, but eight of which have been hacked from the tree of life, driven to extinction by humans. placopedetes occurred since the arrival of people and presumably was due to human impact.”

Solomon Islands 278

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius Humane 278

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2018

Wisdom is not charging people extra to see your reconstituted Jurassic Park style dinosaur zoo when all you’ve got is a barn full of chickens. Humans have always classified organisms in a variety of ways, depending on need. Some sort of ancient fish-with-feet is the ancestors of humans. Think about it. But here’s the thing.

Monkeys 142

Monkeys Gorillas Whales Whaling 142

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

Islands, with their high levels of endemism and specialization, are particularly fragile and vulnerable to human activity. Several European zoos had this species in their collections at the time, but they either made no effort to breed it or it did not breed well in captivity. A species, wiped off the earth, never to exist again.

Cuba 250

Cuba Parrots Collecting Columbus 250

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

Rueppell’s (facing left) and White-backed (three birds facing right) Vultures have worryingly leapt two categories from Near-Threatened to Endangered. An adult (left) and subadult (right) White-backed Vulture with full crops after feeding on the remains of a Lion kill, Ndutu, Tanzania by Adam Riley.

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Endangered Species Species South Africa Morocco 197

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

It is now believed to have been a fairly common resident of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands until the arrival of the first humans when it went the way of most flightless easy to catch island birds immediately after the arrival of man. Photo copyright The Smithsonian’s National Zoo, taken from the Guam Rail page. . What a horror!

Puerto Rico 192

Puerto Rico Guam Virgin Islands Feral 192

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

Nestled right in the middle of Europe, we have a little bit of everything, a nice cross section of Europe’s avifauna. Greater Rheas, a species the Germans call Nandu, are very popular in Germany and frequently kept in zoos as well as private enclosures. Germany is underrated as a birding destination.

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Germany Birds 2000 South America 252

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

We have photographs and newspaper obituaries of Martha, the last living Passenger Pigeon, who died after a lifetime in captivity, mostly in the Cincinnati Zoo. We immediately get a sense of the pigeons’ abundance, beauty, and danger to human activity. We have a lot of source material. It’s an effective introduction. What a wrong!

2014 161

2014 Killing Michigan Kentucky 161

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2011

While it’s no longer possible to see this regal macaw soar gracefully through the Brazilian skies, to be able to worship them—even from afar at one of the conservatories or zoos—would be a dream, at last, come true. I worked with a pair of motmots at a US zoo and fell in love with their vibrant colors and unique tails. Wicked, right?

Brazil 212

Brazil 2011 Birds Wildlife 212

Animal Person

MARCH 29, 2009

The underlying premise is that you can know what is right (such as me knowing what's right then eating cow flesh in the form of filet mignon for a year), but that by no means will necessarily manifest in your behavior. And human psychology says that humans are far more social than rational creatures.

Psychology 100

Psychology Campaign Animal Rights Movement Suffering 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2013

In the past I have attributed some of this conflict to differences between the conservation mindset and that of animal rights/animal welfare. The way things should be is a very powerful motivating factor in human lives. Perhaps it would be better to move the tigers to that bigger reserve, or maybe a zoo.

Tigers 176

Tigers Hunting Game Protection 176

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 17, 2022

On the other hand, compared to the Laughing Dove , human life is still pretty long. Please insert your own dirty joke relating to humans here. Serves the bird right for not living close to European ornithologists. A study found that Laughing Doves at a South African reserve have a life expectancy of 0.83 Poor creatures.

South Africa 193

South Africa Africa Birds Cape Verde 193

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2022

As with Chinese male humans, having your own building is still vital to raising young. Strangely, the photo accompanying the Wikipedia entry on Collared Finchbills , Asian birds, was taken at Cincinnati zoo. One of the established ways to evaluate self-cognition in animals (including humans) is the mirror test.

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Birds Sparrows Protection Humane 193