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May 21
2:45 pm

Questions from a High School Student

high-school-052113A high school student who's giving a presentation to her class about sport hunting asked if I'd be up for answering some brief questions on the topic.

Here are her questions and my answers. The questions range beyond hunting, and I pulled no punches in responding. After all, today's teenagers are going to be dealing with the mess that we and other generations are bequeathing to them, so the more they know about the state of the Earth and the sooner they know it, the better equipped they'll be to mitigate the damage and adapt to the consequences.

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May 21
12:00 pm

Why You Lie Like an Ape

chimps-lie-2-052113Next time someone catches you telling a small fib, just explain that, as one of the great apes, it's just part of your cooperative nature.

After all, you can truthfully add, that's the conclusion of a team of researchers who studied the development of co-operative behavior in 24 different kinds of primates, from lemurs to chimpanzees.

They concluded that the animals had developed the ability to lie and deceive in order to form coalitions, get food and find a mate:

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May 20
2:59 pm

1 Comment

How a Russian Cat Opens Five Doors

May 20
1:42 pm

A Week of Extreme Weather

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A whole neighborhood of Granbury, Texas, was leveled in one of the tornadoes that tore up whole swaths of the United States last week. But that was the least of what happened, all around the world, in the week that was:

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May 20
1:12 pm

India Bans Dolphinariums

dolphinariums-india-052013Good news, for a change! The Government of India has issued a nationwide ban on keeping dolphins in captivity.

The ban had been under consideration for several months, during which time a coalition of animal protection organizations in India worked with experts around the world to provide the evidence as to why dolphins should not be kept in captivity.

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May 16
11:58 am

3 Comments

Are the Elephants Fighting Back?

AfricanElephant-051613It was just one small battle in a war that the elephants are losing, but the body of a poacher has been found at a National Park in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's Sunday Mail reports that the man, Solomon Manjoro, was found trampled to death by an elephant – doubtless the one he was trying to kill.

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May 16
10:43 am

How a Tarantula Sheds Her Skin

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This isn't the tarantula; it's what the tarantula leaves behind when she sheds her skin. Here's a time lapse video of how she does it – as posted on Reddit.

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May 16
10:27 am

2 Comments

Dog Saves Kitten in Ravine

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Great story of a dog rescuing a kitten whom she found at the bottom of a ravine behind a Home Depot store in  Anderson, South Carolina. The duo are at the local shelter, where the dog is nursing the kitten.

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No sign yet of the dog's guardians ... or the person who abandoned the kitten. Still, they're both likely to get adopted together if no guardian shows up.

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May 15
12:34 pm

1 Comment

Unintended Sky Burial with Vultures

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A campaign against Griffon vultures has been gathering steam in France after the body of a hiker, who had fallen off a cliff to her death, was found consumed by the vultures.

"There were only bones, clothes and shoes left on the ground," said Major Didier Pericou, of the gendarmerie. "They took 45 to 50 minutes to eat the body."

The news of a dead human being consumed by vultures has been broadcast all around the world, sending shudders through many who have read about it.

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May 14
12:58 pm

4 Comments

Ex-RSPCA Officer Hanged Herself

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A former inspector for the British Royal SPCA, who blew the whistle on how many dogs are routinely being killed by the animal charity, rather than being found good homes, was found hanged at her home in Somerset, England, on May 8th.

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May 14
12:18 pm

1 Comment

The $325,000 Burger

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Meat cells being grown in a petri dish

The inventors of the first laboratory-grown meat are gearing up to unveil their creation in a few weeks in London. But don't expect it to be on the menu for several years.

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May 13
6:41 pm

Greenhouse Gases Just Gone Through the Roof

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Last week, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere went through the roof. Another roof.

The previous roof was 350 parts per million (ppm) – which was generally considered to be the point of no return, beyond which it would be very hard to stop a runaway climate effect from happening. We went through that roof about 25 years ago. And last week, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere topped 400 ppm.

No human being has ever witnessed greenhouse gases at this level. Scientists say the last time Planet Earth was like this was probably about 2 million years ago, during the Pleistocene Era.

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May 13
2:50 pm

Tennessee Gov. Vetoes Ag-Gag Bill

TN-Gov-Haslam--051313It's a small victory, but a big precedent, for the animals at factory farms: Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has vetoed the ag-gag bill that would effectively prevent undercover investigators and whistleblowers from exposing abuse at the state's factory farms and slaughterhouses.

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May 12
1:22 pm

Chihuahua Plays Pool

You get one shot; the Chihuahua gets 16.

May 9
1:43 pm

4 Comments

"My Fellow New Yorkers and Animal Lovers …"

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It was like one of those early Republican primary debates where all the candidates try to outdo each other in terms of how many assault weapons they have in the kitchen ... except that this one was about Chihuahuas, not guns.

So it may have been a first in American political history: five candidates (of different political persuasions) running for Mayor of New York City and facing a new kind of audience of single-issue voters: animal lovers.

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May 9
12:55 pm

1 Comment

Senator’s Remarkable Climate Sermon

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An oration about climate change ...  loaded with Bible quotes ... invoking the name of the Almighty in almost every other sentence. Must have been delivered by a right-wing climate change denier, right? Wrong.

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May 9
9:56 am

Baby Elephant v. Tourists

May 8
1:03 pm

Household Product Testing – Useless?

mouse-050813Three months ago, we took note of a 10-year study finding that billions of dollars of research and billions of lives of mice have gone down the drain in experiments on mice that have proved completely useless when applied to humans.

Now a follow-up report says that any number of household, food and cosmetic products that have been tested on mice and other animals may not be as safe as we have been assured. According to Independent Science News:

New scientific research has cast grave doubt on the safety testing of hundreds of thousands of consumer products, food additives and industrial chemicals.

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May 7
3:33 pm

2 Comments

How Humans Can Survive. (Should We?)

Al Dixon of Granby checks on his colonies of honey bees. Dixon says he has lost nearly two-thirds of his colonies over the winter. Colony Collapse Disorder caused the decline. Stephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-Standard</p><br /><br /> <p>Newsweek leads off this week with an article about the future of humankind.

It opens with how the bees are dying off and the enormous toll this is going to take on our food supply. (Note to author: It will also take quite a toll on the bees.)

It proceeds with a description of what it means to be in the early stages of a mass extinction. And it concludes with the exhortation that "we must take control of the Earth."

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May 6
11:35 am

10 Comments

Giant Governor Squishes Tiny Spider

christie-spider-1-050613One small spider: less than an ounce. One New Jersey governor: around 330 pounds. The governor heaves himself over to his desk in front of a class of fourth-grade children, and shows them how to relate to the minor distraction: He smashes the spider with his hand.

The children laugh and cheer. The governor tells them: "That’s also another fun part of being governor. Any bugs that are on your desk, you’re allowed to kill them and not get in trouble."

What's wrong with this picture? For some people, nothing; for others, everything.

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