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Counting Chicks Redefine Birdbrain

Study shows chickens can do basic math

(Newser) - No dumb clucks, young chickens appear capable of basic arithmetic, Discover reports. Scientists relied on two innate chick traits—an instinct to flock with the biggest group and an attachment to objects—to test the birds’ noggins. After hiding yellow balls of varying numbers behind screens, they released the chicks....

Heart of a Lion: YouTube Fave Lives On in Memoir

One-time owners of Christian the lion recall the wild years

(Newser) - A lion who went wild after being raised by his hippy "parents" in their London shop, and later became a YouTube fave, has been immortalized again in a new memoir, Time reports. The emotional reunion in Africa between Christian the lion and his former owners has been viewed over...

Greenies Push Safe Froggy Sex With Hook-Up Pad

Frog Hotel to protect mating amphibians from predators

(Newser) - Frogs have a new reason to leap for joy: a hotel specially designed to allow them to mate in peace and safety, NPR reports. Scottish environmentalists opened the Frog Hotel two weeks ago to protect the amphibians from predators. Frogs “are slowly coming out of hibernation, and the first...

Global Warming Will Bring 'Global Weirding'
 Global Warming Will Bring 'Global Weirding'
ANALYSIS

Global Warming Will Bring 'Global Weirding'

(Newser) - While the physical changes brought on by global warming—droughts, floods, and the like—are fairly easy to model, the effect on ecosystems is disconcertingly unpredictable, John Waldman writes in Yale Environment 360. Species will shift migration patterns and seek new homes, affecting other species in ways we can't imagine....

Buy Smaller Eggs, Ease Hens' Pain: Farmer

Free range producer says hens hurt when they lay large eggs

(Newser) - Free range, cage free, organic. Add one more to think about when you’re grocery-shopping: Medium eggs cause hens less pain when laid, a British farmer tells the Times. “It takes more out of hens to lay large eggs,” he said. “It would be kinder to eat...

White House Nabs Masked Bandit

Raccoon was one of several on premises

(Newser) - Mission accomplished. National Parks workers have caught a wily raccoon that's been roaming the White House grounds for weeks, notes the Washington Post. After vegetarian fare failed to entice the masked critter, trappers successfully employed salmon. "They're a finicky bunch," says press chief Robert Gibbs. The good...

Crazed Chimp, Owner Acted Like a Couple

Animal was surrogate spouse for his owner

(Newser) - Sandra Herold and her chimp, Travis—who viciously mauled her friend—were unusually close, sharing wine and lobster and exchanging gifts, the New York Post reports. “What she had with that monkey was not normal,” one friend said. But Herold said outsiders don’t understand: “Until you've...

'He's Ripping Her Apart,' Chimp Owner Screams on 911 Call

Owner gave pet Xanax before it attacked friend

(Newser) - "He's killing my girlfriend! He's eating her!" the frantic owner of a chimpanzee screamed in a call to police as the animal viciously attacked her friend. "You have to shoot him!" the Connecticut woman tells the dispatcher in a chilling tape of the call as the...

Chimp Shot After Vicious Attack on Woman

Victim fighting for her life after Connecticut family's pet goes berserk

(Newser) - Connecticut police shot dead a pet chimpanzee yesterday after it critically injured a woman in a vicious attack, the Stamford Advocate reports. The owner of the 200-pound chimp stabbed it with a butcher knife after it leaped on her visiting friend for no apparent reason. A police officer who arrived...

Healing Koalas Steal Hearts
 Healing Koalas Steal Hearts 

Healing Koalas Steal Hearts

She holds hands with her rescuer in moving video

(Newser) - The survival of two burned koalas is giving Aussies a lift amid the catastrophic wildfires that have killed 180 people and possibly millions of animals, MSNBC reports. The more famous of the two is Sam, who became a YouTube sensation when she took water and offered a singed paw to...

Circus Elephant Abuse Case Hits Court

Animal rights groups allege circus group engages in jumbo-sized cruelty

(Newser) - The nation's circus elephants finally have their day in court, reports the Washington Post. Animal rights groups who accuse circuses of mistreating their elephants have battled for eight years to bring a case against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. In opening arguments in Washington DC district court yesterday, an...

Eat, Prey, Love: Let's Give Vultures Their Due

They're not exactly man's best friend, but we need them

(Newser) - Vultures are like lawyers: nobody likes them until they need them, and boy do we need them, writes Constance Casey in a soaring defense of the misunderstood bird in Slate. Their business may be unpleasant, but vultures are essential in disposing of rotting carrion and warding off disease. “They...

Nigerian Cops Nab Goat for Car Heist

(Newser) - Nigerian police paraded a goat before journalists yesterday, calling it a "suspect" in an armed robbery case, the BBC reports. Vigilantes reportedly handed the goat to police and said it was a car thief that had shape-changed using witchcraft. Police later denied the goat was under suspicion. "Of...

Stick This on Your Plate and Eat It

(Newser) - You probably won’t find it in the supermarket, but out in a parking lot in Missouri, you could easily cross paths with a raccoon, the Kansas City Star reports. Not one ravaging the Dumpster, but one dressed and packed for dinner. A best guess has Missourians yearly consuming about...

Engineered Goats May Usher In New Age of Drugs

Animals' bodies act as processors for key protein

(Newser) - Goats could be the pharma factories of tomorrow: Genetic engineering can prompt them to make a protein in their milk to fight excessive blood clotting. A medication culled from the process was greeted warmly yesterday by an expert panel, and now the FDA is looking into it. If approved, the...

The 5 Best Species to Resurrect
 The 5 Best Species to Resurrect 
OPINION

The 5 Best Species to Resurrect

DNA samples still exist for many extinct megafauna

(Newser) - Now that scientists have the woolly mammoth’s genome, the possibility of resurrecting the giant creatures—and other impressive species from our planet’s past—is a bit closer. Which megafauna would you bring back? New Scientist lists its favorites:
  • Sabre-toothed tiger. This massive cat with huge fangs would surely
...

Disabled Bite Back Over Animal Guides

Some suspect animal owners of abusing of special privileges

(Newser) - Miniature horses trek through supermarkets and monkeys queue up at restaurant buffets these days—all to guide the blind, the disabled, and the anxiety-ridden, Rebecca Skloot writes in the New York Times Magazine. But the increasing prevalence of wild and farm service animals among the civilized is reigniting the debate...

Tim Gunn Goes to Bat for Bunnies
Tim Gunn Goes to Bat
for Bunnies

Tim Gunn Goes to Bat for Bunnies

Grisly video appeal asks designer to lay off rabbit fur

(Newser) - Project Runway's favorite nice guy Tim Gunn is joining the anti-fur PETA campaign with a personal video plea to designers amid shocking images of screaming skinned rabbits, reports the New York Post. PETA is focusing on designers using rabbit fur from China, where there are no animal protection laws. Any...

Zoo Elephants Die Much Younger Than Those in Wild

(Newser) - Elephants in the wild live up to three times longer as those in zoos, a new study says. The six-year report by British and Canadian scientists is sure to fire up the debate between animal rights activists and zoos over the well-being of the animals. African and Asian elephants tend...

Panda Bites Hand, Er, Leg, That Feeds It

Visitor to Hong Kong zoo captures attack on tape

(Newser) - A giant panda bit the left leg of a Hong Kong zookeeper while he was laying bamboo leaves in the animal's pen, reports the AP. The keeper was recovering well after the panda attack, which was partially captured and posted on YouTube by a zoo visitor. The panda—a male...

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