April 29/2015

(E.B.W.) Critter Corner

Feature:

Reduce your paw print, help the planet

           “…Pets offer a great opportunity to teach kids about responsibility-for the environment & otherwise. Here are…ways you & your children can make your furry friend a little eco-friendlier.

Adopt a Pet

           …With at least a half-million cats & dogs in Canadian shelters right now, choosing where you get your pet is important… Talk to your children about getting a pet from a shelter or rescue society, thereby giving a home to an animal that otherwise wouldn’t get a chance.

Cut down on chow

           Canadians spend $1.7 billion on pet food every year…

           But you aren’t doing your pets any favors by lavishing them with smorgasbords of chow. Most domestic animals are overfed by 20%...This over-feeding mostly comes in the form of meat-heavy meals that are costly to produce & transport…

Deal with ‘Number 2’

           It’s a number-one priority for reducing your pet’s environmental impact. For example, most clumping kitty litters use clay, which surprisingly we still get through strip-mining. South of the border, they use 2 million tons of clay per year…”

Marc & Craig Kielberger

Montreal Gazette

Dec. 9/2014

 

Cute Critter Pic

Weekly Chuckle

 
 

April 22/2015

(E.B.W.) Critter Corner

 Feature:

DNA Analysis Rewrites the Family Trees of Birds

           “NEW YORK-Scientists have produced a new family tree for nearly all species of birds alive today, drawing on a massive DNA analysis to gain insights into evolutionary history.

           The tree was built by comparing the complete DNA codes, or genomes, of 48 species…

Early Split

           Very early in the lineages leading to about 95% of today’s birds, the researchers propose that a split happened some 68 million to 69 million years ago. One branch leads to doves, flamingos, & a few other species, while the other branch leads to basically everything else. That implies, for example, that flamingos are more closely related to pigeons than they are to pelicans or other water birds.

           A second split followed soon after, so that the resulting 4 lineages faced & survived the brutal extinction some 66 million years ago that’s most famous for wiping out the dinosaurs, said Erich Jarvis of Duke University & the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a lead author of the work.

Learning to Sing (or Speak)

           When a songbird sings, or a parrot says, “Polly wants a cracker,’…it’s the result of learning by imitation. The study found that birds with this ‘vocal learning’ ability share some similarities with humans in the activity of certain genes in the brain…

Ancestral Predator

           A large group of land birds may have all descended from an ancient hunter at the top of the food chain…The group includes not only falcons & eagles, but also parrots, woodpeckers, & songbirds. The hawk-like curved bill of the parrot may be a lingering signature of predatory origins…

 

Lost Teeth

           Although birds are descended from dinosaurs, they have no teeth. Most previous studies have suggested the common ancestor of modern birds lacked teeth, but other work disagreed. The new findings add support to the idea of a toothless common ancestor, because all birds sampled share some mutations that turn off 5 genes for building teeth.”

  

Malcolm Ritter

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Montreal Gazette

Dec. 12/2014

Cute Critter Pic

Weekly Chuckle

April 15/2015

(E.B.W.) Critter Corner 

 

Feature:

Grumpy Cat Earns Millions

“LONDON- Grumpy Cat’s piercing stare & air of withering contempt has proved lucrative for the cat’s owner, Tabatha Bundesen of Morristown, Ariz. In just 2 years the cat- whose real name is Tardar Sauce- has made about $115 million from an array of products, including bestselling books, & a film… Grumpy’s earnings have surpassed those of many of Hollywood’s biggest names… Grumpy’s permanent scowl is a result of dwarfism & an underbite. She became an Internet star after Bundesen’s brother posted a picture online. The frown has proved irresistible on social media, with 521,000 followers on Instagram & 255,000 on Twitter.”

Montreal Gazette

Dec. 9/2014

Cute Critter Pic

  

Weekly Chuckle

 Memorial

April 8/2015

(E.B.W.) Critter Corner 

                           

Feature:

Sniffer bees could detect Balkan landmines, scientists say 

     “Biologists in France & Croatia have successfully reared sniffer bees which they claim could find explosives that are hidden underground in the Balkans.

           The insects are said to have an olfactory sense as strong as sniffer dogs. Researchers hope they will speed up the urgent task of clearing thousands of landmines…About one million landmines, most containing TNT, were planted during the war in Bosnia in 1992-95. Nearly 120,000 of the unexploded devices remain in more than 9,400 minefields…

           “We knew that bees were sensitive to certain smells, like geraniums or nerol. The challenge was to get them to learn to spot TNT,’ said Yves LeConte, director of the bee & environment unit at INRA, in Avignon, southern France…

           In experiments, Le Conte hid TNT under sand covered with sugar syrup to attract the bees. This encouraged the insects to prefer pots with TNT in them…

           This isn’t the first time scientists have tried to train bees to sniff out explosives. In 2006, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico released a study that suggested bees were better bomb detectors than man-made devices."

Henry Samuel

LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH

Montreal Gazette

May 24/2014 

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Weekly Chuckle

 

April 1/2015

(E.B.W.) Critter Corner 

 

Feature: 

Stronger protections for sharks, manta rays

           “… Sharks kill about 5 people a year, far fewer than deer, ants, & dogs. But humans kill nearly 1 million tons of sharks every year, & that’s just 5 different types- oceanic, whitetip, scalloped hammerhead, & porbeagle. ..the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna & Flora, known as CITES, announced more aggressive steps to protect them…

           …most of the 180 nations that are members of CITES will require fisherman to get permits to hunt these sharks for their fins & meat & bring them ashore. The same goes for mantra rays…CITES called the regulations the most comprehensive in its 40- year history to protect sharks & rays…

           ‘Regulating international trade in these shark & manta ray species is critical to their survival,’ CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon, said. By protecting the fish governments are also protecting ‘the bio-diversity of our oceans’.”

Darryl Fears

THE WASHINGTON POST

The Toronto Star

Sept. 13/2014

Cute Critter Pic

Weekly Chuckle

Memorial