pet

Photo by Donnie Ray Jones from Flickr creative commons. A recent study published in Microbiome from researchers at the University of Alberta shows that babies from families with pets had nearly two-fold increases in the amount of two specific microbes in their guts, Ruminococcus and Oscillospira. These particular microbes are associated with reduced risks of developing childhood allergies as well as obesity. According to study author Dr. Anita Kozyrskyj, “There’s definitely a critical window of time when gut immunity and microbes co-develop, and when disruptions to the process result in…

Dr. Mark Mamula at Yale University has been working on developing a vaccine for cancer. Here is an interview featuring Dr. Mamula discussing how dogs are helping researchers test a vaccine that so far, has shown promise in fighting cancer growth. Video Source: NBC www.King5.com

I came across this interesting literature on what foods you should avoid feeding a dog from the ASPCA Animal Poison Control:

According to a new statement from the CDC, while Ebola is deadly to humans and animals, it is very difficult to catch. Therefore, they concluded that pets are not at significant risk of Ebola in the US. Moreover, there have been no reports of dogs or cats becoming ill in Africa. For more information, visit the CDC website http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/qas-pets.html

I am currently watching a re-run of the NOVA special called Dogs Decoded. If you have not already seen it, you should check it out! It was actually the subjects of a prior blog that you can read here. 

Municipalities are trying to find ways of dealing with the scourge of plastic bottles in their garbage, and with falling revenues from many sources. Plastic bottles have become a significant fraction of total garbage volume, and raise collection, handling, and landfill costs when they are not recycled. In 2011, according to NAPCOR (the National Association for PET Container Resources) 5.5 billion pounds of PET plastic bottles were available for recycling, but most of those bottles were not recycled. One answer: impose a tax on bottled water. Fewer than 1 in 3 of all PET bottles are recycled,…

The numbers are in for 2012, and they are shocking. The Beverage Marketing Corporation, which tracks sales and consumption of beverages, is reporting that sales of bottled water grew nearly 7 percent between 2011 and 2012, with consumption reaching a staggering 30.8 gallons per person. And since I (and some of you) consume almost zero bottled water every year, there are people out there drinking far more than the average. Thirty-six years ago, this industry didn’t exist. Americans drank fewer than two gallons of bottled water per year, and almost all of that was in the form of water from big…

We live on solid ground, but the truth is, our planet is mostly covered in water. The famous writer Arthur C. Clarke noted this when he said, “How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.” Today is Earth Day, when we celebrate the planet, and in particular the functioning ecosystem that supports all life, including our own. In recognition of Earth Day, here is a short piece about bottled water in the United States and most developed countries, with some basic facts that should help any readers still in doubt about the downsides of that industry. The Money…

Brookhaven's Joe Gettler interviewed biologist Ben Babst about his pioneering plant biology research - here's an excerpt: Ben Babst has seen things that no one else has ever seen before. A plant biologist in Brookhaven Lab’s Biosciences Department, Babst is among pioneering researchers who are some of the first in the world to study plants using a technique called positron emission tomography or PET imaging, which is more commonly used to diagnose cancer and study brain activity. With this innovative use of PET imaging technologies, Babst has actually watched plants shift nutrients from their…

You can have a pet domesticated fox of your very own - from the Russian fox farm I've previously written about - for the low low price of just $5,950. Figure 1: Isn't he cute? Click to embiggen. Check it out. According to the website, Housing: Foxes can live outside or inside.They need shade from excessive heat and rain. A bed or blanket is nice, but optional. If the fox lives outside, the cage should have a bottom or the walls of the cage should be dug in deep enough so that the fox cannot dig a hole and escape. Inside your house, they will snuggle on a bed like a cat. During the…

Zen recently wrote mentioned this study on his blog, so I thought it was time to dredge it out of the archives. Also, I've just returned from APS (see my daily recaps here here and here), and I am TIRED. Domestic animals and their wild counterparts can be different in big ways; there can be differences in morphology (physical characteristics), physiology, and behavior. These changes may depend on spontaneous adaptations to captivity or to artificial selection pressures arising from the motivation for domesticating the animal in the first place. One change that is often observed as a result of…

Clocky sounds like R2D2 and looks kind of like an ATV's single-axled, pastel cub. In other words, it's really, really cute. Which is why when Clocky wakes you with its piercing warbles, crashes to your floor and rolls under your bed, you won't want to smash its little display with your fist. At least, we hope not! Click through for more details. Clocky is a clock for people who have trouble getting out of bed. When the snooze bar is pressed, Clocky rolls off the table and finds a hiding spot, a new one every day. Clocky began as a class project. After graduating, Gauri Nanda turned Clocky…

While I was out of town this weekend, one of my friends lost her dog. As I read over the many caring comments on her Facebook page, it struck me how difficult it is to express condolences - especially on the loss of a pet. Like many others, I ended up simply saying "I'm sorry." The significance of the relationship between pet and person is often minimized, even though we know that the unconditional love supplied by a pet can do astonishing things for human mental and physical health. Personally, I don't believe animals have souls, but neither do I believe they are soulless automatons. Cats…

Guest post by Brian Hare, Evolutionary Anthropologist at Duke University Last month, a 200 pound male chimpanzee named Travis mauled a woman outside the home where he has been living with his owner Sandra Herold. Charla Nash was nearly killed by Travis and now has life changing wounds to her face while Travis was stabbed by his owner with a butcher knife and shot dead by the police. Was this incidence preventable or just a freak accident? Should chimpanzees and other primates be kept as pets? What is the effect of the primate pet trade not only on the welfare of these "pets" but on their…

You've likely already seen this story all over the news: Chimp's owner calls vicious mauling 'freak thing' STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The owner of a 200-pound chimpanzee that viciously mauled a Stamford woman calls the incident "a freak thing," but says her pet was not a "horrible" animal. Sandra Herold told NBC's "Today Show" in an interview aired Wednesday that Travis, her 14-year-old chimpanzee, was like a son to her. Herold tried to save her friend by stabbing the chimp with a butcher knife and bludgeoning it with a shovel. I have extremely strong emotions concerning this particular issue…

tags: Riley, talking parrot, Eclectus roratus, parrots, behavior, streaming video This video shows a conversation with a pet eclectus parrot, Eclectus roratus, named Riley. He is very talented, with a large and varied repertoire as well as a nice "voice." I also live with an eclectus, a female Solomon Islands eclectus named Elektra, and I can attest to their talent as talkers. This species of parrot is color-coded by gender: males are emerald green while females are scarlet red [4:33]

UPDATE: Looks like the fount of wisdom that is The Time's Online lost a thing or two in the translation. Lucky for us, informed Zooillogix reader and sometimes D&D player, Dragon's Sorrow End, has set the record straight. The government of Switzerland has passed the most comprehensive laws in the history of pet ownership to protect the well being of social animals. In hopes of creating an "informed population," the laws cover everything from guinea pigs to rhinoceroses. Here are some of the more interesting regulations: - Dog owners are required to become qualified in a two-part course…

This week we've brought you a heartwarming tale of a couple who wove sweaters from the hair of their deceased hounds and the touching story of a giant squid who overcame incredible odds to achieve its dream of becoming plastinated and dangled above French people. Well, thanks to one of our most loyal readers, the elusive "milkshake", we have uncovered a scoop that could be seen as the missing link between the aforementioned posts. Behold Pet Preservation a pet taxidermy service that will help you immortalize your pet through the miracles of modern science. Direct from Pet Pres: "Some…

We get a lot of requests to feature friends pets on Zooillogix. Some people just don't seem to get the fact that their golden retriever does not belong on a site devoted to bizarre zoology (you know who you are Mike Tippet of 2 Third St., Farfield, CT). However, Jennifer's axolotl, Big Ben, is a welcome guest. Axolotl's are Mexican neotenic mole salamanders, which fail to go through metamorphosis as larvae and therefore retain their gills and aquatic nature. The axolotl was native to Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco in central Mexico, the latter of which no longer exists. However, lucky (?)…

Triops australiensisWhere the hell were these things when I was a kid? Triops are small crustaceans in the class branchiopoda, that grow quickly and massively, reaching three inches or longer at full size. Their external appearance has apparently not changed since the appearance of Triops cancrifromis, 220 million years ago in the Triassic Period. This may make the Triops, also called tadpole shrimp or shield shrimp, the oldest living animal species on earth. An adorable triops eating a piece of corn. This playful behavior in juveniles has a very practical application in adulthood, when…