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Manuela Hoelterhoff

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Manuela Hoelterhoff
JOURNALIST | AUTHOR
Giant Panda Twins Born in South Korea
Jul 13

Jul 13 Giant Panda Twins Born in South Korea

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare, Conservation

The panda population in South Korea just went up by two, as beloved mom Ai Bao gives birth to twin girls. Officials at the Everland theme park near Seoul said mother and babes are in good health.

They’re Baaaaack  … the Goats of Riverside Park
Jul 8

Jul 8 They’re Baaaaack  … the Goats of Riverside Park

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Companions, Conservation, Environment

This week the goats returned to Riverside Park on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.  Charlie, Chico, Cowgirl, and Mallomar launched their summer’s groundskeeping job with a “ribbon chewing” ceremony to open the park’s new compost site, to which the four will be contributing over the next two months.

Rare Devils Hole Pupfish Are Masters of Survival
Jul 7

Jul 7 Rare Devils Hole Pupfish Are Masters of Survival

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Conservation, Environment
Elegant Caiman Weds Mexican Mayor in Toothy Ritual 
Jul 4

Jul 4 Elegant Caiman Weds Mexican Mayor in Toothy Ritual 

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Human Interest, Animals

A mayor in Mexico’s Oaxaca state has married a caiman – a toothly reptile and close cousin to alligators and crocodiles – in a traditional wedding. Victor Hugo Sosa got hitched to one “Alicia Adriana” in the town of San Pedro Huamelula, re-enacting an ancestral ritual believed to bring good fortune.

Animals Beat the Heat by  Splooting. How About You?
Jul 1

Jul 1 Animals Beat the Heat by  Splooting. How About You?

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animals

Perhaps you’ve seen a squirrel, spread-eagled and flat on the ground, motionless. He’s fine, he’s just “splooting,” that weird, limbs akimbo pose assumed by some mammals to beat the heat.

Vanilla the Chimp Exalts in Freedom After Decades in Hell
Jun 30

Jun 30 Vanilla the Chimp Exalts in Freedom After Decades in Hell

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola

A 28-year-old chimpanzee named Vanilla was saved from a notoriously cruel lab in upstate New York. When introduced to her new digs – a 150-acre sanctuary in Florida – her reaction to seeing the sky and feeling grass are heartwarming.

Chicken of the Labs Gets USDA Seal of Approval
Jun 29

Jun 29 Chicken of the Labs Gets USDA Seal of Approval

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Food & Drink, Animal Welfare

“It tastes like chicken,” declared the NPR reporter on her visit to UPSIDE Foods facility in Emeryville, California. As well it should: UPSIDE’s “textured chicken product” is made almost entirely from chicken cells, but no chickens were harmed in the making.

Ha Ha! Boat-Ramming Orcas Still At It
Jun 26

Jun 26 Ha Ha! Boat-Ramming Orcas Still At It

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

The rambunctious orcas off the coast of Spain continue to harass boats, going so far to disturb a couple of entrants in The Ocean Race last week. More concerning, now come reports of killer whales ramming boats off the coast of Scotland, some 2,000 miles from the original attacks.

Congrats to Hairless Scooter, Crowned World’s Ugliest Dog 
Jun 24

Jun 24 Congrats to Hairless Scooter, Crowned World’s Ugliest Dog 

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Companions, Animals

Scooter is a 7-year-old hairless Chinese Crested dog with some issues: a shock of unruly gray hair (the “crest”), a tongue that’s always hanging out his little maw, and a pair of hind legs facing the wrong way. Because of all that, Scooter has been crowned this year’s World’s Ugliest Dog. Congrats.

Audubon’s Annual Photography Contest Features a Modest Winner
Jun 23

Jun 23 Audubon’s Annual Photography Contest Features a Modest Winner

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Nature, The Natural World

The grand prize winner in Audubon’s annual photography contest is remarkable for its banality: a pair of rock pigeons, one of the most common birds on the planet.

70 Soldiers Search for Rescue Dog Wilson in the Amazon
Jun 22

Jun 22 70 Soldiers Search for Rescue Dog Wilson in the Amazon

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Heroes, Animal Welfare

Wilson, the 2-year-old Belgian shepherd that helped find four children lost in the Amazon for 40 days, is himself now lost in the rainforest. The Columbian army is desperately searching for the national hero, last seen one month ago.

Iceland Suspends Whaling for Now, and Maybe Forever
Jun 21

Jun 21 Iceland Suspends Whaling for Now, and Maybe Forever

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

This week Iceland's government declared there would be no whaling this summer, at least until the end of August. The decision, based on animal welfare concerns, could mean the brutal practice has finally come to an end.

Ancient Flying Gecko Parachutes Into Mizoram Forest
Jun 21

Jun 21 Ancient Flying Gecko Parachutes Into Mizoram Forest

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare, Conservation

A new species of gliding gecko has been uncovered in northern India. The Mizoram parachute gecko (Gekko mizoramensis), named after the Indian state where it was found, is one of 14 gecko species known to glide between the treetops.

Rottweiler Loki Gets Her Dogtorate
Jun 18

Jun 18 Rottweiler Loki Gets Her Dogtorate

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Heroes, Animal Companions

There were puns aplenty when Loki, a 5-year-old Rottweiler from Maryland received her “dogtorate” from the University of Maryland-Baltimore this week. With her new dogree confurred, Loki is now officially a dogtor, as declared on the school’s website.

Parrots in La-La Land Living Large 
Jun 16

Jun 16 Parrots in La-La Land Living Large 

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare, Conservation

In Los Angeles, a robust population of an invasive species – the red-crowned parrot – is thriving. For once, the aliens are not a threat to native species; in fact, the LA parrots might end up saving their cousins in the wild, where these birds are threatened.

Swans Hopped Up On Poppies Overrun Slovakian Farm
Jun 15

Jun 15 Swans Hopped Up On Poppies Overrun Slovakian Farm

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

A poppy farm in Slovakia has been taken over by a bevy of swans. Dozens of the big birds “do not intend to leave this area at all,” Baltics News reports, “because the birds have turned into ‘drug addicts.’”

Duke the Cat Gets a Fancy Gig at San Francisco Airport
Jun 14

Jun 14 Duke the Cat Gets a Fancy Gig at San Francisco Airport

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola

The Wag Brigade, a team of therapy animals (mostly dogs) that comforts stressed out travelers at San Francisco International Airport, has just hired its first cat, one Duke Ellington Morris.

Yumm! The Dreaded Snakehead  Arrived in Louisiana
Jun 12

Jun 12 Yumm! The Dreaded Snakehead Arrived in Louisiana

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Conservation

The northern snakehead, an invasive fish from Asia that has been eating its way through the Eastern Seaboard since it first appeared in Maryland two decades ago, was spotted for the first time in Louisiana this week.

New Wolf Parents Teach Pups to Howl
Jun 10

Jun 10 New Wolf Parents Teach Pups to Howl

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Conservation, Animals

The Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota has announced that their red-wolf pair, brought together only last October, have whelped a litter – four boys and two girls.

Smart Critters Roamed Free When Humans Cowered Inside
Jun 9

Jun 9 Smart Critters Roamed Free When Humans Cowered Inside

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

he covid lockdown restricted the movement of humans – by a lot – but let loose animals expand their travel habits, also by a lot. A new study in the journal Science has the numbers.

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