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Manuela Hoelterhoff

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Manuela Hoelterhoff
JOURNALIST | AUTHOR
Mysterious Respiratory Illness in Dogs Now Nationwide
Dec 4

Dec 4 Mysterious Respiratory Illness in Dogs Now Nationwide

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Companions, Animal Welfare

In August a mysterious canine illness broke out in Oregon, affecting at least 200 dogs. Since then, the respiratory ailment has spread to 14 states, and vets still don’t know what’s causing it.

Bomb Sniffing Shepherds Exclude Beagles From Their Sexy 2024 Calendar
Dec 3

Dec 3 Bomb Sniffing Shepherds Exclude Beagles From Their Sexy 2024 Calendar

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Heroes

For more than two decades, the Transportation Security Administration has been clogging airports (or keeping us safe, depending on one’s point of view), aided in part by about 1000 bomb-sniffing canines across the country. This week 15 of these photogenic working doggos are honored in the newly minted 2024 TSA Canine Calendar.

With A Little Lab Magic, the  Extinct Dodo Takes Another Step Toward Resurrection
Dec 1

Dec 1 With A Little Lab Magic, the  Extinct Dodo Takes Another Step Toward Resurrection

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola

When we last checked in on the companies involved in de-extinction – the process of resurrecting species that have gone extinct – it was our view that resources would be better spent on “restoring the natural habitats of critically endangered species” rather than on cloning. 

Pianist Soothes Blind Elephant Trapped in Darkness With Beethoven’s Pathetique
Nov 29

Nov 29 Pianist Soothes Blind Elephant Trapped in Darkness With Beethoven’s Pathetique

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare, Animal Companions, Animal Heroes

In western Thailand just outside Kanchanaburi, an elephant sanctuary is home to a few dozen rescued domestic elephants. They’ve had a difficult time, either born into a brutal life of logging or retirees from the slightly less degrading tourism trade.

Looking Back on the Cyclone that Smashed Through Mozambique
Nov 28

Nov 28 Looking Back on the Cyclone that Smashed Through Mozambique

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

In 2019, Cyclone Idai swept through Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park, which was bad for the animals but good for researchers. The 1,500-square-mile park is one of the most ecologically diverse preserves in the world, as well as the most technologically sophisticated.

Extremely Rare Rhino Born in English Zoo
Nov 27

Nov 27 Extremely Rare Rhino Born in English Zoo

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

If you’ve never witnessed the birth of a rhinoceros, do we have a video for you. This month the Chester Zoo in Cheshire, England announced the birth of the extremely rare Eastern black rhino.

Where Did All the Orcas Go? 
Nov 26

Nov 26 Where Did All the Orcas Go? 

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

The orcas were still at it off the coast of Spain on Halloween when a small but persistent pod of the killer whales harassed a boat for a solid 45 minutes, causing enough damage to sink it.

Unseen for Decades, Egg-Laying Mammal Creeps Back Into View
Nov 24

Nov 24 Unseen for Decades, Egg-Laying Mammal Creeps Back Into View

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare, Conservation

No one had seen the extremely rare Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna since 1961, so it was assumed that the weird, egg-laying mammal was extinct. Earlier this month the beast that looks like a spiny anteater was rediscovered in Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains, likely the only place on Earth the creature exists.

Björk Goes to War Against the Salmon Industry
Nov 21

Nov 21 Björk Goes to War Against the Salmon Industry

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola

his week Iceland’s most famous singer, Björk, drops a new song featuring Catalan singer Rosalía. The collaboration is intended to raise awareness – and cash – to push back against Iceland’s salmon farms.

Brave Colombians Start Sterilizing Escobar’s Angry Hippos
Nov 18

Nov 18 Brave Colombians Start Sterilizing Escobar’s Angry Hippos

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

It’s been four decades since drug kingpin Pablo Escobar smuggled four hippopotamuses out of Africa to populate his lavish estate in Colombia with exotic animals. Escobar has been dead a long time but his hippos have flourished, with more than 150 of the beasts stomping throughout the Magdalena River basin.

Loyal Jack Russell Stays by Dead Hiker’s Side for Months
Nov 15

Nov 15 Loyal Jack Russell Stays by Dead Hiker’s Side for Months

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Heros, Animal Welfare, Animal Companions

On August 19, 71-year-old hiker Richard Moore of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and his 12-pound dog Finney had set out to climb Blackhead Peak just east of town. He never returned, and a several-days-long search did not find the missing man.

Cats at the Los Angeles Cat Cafe Make Faces at Startled Researchers
Nov 13

Nov 13 Cats at the Los Angeles Cat Cafe Make Faces at Startled Researchers

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Human Interest

Researchers spent many hours watching and filming domestic cats in a Los Angeles cat cafe, and they determined that the felines can conjure nearly 300 facial expressions. The research is published in the journal Behavioural Processes.

Female Shark Has a Baby With No Male In Sight
Nov 10

Nov 10 Female Shark Has a Baby With No Male In Sight

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

Last year at this time we reported the virgin birth of zebra sharks at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. Now comes news that an epaulette shark at Brookfield Zoo – also near Chicago – has performed the same trick.

Na the Bear Uncaged After 20 Years of Misery
Nov 9

Nov 9 Na the Bear Uncaged After 20 Years of Misery

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

An Asiatic black bear named Na spent the last 20 years in a tiny cage in Vietnam. Now she will get a second life in a large, open habitat in a sanctuary with other bears.

Flaco the Owl Flees Central Park for the Lower East Side
Nov 7

Nov 7 Flaco the Owl Flees Central Park for the Lower East Side

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

We have been following the charmed life of Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl who flew the coop in the Central Park Zoo nine months ago and has lived in freedom ever since. This week Flaco took off again, this time to a garden in the Lower East Side and beyond. Wherever he lands next is up to Flaco.

Squadrons of  Hungry Javelinas Terrorize Posh Arizona Golf Course
Nov 6

Nov 6 Squadrons of  Hungry Javelinas Terrorize Posh Arizona Golf Course

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

A private golf course in Sedona, Arizona is under siege as dozens of javelinas – the wild pig-like peccaries of the Southwest – have been tearing up the grass in search of tasty grub worms. Seven Canyons Golf Club in the state’s Coconino National Forest has not yet figured out how to deal with the marauding beasts.

Five Years on the Lam With Kangaroos
Nov 4

Nov 4 Five Years on the Lam With Kangaroos

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

A sheep named Sugar, who had escaped from an Australian farm five years ago, was spotted living in a mob of wild kangaroos at a reservoir 20 miles from Melbourne.

Mouse Embryos Grown in Space. Are Humans Next?
Nov 2

Nov 2 Mouse Embryos Grown in Space. Are Humans Next?

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola

Japanese scientists have successfully grown mouse embryos aboard the International Space Station, a first. Their research appears in the journal iScience.

In Uganda Menopausal Chimpanzees Challenge Long-Held Theory
Oct 31

Oct 31 In Uganda Menopausal Chimpanzees Challenge Long-Held Theory

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal Welfare

Among the 6,400 extant species of mammals, it was long believed that only humans and four species of toothed whales experience menopause. Now wildlife biologists have observed “the change” in chimpanzees, and the discovery is challenging a long-accepted hypothesis for why it happens at all.

Ancient Sea Murderer Identified from Fossil Remains
Oct 30

Oct 30 Ancient Sea Murderer Identified from Fossil Remains

Manuela Hoelterhoff & Mike DiPaola
Animal History

A new (but very old) Jurassic-era creature has just been described by paleontologists, and it already goes by many names: ancient sea monster, Lorrainosaurus, sea murderer (!), and, as noted in the journal Scientific Reports, where the new research appears, “macropredatory pliosaurid.”

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