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Last month beavers in the Czech Republic built several dams in the Brdy region, practically overnight. The semi-aquatic mammals managed to construct their “infrastructure project” exactly where humans had planned to build one themselves, but had been stalled for years while local authorities grappled with permit issues.
Last summer the UK became the first country in Europe to legalize pet-food meat grown in a lab. This week the company Meatly has put its lab-grown dog treat called Chick Bites on the store shelves for the first time.
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington announced the birth this week of a rare, endangered Malayan tapir calf. The new arrival is only the second tapir born at the zoo in its 120-year history.
A grieving dog who waited for months outside a convenience store in Thailand after his owner died has been adopted – by a Thai princess. The dog, named Moo Daeng, hung around his usual spot outside a 7-Eleven in Nakhon Ratchasima every day after his owner — who was homeless — died in November.
A rare winter storm last week hit Florida’s panhandle, catching many humans unprepared. Also unaccustomed to the frigid temps were hundreds of endangered sea turtles, whose metabolism shut down when their habitat gets too frosty.
Last year zoology students at Berkeley were surprised to learn that every living mammal indigenous to California had been captured on film except for one, the Mount Lyell shrew. That omission became a mission for Prakrit Jain and Harper Forbes, along with wildlife photographer Vishal Subramanyan, who ventured out into the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains to find the elusive shrew.
In April 2023, Elodie Cappé found an abandoned boar piglet near the rubbish bins on her horse farm in Chaource, France. She tried to release the piglet back into the wild, unsuccessfully, so she named it – Rillette, after the local dish of shredded pork – gave it a pen, and had the boar sterilised and vaccinated.
Researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Florida have confirmed the discovery of two new species of truffles in North America. The scientists confirmed it, but the discovery was made by a couple of good dogs.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service under the Biden Administration concocted a plan to save spotted owls in the West by killing off hundreds of thousands of barred owls that have invaded the smaller species’ habitat. Now four lawmakers from rural Oregon are asking the new administration to stop the cull before it can begin.
Scientists have discovered a huge sea bug – a “supergiant” over a foot long weighing more than two pounds. Its head resembles the helmet worn by Darth Vader in Star Wars, so the biologists naturally named the new species “vaderi.”
Molly Elwood runs “Elwood’s Dog Meat,” a company that raises dogs the way grass-fed beef farms raise cattle: ethically and humanely, so that the meat is delicious and consumers can feel good about eating it.
As fires rage in southern California, hundreds of animals – dogs, cats, horses, pigs, parrots, the works – are in desperate need of food and shelter. Local shelters are stretched thin to take in animals as the wildfires have forced human residents to flee to safety.
The miniature donkey called Perry – short for Pericles – died last week in Palo Alto at the age of 30. Perry’s claim to fame was as the model for the gabby character “Donkey” in the movie Shrek.
The National Zoo in Washington shut down this week when five inches of snow blanketed the capital, but a couple of its residents were delighted by the diversion. Qing Bao and Bao Li, the giant pandas who just arrived here, cavorted like schoolchildren in the white stuff.
The Wild Felid Advocacy Center in Shelton, Washington remains closed after20 of their big cats succumbed to the avian flu last December The sanctuary home to rescued cougars, bobcats, and other wild cats, announced the news on Facebook.
At year’s end the American Kennel Club recognized five very good dogs in its annual Humane Fund Awards for Canine Excellence. The categories include Exemplary Companion, Search and Rescue, Service Dog, Therapy Dog, and Uniformed Service K-9.
“Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick-ear'd cur of Iceland!” Thusly Shakespeare described the Icelandic sheepdog more than 400 years ago (Henry V, Act II). Now the UK’s Kennel Club will formally recognize the breed, and it’s high time. Long before Shakespeare, the dog was celebrated in the Icelandic Sagas a thousand years ago.
A resident of Orange County, New York noticed something odd poking through the topsoil in his backyard. Upon closer examination – and after calling in some experts – it turned out to be the fossilized remains of a mastodon.
In Arlington, Virginia, a wild barred owl flew into a home through the chimney and shocked the family inside, first by flying around the living room, then by perching atop the Christmas tree.
