science
Study the science of animals to get a deeper understanding of your pet's brain, body and behavior.
Recognizing Leucism In Our Furry Friends
We all get excited about animals with abnormal colorations. The all-yellow cardinal spotted in Alabama created headlines and attracted hopeful birdwatchers, and after many admired an unusual all-white buffalo calf, controversy ensued when it was tragically killed. But many of us don't know the causes or names of these conditions. Oftentimes, abnormally-colored animals are simply grouped under 'albino' by casual observers. Much of the time, this is incorrect. Truly albino animals have a complete loss of melanin, the pigment that gives fur, skin, and other parts of the body its color. It leads to lack of pigment in the eyes, oftentimes presenting as red or pink eyes. However, more common in the wild is leucism - a partial, but not complete, loss of pigmentation.
Patrick KuklinskiPublished 4 years ago in PetlifeHow Owning a Dog Can Help to Reduce Stress
Having a pet and having a dog specifically has been linked to many medical benefits. Pets ultimately help to reduce loneliness, stress, cholesterol, depression, and blood pressure. Who knew having a dog could bless you with the gift of life.
Fun Facts About Your Family's Furry Friend
We love our dogs and cats. They are a part of our family to the point where we want to always do what is best for them and take good care of them. We will even go as far as to look for home remedies for itchy dogs or cats from issues such as fleas because we want to give them a natural alternative to chemicals that can be harmful to them. After all, these are our faithful loving companions. But there are some things about our furry little friends that we may not be aware, so here are some fun facts that could give us new insights into them.
Sasha McGregorPublished 5 years ago in PetlifeDolphins Like TV?
Dolphins are known to one of the very few animal species that demonstrate behavioral traits that resemble that of humans. These include establishing complex relationships with other animals, accomplishing common goals, teaching each other basic survival skills that are needed to survive out in the ocean, and even helping out with caring for each other's calves. However, recently, a group of researchers based in Key Largo recently discovered a way on how to enrich dolphins in human care when they are not playing with toys, nor doing public and private training sessions with their trainers—by simply watching a little bit of TV (no joke here).
Jenna DeedyPublished 5 years ago in PetlifeHow Utah’s Clever Fish Conservation Efforts Might Save Southern Resident Orcas in Washington State
Last Tuesday, Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources posted a short video on its Twitter page that depicts conservationists raining dozens of tiny fish from the underbelly of an aircraft into one of the state's high-mountain lakes. The conservationists say that the fish, which usually measure around one to three inches long, tend to survive the fall around 95 percent of the time. In fact, the fish are deliberately released around that small size to ensure that the animals would survive the fall, which to most people would prove to a deadly one.
Jenna DeedyPublished 5 years ago in PetlifeWhen the Water Turns Red: How Red Tide Affects Florida’s Marine Animals
Karenia brevis is a type of dinoflagellate that is known to produce toxins that can accumulate in marine organisms like shellfish, which can lead to poisoning when eaten by other animals. It’s adapted to get nutrients on the West Florida Shelf Oligotrophic where it feeds on copepods and their feces. In order for it to thrive, it also needs low light and an upwelling to initiate a bloom. The bloom occurs in four stages which include initiation, growth, maintenance and termination. Yet researchers have yet to determine which stage could serve as a primary factor to a bloom maintenance since there are multiple sources that are involved in the process. What is known, though, is that once a bloom begins, a combination of winds and current push the newly formed red tide to shore. As a result, the dangers it can have on animals begins to arise when K. brevis gets ingested because after all, they do produce a neurotoxin that bioaccumulate up the food chain of Florida’s marine ecosystem. This toxin can also be airborne when the cell breaks up from wave activity.
Jenna DeedyPublished 6 years ago in PetlifeThe Southern Resident Orcas Need Our Help
For 17 days, a 20-year-old adult female orca named Tahlequah, also known as J35, carried her dead newborn calf in a tragic effort to continue caring for the calf despite it having to have died just shortly after birth. Around the same time, her cousin, J50, also known as Scarlet, is grossly underweight as the result of possible malnutrition from the lack of the orca's primary food source, chinook salmon. Currently, as of now, there are ongoing efforts to rescue Scarlet from becoming another casualty by using boats to deliver her live salmon through a test feeder while collecting breath samples to monitor her health. Also, researchers also plan to use the live fish to provide medication to the sickly three-year-old orca even though there is no guarantee that she will eat live fish, but at the same time, the fact that scientists are making an effort to feed a wild orca is very unprecedented.
Jenna DeedyPublished 6 years ago in PetlifeShark Attacks
According to the International Shark Attack File, there are less than 1000 attacks a year by sharks on humans and only between 10 and 15 of these results in death. To put this into perspective, 1,000 are killed by crocodiles, 1,500 by tigers, leopards and lions and 60,000 from being bitten by a snake. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, people kill between 20 and 30 million sharks a year in sport and commercial fishing, putting some species of shark on the endangered list.
Clare ScanlanPublished 7 years ago in PetlifeLargest Creatures in the Sea
The ocean is absolutely packed with animals of all shapes and sizes. From the smallest plankton to the largest whale, the animals in the ocean show an amazing diversity in size, shape, and lifestyle. This diversity makes them so fascinating to study.
Clare ScanlanPublished 7 years ago in PetlifeWhich Animals Can Do Math?
In the late 19th Century, German math teacher Wilhelm von Osten became convinced that animals could do math. To prove this, he took a horse, and taught it to solve basic math equations by pawing the ground with its hooves to represent numbers. One stroke–one. Two strokes–two. Von Osten would take the horse, named Clever Hans, from town to town to tell it math equations, which it would solve to the public's amazement. It turned out, though, that, unbeknownst to von Osten, Clever Hans didn't know math. He merely pawed the ground until his master looked overjoyed, and knew then that he had done his job.
Rachel G. DavidPublished 7 years ago in Petlife