Sadie & Sydney

Lion Mane Linked To Climate

If you were a male lion and could read the latest scientific research, you would want to move to a warmer climate, where your mane would be more impressive. That is, until it started getting smaller, to fit you to your new warmer climate!

It's long been known that lions with long, full manes get the girls. Now, an innovative study based on zoo animals all across America shows for the first time that cold temperatures help the king of the beast grow his mane long and thick -- and more appealing to potential mates.

Posted by Tammy at 05:56 PM | Permalink

Dog Obese After Diet Of Beer, Donuts

MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. -- An extremely overweight dog is being rehabilitated after being fed a diet of beer and doughnuts.

When the Arizona Humane Society took in "Sessa," she weighed almost three times as much as she should have and couldn't even stand.

"This is quite unique to actually have a dog that cannot get up because she's so overweight," said Alexis Boyle of the Humane Society.

Posted by Tammy at 04:03 PM | Permalink

Woman Seeks Probation for Her Cat

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Lewis the cat, whose alleged attacks have landed his owner in legal trouble, will learn his fate in court next month. Ruth Cisero, the cat's owner, was in court Tuesday on a charge of second-degree reckless endangerment. A hearing was set for June 20 to determine whether she could get special probation and have her cat's life spared.

Cisero recently withdrew her bid for special probation and opted for trial because she would have had to allow Lewis to be euthanized.

"She's on pins and needles," said Eugene Riccio, attorney for Cisero and Lewis. "The animal is important to her. It's a member of her family."

Neighbors say they have been terrorized by Lewis, saying the cat's long claws and stealth have allowed the cat to attack at least a half-dozen people and ambush the Avon lady as she was getting out of her car. One woman that Lewis attacked on Feb. 20 has said in a letter to prosecutors she would only agree to probation for Cisero if the cat were put to death.

Posted by Tammy at 12:32 PM | Permalink

Some apes, birds can think ahead, studies show

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Apes that remember to carry the right tools to retrieve treats and scrub jays that hide food a second time when they think a rival is watching prove animals can think ahead -- a trait once believed to be uniquely human, scientists have found.

Two carefully planned sets of experiments to be published on Friday in the journal Science show intelligent birds and great apes can plan into the future in a way that transcends simple food caching, as squirrels, foxes and other animals do.

"Planning for future needs is not uniquely human," Thomas Suddendorf of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, wrote in a commentary.

Posted by Tammy at 10:19 AM | Permalink

Posted by Tammy at 09:52 AM | Permalink

A male odobenus rosmarus welcomes a boy visiting the aquarium of the Kinosaki Marine World in Toyooka, 180km north of Osaka. (AFP/Kazuhiro Nogi)

Posted by Tammy at 09:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

India Zoo Animals Beat Heat Wave

GWALIOR, India -- Animals at a zoo in India got a break Monday from heat already well in excess of 100 degrees.

The monkeys got to taste a flavored icicle at the zoo in Gwalior.

The lions also loved being drenched by the water sprinkler.

Temperatures hit 114 degrees at the zoo.

Posted by Tammy at 06:10 PM | Permalink

SQUIRREL monkeys with a thing for mobile phones have forced handlers at London Zoo to smear their handsets with mustard. The zoo has had a dozen of the mischievous mammals for 12 months, and its animal psychologists have been trying to puzzle out the attraction the mobiles have for the monkeys...

To deter the monkeys from stealing phones from visitors, keepers dressed as civilians and carried phones smeared with hot English mustard...

Posted by Tammy at 05:08 PM | Permalink

A small Norwegian town has grown so tired of barking dogs that it plans to pass a curfew prohibiting noisy animals from leaving their homes late at night, an official said Friday.

Erik Schult, the head of forestry for the municipality of Fjell in western Norway, has proposed a new regulation stating that "barking dogs have to be indoors by 10 p.m. at the latest every weekday."

Schult said the curfew is aimed at preventing noisy dogs from keeping neighbors awake by barking all night, although it will not make it illegal to take quiet dogs on a late-night walk.

Sydney says: Wow, I wonder what the find is. Will they take away their chicken strips? Their chewies? That's just draconian if you ask me!

Posted by Tammy at 04:12 PM | Permalink