Welcome to my blog.
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.
This week the Los Angeles Zoo announced the birth of two baby perentie lizards, the first of the species to be bred there.
It’s been five years since the dreaded “murder hornet” was first spotted in the Pacific Northwest. Ever since, teams of assassins from the US and Washington State departments of agriculture have tracked down and killed the invasive species; this week the agencies declared the killer hornet dead and gone.
Lawmakers have passed a bill to formally designate the bald eagle as the national bird of the United States. When President Biden signs off on the bill – which breezed through the Senate and House – it will be official.
The winner of the UK’s ugliest dog contest is Muppet, a 12-year-old Chinese crested pooch from Peterborough. Bev Nicholson, the dog’s proud owner, says Muppet is a “wonky little rescue dog” that is “beautiful inside and out.”
Photographer Milko Marchetti happened upon a squirrel in a public park in Ravenna, Italy, so he snapped a shot of the rodent halfway in (or out) of a hole in a tree. “This photo had an effect on me and made me smile a lot in that moment that I clicked the button,” he says. “I knew I had to enter it into the competition.”
The new animated film “Flow,” about a cat and a motley group of diverse species pitted against the elements, is a visual feast and a surprisingly emotional ride. Surprising because Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis manages to evoke a lot of feeling without anthropomorphizing (or even naming) his cast of characters.
