A change of guard took place this year in the realm of tortoises. Jonathan, a 190-year-old giant tortoise living on St. Helena, has become the world’s oldest tortoise ever. Actually, that’s a bit of an understatement. Jonathan is now officially the oldest chelonian — the order of reptiles that includes all turtles, terrapins, and tortoises. …
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For the first part of this story, please read The Lab Monkeys Escaped, and the Airlines Are Done Transporting Them: Part One. The U.S. Department of Transportation has been pressed this last year, the airlines wanted them to ensure animals that are used for legally required drug-testing weren’t excluded. “Laboratory animal models are not only essential …
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Did you hear about the experimental lab monkeys that escaped in a Pennsylvania truck crash? Well, the international airline that shipped the 100 monkeys in the first place says that they will cease transporting the animals going forward. The contract is soon to expire and that’s that. Michael Joseph, Kenya Airways Chairman, confirmed that the …
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Imagine you’re some kind of a small animal, minding your own business. But oh no, suddenly a predator is attacking you! What’re you going to do? Will you run away, or will you try to attack the beast? Or will you fart your intestines out of your body? No, that’s not something we made up. …
Continue reading “6 Weird and Gross Animal Self-Defense Mechanisms”
This story sounds like it could’ve sprung straight out of a Looney Tunes skit. But hey, if it works, it’s not stupid. In the U.K., rescuers were pondering how to save a dog that was in danger of being swept away by a rising tide. In the end, they resorted to cartoonish measures and dangled …
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Goldfish aren’t exactly renowned for their intelligence. After all, there’s the pervasive myth of them having memories only two or three seconds long. That’s not actually true, but the myth’s persistence highlights the fact that we think goldfish are as dumb as a pile of bricks. But why, then, are they better at driving than …
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Wherever you go in the world, you’ll find people hailed at heroes for the selfless, valiant deeds they’ve done. But animals, too, can rise up to heroics on the occasion. It’s not always critters that have been trained to do so, either. Even wild animals sometimes help people in fantastic ways, for reasons we can’t …
Despite the piles upon piles of research into life on Earth, there’s always something new to learn. For example, we’ve only recorded a small fraction of all animal species on the planet, particularly if you look into the oceans. It’s no surprise, then, that last year scientists continued their tradition of finding both new species …
Do you fancy yourself as somebody who can hold their liquor like a champion? Well, we have bad news for you — there’s animal that could drink you under a table without even trying. But what is this animal? It has to be something huge, right? Maybe an elephant or a giraffe or something? Nope. …
We’ve covered quite a few stories about rampaging animals lately, from monkeys to sheep. Well, here’s another one. In this case, however, the attacking critter has been brought to justice. Unfortunately, his sentence was death. Over his 48-hour reign of terror, Stripe the Squirrel attacked 18 people in the small Welsh village of Buckley. During …
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