A young whale pokes its melon-shaped head into the cool morning air near this remote island, a sign its herd is thriving despite mounting threats in Russia’s melting Arctic.
Cameras and microphones capture the whale’s every move as scientists use the species’ only shore-side breeding ground to see how they are coping as fleets of oil tankers replace melting ice in their traditional feeding grounds.
“Belugas are a bellwether species…what happens to them reflects the effects of pollution and global warming on the whole ecosystem,” said Vsevolod Belkovich, a professor at the Russian Academy of Science who is leading the study.
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Converting livestock manure into a domestic renewable fuel source could generate enough electricity to meet up to three per cent of North America’s entire consumption needs and lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), according to new research.
The research has implications for all countries with livestock as it is the first attempt to outline a procedure for quantifying the national amount of renewable energy that herds of cattle and other livestock can generate and the concomitant GHG emission reductions.
Livestock manure, left to decompose naturally, emits two particularly potent GHGs — nitrous oxide and methane. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, nitrous oxide warms the atmosphere 310 times more than carbon dioxide, methane does so 21 times more.
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It wasn’t just bunnies on Hef’s mind this past Saturday night as the Playboy Mansion played host to the Much Love Animal Rescue 2nd Annual Bow Wow WOW! Celebrity Fundraiser. A bevy of gorgeous and philanthropic stars turned out to hang at the Mansion and raise money for the non-profit, Much Love, which is a no kill charity that finds homes for hard to place dogs and cats in LA animal shelters, as well as providing medical care, rehabilitation, and spay and neutering services. Founded in 1999, and run by a team of dedicated volunteers, they have already managed to place over 2000 animals in good homes.
Hosted by the hilarious and spontaneous talents of Rachael Harris from Notes from the Underbelly, and Kevin Nealon of Weeds fame, the evening honored celeb activists Amy Smart (Iconic Activist Award), Good Day LA’s Jillian Barberie Reynolds (Superstar Spokesperson Award), Jerry O’Connell (Celebrity Rescuer Award), Hef’s lovely gal pal, Bridget Marquardt (Gold Heart Award), and Chela Landau (Community Liaison Award), who were all commended for their service to animal welfare. Guests were treated to a lavish vegetarian buffet courtesy of the Mansion’s personal chef, music by DJ Stryker, and a live auction including a 2008 smart fortwo car and walk-on roles in TV shows and movies, with all proceeds benefiting Much Love Animal Rescue.
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Rabbit’s owner Gerry Finn had been home from night shift only 30 minutes when he heard the black rabbit furiously scratching at the bedroom door about 6am today.
He was shocked to discover it had alerted him to a blaze rapidly spreading through the back of his Macleod home, in Melbourne’s north.
Smoke blackened the inside of the house, and flames destroyed part of the roof.
Neighbours pitched in with hoses to save the house before four fire crews arrived to extinguish the blaze.
Six days from completing a painstaking two-year renovation, the couple was stunned but relieved to have escaped the fire without injury.
Wife Michelle said Rabbit had alerted them in the nick of time.
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A year after billionaire hotelier Leona Helmsley bequeathed $12 million to her dog, Trouble, thousands of California cats and canines may soon be in the money too — though perhaps not so deep — thanks to a measure signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The bill the governor signed into law provides for enforcement of “pet trusts” set up by animal owners to pay for continuing care for Spot and Mr. Whiskers after the owner’s demise.
Unlike most states, California law has treated pet trust funds as honorary and therefore the trusts are often unenforceable, said state Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), whose law will take effect Jan. 1.
“Pets are an important part of the American family,” Yee said Tuesday. “SB 685 will make pet trusts enforceable and assure that the wishes of pet owners are respected.”
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In a study of free-living and parasitic species in three estuaries on the Pacific coast of California and Baja California, a team of researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, the United States Geological Survey, and Princeton University has determined that parasite biomass in those habitats exceeds that of top predators, in some cases by a factor of 20.
Their findings, which could have significant biomedical and ecological implications, appear in the July 24 issue of the science journal Nature.
According to Armand Kuris, a professor of zoology in UCSB’s Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology and a lead author of the paper, the study’s findings have a potential impact on the perceived role of parasites in an ecosystem. From an ecological perspective, parasites serve both as regulators to prevent species from becoming numerically dominant and as indicators of the health of a particular ecosystem. The study shows for the first time that parasites might drive the flow of energy in ecosystems.
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Inspections of Loyola University’s medical school run by the US Department of Agriculture revealed numerous violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, which resulted in the deaths of rabbits and dogs.
Stop Animal Exploitation NOW based in Milford, Ohio required the inspections, which were made from 2006 to 2007. The inspectors found poor veterinary care, inadequately trained personnel, and sloppy record keeping. This behavior led to the death of five dogs and seven rabbits, the inspections found.
“If a medical school can’t adequately supervise experiments involving dogs and rabbits, then those projects should be immediately terminated,” Michael Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation NOW was quoted as saying by the Chicago Sun-Times.
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Ready for the latest in spa pampering? Prepare to dunk your tootsies in a tank of water and let tiny carp nibble away.
Fish pedicures are creating something of a splash in the D.C. area, where a northern Virginia spa has been offering them for the past four months. John Ho, who runs the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon with his wife, Yvonne Le, said 5,000 people have taken the plunge so far.
“This is a good treatment for everyone who likes to have nice feet,” Ho said.
He said he wanted to come up with something unique while finding a replacement for pedicures that use razors to scrape off dead skin. The razors have fallen out of favor with state regulators because of concerns about whether they’re sanitary.
Ho was skeptical at first about the fish, which are called garra rufa but typically known as doctor fish. They were first used in Turkey and have become popular in some Asian countries.
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Man’s best friend apparently has a good friend in the Massachusetts House. The House passed a bill today that would ban pet-rental companies in the state.
The bill, filed by Representative Paul K. Frost, Republican of Auburn, outlaws pet-rental companies because of what he called “public health, public safety, consumer concerns, and ethical issues.”
“I’m very pleased we were able to get it passed today and engrossed in the House,” Frost said. “It’s a kind of business model that fosters disposable pets.”
Earlier this month, Boston city councilors voted to ban the Flex Petz pet-rental company from opening a Boston branch because of similar concerns, said Frost.
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The chicks of a species of Australian cuckoo can adjust their call in order to fool other species into rearing them, despite never having heard the cry, researchers have found.
Like their European counterparts, Australian cuckoos are well known for laying their eggs in the nests of other birds.
Once the chicks hatch, they kick out the host’s other eggs and set about convincing their foster parents to feed them by imitating the calls of the host’s offspring.
But researchers from the Australian National University and the University of Cambridge, report in the latest issue of the journal Evolution, that one species of cuckoo can modify its call depending on which species it has hooked up with.
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