Clipmarks | Socratoad's 'animals' clips

Vivisection: Scientists use 6% more animals for research

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:29:37 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: Ah yes, further zombification of our species!

Vivisection: Scientists use 6% more animals for research

The number of scientific procedures carried out on animals rose by 6% last year to just over 3.2m. The vast majority (83%) used rodents, while the number of procedures that involved monkeys was down 6% with 3,125 monkeys being used in total.

The overall increase is due largely to the continued trend for researchers to use more genetically modified mice and fish in experiments. Creating GM animals involves two steps of breeding and these animals are counted in the figures as having undergone a scientific "procedure". In 2007, 1.15m GM animals were used, a rise of 11% on the previous year. Over a third of all procedures in 2007 were breeding animals.

Unfold The Welcome Mat

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:08:29 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.dailyme.com

SOUTHWEST RANCHES, Fla. - Christina Brownlow Unfolds..

SOUTHWEST RANCHES, Fla. - Christina Brownlow unfolds the welcome mat whenever a family of raccoons, foxes or squirrels strays into her yard.

With its canopy of fruit trees and foliage, and colorful gardens of butterflies, Brownlow's 2.5-acre property has been certified as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation, which promotes coexistence with animals whose natural habitat is rapidly disappearing.

"How do you define a habitat? It's like a hotel, a place where wildlife can stop and rest, eat and go on their way," said Brownlow, an adult-education teacher who grew up in the Southwest Ranches, Fla., home her parents bought 40 years ago.

There are 103,000 certified wildlife habitats nationwide, with Florida leading the nation, according to Roxanne Paul, the federation's operations coordinator. In Broward, there are 1,614; most of those are backyards, but some are schools and even businesses.

Big Brains Arose Separately in Multiple Primate Groups

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:43:37 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Big Brains Arose Separately in Multiple Primate Groups

The ancestors of modern-day primates in the Americas had tiny brains just like their counterparts in Africa and Eurasia, according to a new study.

Because modern anthropoid, or humanlike, primates in both regions have large brains relative to their body sizes, the finding suggests that one of the hallmarks of primate biology—increasing brain size—happened independently in isolated groups.

An increase in brain size relative to body size is called encephalization.

The new research is based on 80 different measurements taken of the skulls, jaws, and teeth of 17 living New World monkeys, such as capuchins and marmosets, to determine which features are the best predictors of body size.

Animals with large encephalization quotients, or EQs, are those with bigger brains relative to their body sizes compared to the group average.

Duckweed genome sequencing has global implications

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:14:21 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.hindu.com

Duckweed genome sequencing has global implications

Pond scum can undo pollution, fight global warming and alleviate world hunger

This enterprise builds upon Rutgers' burgeoning energy and environmental research and the important contributions Waksman Institute scientists have already made to plant genomics, including the sequencing of rice, sorghum and corn.

According to the researchers, duckweed plants can extract nitrogen and phosphate pollutants from agricultural and municipal wastewater. They can reduce algae growth, coliform bacterial counts and mosquito larvae on ponds, while concentrating heavy metals, capturing or degrading toxic chemicals, and encourage the growth of other aquatic animals such as frogs and fowl. These plants produce biomass faster than any other flowering plant, serve as high-protein feed for domestic animals and show clear potential as an alternative for biofuel production.

Animals can't speak for themselves

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:36:00 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.theage.com.au

Animals can't speak for themselves - it's up to us to do it

To any thinking person, it must be obvious that there is something badly wrong in relations between human beings and the animals that human beings rely on for food; and that in the past 100 or 150 years whatever is wrong has become wrong on a huge scale, as traditional animal husbandry has been turned into an industry using industrial methods of production.

There are many other ways in which our relations to animals are wrong (to name two: the fur trade, experimentation on animals in laboratories), but the food industry, which turns living animals into what it euphemistically calls animal products - animal products and animal byproducts - dwarfs all others in the number of individual animal lives it affects.

Dog Breeders Issue Massive Recall Of '07 Pugs

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:00:21 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.theonion.com

Dog Breeders Issue Massive Recall Of '07 Pugs

WASHINGTON, DC—Citing centuries of quality- control issues that have resulted in chronic unreliability, cascading system failures, and even total unit shutdown, the American Pug Breeders Association announced a recall Monday of all pugs produced between February 2006 and the present day.

"We apologize wholeheartedly to any and all owners of the 2007 pug," APBA director Betty McAndrews said at a press conference, standing before a table where 10 defective pugs were displayed. "While pug owners are accustomed to dog malfunction, the latest animals are prone to more problems than just the usual joint failures, overheating, seizures, chronic respiratory defects, and inability to breed without assistance. The latest model pug is simply not in any way a viable dog."

Duckweed - Very Promising

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:20:48 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: Its greatest potential, however, could lie in becoming a source of biomass for alternative fuel production. Because individual organisms generate new biomass at a rate faster than any other known flowering plant, duckweed could also do in a pinch as a ready source of high-protein feed for farm animals.

Clip Source: www.treehugger.com

Though it may be a bit premature to heap too much praise upon duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) -- after all, relatively little is still known about its properties -- the early signs, at least according to a team of Rutgers scientists, seem very promising. A team of plant biologists from Rutgers' Waksman Institute of Microbiology have convinced the DOE to focus resources on the genomic sequencing of the diminutive aquatic plant, claiming it holds immeasurable potential for feeding the planet and fighting both pollution and climate change.

Duckweed: a pollution fighting source of food and biofuel
So what potential benefits could a better understanding of duckweed's genome yield? Scientists already know that duckweed can extract excess nitrates and phosphates from agricultural and municipal runoff, slow algal growth (thus putting a damper on eutrophication) and degrade toxic chemicals -- among other pollution-fighting functions.

Wolf Howling & Growling Sound Clips

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:21:36 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.searchingwolf.com

Wolf Howling & Growling Sound Clips

Click on the links below to hear wolf sounds.

Lone Wolf Howl

Wolf Chorus Howling

Wolf Growling

Wolf Howl & Growl Links - Lots of audio files in these pages!

Communication and Social Order Within a Wolf Pack

Natural Worlds: Wolf Sounds

Sounds of the World's Animals: Wolf

TimberLine Inc.: Wolf Sound Files

Wolf Country: Wolf Sounds

Wolf Howl Animal Preserve: Wolf Talk

Wolf Park: Wolf Sounds

Glimpses of the Yukon

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:37:19 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: members.tripod.com

Primate's Scent Speaks Volumes About Who He Is

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:01:40 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.terradaily.com

Madagascan lemur

Primate's Scent Speaks Volumes About Who He Is

Durham NC (SPX) Jul 01, 2008
Perhaps judging a man by his cologne isn't as superficial as it seems. Duke University researchers, using sophisticated machinery to analyze hundreds of chemical components in a ringtailed lemur's distinctive scent, have found that individual males are not only advertising their fitness for fatherhood, but also a bit about their family tree as well.

We now know that there's information about genetic quality and relatedness in scent," said Christine Drea, a Duke associate professor of biological anthropology and biology. The male's scent can reflect his mixture of genes, and to which animals he's most closely related. "It's an honest indicator of individual quality that both sexes can recognize," she said.

Lemurs, distant primate cousins of ours who split from the family tree before the monkeys and apes parted ways, have a complex and elaborate scent language

Down on the Farm

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:29:21 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.socialmedian.com

Visiting a farm in Westmoreland, Kansas, I photographed some of the farm animals. The little girl feeds the motherless calf, while the chickens and roosters peck around in their chicken house, the kittens playfully roam around, and I meet one of the pet dogs, a husky named Mia.

For photos below, to see the larger size, click on a photo.

BEFORE & AFTER: 3rd Largest Rain Forest Vanishing Fast

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:57:59 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: Resisting becoming a misanthrope is very difficult

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

BEFORE & AFTER: 3rd Largest Rain Forest Vanishing Fast

June 6, 2008—Satellite images show Papua New Guinea's Gulf Province rain forest intact in 1988 (left) and laid bare by logging in 2002. The images were released this week as part of a new study.

At the current rate of destruction, 53 percent of the country's rain forest—said to be the world's third largest—will disappear by 2021, according to the study of three decades of satellite imagery. Between 1972 and 2002 alone, 19.8 million acres (8 million hectares) were lost.

"It was previously thought that PNG had a very low or nonexistent rate of deforestation and degradation," study co-author Phil Shearman, of the University of Papua New Guinea, told Britain's Telegraph newspaper.

Along with trees, unique animals and plants are expected to vanish. And because trees absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, the deforestation could encourage global warming.

Dubious Distinction

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:04:25 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: incontemptcomics.com

Dubious Distinction

A few weeks ago the U.S. Department of the Interior added polar bears to the list of animals threatened with extinction by the melting of ice in the Arctic sea. As the LA Times reports, the polar bear is the first species to be officially acknowledged as threatened by the effects of global warming.

But here’s where the BushAdmin renders this listing moot:

But the department also issued special rules designed to exempt from the law offshore oil and gas drilling in prime polar bear habitat off Alaska’s north coast.

Moreover, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced he was taking a series of steps to short-circuit legal plans by conservation groups to use the polar bear’s protected status to block new power plants and other sources of carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to global warming.

Not that there are any special interests motivating this decision or anything:

Donkey

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:02:43 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: I resisted making a smart "ass" remark.

I used to raise these very bright animals. From my observations they appear to be brighter than horses.

Clip Source: www.zsl.org

Donkey

Equus asinus

Animal facts

Donkeys descend from the wild ass of North Africa. They can go without water longer than any other member of the horse family. In ancient Egypt their mild was used as food, medicine and make-up to white the skin.

Donkeys make their 'eeyore' sound by breathing in and instantly breathing out.

Where they live

Found as working animals in many parts of the world

Habitat

Hot and dry conditions

What they eat

Grass and foliage

World's strangest looking animals

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 23:50:30 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: I'm quite sure they think that when looking at humans.

Clip Source: www.sharenator.com

World's strangest looking animals

Matamata Turtle

Patagonian Cavy (Mara)

Saiga Antelope

Star nosed mole

Elephant shrew

Long-beaked echidna

Pink Fairy Armadillo

Long-eared Jerboa

Tags: animals