Posts tagged ‘animals’
Foxes May Be the Next Domestic Animal
Cats and dogs evolved thousands of years ago, with other animals, such as livestock, following suit. Interestingly, there appears to be another type of domestication underway: the domestication of the fox. Experiments have shown it is possible and now foxes are becoming more domestic in cities.
The Experiments
In 1959, Russian scientists sought out to prove something: that you can domesticate an animal in a relatively short time via selective breeding. Selective breeding is when you breed animals for a specific trait and only breed those that show the trait. This is how we ended up with so many dog breeds—have you ever wondered how a wolf became a pug? Selective breeding is still used today, for producing everything from disease-resistant crops to countless types of chickens. (more…)
Lone Baby Animals are Rarely Abandoned
The wealth of available resources and mild weather make spring the perfect season for most animals to raise offspring. When these helpless (and often adorable) babies are in danger, it’s natural for people to want to provide aid. Unfortunately, these altruistic actions tend to do more harm than good. Most seemingly abandoned or vulnerable young animals aren’t actually in trouble—in most cases, their parents are nearby and keeping a close eye on them. Although people have good intentions, “helping” these animals generally leads to more problems, especially for the wildlife rehabbers left to pick up the pieces.
Bunnies
Wildlife rehabilitators tend to cringe whenever someone brings in a litter of “abandoned” rabbit kits. The truth is that it’s very rare that the bunnies have actually been abandoned. Rabbits are prey animals and babies are easy pickings for nearly any predator. Mother rabbits don’t want to draw attention to their nest so they actually stay far away, returning to feed their litter just twice a day for a few minutes. After nursing their young, they go back to foraging far from the nest.
Whales Have Regional Dialects
By Chad Upton | Editor
It’s pretty common knowledge that whales, dolphins and various porpoises “speak” to each other in a language we don’t completely understand. Sperm whales in particular, speak in a series of clicks called “codas.”
Much like we recognize the voices of our friends, whales can tell which member of their group is clicking. Also like people, researchers have discovered that whales from different regions have distinct accents.
Sperm whales have a call known as the “Five Regular” which is used by sperm whales worldwide. It’s a series of five evenly spaced clicks believed to be used for individual identity.
This communication is very useful for navigating in dark waters — whales can dive as deep as 1000 meters (3280 ft)!
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Image: Tim Bayman (cc)
Sources: Science Daily, Wikipedia (Whales)
Broken Secrets 