Animals news

• Scientists explore longevity drugs for dogs that could also ‘extend human life’

  26-12-2024 19:00
  
  Researchers say drugs may be able to increase lifespan by extending health and thus shortening the rate of ageingNot for nothing are dogs called man’s best friend: they are good for their owners’ mental and physical health, and some studies have shown that if you’re looking for a date and want to seem more attractive, it might be time to get a canine companion.So what would it be like if dogs could live for ever – and what if that secret could help their owners live longe
  
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• In a life of ups and downs, we have come to cherish our dog’s uncomplicated love | Ranjana Srivastava

  26-12-2024 15:00
  
  Every day, we walk Odie along the same paths. He eats the same food at the same time. And yet, for him our bounties feel limitlessThe last patient on my rounds is elderly, cognitively impaired and wonderfully complimentary. The nurse is dedicated. Dutiful interns like mine go places. She loves my dress. We joyfully acknowledge these statements because we dread the next, heartbreaking question: “Do you know I have a dog?”Lizzy is a corgi named after the late Queen. For 10 years, they
  
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• Dale’s balcony in Kings Cross has become a refuge for injured birds, but the healing goes both ways

  26-12-2024 15:00
  
  Dale Edwards fled abuse and violence in NZ 40 years ago, and has rediscovered his humanity in giving animals another chance at lifeGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailAt 6.21am, they arrive.From nowhere, the birds churn up the morning calm – 200 or so flapping wings chaotically pounding the air on the small central Sydney balcony. Just inside the sliding door, Snowy, a little corella whose shrill call sounds like a 1990s telephone, has quietened down: the pigeons have heeded his cal
  
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• Calls for Labour to honour pledge to toughen anti-hunt laws

  26-12-2024 14:32
  
  Government urged to ban trail hunting as data suggests illegal foxhunting is still widespread in England and WalesAnimal welfare campaigners are calling on ministers to keep to a pledge to toughen anti-hunt laws, as figures suggest illegal foxhunting remains widespread in England and Wales.Almost 20 years since the Hunting Act 2004 was brought in by Tony Blair’s government, the League Against Cruel Sports (Lacs) – the animal welfare charity that was the driving force behind the origi
  
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• Tiger among 20 cats to die of bird flu at sanctuary in Washington state

  26-12-2024 13:23
  
  Bengal tiger, cougars, a lynx and bobcats dead as disease spreads rapidly among US poultry flocks and dairy herdsTwenty exotic cats, including a Bengal tiger, four cougars, a lynx and four bobcats, have died after contracting bird flu at an animal sanctuary in Shelton, Washington.The feline deaths come as bird flu, a highly pathogenic avian influenza, has spread rapidly through poultry flocks and dairy herds in the US, infected and killed domestic cats, and caused a severe illness in a person in
  
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• ‘Britain’s wildlife safari’: baby boom in Norfolk as seal colonies flourish

  26-12-2024 13:00
  
  Grey seals are growing in numbers on England’s east coast as a result of environmental safe havens and cleaner North Sea watersIt is a cold winter’s day to be lying on a beach, but the seal pup suckling from its mother doesn’t mind. A few metres away, a pregnant seal is burrowing into the sand, trying to get comfortable, while a third seal, which has just given birth, is touching noses with her newborn pup.The shoreline – a mass of seals and their white pups – is on
  
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• ‘The people’s pygmy princess!’ How Moo Deng captured the world’s hearts

  26-12-2024 10:00
  
  The moist, ungovernable hippo combines the aesthetic of a potato and the iron will of a toddler – and her name means ‘bouncy pork’. Here’s how she became 2024’s most in-demand mammalIt’s been a rough year and we all craved solace. Thankfully, the universe provided in the moist, ungovernable form of a baby pygmy hippo. To the uninformed, here is a brief primer on 2024’s hottest It-mammal.On 10 July 2024, a female pygmy hippo was born at the Khao Kheow Ope
  
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• They lived through the ice age. Can the mighty musk ox survive the heat?

  26-12-2024 06:00
  
  Rising temperatures are pushing these Arctic mammals ever farther into Greenland’s north. But eventually there will be nowhere left for them to goBuilt like a small bison, weighing as much as a grand piano and covered in thick, shaggy coat, the musk ox is one of the most distinctive species in the high Arctic. But from a hill on Greenland’s tundra, they seem impossible to find.Each bush, rock and clump of grass resembles a mass of wool and horns in the blustery chill on the edge of t
  
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• Revisited: the endless sexual diversity of nature – podcast

  26-12-2024 06:00
  
  In this episode from July, Ian Sample talks to Josh Davis, a science writer at the Natural History Museum in London and author of the book A Little Gay Natural History. A study published in June 2024 suggested that, although animal scientists widely observe same-sex sexual behaviour in primates and other mammals, they seldom publish about it. Josh considers why this might be and describes some of his favourite examples of sexual diversity from the animal kingdom.Penguin noises by permission of f
  
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