Animals news

• ‘Perfect end’: Miniature poodle Sage wins best in show at Westminster in handler’s farewell

  15-05-2024 05:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Miniature poodle from Houston named America’s top canineHandler Kaz Hosaka retiring after 45 Westminster dog showsSage the miniature poodle wins best in show – as it happenedA miniature poodle named Sage is America’s top canine after earning the title of best in show on Tuesday night at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, sending her veteran handler into retirement on the highest of notes.The perfectly manicured non-sporting group winner from Houston with the shiny jet-black
  
  Read more

• Bear caught on camera snoozing inside car after breaking in – video

  12-06-2024 20:07 via theguardian.com
  
  A sleepy bear was was filmed by a woman in Ontario, Canada, after it broke into her car.Kayla Seward filmed the bear sitting in the front passenger seat through condensation-misted windows before her partner opened the door to release the animal off camera Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Black bear breaks into Canadian woman’s car for second time and falls asleep

  12-06-2024 19:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Bear apparently opened the vehicle by lifting a door handle with its mouth, after breaking into same car last yearAfter a string of vehicle break-ins in a north Canadian town, local residents have identified the culprit: a black bear with a taste for upholstery foam.Awoken by a noise near midnight on 11 June, Kayla Seward, who lives in the Ontario township of Larder Lake, went outside to investigate – and found the sleepy black bear locked inside her car. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Bear shreds seats then dozes off after breaking into Canadian woman’s car

  12-06-2024 19:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Black bear apparently opened the vehicle by lifting door handle with its mouth, after breaking into same car last yearAfter a string of vehicle break-ins in a north Canadian town, local residents have identified the culprit: a black bear with a taste for upholstery foam.Awoken by a noise near midnight on 11 June, Kayla Seward, who lives in the Ontario township of Larder Lake, went outside to investigate – and found the sleepy black bear locked inside her car. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Rare white buffalo born at Yellowstone prompts Lakota Sioux celebration

  12-06-2024 15:52 via theguardian.com
  
  The birth, not yet confirmed by park officials, holds special significance to tribe as ‘both a blessing and warning’A rare white buffalo has been born in Yellowstone national park, with the arrival prompting local Lakota Sioux leaders to plan a special celebration, with the calf representing a sign of hope and the need to look after the planet.The white calf was reportedly spotted shortly after its birth, on Tuesday last week, by park visitor Erin Braaten, a photographer. She took se
  
  Read more

• Rare birds at risk as narco-gangs move into forests to evade capture – report

  12-06-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Cocaine traffickers have put two-thirds of Central America’s key habitats for threatened birds under threat, study findsCocaine consumption is threatening rare tropical birds as narco-traffickers move into some of the planet’s most remote forests to evade drug crackdowns, a study has warned.Two-thirds of key forest habitats for birds in Central America are at risk of being destroyed by “narco-driven” deforestation, according to the paper, published on Wednesday in the jou
  
  Read more

• Birdwatch: pochards are one of Britain’s rarest breeders

  12-06-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The ducks are common in winter, but during the nesting season only 700 pairs breed each yearAmong the egrets, bitterns and cranes on Somerset’s Avalon Marshes, it would be easy to ignore a rather stocky diving duck, with a pale grey body, black breast and tail, and rich chestnut head. As I scan the reedbeds, I often see pochards flying fast and low, before vanishing into thick vegetation below.Yet from a British point of view, of all the birds breeding here, the pochard is one of the rares
  
  Read more

• ‘Magical’: 17m insects fly each year through narrow pass in Pyrenees, say scientists

  12-06-2024 01:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exeter University study has origins in 1950 discovery by ornithologists who ‘chanced upon a spectacle’It is a weird and wonderful sight: millions of migratory insects funnelling through a single narrow pass high in the Pyrenees, looking like a dark flying carpet and emitting a low, deep hum.A team of scientists from a British university that has been studying the phenomenon for the last four years has now concluded that more than 17 million insects fly each year through the 30 metre-
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Rare white grizzly bear and two cubs killed in Canada in separate car strikes

  11-06-2024 20:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Cubs killed by cars earlier in the day before Nakoda spooked and ran on to highway, where another vehicle struck herNational park staff in Canada are mourning the “devastating” loss of a rare white grizzly bear and her cubs after all three were killed in separate vehicle collisions on the same day.The bear formally referred to as GBF178 but named Nakoda by locals had in recent months been spotted with her two cubs foraging on spring dandelions along a stretch of highway between Lake
  
  Read more

• Wallace and Gromit image pasted over king’s portrait by animal rights activists

  11-06-2024 18:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Two Animal Rising supporters cover monarch’s face with Wallace character in protest against RSPCA-assured farmsAnimal rights activists have pasted a picture of the stop-motion cartoon character Wallace, from Wallace and Gromit, over the new portrait of King Charles, in a protest highlighting alleged cruelty at RSPCA-accredited farms.Two supporters of the group Animal Rising entered the Philip Mould gallery in central London after midday on Tuesday and carried out what they described as a &
  
  Read more

• Iceland grants country’s last whaling company licence to hunt 128 fin whales

  11-06-2024 17:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservationists criticise ‘disappointing’ and ‘dangerous’ move to allow harpooning of fin whales after curbs last year Iceland has granted a licence to Europe’s last whaling company to kill more than 100 animals this year, despite hopes the practice might have been halted after concerns about cruelty led to a temporary suspension last year.Animal rights groups described the news as “deeply disappointing” and “dangerous”. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Country diary: A cuckoo unleashes the fury of the pipits | Ed Douglas

  11-06-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Totley Moss, South Yorkshire: Cuckoos are admired for being masters of cunning, but this one is on the run after failing to dupe its victimsJust over the horizon from Sheffield lies a triangle of moorland trapped between three busy roads. There’s a venerable pub on one corner and on the opposite side a fast, straight road that isolates this 100‑acre pocket from the rest of Totley Moss. It doesn’t exactly seem a propitious location for moments that sear into your memory, but thi
  
  Read more

• Wild horses return to Kazakhstan steppes after absence of two centuries

  10-06-2024 18:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Seven Przewalski’s horses, the only truly wild species of the animal in the world, flown to central Asian country from zoos in EuropeA group of the world’s last wild horses have returned to their native Kazakhstan after an absence of about 200 years. The seven horses, four mares from Berlin and a stallion and two other mares from Prague, were flown to the central Asian country on a Czech air force transport plane.The wild horses, known as Przewalski’s horses, once roamed the va
  
  Read more

• Elephants call each other by name, study finds

  10-06-2024 18:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Researchers used artificial intelligence algorithm to analyse calls by two herds of African savannah elephants in KenyaElephants call out to each other using individual names that they invent for their fellow pachyderms, according to a new study.While dolphins and parrots have been observed addressing each other by mimicking the sound of others from their species, elephants are the first non-human animals known to use names that do not involve imitation, the researchers suggested. Continue readi
  
  Read more

• Party Bus the rodeo bull escapes Oregon arena and wounds three people

  10-06-2024 14:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Bull hopped fence and ran through concession area, lifting one person off the ground, before professionals secured itA rodeo bull named Party Bus hopped a fence surrounding an Oregon arena and ran through a concession area into a parking lot, injuring at least three people before wranglers caught up with it, officials said.The crowd at the 84th Sisters Rodeo in the city of Sisters was singing along with Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA on Saturday night, most with their cellphone flashlig
  
  Read more

• The pet I’ll never forget: Fred the funny, furious pekingese, whom my father carried like a furry handbag

  10-06-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Fred was the runt of the litter – often poorly, terrified of loud noises, with an expression of permanent outrage. He didn’t know he was a comedian, but he couldn’t help being hilariousFred was the runt of a litter of pekingese puppies. He arrived at my parents’ house with his much more glamorous sister Lottie. They were so small that their tails had not yet fluffed out and were like little fingers sticking up. I was about six at the time and was enchanted with Lottie&rsq
  
  Read more

• The pet I’ll never forget: Fred the funny, furious pekingese, who my father carried like a furry handbag

  10-06-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Fred was the runt of the litter – often poorly, terrified of loud noises, with an expression of permanent outrage. He didn’t know he was a comedian, but he couldn’t help being hilariousFred was the runt of a litter of pekingese puppies. He arrived at my parents’ house with his much more glamorous sister Lottie. They were so small that their tails had not yet fluffed out and were like little fingers sticking up. I was about six at the time and was enchanted with Lottie&rsq
  
  Read more

• Are all cats Tories? I considered the politics of my pets – and they’re not pretty | Emma Beddington

  10-06-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  My assumption that all dogs vote Labour or, at a pinch, Lib Dem, was shaken by two people who identified theirs as likely Reform votersIf you’re feeling over- or underwhelmed by the election (probably both), have you considered how your pets would vote? This perennial can of worms was reopened on French social media recently by a creator asking whether viewers’ animals were leftwing or rightwing. Her luxurious-looking cat was rightwing, she said, with a “vibe de petit bourgeois
  
  Read more

• The cat in the flat: Singapore lifts ban on pets in public housing

  10-06-2024 01:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Public consultation found widespread support to allow cats in the city’s Housing and Development Board flats, in which 80% of the population liveTommy is, without doubt, the head of his household. If he wants the air conditioning switched on, he simply glares at the unit on the wall. If he wants an early night, he’ll miaow for the TV to be silenced.But, until now, he has been living in violation of a law that bans cats from much of Singapore’s housing. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• How parakeets escaped and made Britain their home

  09-06-2024 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The bright green birds arrived in the 1970s, and they have since become part of the urban landscapeYet another opinion poll was published last week, focusing on British people’s attitudes towards new arrivals on our shores.They didn’t get here on small boats, and they won’t feature in the TV election debates. They’re not human beings, but birds: ring-necked parakeets. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Why did the endangered cassowary cross the road? Because it could

  08-06-2024 22:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Queensland conservationists say the ‘world’s only bridge for a bird’ is a template for saving a species at risk of disappearingGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThey call it the Cassowary Coast for a reason. This unique, flightless native bird is such a draw on tourists to the north Queensland region, one local estimate has them each worth $1m to the local economy.By that estimate, the community lost $10m in the first three months of this
  
  Read more

• Dog runs four miles to get help for owner who crashed car into Oregon ravine

  08-06-2024 18:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Brandon Garrett was driving solo with his four dogs near where his family was camping, when he failed to navigate a turnA dog ran four miles to get help for his owner who crashed his car into a ravine in Oregon – and was ultimately rescued because of the animal’s heroics, according to authorities.The case unfolded as Brandon Garrett was driving himself and his four dogs north on US Forest Service Road 39 in Baker county, near where his family was camping. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Dog runs four miles to get help for owner who crashed car in Oregon ravine

  08-06-2024 18:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Brandon Garrett was driving solo with his four dogs near where his family was camping, when he failed to navigate a turnA dog ran four miles to get help for his owner who crashed his car into a ravine in Oregon – and was ultimately rescued because of the animal’s heroics, according to authorities.The case unfolded as Brandon Garrett was driving himself and his four dogs north on US Forest Service Road 39 in Baker county, near where his family was camping. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Sharks attack three swimmers off two Florida beaches

  08-06-2024 17:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Woman, 45, sustained ‘significant trauma’ and had part of arm amputated after one attack, and two teens were injured in anotherTwo separate shark attacks at Florida beaches wounded three swimmers, including two teenagers, prompting some popular vacation spots to temporarily close, according to authorities.A shark bit a 45-year-old woman at about 1.20pm on Friday while she swam at Watersound beach, along the coast of Walton county, Florida, in the eastern part of the state. Continue r
  
  Read more

• A male birth control gel is one step closer to reality, and that’s worth celebrating | Arwa Mahdawi

  08-06-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A male equivalent to the female birth control pill has not yet materialized, but a clinical trial shows encouraging resultsHumans have managed to put men on the moon, clone mammals and develop nuclear bombs powerful enough to end civilization in a matter of minutes. One advancement that has remained elusive, however? Male birth control. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Country diary: A disturbance here, a ripple there, and then we spot one | Merryn Glover

  08-06-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Badenoch, Cairngorms: In the soundless and secretive flow of the stream, we hear a splash that’s too fulsome for a duckWe know we won’t see them, but we are here for the beavers. After extinction in the UK 400 years ago, and reintroduction in Argyll and other sites from 2009, they were brought to the Cairngorms national park last December. They are settling well, but nocturnal and elusive. It is after 9pm when we drop down a steep bank to a waterway all but hidden in the undergrowth.
  
  Read more

• Hungry foxes are having a ‘catastrophic’ impact on Australia’s juvenile freshwater turtles. There’s a push to change that

  08-06-2024 02:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Turtle’s long lives may be masking extent of loss of young and eggs, experts say, with estimates that one species has declined in population by 90% or moreGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastA wily red fox with a turtle in its jaws is a stark illustration of the “catastrophic” situation affecting Australia’s freshwater turtles.Along the Murray, foxes are digging up and eating entire nests of turtle eggs, and grabbing reproductive femal
  
  Read more

• Inside the female-led world of ethical taxidermy: ‘It’s not just for hunters’

  08-06-2024 01:51 via theguardian.com
  
  At a workshop in southern California, students learn a practice long associated with grizzled hunters: ‘We feel we’re giving animals a second chance’Four dead rats. Two white guinea pig carcasses. One lifeless brown rabbit. A group of women hovered tentatively over the bodies, holding scalpels.“Are we slicing all the way through?” asked KC Carmela, one of the attendees, a scalpel in one hand and a rodent in the other. “Like butter? Or a banana?” Continue
  
  Read more

• Something fishy this way comes: rare sunfish washes ashore in Oregon

  07-06-2024 21:51 via theguardian.com
  
  The hoodwinker sunfish, or Mola tecta, is a different species from the more common ocean sunfish, Mola molaAn enormous rare fish thought to live only in temperate waters in the southern hemisphere has washed up on Oregon’s northern coast, drawing crowds of curious onlookers intrigued by the unusual sight.The 7.3-ft (2.2-metre) hoodwinker sunfish first appeared on the beach in Gearhart on Monday, the Seaside Aquarium said in a media release. It was still on the beach on Friday and may remai
  
  Read more

• Something fishy this way comes: rare 7ft sunfish washes ashore in Oregon

  07-06-2024 21:51 via theguardian.com
  
  The hoodwinker sunfish, or Mola tecta, is a different species from the more common ocean sunfish, Mola molaAn enormous rare fish thought to live only in temperate waters in the southern hemisphere has washed up on Oregon’s northern coast, drawing crowds of curious onlookers intrigued by the unusual sight.The 7.3-ft (2.2-metre) hoodwinker sunfish first appeared on the beach in Gearhart on Monday, the Seaside Aquarium said in a media release. It was still on the beach on Friday and may remai
  
  Read more

Follow @newsloc_animals on Twitter!