Animals news

• Why Biden?

  25-04-2019 18:29 via news.yahoo.com
  Joe Biden has been ahead in the early polling for a long time. But, I wonder: Why?The argument for Joe Biden’s nomination seems to be the one least likely to excite Democratic voters: he’s old and white, and his nomination is a decent enough accommodation to Republican political enemies who are backward looking. That is a problem because two different large cohorts of Democrats want to move forward in different ways. An upwardly mobile section of “woke” white progressives
  
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• Short films made from brain activity of mice aim to show how they see world

  10-03-2026 06:00
  Scientists hope results analysed after the mice watched video footage will help them understand their perceptionsScientists have reconstructed short movies from the brain activity of mice that watched videos for a project that aspires to lift the veil on how animals perceive the world.The brief movie clips are grainy and pixellated, but provide a glimpse of how mice processed footage that featured people taking part in various sports from gymnastics to horse riding and wrestling. Continue readin
  
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• The joys of dogs and anonymous owners | Brief letters

  09-03-2026 17:42
  Canine chums | Guardian stirs things up | Bravo, Pedro | Eurovision switch-offWhen Lowry, my 14-year-old black labrador, died last July, fellow dog walkers gave me flowers, plants and even portraits of him. I was particularly pleased when they also gave me sympathy cards, because at last I knew their names (Letters, 8 March). Since then, when I have been out for lone walks, or have been in my front garden, I have been delighted when Pepper, Wilfred, Pippin and Peggy have dragged their still 
  
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• The joys of dog and anonymous owners | Brief letters

  09-03-2026 17:42
  Canine chums | Guardian stirs things up | Bravo, Pedro | Eurovision switch-offWhen Lowry, my 14-year-old black labrador, died last July, fellow dog walkers gave me flowers, plants and even portraits of him. I was particularly pleased when they also gave me sympathy cards, because at last I knew their names (Letters, 8 March). Since then, when I have been out for lone walks, or have been in my front garden, I have been delighted when Pepper, Wilfred, Pippin and Peggy have dragged their still 
  
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• The pet I’ll never forget: Luke, the blind dog whose unconditional love made me live again

  09-03-2026 12:00
  He is an Australian shepherd dog who navigates the world with fearless joy. When I had two heart attacks, his unwavering devotion helped save me
  Luke, a blind Australian shepherd, came to us seven years ago, after we rescued him from a working horse farm. Even though he can’t see, Luke moves around with a fearlessness that is inspiring.He compensates with his other senses; Luke can smell and hear at an astonishing level, that’s how he notices things. But he also seems to understand t
  
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• Large tortoiseshell butterfly confirmed no longer extinct in UK

  09-03-2026 12:00
  Early spring sightings show colourful insect is a resident species for first time in decades, says conservation charityThe large tortoiseshell – an elusive and enigmatic butterfly that became extinct in Britain in the last century – is a UK resident species once again, with a flurry of early spring sightings.Britain’s list of native butterflies has increased to 60 with the return of the insect after individuals emerged from hibernation in woodlands in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, D
  
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• How the ‘Galápagos of west Africa’ is plundered by floating fish factories

  09-03-2026 08:00
  A Guardian investigation with DeSmog reveals thousands of tonnes of fish are illegally turned into fishmeal and oil off the coast of Guinea-BissauThe only ice factory on Bubaque, an island in west Africa’s Guinea-Bissau, is out of service. Local fishers, such as Pedro Luis Pereira, are forced to source ice from factories on the mainland, about 70km away – a six-hour round trip by boat.“The machines have been broken for months,” Pereira says, as he pulls in his nets on the
  
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• Four-year-old clumber spaniel called Bruin wins best in show at Crufts

  08-03-2026 22:31
  Owner Lee Cox describes the winner as ‘dog of a lifetime’ as he claims the crown at prestigious dog contest Bruin, a clumber spaniel, has won the best in show prize at Crufts, which took place at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham.Owner Lee Cox described four-year-old Bruin as “a dog of a lifetime” as he won the competition and was met with roaring cheers from the audience. Continue reading...
  
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• It’s a crowded field for worst Tory leader | Brief letters

  08-03-2026 17:59
  Kemi Badenoch | Fantasy homes | Dog owners’ names | Ferrero Rocher | Useful bed warmers | Tips for staying awakeJohn Crace asserts that Kemi Badenoch is “the worst leader of the Tory party in living memory” (Badenoch gives a borderline disgraceful performance at PMQs on Iran, 4 March). Really? Worse than Liz Truss?
  Roshi Saul
  Avening, Gloucestershire• A warm welcome to “Britain’s newest affordable towns” (Revealed: the new affordable commuter hotspots in
  
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• Week in wildlife: a watchful egret, a sun-seeking swan and a procession of caterpillars

  06-03-2026 09:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: Wildcats are here and they’re on the march | Amanda Thomson

  06-03-2026 06:30
  Cairngorms: Conservation efforts to help them are working – numbers are still small, but I’ve seen signs in the late winter snowIt is always interesting to see how overnight snow reveals what goes on under the cover of night. Around the granny pines, I see the smaller fore and larger hind prints of a red squirrel. Across the fields and along pinewood paths, there is evidence of hares and badgers, pine martens and deer, before they veered off, back into the heather and blaeberry
  
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• Germany moves to legalise wolf hunting in response to livestock ‘bloodlust’

  05-03-2026 19:56
  Lower house votes in favour of polarising law after rapid increase in population and attack on grazing farm animalsWolf hunting will be allowed in Germany under legislation passed by the lower house of parliament in response to a rapidly growing population and a sharp rise in attacks on livestock.The return and growth of the wolf population in the last three decades has emerged as a wedge issue in Germany, the land of the Brothers Grimm who popularised the spectre of the Big Bad Wolf. Continue r
  
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• Social climber: Punch the monkey starts to outgrow his Ikea plushie

  05-03-2026 07:05
  Japanese baby macaque, who appeared to find comfort in the djungelskog toy after being rejected by his mother, seems to be mixing more with his peersPunch, a baby macaque that stole the hearts of animal lovers around the world, is outgrowing his Ikea djungelskog plushie that comforted him after he was initially rejected by his mother and other monkeys at a zoo in Japan.Images of the seven-month-old dragging around a toy bigger than him drew attention to the residents of Ichikawa city zoo near To
  
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• ‘A real dark situation to be in’: thousands of starving seabirds stranded in biggest ‘wreck’ in a decade

  04-03-2026 14:00
  Puffins, guillemots, razorbills and terns are washing up on shores across Europe, after a string of storms affected their ability to find foodThe two puffins washed up among seaweed and bits of plastic on a beach in Newquay, Cornwall, on a damp February morning. Normally, these much-loved seabirds pull in crowds of tourists eager to see their courtship rituals, but these were rolling in the surf, dead. Most people walking past probably missed them.Their breast bones were sticking out, they had n
  
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• Specieswatch: is the world’s wildlife entering its ‘samey’ era?

  04-03-2026 07:00
  Scientists are calling loss of biodiversity the ‘homogenocene’, where niche species are pushed out by generalists like pigeons and ratsPlants and animals are disappearing at an alarming rate across the planet, with some estimates suggesting a loss of up to 150 species every day. Meanwhile, the versatile species that thrive alongside humans, such as pigeons, rats and cockroaches, expand to fill the vacant gaps. Some scientists are calling this loss of biodiversity the “homogenoc
  
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• Polite men do still walk among us | Brief letters

  03-03-2026 18:57
  Making room on the street | Trump’s rash | Cognitive shuffling | Belling bed-warmers | Neighbours’ dogRegarding your letters on men pushing women in the street (20 February), I have just returned from an hour’s walk, and I’m pleased to say that, on two separate occasions, men walking towards me voluntarily changed their trajectory to let me past. I just kept walking in a straight line. Maybe they read the Guardian, or maybe men in Bradford are considerate.
  Jane Thewl
  
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• Wild-born birds recruited to teach critically endangered regent honeyeaters their lost songs

  03-03-2026 15:00
  Researchers hope restoring the original song will improve breeding prospects for birds released into the wildGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastScientists have rescued the lost song of the critically endangered regent honeyeater – one of Australia’s rarest birds.Regent honeyeaters were once seen in vast flocks across south-eastern Australia, with a distribution that ranged from Queensland to Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Continue reading...
  
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• Australian wildlife in ‘harm’s way’ with volunteers left to ‘pick up the pieces’ amid climate crisis, fires and floods

  02-03-2026 15:00
  Ken Henry leads push for federal government to do more to protect animals as biodiversity declinesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabor is being pushed to introduce tough new national rules for protecting threatened species exposed to disasters including bushfires and floods, with the former Treasury boss Ken Henry among advocates warning that risks to wildlife could reach a point of no return.Months after a major rewrite of environment laws passed parliament, a consor
  
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• The pet I’ll never forget: Harvey, the most human of cats who helped me through grief and illness

  02-03-2026 11:00
  He could use door handles and steal catnip from the kitchen cupboards. And, when I became very unwell, he would pace around me like a doctor on call Harvey came into our lives during a year of loss. It was 2004, and my grandmother had just died, quickly followed by our beloved cat Skeet (Manx English for “nosy”). With the family thrown into mourning, the house became eerily quiet and still, and my mother was grieving.I was only 11, and did not know how to take care of her, but I did
  
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• ‘I love midges because I know what their hearts look like’: is the passion for taxonomy in danger of dying out?

  02-03-2026 09:00
  Insect taxonomist Art Borkent has described and named more than 300 species of midges but fears his field of science is dying out, despite millions of insects, fungi and other organisms waiting to be discoveredOnce Art Borkent starts speaking about biting midges, he rarely pauses for breath. Holding up a picture of a gnat trapped in amber from the time of the dinosaurs, the 72-year-old taxonomist explains that there are more than 6,000 ceratopogonidae species known to science. He has described a
  
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• Shark culls brought in after fatal attack causes division and anger in New Caledonia

  02-03-2026 05:20
  Authorities say capture of bull and tiger sharks necessary to protect lives as environmentalists launch urgent legal challengeSome beaches in areas of New Caledonia are closed to swimming and the authorities have begun shark culling off the capital, Nouméa, after a fatal attack in the popular tourist spot – prompting a legal challenge to stop the operation and reigniting debate over public safety and marine conservation.The culling operation began on 23 February, after a man from Ne
  
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• Shark culls brought in after fatal attack cause division and anger in New Caledonia

  02-03-2026 05:20
  Authorities say capture of bull and tiger sharks necessary to protect lives as environmentalists launch urgent legal challengeSome beaches in areas of New Caledonia are closed to swimming and the authorities have begun shark culling off the capital, Nouméa, after a fatal attack in the popular tourist spot – prompting a legal challenge to stop the operation and reigniting debate over public safety and marine conservation.The culling operation began on 23 February, after a man from Ne
  
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• Canine carer: how guide dog school dropout Marcus came to comfort cancer patients for a living

  01-03-2026 15:00
  Once assessed as ‘a sloth with a low drive to work’, the polite and affectionate black labrador enjoys a successful new career as a therapy dogMarcus is a very good boy.He’s a four-year-old, 32kg labrador with lustrous black hair, soulful brown eyes and a bodacious bottom. Continue reading...
  
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• The Sunday read: a day with Punch the monkey’s Djungelskog toy - podcast

  28-02-2026 20:00
  Punch, a baby monkey in a Japanese zoo, has gone viral after bonding with a plush orangutan. That toy, from Ikea’s Djungelskog range, is now in high demand around the world – including in the Guardian Australia newsroom.Education reporter Caitlin Cassidy waits in line to buy a toy and see what the all hype is aboutYou can subscribe for free to Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast Full Story on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Continue reading...
  
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• A scorching summer has left Australian wildlife on the brink, but it doesn’t have to be this way | Euan Ritchie and Jess Harwood

  28-02-2026 20:00
  Unsettling predictions are now our catastrophic reality,but a brighter future is still within reach if our political leaders change courseSoaring, scorching, record temperatures, yet again. Distressing, protracted droughts. Raging fires and devastating floods. Australia’s summer is drawing to a close, and a reprieve from climate whiplash can’t come soon enough.We’ve witnessed and suffered immense losses and deep heartache for wildlife, ecosystems, and our communities. There was
  
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• ‘If it’s cold, they stop mating’: New York City rat population may be on the decline

  28-02-2026 16:00
  As a result of New York’s most severe winter in years, the city may see a drop from it’s estimated 3 million ratsSince arriving from Europe in the 1600s, New York City’s rats have survived hurricanes, floods, terrorist attacks, riots, fires, a pandemic (they actually thrived during that), the Dutch and Crocodile Dundee II.But as a result of New York’s most severe winter in years, when the city saw snow, then a historic deep freeze, then even more snow, the rat population
  
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• Young country diary: A new find for my collection – a fox skull

  28-02-2026 12:00
  Bristol: It now lives in a cabinet of curiosities with lots of feathers and fossils that my sister and I have foundIt was a cold winter’s morning, and we wrapped up warm to go for a walk in the woods behind our house. The ground was frosty and crunched under our feet, and although it was chilly the sun was casting golden beams of light across our path. We always find a lot of amazing wildlife in the woods – I’ve seen deer and squirrels there and I’ve even spotted a kingfi
  
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• ‘Who’d guess they’re the same species?’ What Italy’s wall lizards reveal about genetic diversity and why it matters

  28-02-2026 08:00
  Understanding biodiversity within species is key to our understanding of why nature works the way it does, say researchersWords and photographs by Roberto García-RoaTwelve miles from the heart of Rome, Dr Javier Ábalos pauses his walk, lifts his sunglasses and points. To his right, perched on a rocky wall, sits a beautiful lizard. Its body is coated in charcoal-black tones speckled with striking yellow across a green dorsum, and its head, with a prominent jaw, is splashed with fluo
  
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• Lynx could return to Scotland – but can rewilders win over wary Highlanders?

  27-02-2026 14:32
  With most Scots supportive of reintroducing the wild cat, charities are focusing on those whose jobs could be affectedCould lynx, the elusive wild cat driven to extinction in Britain more than 1,000 years ago, become the new Loch Ness monster? “Whether Nessie’s there or not, she draws tourists,” said Margaret Luckwell, a resident of Moray, Scotland. “It would be the same with lynx. I’d love to see a lynx in the wild.”Luckwell’s view is a majority one amo
  
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• Week in wildlife: rescued dolphins, a white whale and a precious kākāpō chick

  27-02-2026 09:00
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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