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POPSIndia's Last "Dancing", Endangered Bear Set Free Raju was the last endangered sloth bear that had to work for a living, but who now can roam free at the Bannerghatta bear sanctuary on the outskirts of the southern city of Bangalore. The bear's freedom is the outcome of lengthy efforts by animal rescue organisations and the government that have taken the "dancing" bears off India's streets, where the animals were once as ubiquitous as snake charmers and their cobras.
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POPSANIMALS’ ALTRUISM AND ABILITY TO EMPATHIZE
Ethologists use the terms care-giving, or epimeletic behavior, and care-soliciting, or et-epimeletic behavior, to identify those behaviors that underlie the altruism we see in various species that means that they do have the capacity to empathize. Skeptics dismiss all of this as anthropomorphic and scientifically unproven, and it disturbs me to read some professional comments on this topic. For example, veterinarian John S. Parker stated that "Pets can and often do react to their owners’ distress or discomfort, but that is not to be confused with experiencing the emotion of empathy" (Letter in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, June 1, 2006, pp 1677-1678). Aside from contending that animals "do not have the cognitive capacity to put themselves in our place", he incorrectly sees empathy not as a process or affective state but as an actual emotion, which it is not. Animal ethics philosopher Dr. Bernard E. Rollin’s response (in this same Journal, on p.1678), stati
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POPSAnimals can't speak for themselves The vast majority of the public have an equivocal attitude to the industrial use of animals: they make use of the products of that industry, but are nevertheless a little sickened, a little queasy, when they think of what happens on factory farms and in abattoirs. Therefore they arrange their lives in such a way that they need be reminded of farms and abattoirs as little as possible, and do their best to ensure that their children are kept in the dark too, because as we all know children have tender hearts and are easily moved.
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POPS Plants Have a Social Life, Too In a paper published in the November American Journal of Botany, Dudley describes how Impatiens pallida, a common flowering plant, devotes less energy than usual to growing roots when surrounded by relatives. In the presence of genetically unrelated Impatiens, individuals grow their roots as fast as they can. Acknowledging relatives in this way is an example of kin recognition. It’s common in the animal world, and is a precursor to kin selection, in which animals help their familial group, not just themselves. Dudley thinks plants have kin selection, too. It’s a controversial idea, but that it’s even being debated shows how far research into plant sociality has come.
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POPSDuckweed - Very Promising 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.
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POPSDonkey 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.
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POPSThinking the way animals do
Temple Grandin Ph.D. is an assistant professor of animal behaviour at Colorado State Uni. She suffers from a form of autism, and describes the way she thinks as thinking in pictures. This has helped her understand the way Animals think, with direct association, rather than a logical process. A significant statement which can apply to most people, is the fact that originally as far as she was aware everybody thought the same way. Until she asked people and found this was not the case. She describes a radio station person who said she had no pictures, in her mind, but thought in terms of emotions or words. I'm sure I can understand my dogs. They seem to think in a manner that is simple, and straightforward, it can just be a matter of associating cues with behavior, and remembering Pavlov. I think in Pictures and sounds. There is music I can 'hear' in my mind that not only has the same 'quality' as the original, but there is a remarkable capacity to edit. Perhaps something like Auti
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POPSThieves Butcher, Behead Rare Siberian Tiger at Central China Zoo It said the locks of the tiger's cage were broken and that police found four homemade anesthetic rifles near the cage. Calls to the zoo rang unanswered on Sunday. A man at the Forestry Bureau of Yichang city confirmed the killing and said an investigation was under way. He refused to give his name.
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