http://mysmelly.com/content/news/index.htmLatest animal newsen-gbxC 7.1.37557http://mysmelly.com/content/news/singing-mice-nature-vs-nurture.htmThu, 23 Aug 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/singing-mice-nature-vs-nurture.htmMySmellyhttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/singing-mice-nature-vs-nurture.htmWhat happened to being "quiet as a mouse"? Researchers have recently shown that, rather than being the silent creatures of popular belief, mice emit ultrasonic calls in a variety of social contexts, and these calls have song-like characteristics.So if mice sing, where do they get their music? Are they born with the songs fully formed in their heads, or do they learn them from their peers? This question is of great interest to scientists as, while many organisms produce genetically regulated vocalizations, only a select few species (such as ourselves) can actually learn these vocalizations. If it turns out that mice can indeed learn new songs, it would provide a very convenient mammalian model of vocal learning. Whether or not mouse song...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/hope-for-cat-allergy-sufferers.htmTue, 23 Oct 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/hope-for-cat-allergy-sufferers.htmMySmellyhttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/hope-for-cat-allergy-sufferers.htmA breakthrough by scientists at The University of Nottingham could provide hope for any allergy sufferers who have ever had to choose between their health and their household pet. The team of immunologists led by Drs Ghaem-Maghami and Martinez-Pomares in the University's School of Molecular Medical Sciences, and funded by the charity Asthma UK, have identified a cell component which plays a key role in triggering allergic responses to cat dander. The discovery furthers our understanding of how the body's immune system identifies and reacts to allergens, which could pave the way in developing new ways of treating allergies. The development is especially good news for the millions of people with asthma whose condition is often worsened...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-crossed-the-channel-from-france.htmFri, 23 Nov 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-crossed-the-channel-from-france.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-crossed-the-channel-from-france.htmA cat has found himself a long way from home in an English village - after crossing the Channel from France. The lost ginger and white moggy was seen wandering near a canal at Cosgrove, Northants, by residents who reported him to the RSPCA. Animal welfare workers found that he had a microchip registered to Orne, a district in Lower Normandy around 250 miles away. The microchip revealed that his name is Tommy and he is seven years old. But there was no telephone number, leaving staff puzzled about his home and owners. RSPCA cat re-homer Sue Taft said she had received several calls from France, but none resulted in a successful lead. “Workers at a French company which holds the microchip data have tried to trace the owner’s contact...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-saves-burning-house.htmSun, 23 Sep 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-saves-burning-house.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-saves-burning-house.htmA quick-thinking pussycat has saved his owners' house after a fire broke out in the kitchen while they were Christmas shopping. Five-year-old Pepper has been hailed a hero for his actions - he opened a window, which allowed smoke to escape and alerted neighbours, who contacted firefighters and stopped the fire spreading to the rest of the house. The cat had learnt to open windows so he could let himself out at night. He would hop on a kitchen bench and turn the latch with his paw. Owner Sharon White, of Totnes in Devon, said Pepper showed off his window-opening skills at a dinner party. "Everyone was applauding him, I think it spurred him on," she said. "He can climb back in through the window by jumping diagonally on to the ledge as...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-calls-999-with-his-paw.htmFri, 23 Nov 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-calls-999-with-his-paw.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-calls-999-with-his-paw.htmThe long arm of the paw always reaches out even when it's a cat called Ginger who dials 999 in the middle of the night. Retired lecturer Howard Moss, 64, crawled out of bed at 2.30am to find two policemen on his doorstep answering an emergency call made from his house. As Howard insisted he'd been asleep for hours, the officers searched the house and found Ginger snoozing next to the phone - which was slightly off the hook. Howard said yesterday: "When the policemen arrived I was puzzled to say the least because I was alone in the house and had been asleep for hours." But computer checks proved the call had come from his home in Brynmill, Swansea. Howard said: "One of them noticed Ginger asleep on the phone table. The phone was off the...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/cats-39-drinking-secret-revealed.htmTue, 23 Oct 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cats-39-drinking-secret-revealed.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cats-39-drinking-secret-revealed.htmCats like to do things their own way-even, it seems, when it comes to drinking. Researchers have discovered that felines have their own style of lapping water. Their tongues perform a complex maneuver that pits gravity versus inertia in a delicate balance. Surprisingly little is known about the physics of lapping. Dogs and many other animals with incomplete cheeks-who can't seal their mouths like we do to produce suction-lap up water by curling their tongues into a ladlelike shape and scooping up the liquid. Most researchers assumed felines do the same, albeit with much smaller, raspier tongues. But Roman Stocker, a biophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, began to doubt this assumption one morning over...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/humidity-tightens-gecko-39-s-grip.htmSun, 23 Sep 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/humidity-tightens-gecko-39-s-grip.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/humidity-tightens-gecko-39-s-grip.htmHuman adhesives are famed for their fallibility. Gooey glues soon lose their grip, are easily contaminated and leave residues behind. But not gecko feet. Geckos can cling on repeatedly to the smoothest surfaces thanks to the self-cleaning microscopic spatula-shaped hairs (setae) that coat the soles of their feet. Back in 2002, Kellar Autumn found that these dry hairs are in such intimate contact with surfaces that the reptiles "glue" themselves on by van der Waals forces with no need for fluid adhesives. More recent studies had suggested that geckos might benefit from additional adhesion in humid environments through capillary action provided by microscopic droplets of water sandwiched between setae and the surface. But Autumn wasn't...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/turtle-rescued-in-nova-scotia.htmThu, 23 Aug 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/turtle-rescued-in-nova-scotia.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/turtle-rescued-in-nova-scotia.htmA taxi driver in Dartmouth, N.S., is wondering why the turtle crossed the road. Edward Hobson nearly hit something big in the middle of Skeena Street Friday morning. He stopped suddenly and got out to investigate. The driver in the car behind him followed suit. "We got close to him, and he took a snap, so we figured it was a snapping turtle," Hobson told CBC News. "I never seen anything that big before," he said. Kelly Griffin watched the scene unfold from her house across the street. Griffin and her father-in-law grabbed a box and rushed over. "It was a little odd to see a turtle crossing the street," she said. The 20-kilogram turtle didn't appear too happy to see them. It snapped at them, too. "My father-in-law put some gloves on and...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/children-think-angry-dogs-are-smiling.htmTue, 23 Oct 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/children-think-angry-dogs-are-smiling.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/children-think-angry-dogs-are-smiling.htmResearchers at the University of Lincoln found the majority of children under the age of seven do not see the warning signs when dogs are angry. The team tracked the eye movements of children and found they tended to look only at a dog's mouth, ignoring other signs of aggression that adults see, such as the changed position of ears. The scientists concluded that children could be putting themselves at risk of being bitten by the family pet because they cannot read dogs’ body language. To combat the risk, they joined vet Dr Tiny de Keuster to produce a DVD to help raise parents’ awareness, which was presented to the World Safety Conference in London yesterday. Research leader Kerstin Meints said: “The child may not have a dog at home,...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/lion-found-in-car-park-in-kazakhstan.htmFri, 23 Nov 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/lion-found-in-car-park-in-kazakhstan.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/lion-found-in-car-park-in-kazakhstan.htmA driver in northern Kazakhstan got quite a shock on Monday morning when he noticed a live lion locked in the car parked next to him in a parking lot, local authorities in the Kazakh town of Kostanai said on Wednesday. The lion, which had reportedly spent the entire night in the car park, had been abandoned by a local businessman, who bought the big cat for his private zoo, local media said. "The lion was left in the parking lot because its owner returned late from his trip. The cage containing the predator was locked, and the lion was calm," a local interior ministry spokesman was quoted by media reports as saying. The businessman bought the lion at a zoo in the central Kazakh city of Karaganda, he said, adding that the lion has since...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/dogs-and-rodents-might-prevent-epidemics.htmTue, 23 Oct 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/dogs-and-rodents-might-prevent-epidemics.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/dogs-and-rodents-might-prevent-epidemics.htmTHE GIST Disease-detecting dogs and rodents may be trained to smell germs before they spread. Scientists are focusing on avian influenza now, but they say other diseases may be detected by trained animals. In the future, researchers hope to create an artificial nose that could smell diseases and prevent epidemics. Disease-detecting dogs and mice may be trained to sniff out bird influenza and other deadly illnesses before they spread, suggests new research reported today at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Rodents on little leashes marching through airplanes might at first seem unlikely, but trained rats have already been recruited to detect land mines. Bloodhounds, cadaver dogs and other canines already use their...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/pea-sized-frog-discovered.htmThu, 23 Aug 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/pea-sized-frog-discovered.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/pea-sized-frog-discovered.htmResearchers have discovered a new species of frog in Borneo which only grows to the size of a pea. Finding the mini frogs, named Microhyla nepenthicola, proved to be a challenge due to their size. Adult males range in length from 10.6 to 12.8 millimeters. Drs. Indraneil Das and Alexander Haas of the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, and Biozentrum Grindel und Zoologisches Museum of Hamburg, respectively, tracked the amphibians by their call. The frogs normally start singing around dusk, making a series of harsh rasping notes that last for a few minutes, followed by brief intervals of silence. This "amphibian symphony" goes on from sundown until peaking in early evening. The...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/dna-of-chernobyl-animals-studied.htmSun, 23 Sep 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/dna-of-chernobyl-animals-studied.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/dna-of-chernobyl-animals-studied.htmScientists studying wildlife in Russia's Chernobyl region say DNA may be the key to which species are most likely to be damaged by radioactive contamination. Two scientists, one American and one French, have been in Chernobyl for more than 10 years studying the populations of insects, birds and mammals in "zone of alienation" surrounding the abandoned nuclear power station, the BBC reported Friday. Professors Tim Mousseau from the University of South Carolina and Anders Moller from the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris have examined DNA patterns of the species they've studied at Chernobyl. With every generation, the pattern of a species' DNA changes slightly, as a result of the natural balance between mutations and the...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/bar-tailed-godwit-bird-superior-to-all-human-aircraft.htmSun, 23 Sep 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/bar-tailed-godwit-bird-superior-to-all-human-aircraft.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/bar-tailed-godwit-bird-superior-to-all-human-aircraft.htmHow is it possible to fly 11,000 kilometers without a single break? The record holder for long distance flight outdoes all human-made aircraft. The bar-tailed godwit has very low energy consumption, but this is not enough to explain its success. Every autumn the bar-tailed godwit undertakes an eight-day journey from Alaska to New Zealand. The bird flies non-stop, without once breaking the journey to rest or eat. Then when spring comes, the bar-tailed godwit makes the 11,000-kilometre journey back to Alaska. Professor of Ecology Anders Hedenström from Lund University has pondered over how this species of bird can fly so far without stopping. The distance is twice as far as previously known non-stop distances for migratory birds. ...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/oldest-animal-life-discovered.htmSun, 23 Sep 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/oldest-animal-life-discovered.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/oldest-animal-life-discovered.htmTHE GIST Scientists have discovered the world's oldest known animal fossils, dating to 650 million years ago. The fossils, likely sponges, push back the fossil record for animals by about 70 million years. The sponges existed before, and probably after, a severe "Snowball Earth" event that covered much of the globe in ice. Animals have been on Earth for at least 650 million years, suggest recently found primitive sponge fossils from South Australia. This discovery pushes back the fossil record for animals by about 70 million years, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience. The prior oldest known hard-bodied animals were reef-dwelling organisms called Namacalathus, which date to approximately 550 million...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/heroic-afghan-dogs-found-new-home.htmSun, 23 Sep 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/heroic-afghan-dogs-found-new-home.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/heroic-afghan-dogs-found-new-home.htmWhen Georgia National Guardsman Chris Duke was serving in Afghanistan, he made friends with the locals - stray dogs Sasha, Target and Rufus. "A lot of us used the three of them as an escape when you're homesick," Duke said. But, as CBS News national correspondent Jeff Glor reports, the dogs did much more than keep him company. "I firmly believe I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for him," Duke said. On a February night, a suicide bomber tried to get into Duke's barracks. But the dogs began barking and biting the intruder. The attacker blew himself up before he could kill 50 soldiers inside. Sasha was severely injured and had to be put down. But Rufus and Target were both nursed back to health. Duke returned home a month later -...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-lost-11-months-ago-1300km-away-home.htmFri, 23 Nov 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-lost-11-months-ago-1300km-away-home.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-lost-11-months-ago-1300km-away-home.htmThe black and white cat was handed in to Townsville's RSPCA shelter this week by a local resident who found him living with two other cats in the house she had just moved into. A routine check for a microchip revealed he belonged to a family from the Brisbane suburb of Bald Hills and had been missing since August last year. Owner Camilla Brooks was relieved to learn the family's beloved pet was still alive. "It's just amazing, I'm so excited to have him back," she said. "When he went missing, we did letter drops and all those sorts of things around the area but we heard nothing. We had to assume the worst." How Timothy achieved his epic journey to Townsville, however, has her stumped. "It's a bit odd, we don't know how he got there,"...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/stubborn-kiwi-on-treadmill-for-rehabilitation.htmThu, 23 Aug 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/stubborn-kiwi-on-treadmill-for-rehabilitation.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/stubborn-kiwi-on-treadmill-for-rehabilitation.htmHe may be a runt with two broken legs, but Piwi the kiwi is as tough as they come. The accident-prone brown kiwi works out regularly on the treadmill in Massey University's Wildlife Ward. He was first admitted in December after being discovered near Mt Ruapehu with a broken leg that had healed badly. Piwi would have little chance surviving in the wild, especially as he's only half the size of a normal four-year-old kiwi. Massey veterinarians had to rebreak his leg to straighten it. In April he was sent to the Rainbow Springs Kiwi Wildlife Park near Rotorua for further rehabilitation, but broke his other leg the first night he was there. Losing blood, Piwi was rushed back to Massey University's veterinarian centre. Fortunately another...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/bullfighting-banned-in-spain-39-s-catalonia.htmFri, 23 Nov 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/bullfighting-banned-in-spain-39-s-catalonia.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/bullfighting-banned-in-spain-39-s-catalonia.htmThe Parliament of Catalonia voted 68 in favour and 55 against with nine abstentions to abolish bullfighting on the grounds of animal cruelty ushering in the first outlawing of the tradition on mainland Spain. The vote followed months of impassioned debate over the subject of bullfighting that pitted animal rights activists against the supporters of what is known as Spain's "national fiesta". Campaigners against the “cruel and unnecessary spectacle” hailed the result as a “historic victory” and one that they hoped would be taken up across other regions of Spain. ”Today five centuries of cruelty have ended because the people of Catalonia wanted it,” said Deborah Parris, a spokesman for anti-bullfighting group Prou! – meaning Enough! ”The...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/harassed-whale-lands-on-yacht-in-revenge.htmFri, 23 Nov 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/harassed-whale-lands-on-yacht-in-revenge.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/harassed-whale-lands-on-yacht-in-revenge.htmThe pair were enjoying calm seas off the South African coast when the animal flipped into the air and smashed into their mast. Ralph Mothes, 59, and Paloma Werner, 50, were helpless as the beast thrashed around on their 33ft vessel before slipping back into the water. Miss Werner said: "It really was quite incredible but very scary. The whale was about the same size as the boat. "We'd spotted it about 100 metres away and thought that was the end of it. Then suddenly it was right up beside us. "I assumed it would go underneath the boat but instead it sprang out of the sea. There was hardly any wind, so we couldn't get out of the way. We didn't have time to take any evasive action. We were very lucky to get through it, as the sheer weight...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/man-with-18-monkeys-around-his-waist-arrested.htmSun, 23 Sep 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/man-with-18-monkeys-around-his-waist-arrested.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/man-with-18-monkeys-around-his-waist-arrested.htmMexican authorities have arrested a man who was trying to smuggle 18 small monkeys into the country by carrying them in his clothing. Roberto Sol Cabrera, a Mexican citizen, was stopped at a random check at Mexico City's international airport after arriving from Lima. In a statement, police said Mr Cabrera Zavaleta had been behaving "nervously". Once he was searched, it was discovered that he had hidden 18 titi monkeys in a girdle around his waist. After his arrest, Mr Sol Cabrera confessed that the animals had travelled in his luggage, and that he had put them under his clothing "to protect them from X-rays" as he was going through customs. The animals had been put into socks, police explained, and two of them were dead at the time of...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/bee-venom-can-improve-brain-function.htmSun, 23 Sep 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/bee-venom-can-improve-brain-function.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/bee-venom-can-improve-brain-function.htmIt sounds like witch doctor medicine, but an injection of bee venom can improve brain function, according to a new study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry . A team of scientists from the Universities of Liege in Belgium and Bristol in the United Kingdom extracted a peptide toxin from the venom called apamin. Apamin is a neurotoxin that blocks certain central nervous system channels. Apamin can cause hyperexcitability, resulting in convulsions and respiratory paralysis, according to the National Library of Medicine. But hyperexcitable nerves in the brain also lead to improved learning and memory. Injections of apamin also have been shown to improve the symptoms of myotonic muscular dystrophy, such as muscle weakness,...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/dog-trapped-in-sweltering-car-honks-for-help.htmSun, 23 Sep 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/dog-trapped-in-sweltering-car-honks-for-help.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/dog-trapped-in-sweltering-car-honks-for-help.htmUPPER MACUNGIE TOWNSHIP, Pa. Sweltering temperatures are a reminder to keep not only yourselves cool, but your pets. In the case of a Labrador, he may have been left alone, but helped himself survive what could have been a terrible situation. Eleven-year-old Max is not just a dog. He's like another member of Donna Gardner's family. "You have to know Max. He's a very smart dog and he just does things that I don't think a normal dog does all the time," said Gardner. The chocolate Lab proved that a couple of weeks ago. Gardner ran an errand and took Max with her. When she came home a short time later, she went inside the house, forgetting Max was still in the car. "I came in and started cleaning and about an hour later I heard a horn...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/cats-and-dogs-do-have-dreams.htmTue, 23 Oct 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cats-and-dogs-do-have-dreams.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cats-and-dogs-do-have-dreams.htmHow many pet owners have gotten a chuckle out of watching their dog sleep while its paws race frenetically in place? Many figured that Rover was romping somewhere in dreamland, and scientists say they were right: Pets do dream while sleeping. As dogs and cats doze, images of past events replay in their minds much the same way humans recall experiences while dreaming, said Matthew Wilson of MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory in Cambridge, Mass. That's because the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in memory, is basically wired the same way in virtually all vertebrates and mammals, he said. "If you compared a hippocampus in a rat to a dog; in a cat to a human, they contain all of the same pieces," said Wilson, an...http://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-walks-2-000-miles-to-find-its-family.htmThu, 23 Aug 2012 11:42:46 GMThttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-walks-2-000-miles-to-find-its-family.htmRuslanahttp://mysmelly.com/content/news/cat-walks-2-000-miles-to-find-its-family.htmA cat has baffled experts after trekking 2,000 MILES across Russia to find his family after they moved house. Caring owner Ravila Hairova, 52, thought her grey moggie Karim would find the change too upsetting when she moved, so she arranged to let her neighbours take him in. She even left his favourite chair, cushion and food bowls behind in Gulistan, Uzbekistan. But incredibly TWO years later she found her bedraggled, starving pet waiting on her doorstep when she returned to her home in Liska, Russia. She said: "I knew he had disappeared from my neighbours' home a few days after we left which was very sad but we never heard another word about him. "Then I was walking along the road and I saw this cat which seemed to be waiting for me....