Uber Delivers Kittens on Demand

Cuddly kittens got busted Wednesday at the security desk of the Washington Post.  The Express decided to try out Uber’s Wednesday-only offer to pay $30 to have a kitten delivered to you for 15 minutes of snuggling. The delivery seemed to not be a problem: Two kittens, Sneezy and Sleepy, showed up in a crate at The Washington Post’s main lobby, according to pictures from our Express colleagues.

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Reptiles' Secret to a Long Life: Avoid Meat and Sex

Why do some animals live to a ripe old age—a Gila monster at the Tel Aviv Zoo, for instance, is well over 40—while their compatriots die young?  For snakes and lizards, at least, the answer seems to be to eat more veggies and have less sex, according to a new study published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.  An international group of researchers collected data on 1,014  reptile species and analyzed factors affecting their life spans. The scientists also looked at distribution maps for each species and assessed the temperature, rainfall, and general productivity of each area where the lizards lived.

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Video: First Taste Of Freedom For Six Overjoyed Animals

These beagles, who had lived their entire lives in cages, romp playfully in the grass for the first time ever, thanks to the Beagle Freedom Project.   

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Video: 100 Sharks Having Lunch on the Beach

Does Sharknado need another sequel? Not when there is jaw-dropping, real-life footage like this (among other reasons).  A surfer captured this video of dozens of sharks feeding on a school of blue fish at Cape Lookout National Seashore off the coast of North Carolina. According to Brian Recker, who uploaded the viral clip on YouTube, the feeding frenzy lasted more than five minutes. Seagulls and pelicans joined the apex predators, and a group of people who were out to fish began gathering catch as well.

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Halloween Costume Ideas for Your Pet

Forget your human Halloween costume— it's your cuddly pet's costume that's racking up the likes on Instagram this season.  Ensuring that your furry friend has the cutest costume at the pet parade will require a bit of foresight, preparation and patience. But it's worth it to know that your dog, cat, hamster or guinea pig will be properly decked out for the spookiest day of the year.
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Video: Doggie Shows Off Cutest Case Of Road Rage

When we saw a seemingly annoyed boxer dog honking her owner's car horn back in March, we thought she was just a rare case of a perturbed puppy.  But now that we have stumbled upon the video above, and we see yet another pooch laying on the horn, we are certain that this is what dogs do when they have absolutely no patience.

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Video: Bear Cub Wanders Rite Aid's Aisles

In case you’re wondering, a bear cub ambles through the aisles of a drugstore the same way a toddler does.  It runs, stops, walks, and most likely is on the hunt for sweets. At least that’s what one bear caught on camera at a Rite Aid in Ashland, Oregon, was doing. The bear’s day started with a trip to a Super 8 motel, according to a KOBI-TV report. The one-month-old apparently meandered around the hallways until it was able to get into a room. From there, it escaped out a window and ran across the street to Rite Aid

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Yellow Lab With 'Paws Up' Available For Adoption Again

On October 17, this five-year-old yellow Labrador retriever's photo broke the hearts of readers as he reached his paws against his kennel begging for his freedom. He was described by volunteers and staff alike at the busy Carson Animal Care as being extremely smart, gorgeous and just full of love.


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Video: Baby Rhino Plays With His Lamb Sidekick

If anyone deserves a happy ending, it’s this baby rhino.Back in May, rangers at a game reserve in South Africa found the three-month-old calf next to his mother, who had been killed and poached for her horn. The rangers called staffers at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre to the scene.  “It was a devastating sight, as the tiny animal would not leave her side and was crying inconsolably for her,” according to HESC’s website.

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Elephants Know When It's Raining 150 Miles Away

Maybe the Weather Channel should start hiring elephants. A study in PLoS ONE suggests the creatures can detect rainstorms happening 150 miles away, possibly by hearing them even from that far off.  Migrating elephants are known to change direction out of the blue, and researchers haven't been certain why. The Namibian research team figured it might be because of rain—as Phys.org explains, elephants are regularly looking for water in the region, which is dry outside of the January-to-March rainy season.

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Drone Captures Never Before Seen Views of Killer Whales

Can drones help save the whales?  In August, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Vancouver Aquarium conducted a series of drone flights over British Columbia’s Johnstone Strait to monitor the health and reproduction of threatened Northern Resident killer whales from 100 feet in the air.

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Video: Firefighter Saves Dog From Fire

This firefighter understands that any life -- no matter the species -- is a life worth saving.  Last Thursday, firefighters responded to a burning home in Virginia, rescuing the woman inside the house, CBS6 reported. The emergency responders didn't forget her furry companion, Keiser, and carried the dog out of the home as well. Though the canine made no movement and it appeared as though he wasn't going to survive, firefighter Josh Moore and paramedic Bubby Bish decided to make a last-ditch attempt to save the pet.

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What Is Dogspotting?

A Facebook group created for posting pictures of random dogs is being accused of tyranny across the Internet.  You may have never heard of it, but "Dogspotting" is one of the Internet's most popular sports. With nearly 30,000 members on the main Facebook group and thousands more on separate, tributary groups and websites, Dogspotting has quickly become very serious business. With the institution of a new, strict set of rules, it's also becoming very controversial. Kind of.

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Dog Interrupts Soccer Match To Get Petted

An Argentina Primera Division match between Belgrano and Quilmes had to be halted late in the first half when a dog wandered onto the pitch.  "Humans — I command you to stop playing your silly games and shower me with affection," the dog said before finding a Quilmes player who could not resist its charms and began to pet it. Another Quilmes player, Jonathan Zacaria, then picked up the dog and carried it off the pitch.  The match was then able to resume and ended in a 1-1 draw. Clearly that dog was the day's only winner.

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Killer Whales Learn to Speak Dolphin

Are killer whales multilingual?  A new study from the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute has found that captive orcas kept with bottlenose dolphins adopt the signature clicks and whistles of their tank mates. But some scientists question claims made in the paper that this knowledge can benefit endangered orca populations in the wild.

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Living With Neil the Lion in 1971

This is what happens when a lion becomes part of the household.  These pictures show Tippi Hedren — star of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds — with her husband, Noel Marshall, and her daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, and their lion, Neil. Melanie is Tippi's daughter from her first marriage to Peter Griffith.  At the time these pictures were taken, Melanie was 19.

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20 Adorable Animals That Dislike the Vet

An animal's equivalent to a dentist appointment is a trip to the vet.  They can put on their best puppy face and try as hard as they want — even hide in the sink at the doctor's office — but the visit is inevitable. Despite putting your beloved pet through so much anxiety, your little ball of fluff is just as cute when they're a ball of nerves.Sorry, cute animals, but there is just no escaping a trip to the evil vet — no matter how adorable you look.

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Dog Named 'Lazarus' Survives Euthanasia Attempt

Animal control officer Wanda Snell knows what she saw: A veterinarian inserted a needle into the black-and-brown mutt and injected a chemical meant to euthanize the dog no one had adopted. The animal moved a bit and was still and quiet by the time she left the shelter for home.  What Snell can't explain is how or why a mixed-breed dog that nobody wanted recovered overnight and has since bounced back fully from what should have been a lethal injection.

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Thula The Cat Helps Girl With Autism

Iris Grace Halmshaw is a 4-year-old girl from the U.K.  In December 2011, Iris was diagnosed with autism. She struggled with communication, expressing affection, and social interaction.  After her diagnosis, Iris’ parents looked for activities through which she could effectively express herself.  They also introduced a new friend into Iris’ life. In February 2014, they brought Thula the Maine Coone home, and it was the “beginning of a beautiful new friendship.”  Thula is more than just a therapy cat, she’s Iris’ faithful best friend.

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Farm Runoff Is Killing Hawaiian Sea Turtles

Hawaii’s golf courses and pineapple farms are causing tumors in imperiled green sea turtles, a study published Tuesday finds.  The link is an amino acid called arginine, which trickles down from the island’s nutrient-rich urban runoff into the turtle’s food source, riddling their bodies with white tumors.  “We’re drawing direct lines from human nutrient inputs to the reef ecosystem and how it affects wildlife,” said Kyle Van Houtan, lead researcher on the study, in a statement.

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Video: Meet Acer, the Precious Miniature Horse

Li'l Sebastian fans, meet his real life counterpart: Acer, the miniature horse.  At 22 inches tall, the 3-year-old Aquinas is one of the smallest horses in Britain. He lives on Wolfscastle Miniature Horse Farm, where he spends his time with other small steeds and relaxes in his stable, complete with a custom miniature door.  Acer even has a best friend on the farm: the owner's labrador named Demon. The two make an especially handsome pair.

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Unexpected Animal Friends

A bear, a tiger and a lion. They’re dangerous predators, but they’re friends. The reason they do not attack each other or consider the other as rivals, is that they were brought up together.

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We're The Reason World Has Lost Half of Its Wildlife

The world’s population of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish has plummeted 53 percent since 1970, according to a World Wildlife Fund report released on Tuesday.  “Population sizes of vertebrate species have halved over the last 40 years,” the report said. “The state of the world’s biodiversity appears worse than ever.” During the same time, the world's human population has doubled, it noted.  The study used a Living Planet Index to measure more than 10,000 populations of the world’s vertebrates.

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