These Might Be the Smartest Animals in the World

A goat boxed with a young boy while a raccoon played the piano and two rabbits reenacted a scene from Romeo and Juliet. Though the I.Q. Zoo in Hot Springs, Ark., might have appeared to be a roadside gimmick, it was actually an important study in psychology and animal behavior. Husband-and-wife team Marian and Keller Breland were not circus showrunners, but rather the first-ever applied animal psychologists.

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Half a Million Animals Saved as Nepal Nixes Festival

 

Experts say around 500,000 goats, chickens and buffalos were decapitated at Gadhimai in 2009.  Nepal’s Gadhimai Temple Trust, which oversees the world’s biggest animal sacrifice every five years, announced Tuesday that no slaughter would take place at this year’s festival.

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7 Ways To Improve Animal Welfare

Temple Grandin, an animal scientist at Colorado State University, says that being autistic helps her do better work to improve animal welfare in slaughterhouses. There’s a stereotype that people with autism are cold and unfeeling. However, Grandin is empathetic toward animals.  Grandin shared her thought process over at Grist, “To design a good restrainer system, you have to really care about the animals it will hold. You have to imagine what it would be like if you were the animal entering the restrainer. 

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This Scientist Might End Animal Cruelty

Maybe you've watched the undercover video: A farmer presses a hot iron into the scalp of a wide-eyed calf, burning away tissue that is beginning to turn into horns. She writhes, moaning pathetically, and collapses in the dirt.When Scott Fahrenkrug saw that footage, released by Mercy for Animals in 2010, it made him sick to his stomach. Most of the roughly 9 million dairy cows in the United States have been dehorned—with an iron, clippers, or caustic paste—to protect handlers and other cows. 

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Crime Stoppers To Help Stop Abuse of NYC Animals

Help for abused animals in New York City is now just a phone call away.  Anyone wishing to report animal abuse in their neighborhoods can simply call Crime Stoppers — and receive a $2,500 reward for the tip, the NYPD and the ASPCA announced Wednesday.  "We are giving New Yorkers the means and motivation to stop dangerous criminals and giving animal victims a better chance to survive and recover," ASPCA CEO Matthew Bershadker said as he announced the new initiative at the ASPCA adoption center on E. 92nd St.

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Temple Grandin Discuss Practical Side of What Animals Want

Temple Grandin, an animal scientist who teaches at Colorado State University, works to improve animal welfare in farming. She is autistic, and, as she told Terry Gross, she thinks that may give her a special ability to do her work:  It was easy for me to figure out how animals think and how animals would react because I think visually. Animals don’t think in language. They think in pictures. It’s very easy for me to imagine what would it be like to go through a system if you really were a cow, not a person in a cow costume but really were a cow, and autistic senses and emotions are more like the senses of an animal.

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Summer Is Dog Days For Shelter Animals

Every summer, ACCT Philly has to fight tooth and nail to save animals in its care, and this one is no different.  The summer of 2015 has brought an average of 26 dogs into the shelter each day, more than during the other seasons, Ed Fritz, ACCT Philly's director of operations, said Monday. With an average daily adoption rate of just eight dogs, the kennel is constantly approaching its capacity of 160.  More people surrender or abandon their pets in the summer than in cooler months, said Ame Dorminy of ACCT Philly's adoption team. There is no one clear reason this is so, she said, but she speculated that spring birthrates may overwhelm pet owners.

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NYC's Kennedy Airport Builds World’s First Animal Terminal

Jet-setting stallions and high-flying hounds at New York’s Kennedy airport can look forward to a new luxury terminal that will handle the more than 70,000 animals flying in and out every year.  The ARK at JFK, its name inspired by Noah’s biblical vessel, will more than measure up to terminals for humans: horses and cows will occupy sleek, climate-controlled stalls with showers, and dogs will lounge in hotel suites featuring flat-screen TVs. A special space for penguins will allow them mating privacy.  The ARK is billed as the world’s first air terminal for animals.

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What Animals Taught Veterinarian About Coping With Cancer

Sarah Boston credits the age-old bond between animals and humans with helping her to beat cancer. So much so, that she authored the book “Lucky Dog: How Being a Veterinarian Saved My Life.” She told FoxNews.com that her work in treating animals battling life-threatening cancers not only taught her about coping with deadly diseases, but also shaped her beliefs on how a health care system should run.

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Lions Greet Human With Morning Hugs And Kisses

We know the powerful bond that can exist between humans and domesticated animals. But, can humans really find a friend in a wild animal like the King of Jungle?  For the most part, a lion in the wild is not a sight any human would want to come across. Yet, there are some cases where these two appear to have have a bond so tight that there’s no longer a threat present.

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20 Cats That Can't Deal With Humidity

Imagine the most disgusting, brutally hot and humid day of the summer. You can't do anything without feeling sticky and showers are completely worthless.  Now imagine wearing a Canada Goose extreme weather jacket during that day. That's how your cat feels.  So if your cat is sprawled out on its back, unable to move in the thick summer air, take it as a reminder to give your pet some fresh water and maybe turn on a fan.

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50 Animal Pictures You Need To See

A very few absolutely essential pictures that you probably need to look at if you want to be a complete person.

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Couple Travels the World With Their Cat

This couple took the plunge, sold all of their belongings, bought a boat, and have been living the dream since August 12, 2011. Matt and Jessica Johnson, 32, left their respective jobs as an automobile sales manager and billing specialist for the high seas, living off about $1000 USD per month. The Johnsons have visited 16 countries so far, including the Bahamas, Jamaica, Cuba and Peru; their cat Georgie, who knows  how to swim, has been travelling with them since 2012.

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Dad Surprises Family Dog With Amazing Act Of Kindness

Meet Igor — a goofy, adorable, pampered bulldog. When it came time for Igor’s dad to start planning the family holiday, he was saddened to realize Igor couldn’t come along, too. After all, Igor had never spent a night away from the family.  Igor’s dad couldn’t stand the thought of leaving his best friend behind, especially without a familiar place to stay. A boring cage wasn’t good enough for the bulldog’s first kennel visit. So, Dad decided to do something incredible, and his family had no idea.

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Video: Cucumber Scares Cat

This cat was just minding his own business and enjoying a peaceful meal when OUT OF NOWHERE, a cucumber appeared.  The cucumber lay in wait, patiently biding its time until the unsuspecting feline turned around to discover the green horror. And when the cat finally saw the cucumber, well ... it flipped out big time.  Because cats are weird. And nobody wants vegetables when they aren't expecting them.

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Video: Farting Horse Is So Darn Happy

Yes, it’s a sensitive subject for some, but let’s remember: it has to come out at some point. Watch this rolling, happy horse “let ’em rip” and get some relief. It’s always the simple things that make me LOL.

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Scientists Studying the Use of Animals to Predict Quakes

Government researchers in China have asked a select group of farmers to monitor abnormal behavior among their livestock — behaviors that could be indicative of imminent earthquakes.  As the China Daily newspaper reported last week, the seismological bureau in Nanjing has converted seven animal farms into “seismic stations” with plans to develop several more.   Animals under observation include chickens, fish, boars, and toads. The farmers will be on the lookout for such behaviors as chickens flying on top of tree branches, fish leaping out of the water, and toads moving as a group.

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Video: 16 Puppies Is The Correct Number

If you've ever had the incredibly specific dream of living with sixteen Basenji puppies, you now have a chance to see what your life would be like. And it seems pretty great.  These precious pups from three different litters are totally psyched to run as a pack, and even cool about welcoming tiny humans into their 24-7 puppy party. Once they finally run out of energy after chasing each other around, the Basenjis adorably form a giant cuddle pile for nap time.

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Crow Hitches a Ride On Eagle

Flying is so overrated.  A brave crow has been photographed catching a free ride on the back of a bald eagle 25-feet in the air. The unusual moment lasted only a few seconds and was captured by amateur bird photographer Phoo Chan.  “At first I thought the crow was going to chase away the eagle," Chan says. "I was completely awed to see the crow actually land on the back of the eagle. They both flew in different directions and it looked like they became friends."

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Video: Turtle Takes GoPro Through Great Barrier Reef

Maybe you meant to book a tropical vacation this summer and just kept putting it off. But does it even matter? It's not like you were going to catch a piggyback ride on a turtle's shell, relaxing like you've never relaxed before.  This turtle doesn't even know that the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is deciding whether or not his super cool hometown, the Great Barrier Reef, will be considered endangered. He's just casually gliding through the ocean with a GoPro on his back, checking out some fish.

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Animals Key To Understanding Host Of Human Problems

Just a day after rescuing a Smooth Collie mix from her local shelter, Sara Laufer from Los Angeles was shocked to learn her new dog Alli had breast cancer.  Laufer took Allie to see Mona Rosenberg at the Veterinary Cancer Group in Culver City.  “She did have surgery to remove her breast tumors and then she started on a brand new chemotherapy drug that we’ve not been able to use in veterinary medicine but has been used for many, many different types of cancers in people for more than 20 years,” Rosenberg said.

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