Dogs And Other Animals May Also Have Conscience

If you're a pet owner, it would not be surprising for you to know that your pet dog and other animals actually possess the aptitude of self-awareness.  Animals such as magpies, an Asian elephant, great apes, some ants and some dolphins have all previously passed the "mirror test" in which they recognize themselves apart from another object reflected in a mirror.

http://tinyurl.com/jathmfl

Your Supermarket Choices Could Endanger Africa’s Apes

The spread of palm oil plantations in Southeast Asia has ravaged forest-dwelling orangutans, whose population has dwindled to 7,300 individuals in the wild. Now a budding palm oil boom in Africa threatens that continent’s great apes.  Demand for palm oil, which is considered a healthy alternative to butter, has skyrocketed in recent years, becoming an ingredient in scores of products, from chocolate to shampoo to biodiesel. About half of the stuff you buy from your local supermarket contains palm oil, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

http://tinyurl.com/na9yr48

Help Stamp Out Extinction With The Postal Service

A Save Vanishing Species semi-postal stamp featuring the Amur tiger club will be issued on Tuesday, Sept. 20. The stamp will sell for 55 cents each or $11 for a sheet of 20 stamps. Net proceeds from the sales will go to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to support its Multinational Species Conservation Funds.

http://tinyurl.com/6ggypbg