Strange Love: 10 Animals with Truly Weird Courtship Rituals

On Valentine's Day, lovers who are eager to woo their partners show their affection with traditional gifts of red roses, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, or with romantic dinners at fancy restaurants. There's usually some effort involved, but pulling off a memorable Valentine's Day is easier — and generally safer — than some of the courtship rituals performed by other animal species.

https://tinyurl.com/hsh33zy

Adorable Animals Pick Super Bowl Winners

Who is going to win Super Bowl 51? That's the question on everyone's mind as the big game approaches.  You could weigh each team's strengths and weaknesses, but why do that when you can rely on animal instinct. Literally.

https://tinyurl.com/zx9f79t

Which Animals Use Tools?

Flash back to 1960. At that point in time the best definition of a human was a being with the ability to make tools. Man the tool-maker was considered to be different from animals in this regard. Dr. Jane Goodall was observing chimpanzees at Gombe National Park in Tanzania and saw two chimps strip the leaves off of small twigs and use them as tools to “fish” termites out of the ground to eat. This was the first time a non-human had ever been seen to create a tool and use it to accomplish a task.

http://tinyurl.com/h3gmkmj

US Elections 2016: Animals Choose Trump Over Clinton

From various polls and different models and predictive simulations, the 2016 U.S. election has been one of the most important highlights awaited for not just by the Americans but the whole world. We've seen enough of the surveys telling who might win,but now can psychic animals tip the lead?

http://tinyurl.com/zhodnaz

TripAdvisor Stops Selling Tickets To Animal-Abusive Attractions

TripAdvisor, a leading travel website, says it will no longer sell tickets to attractions where tourists come into contact with wild animals or endangered species. The policy change includes, but is not limited to, elephant rides, "swim with" activities involving the touching or riding of dolphins, and the petting of captured wild animals such as tigers. The company also announces that is developing an educational portal, with the aid of several wildlife protection groups, to inform tourists about animal welfare practices. 

http://tinyurl.com/hgb7msm

Americans Love Animals More Than They Used To

There are 48 days until the presidential election, and it often feels as if we Americans are at each other’s throats. Sometimes it seems as though all we can agree on — or agree to click “like” on — are dog and cat videos, right? Actually, that’s not so far from the truth. Americans do broadly have positive feelings about dogs and cats — and they also feel warmer and fuzzier about wild animals, such as sharks and wolves, than they did four decades ago.

http://tinyurl.com/guc486v

Watch Shelter Animals Get New Beds

Stop what you're doing because we've found it — the most "aw" inducing animal video ever. The RSPCA animal shelter in Victoria, Australia, recently put out a call to animal lovers to donate their old pet's beds to the charity. The hand-me-down beds were then gifted to 100 cats and dogs still awaiting their "forever homes." The resulting video is bitter sweet — at once cute and heartbreaking. Somebody adopt these precious little guys!

http://tinyurl.com/znybsk6

Biggest Animals in Ocean More Likely to Go Extinct

What happens when you remove all the biggest animals from the ocean? Stick around for the next few thousand years and you might find out. A new study finds that in our modern era, large marine animals are significantly more likely to go extinct than small ones. It’s a disturbing pattern that has the potential to wipe out many of the top predators in our oceans, and the researchers say it has never been seen before in the history of our planet. After analyzing marine fossil records that go as far back as 445 million years, the authors report that in the past extinction rates have been fairly egalitarian, affecting ocean animals of all sizes equally.

http://tinyurl.com/zvy4unx

Smart Animals: Ground Squirrel Use the Sun for Navigation

A new study revealed that ground squirrels temporarily rely of the position of the sun to roughly serve as a navigational aide to find the storage place of their foods. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, showed that ground squirrels either moves towards or away from the sun, with its horizontal angle of their direction deviated slightly from the direction of the sun, when searching for a suitable hiding place for its spoils.

http://tinyurl.com/hq8r3bf

Pioneering 'Diaries' Reveal The Secret Lives of Animals

How do you tell if an elephant is having a good day? Or spy on the nocturnal squid-catching skills of the albatross? This week at the British Science Festival, Prof Rory Wilson of Swansea University has been divulging the secrets of the animal kingdom, including penguin diving habits, albatross hunting methods and the emotional states of elephants.  "The problem with animals is we often want to know things about them that they don't want to tell us or that aren't easy to find out. The only way to do it is to put something on [the animal] that will accompany it," Prof Wilson said.

http://tinyurl.com/zwuqt4w

We Have to Stop Loving Animals to Death

Ten of the highest-grossing box-office releases are about animals, including “Finding Dory,” “The Jungle Book,” “Zootopia,” “The Secret Life of Pets” and “Kung Fu Panda.” Nearly half of our households include a dog and nearly 40 percent have a cat. Two-thirds of us view them as family members and cherish them accordingly. We love our animals to death.  Literally.

http://tinyurl.com/j976auq

How to Help Pets, Other Animals Affected by Louisiana Flooding

With thousands of residents displaced across East Baton Rouge Parish and throughout Acadiana by the Louisiana Flood of 2016, there are countless pets and animals likewise in need of supplies and shelter. Some of those pets landed at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center, which is serving as a shelter for thousands of people. Its stalls and rodeo area are now filled with horses, dogs and other animals displaced by the flood. Jodie Summers, a volunteer who's helping to manage a Facebook page for coordinating relief efforts, told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune photographer Chris Granger that she and others are in desperate need of help and donations. 

http://tinyurl.com/jutlyng

Stray Dog Follows Flight Attendant Around Until She Adopts Him

Humans don't have soulmates, but we can always pretend that dogs do. Olivia Sievers is a flight attendant from Germany who routinely flies to Argentina. Earlier this year, Sievers found a stray dog hovering near the hotel where she stays in Buenos Aires. Sievers was immediately drawn to the dog. But while she had no plans to further the relationship, their connection only got stronger. Less than a year later, Sievers brought the pup home to Germany — for good. 
http://tinyurl.com/hg7v5cj

Video: Italian Coast Guard Saves Kitten

A crew of the Italian Coast Guard of Marsala retrieves a kitten and revives him at sea.

http://tinyurl.com/hsynaee

Ask Smithsonian: Can Animals Predict Earthquakes?

Earthquakes are frightening events, striking without notice. But some believe there is an early-warning system: animals.Over the centuries, people have reported seeing animals head for the hills or leave their burrows in the weeks, days or hours before a temblor hits. But is this belief grounded in science? It’s true that animals can sense a quake, usually just minutes before humans do, says Michael Blanpied, associate coordinator of the U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program. Established by Congress in 1977, the program monitors and reports earthquakes, assesses earthquake impacts and hazards, and researches the causes and effects of earthquakes.

http://tinyurl.com/zb25nl3

“If Animals Matter Morally, Then We Cannot Treat Them As Commodities”

Gary L. Francione is a controversial figure in the modern animal rights movement, known for his “abolitionist approach” towards animal rights. A professor of law and philosophy at Rutgers University, Francione believes that we cannot morally justify using animals as mere resources and that we should abolish all animal use. He argues that any being that feels pain has a right to not be used as property and that veganism should be the moral underpinning of the animal rights movement. As he puts it, “To not be a vegan is to participate directly in animal exploitation.”

http://tinyurl.com/z9uv2ts

Helping Malawi's Animals Back Into the Wild

The vervet monkey is on its back on a portable table when we first catch a glimpse of him. Amanda Salb, a veterinarian, holds the primate, as another vet carefully injects the animal's upper eyelid with tuberculin. The monkey doesn't flinch. It is fully sedated.  "We are conducting a quarterly check-up and checking for TB," Salb says after removing her mask.  The vervet is one of hundreds of animals at the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust in the Malawian capital.

http://tinyurl.com/jf9ksl3

First Proof That Wild Animals Really Can Communicate With Us

When humans speak up, the little African birds called honeyguides listen—and can understand, a new study confirms for the first time.  Honeyguides in northern Mozambique realize that when a man makes a special trilling sound, he wants to find a bees’ nest—and its delectable honey.  Birds that hear this trill often lead human hunters to a nest, receiving a reward of honeycomb.

http://tinyurl.com/jtp2wkk

Meet Cutest Little Hard-Drinking Party Animals You'll Ever See

You may not know what a slow loris is, but you'd probably have a good time partying with one. The big-eyed primates, natives to Southeast Asia, will choose the most alcoholic drink offered when given a choice -- just like your college buddies.

http://tinyurl.com/gn32l8a

Koala Crashes House, Tries Its Best to Climb Up a Dancing Pole

Koalas are great at eating eucalyptus and getting belly rubs. Dancing? Not so much.   Perhaps this little fella climbing up a pole is trying to challenge the lazy reputation of one of Australia's most well-known and beloved animals.It was captured in a video uploaded to Facebook on June 30 by Nikki Erickson, who explained in the description that she came home from work hoping to "dance the shitty day away" when the discovery of the creature "turned her day around."  "She sat there while I talked to her and took photos and did not growl once," Erickson wrote. Unfortunately for this koala, who may have mistook the pole for a tree, going for a climb didn't work out so well. 

http://tinyurl.com/z5ohs6h