As Large Animals Disappear

It only takes a glance at a history book and a look out the window to know that our planet has lost many of its biggest creatures: The world that was once home to mammoths and towering dinosaurs can now barely maintain stable populations of rhinos and whales. But according to a new study, we've got more to mourn than just the animals themselves. We've lost their feces, too — and that's a bigger problem than you might think.

http://tinyurl.com/qeghpw7

Do Animals Laugh? Tickle Experiments Suggest They Do

How do whales hear music? They listen to orca-stras!  I told that joke to a lizard and got crickets. It made me wonder the same thing as Eid Muhammad Afridi, who asked Saturday's Weird Animal Question of the Week, "Do animals laugh?"  So far, apes and rats are the only known animals to get the giggles.  Koko, the western lowland gorilla famous for her facility with sign language, "thinks that me being clumsy is funny," and will make laughing noises, says Penny Patterson, president of the California-based Gorilla Foundation.

http://tinyurl.com/ozwhdou

Strange and Surprising Facts About How Animals Sleep

We humans may need our eight hours of sleep a night to keep our brains functioning, but that's not the only duration, or reason, why animals sleep. Bats sleep for 20 hours out of the day while giraffes snooze for less than two hours a day. And while humans completely conk out, oblivious to the world, other animals like some whales and seals, shut off only portions of their brain at a time, keeping half their mind at work at all times.   Why is there such variety in the animal kingdom? It's something scientists have been pondering for a long time.

http://tinyurl.com/oj3dxwj

Rarest Whale on Earth Bouncing Back From the Brink

Amid all the depressing news about the declining state of the world’s oceans, here’s a genuine feel-good story: The critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population, once decimated by ship collisions, has rebounded to more than 500 individuals. That’s the highest level since researchers began studying the whale three decades ago.

http://tinyurl.com/mg3n44a

Whales 'Pass on Hunting Techniques'

Humpback whales can pass a good idea on to each other in much the same way as humans, scientists have learned.  A new hunting technique invented after the whales were hit by a food crisis has spread to 40% of the humpback population off New England, US.

http://tinyurl.com/d8ngpk6

Animals are Social Networkers Too: How Creatures’ Natural Relationships Are Mirrored By Human Facebook And Twitter Use

Humans didn't invent 'social networks', says a new study into animal behaviour - instead, our use of networks such as Facebook and Twitter actually mirrors group behaviours that can be found in whales, monkeys  and dolphins.  Intelligent animals 'use' groups to share information with one another - albeit without computers or smartphones - just like humans do online.  Experts found evidence of animals forming cliques and gathering information to help make group decisions - in much the same way as humans use Facebook Groups to streamline discussions.  The famous 'six degrees of separation' rule - which states that anyone can be related to another person in six steps - also applies to the way animals group with one another.  .

http://tinyurl.com/782fy9q

6 Things Animals Do Just Like Us

Being a human is a pretty sweet gig, all things considered. We've got opposable thumbs so dexterous they could start their own Cirque du Soleil troupe and brains so ripped our skulls can barely contain them. But before you grab your dog and give him a triumphant "IN YOUR (FAITHFUL, ADORABLE) FACE!" you should know that some of the traits and behaviors that make us human are also demonstrated by other animals. Animals that apparently think they're people.

http://tinyurl.com/3zycgmr

Sea Shepherds Heading to Faroe Islands To Protect Pilot Whales

Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd said Thursday it will erect a "wall of sound" in the sea to deter the killing of hundreds of pilot whales in shallow coves along the Faroe Islands, a Danish territory.

http://tinyurl.com/6h9sh8k