‘Polly’ Wins Contest To Become New Animal On Frontier Tails

There’s a new spokes-animal for Frontier Airlines: Polly the parrot. She triumphed over 18 other animals, holding off Chloe the chipmunk and Enrique the tree frog in the final round.Frontier asked customers to vote on their favorite animal for a contest on who would be the next to grace the tails on Frontier airplanes. Polly was announced as the winner.

http://tinyurl.com/ce6jao5

South Africa Rhinos To Get Micro-chipped, Hunt Rules Tightened

South Africa has tightened rules on rhino hunts and will use micro-chips and DNA profiling to counter a poaching bloodbath that has killed 171 animals this year, the environment minister said Monday.

http://tinyurl.com/6rzh6yf

19 Cat Slumber Parties

It's always fun inviting a few friends over to your house for a slumber party. You get to stay up late, play games, watch movies and pretend to be asleep at the first sign of parents. Turns out that cat sleepovers are no different, with the one exception of being a million times cuter.

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Mystery Hero Boy Rescues Penguin Egg At Seattle Zoo

Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo wants to learn the identity of a young boy who helped save a rejected penguin egg while he was visiting the zoo - as they would like to thank this good samaritan for his quick thinking. According to the Woodland Park Zoo, the two Humboldt penguins that hatched last week at Woodland Park Zoorepresented the first chicks of the zoo's penguin breeding season. However, if not for the sharp eyes of a little boy, the second egg might not have survived.

http://tinyurl.com/7b39ytu

Stolen Penguin Back Safe In Australia Sea World

A trio of men faces charges after allegedly stealing a penguin from Sea World on the Gold Coast of Australia's Queensland and then bragging about it online. Dirk, one of the park's 29 fairy penguins, was found under Southport pier Sunday night, frightened but apparently not hurt. The theft on Saturday night was the first of an animal in the park's 40-year history, the park's spokeswoman Renee Soutar said on Monday.

http://tinyurl.com/7t82e2s

Britain's pandas 'hit it off' but fail to mate

Britain's only giant pandas failed to mate during their 36-hour window of opportunity, the Edinburgh Zoo said Thursday. It was "close, but no cigar", the zoo said, after Yang Guang (Sunshine) mounted female panda Tian Tian (Sweetie) several times, without full mating taking place. The pandas are spending 10 years on loan in the Scottish capital following years of diplomatic negotiations with China that culminated in them arriving in December. But female pandas ovulate only once a year, with a 36-hour window to fall pregnant and although "the furry pair have hit it off," the clock has run out for the pair this time, the zoo said.

http://tinyurl.com/79nm6qt

Coyotes In San Francisco: Sightings In Parks Result In Closed Trails

San Francisco residents: Beware of the coyote. While these cute animals may seem like cuddly puppies, warnings have been issued all over town lately noting their potentially aggressive behavior.

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Baboons aren't the only clever animals

French researchers reported this week that they had trained six baboons to read — or at least to scan a string of four letters and determine when they form a word and when they don’t.  The experiment, which was reported Thursday in the journal Science, cements baboons’ place among an ever-growing menagerie of clever animals.

http://tinyurl.com/84h49fy

Video: Animal Thoughts: Jimmy Fallon Reads Creatures' Minds

In case you didn't already know, Jimmy Fallon is an animal psychic. That's right, he can read their minds. And on Wednesday's episode of "Late Night" he decided to whip out his skills for a segment he calls "Animal Thoughts." So if you ever find yourself staring at your dog from across the family room on a quiet afternoon and wondering what the heck is going on in that brain of his, wonder no more. Your favorite late night host has got your back.

http://tinyurl.com/76v5rew

Sphynx Cat Not Ready For Its Closeup At International Cat Show

Felines flaunted their stuff at an international cat show in Lithuania this weekend, but one very expressive kitty happened to catch our attention. This jittery Sphynx cat doesn't seem too keen on the extra attention, and it's not afraid to show it.

http://tinyurl.com/cxzks48