Elephants 'Understand Human Gesture'

African elephants have demonstrated what appears to be an instinctive understanding of human gestures, according to UK scientists.  In a series of tests, researcher Ann Smet, of the University of St Andrews, offered the animals a choice between two identical buckets, then pointed at the one containing a hidden treat.  From the first trial, the elephants chose the correct bucket.  The results are published in the journal Current Biology.

http://tinyurl.com/lmdbxc9

Tales of Unlikely Animal Adoptions

Stories of interspecies friendships are always adorable, but they’re truly heartwarming when they involve animals adopting young outside their species and caring for them as their own. Lisa Rogak collected more than 40 such tales in her new book, "One Big Happy Family: Heartwarming Stories of Animals Caring for One Another."

http://tinyurl.com/kqubmkn

Seal Survives By a Nose

This lucky seal avoided a grisly death in the jaws of a great white shark — by a nose.  The marine mammal was swimming with a pod of pals off the coast of South Africa when the killer fish tried turning it into lunch.  But the massive predator missed its mark as it breached the surface, nailing the seal with its snout — instead of row after row of razor-sharp teeth.  

http://tinyurl.com/kbv99cs

Five Animals That Hold Key to Immortality

While death's cold, bony fingers will inevitably reach all creatures, Mother Nature has imbued a few of her quirkier children with resilient biology seemingly predisposed to keep mortality at bay. Tapping into their secrets has long been a quest for scientists, not least because the thought of our minds flickering out one day continues to bother most people. 

http://tinyurl.com/pzvfbkw

How Pets Grieve When Their Furry Friends Die

When Adam Marsh lost his 6-year-old Pomeranian, Astor, to lung disease in June, he wasn’t the only one in their downtown apartment devastated by the death. Marsh’s other dog, Cooper, a 2-year-old, 6-pound Chihuahua- dachshund mix, seemed to be grieving as well.

http://tinyurl.com/prfrwpy

Dogs Are People, Too

For the past two years, my colleagues and I have been training dogs to go in an M.R.I. scanner — completely awake and unrestrained. Our goal has been to determine how dogs’ brains work and, even more important, what they think of us humans.

http://tinyurl.com/lmqlxl9

What People Get All Wrong About Their Cats

We may think we know our furry feline friends, but they’re often misunderstood, says anthrozoologist John Bradshaw, author of the new book “Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet.”

http://tinyurl.com/n28jh4f

What Government Shutdown Means for Animals?

Congressional Democrats and Republicans failed to reach agreement last night on continued funding of the federal government, and Washington this morning began the process of temporarily mothballing its programs and services.   In a shutdown, "non-essential" federal workers are furloughed, while some "essential" operations continue. 

http://tinyurl.com/me9ssxj

Oh, Don’t Mind Our Pet Lion

You’ve been looking at the home of actress Tippi Hedren in California, photographed by LIFE magazine during the early 1970s. Best-known for her role in Hitchcock’s The Birds, Tippi is also the mother of actress Melanie Griffith (Working Girl), who is the little girl you just saw lying in bed with a lion, and also above with her head in its mouth.

http://tinyurl.com/bn3psq5

Images: Meet the Family Living With 7 Tigers

Ary Marcos Borges da Silva, 43, (center) with his daughter Uyara (right) and his granddaughter Rayara riding atop their tiger, Tom, in Maringa, Brazil near Sao Paolo.

http://tinyurl.com/oe8vzfa