Domestic Foxes in Russia

In the 1950s a Soviet geneticist began an experiment in guided evolution. He wanted to show how domestication works.

From the richly-plumed red fox to the big-eared fennec fox, foxes look adorable. Because of this, people are sometimes tempted to keep them as pets. However, those who have tried have struggled. Unlike dogs and cats, the different species of fox have not been domesticated. Domestication only happens over a long period of time through selective breeding. Cats and dogs were domesticated by humans thousands of years ago to be pets and companions. Sheep, goats and other animals were domesticated for food.

But there may be more to it than that. People who have tried to simply tame individual foxes often speak of a stubborn wildness that is impossible to get rid of. This suggests that foxes are harder to tame than other animals. However, one extraordinary experiment has found a way to domesticate foxes. This one study could help us understand how our ancestors domesticated other animals, and indeed what domestication is.
Biologist David Macdonald studied foxes at close quarters for years. For a time, he had foxes living at home, which he recounted in his 1987 book Running with the Fox. The foxes did not last long in Macdonald's house. He found that they would tear up the living area and create chaos. Others who have tried living with foxes report the same thing. Richard Bowler, a wildlife photographer based in Wales, looks after a few foxes in a large outside space at his home. He reports that they are nervous and shy. 
The youngest fox, a vixen called Hetty, is extremely shy around people – even though she was captive-bred, and Bowler and his partner fed her through the night from when she was one week old. He describes the temperament of the foxes as "highly wired".

In the UK it is legal to keep a fox as a pet, but that does not mean it is a good idea.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) does not condone the keeping of foxes as pets. "Because foxes are wild animals and do not fare well as domestic pets, they should not be kept as such. Even the most experienced fox experts have had difficulty in keeping adult foxes successfully in captivity as they have very specific needs," it says.Occasionally people connected to wildlife rescue centres report that they have managed to tame foxes. However, usually these animals are recovering from toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease that damages the brain, leaving the animals unafraid of human touch.
Meanwhile, Britain's urban foxes are often described as being bold and brazen around humans, compared with their countryside cousins. They will stand and stare at passers-by on the streets and even approach people with food.
It is possible that human behaviour in towns and cities has altered the behaviour of individual foxes: if a fox grows accustomed to being fed by hand by one person, it may be more likely to approach another. However, this does not qualify them as tame.So pet foxes are not generally a good idea. Unless, that is, the fox is from the only tame population in the world, an extraordinary scientific experiment that started life in Soviet Russia.

In the late 1950s, a Russian geneticist called Dmitry K. Belyaev attempted to create a tame fox population.

Through the work of a breeding programme at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics at Novosibirsk, in Russia, he sought to trace the evolutionary pathway of domesticated animals. His test subjects were silver-black foxes, a melanistic version of the red fox that had been bred in farms for the colour of their fur.

Belyaev died in 1985, but the project is still ongoing. It is now overseen by Lyudmila Trut, now in her 80s, who started out as Belyaev's intern.

The Russian fox farm was the first of its kind.

"There is archaeological data that people made individual attempts to domesticate the fox, but this process was not finished," says Anastasiya Kharlamova, one of Trut's research assistants. "Possibly the reason was that the cat was domesticated at a similar time, and supplanted the fox as a possible candidate to be domesticated."

Belyaev's experiment aimed to replay the process of domestication to see how evolutionary changes came about.



There are many unanswered questions relating to domestication. One is what traits or qualities Stone Age people selected for when they set out to domesticate animals. Belyaev believed that selection for just one trait – tameability – would be enough to create a domesticated population.

It was a risky area of research.The study of genetics had been essentially banned in the USSR, as the country's dictator Joseph Stalin sought to discredit the genetic principles set out by Gregor Mendel. Stalin's death in 1953 gave scientists more freedom, but in the early years Belyaev nevertheless worked under the cover that he was breeding foxes to make better fur coats.

First, Belyaev and Trut travelled to various fur farms in the Soviet Union, from Siberia to Moscow and Estonia. There, they chose foxes to take to their own farm in Novosibirsk.

They selected the animals based on how they responded when their cage was opened. About 10% of the foxes displayed a weak "wild-response", meaning they were docile around humans.

"The main task at this stage of selection was eliminating defensive reactions to humans," Trut wrote in 1999. Animals that were friendlier and tolerant to human touch, even to a small degree, were picked out. Those that hid in the corner or made aggressive vocalisations were left in the farm.

Of those friendly foxes, 100 vixens and 30 males were chosen as the first generations of parents.

When the cubs were born, the researchers hand-fed them. They also attempted to touch or pet the foxes when they were two to two-and-a-half months old, for strictly measured periods at a time.

If the cubs continued to show aggressive or evasive responses, even after significant human contact, they were discarded from the population – meaning they were made into fur coats. In each selection, less than 10% of tame individuals were used as parents of the next generation.

"As a result of such rigorous selection, the offspring exhibiting the aggressive and fear avoidance responses were eliminated from the experimental population in just two to three generations of selection," Trut wrote in a study published in 2009.

The foxes at the fox-farm were never trained to become tame. They lived in cages and had minimal contact with humans. Belyaev's aim was to create a genetically-distinct population, so he simply selected for particular behavioural traits.

"Belyaev had one main goal at the beginning of experiment: to reproduce the process of historical domestication at the experiment, during a short time," says Trut. "This goal didn't change. But during the experiment the understanding of evolutionary process changed."

By the fourth generation, the scientists started to see dramatic changes.


The cubs were beginning to behave more like dogs. They wagged their tails and "eagerly" sought contact with humans. They whined, whimpered and licked researchers just like puppies would.

The process was surprisingly quick. "By intense selective breeding, we have compressed into a few decades an ancient process that originally unfolded over thousands of years," wrote Trut in 1999.

These foxes were called the "elite of domestication", and as the generations passed the proportion of these elite cubs grew. By 2005-2006, almost all the foxes were playful, friendly and behaving like domestic dogs. The foxes could "read" human cues and respond correctly to gestures or glances. The vocalisations they made were different to wild foxes.

"The proudest moment for us was creating a unique population of genetically tame foxes, the only the one in the world," says Trut.Brian Hare is associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and author of the 2013 book The Genius of Dogs. He travelled to Russia on the Trans-Siberian railroad to visit the farm, in order to compare fox cubs with dog puppies for a study published in 2005."The fox farm experiment was crucial, in that it told us that domestication can happen relatively quickly in the right circumstances," he says. "The fact that in fifty generations, they were wagging their tails and barking, this is really incredible."

The key point is that the experiment offers a hint as to the stages by which domestication takes place.

"Before, we knew that dogs and wolves were descended from the same ancestor, but we didn't know how," says Hare. "What came first? The fox experiment showed that just by selecting for friendliness, all these other changes, including an increase in social skills, happened by accident."

In fact, Belyaev and Trut soon found that it was not just the foxes' personalities that were changing. Their bodies were too.

"The main surprise was that, together with changing of behaviour, many new morphological traits in tame foxes start to appear from the first steps of selection," said Trut.The domesticated foxes had floppier, drooping ears, which are found in other domestic animals such as dogs, cats, pigs, horses and goats. Curlier tails – also found in dogs and pigs – were also recorded.
What's more, "in only a few generations, the friendly foxes were showing changes in coat colour," says Hare.
The process seems to be ongoing. "At the more advanced steps of selection, changes in the parameters of the skeletal system began to arise," Trut wrote. "They included shortened legs, tail, snout, upper jaw, and widened skull."

The foxes started looking more delicate and, put simply, "cute".

Their reproductive habits also changed. The domesticated foxes became sexually mature about a month earlier than non-domesticated foxes. Their mating season was longer and they could breed out of season. On average, their litters had one more cub.
All these changes were brought on by selecting for one trait: tameability. This gives us a big clue to how domestication works.

The physical traits Belyaev and Trut found, like the floppy ears, were those you would expect in a juvenile. But the domestic foxes carried them through into adulthood, suggesting the selection process had slowed down aspects of their development.

This might have something to do with chemicals in their bodies.

Belyaev reasoned that selecting for tameability changed the mix of hormones and neurotransmitters the foxes' bodies made. He believed behavioural responses were "regulated by a fine balance between neurotransmitters and hormones at the level of the whole organism".
For example, the drooping ears of the domesticated foxes might be a result of slowing down the adrenal glands. This could arrest the cells before the ear has time to stand to attention.
"Selection has even affected the neurochemistry of our foxes' brains," wrote Trut. One example she described was a drop in the "hormone-producing activity of the foxes' adrenal glands."

                                                                               

Domestic foxes also had higher levels of serotonin than farm-bred foxes. That is intriguing, because serotonin is "thought to be the leading mediator inhibiting animals' aggressive behaviour." Serotonin, like other neurotransmitters, is critically involved in shaping an animal's development from its earliest stages.

The project continues to this day. As of August 2016, there are 270 tame vixens and 70 tame males on the farm. However, it has run into financial problems.

"The current situation is not catastrophic, but not stable at the same time," writes Kharlamova. "The main reason of instability is of course the expense of this experiment."


In the 1990s, the institute supported itself by selling fox pelts. At the end of the 1990s, they started to sell the foxes as house pets. At present, a Florida-based company called the Lester Kalmanson Agency Inc imports foxes for those who want to keep them as pets. Each fox costs $8,900, because of the delivery costs.

With the foxes now tame, the researchers are trying to identify the genes that change under selection for tameness. "The main current goals are focused on molecular-genetics mechanisms of domestic behaviour," says Trut.

Belyaev and Trut's experiment may even tell us something about our own evolution.

In particular, one under-appreciated point about our species is that we have, essentially, domesticated ourselves. This is borne out in our behaviour. While we have committed our fair share of atrocities, on the whole we are far less aggressive and violent than our closest relatives, the chimpanzees.

This suggests that human evolution selected for cooperation, tolerance and gentleness – and not, necessarily, for intelligence.

"We always assume that intelligence is responsible for our success," says Hare. "That humans became smarter, which… allowed us to invent wheels and agriculture and iPhones. But what if that wasn't what happened?"

Hare suspects that, "like the foxes, and like dogs, we became friendlier first, and then got smarter by accident. This would mean that our prosocial skills, the skills that allow for cooperation and friendliness, were what made us successful."

We do not know if that is true. But it is a rather encouraging thought.

Are dogs’ mouths really cleaner than human mouths?

Statistics reveal that almost all pet owners consider their pets to be part of the family. Given these realities, it’s no surprise that kissing animals living under the same roof as their owners is common practice. But is it safe?
We at Bright Side want you to know what hidden dangers could be lurking in giving your four-legged friend a big hug and kiss.

 

 

Are dogs’ mouths really cleaner than human mouths? 

That’s a total myth. Marty Becker, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul of the Dog Owner, dispels this popular prejudice when he says, "All you have to do is look, watch, smell, and you’ll realize that is not true. They raid the garbage can. You know, we give each other a peck on the cheek when we say hello; they give each other a peck on the rear end."

How many bacteria are there in dogs’ saliva?

 

This is what John Oxford, professor of virology and bacteriology at the Queen Mary University in London, says about how many bacteria your dog’s muzzle and mouth can carry: "It is not just what is carried in saliva. Dogs spend half their life with their noses in nasty corners or hovering over dog droppings so their muzzles are full of bacteria, viruses, and germs of all sorts."

What might happen if these bacteria get into the human body? 

These viruses and germs can cause serious health problems in humans. This is what happened to one British woman who contracted an infection from her dog’s saliva. She began to notice that her speech sounded more and more slurred. Blood tests revealed that she had an infection due to capnocytophaga canimorsus bacteria, commonly found in the mouths of dogs and cats. There were also 13 similar incidents across the UK.

 

What other diseases can you catch from your pets?

 

Ringworm infection is one of the most common diseases that you can get from kissing your dog. If your pet is infected with ringworm and you kiss them, then you’ll catch this disease too.
MRSA infection usually affects the skin, and it can be caused by just one lick from your dog.
Capnocytophaga сanimorsus is a bacterium that can cause serious health problems if it enters your body through an open wound.

How to prevent health risks associated with owning a pet

 

Always follow these rules:

• Don’t kiss your animals, don’t let them lick your face, don’t ever feed your pets at the table, and never share your dishes with them.
• Wash your hands thoroughly after having any contact with animals.
• Vaccinate your pet against common diseases promptly.
• Use special antibacterial and antifungal shampoos when you wash your furry friends.
• Make sure your dog or cat has no contact with wild or stray animals of any kind. When walking your dog, watch that they do not eat anything off the street.
• Don’t feed your four-legged friends raw eggs, meat, or fish.
• Regularly clean and disinfect your pet’s feeding bowl, and do general cleaning in the house using disinfecting solutions.
• See your vet immediately if your pet is not feeling well, if he or she refuses to eat, or suffers from digestive disorders.

Photographer finds forgotten Mongolian tribe and captures their unique friendship with animals

Human civilization has come a long way since modern humans appeared about 200,000 years ago in Africa.
And from living in caves and making use of what nature has to offer, humans have learned to build cities with millions inhabitants that our ancestors never could have imagined.
Meanwhile, globalization has made it harder for indigenous cultures to preserve their way of life.
However, there are still some remote, nomadic peoples that have contiued their way of life for centuries. For example, the Dukha people of Mongolia.
They have developed a special relationship with the wild animals of their region, which photographer Hamid Sardar-Afkham has captured in a way that will leave you in awe.
Scroll down to see his stunning pictures:

The Dukha people have created a bond with animals that most people can only dream of. For example, they often use reindeer as transportation.

The reindeer have been domesticated and they are treated almost like family.
Even at a young age, Dukha children learn to train reindeer and gain their respect.



This young girl is getting ready to wash a reindeer calf.

The Dukha people also use reindeer milk to make yogurt and cheese, which are staples of the tribe. They only slaughter a few reindeer per year for their meat and skins.



 Now, there are only some 40 Dukha families left, totaling 200-400 people.


The people are also known as "Tsaatan," meaning "reindeer."


In recent years, the Dukha people have also learned to live with curious tourists.
Visitors buy handicrafts and ride reindeer.


Although they could live in one location, the Dukha people continue to live as nomads.
They move from one place to another throughout the year.


The Dukha people not only have a close relationship with reindeer...


... they also train wolves!

And hunt with golden eagles.

Owning an eagle means high status. And the few who manage to hunt with this large bird of prey often hold a strong position in the society.

Most people hunt small wild animals like rabbits. But they are are also sold in markets.

The Dukha people believe that they have a spiritual contact with animals.


Their special contact with animals allows them to feel at home in nature and maintain their culture.

Lately, the outside world has been influencing them more and more and making it more difficult for the nomads to live in their traditional way.




It's sure great to see the Dukha people's culture and their relationship with the animal kingdom.
That they have managed to preserve their way of life is wonderful—and a good reminder that our world has so many different cultures.

Republicans Are Coming for the Endangered Animals

Donald Trump’s transition team has been making everyone extremely nervous with its inquiries into employees who believe in climate change, “gender-related” programs, and the money spent on aid to Africa. Now, GOP lawmakers are picking up their cues and are beginning to push hard on legislation that will likely be successful under a Trump presidency, like threatening animals.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Democrats and environmental activists have managed to block many proposed measures intended to limit the power or dismantle the Endangered Species Act, which was established in 1973 in connection with the diminishing population of our national symbol, the Bald Eagle. But now, Republicans want to ditch the whole act:


The Endangered Species Act is often one of the few things standing between land and a big oil-seeking drill. Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife, told the Chicago Tribune, “Any species that gets in the way of a congressional initiative or some kind of development will be clearly at risk,” adding, “The political lineup is as unfavorable to the Endangered Species Act as I can remember.”
For example, Sen. Jim Inhofe, who is currently glad-handing Donald Trump’s EPA nomination Scott Pruitt at his confirmation hearing, has suggested “one species should be removed from the list every time another is added.” Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan has said he wants to limit applications to protect species to one at a time. 1,600 plants and animals in the U.S. are currently protected by the law, with hundreds more under consideration. Only 70 have ever been “recovered” and removed, as bringing an animal back from the brink of extinction is actually very hard!

Vanderbilt law professor J.B. Ruhl, considered the leading expert on the act, indicated to the Chicago Tribune that even a few small adjustments to the wording of the law will change it from something that can protect huge swathes of land to little more than a hunting limitation. As it turns out, laws are also a delicate eco-system

What a Hell are you Feeding your Best Friend

The Truth about Pet Food

Researchers in Chapman's Food Science Program bought commercial products for dogs and cats (both wet and dry food) and used DNA analysis to determine the types of meat they contained.
Almost 40 percent of the products had a meat that was not listed on the label. Of the 52 samples, 31 were labeled correctly, 20 were potentially mislabeled and one had a meat ingredient that could not be identified.
Assistant professor Rosalee Hellberg, co-author of the study, told that both dog and cat food samples were mislabeled, and that wet food was more likely than dry to have the problem.

“We found a lot of undeclared pork in certain products,” Hellberg said. “We found some products that would claim to have beef, even as a number one ingredient, and there was no beef in the product at all.”


The researchers said it’s impossible to know if the mislabeling was accidental or intentional, and that there was no way to know where it took place — at the supplier level or at manufacturing plants.
“It is a form of economic fraud,” Hellberg said, and when you consider that Americans are expected to spend more than $22 billion on pet food this year, according to the American Pet Products Association, the economic harm could be substantial.
Hellberg told she was surprised by the high rate of mislabeling. The reason she decided to test pet-food products was to see if they contained any horse meat, which would be a concern to some people. None did.
The Chapman report did not include a list of the products tested or those that were found to be potentially mislabeled. Hellberg told us the study was done to investigate the industry as a whole rather than single out any pet food brands. “We are hoping to raise awareness of the issue which would result in increased scrutiny to make sure pet foods really contain what they claim to contain,” she said.
The Pet Food Institute (PFI), an industry trade group, told it’s still trying to learn more about the Chapman study. In an email, Kurt Gallagher, PFI’s director of communications, pointed out that the majority of products sampled were labeled properly.
“Pet food is one of the most highly regulated food products,” Gallagher wrote. “Responsible pet food companies collaborate with FDA and AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) and work hard to ensure their products are in compliance with federal and state regulations, which include rules for proper labeling.”

Who’s minding the store?

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the product labeling of both people and pet food. Hellberg told us the FDA was aware of the study. We contacted the FDA and were provided with a statement, which reads in part:
“Consumers should be able to trust that what is on the label is in the product. Pet foods do not require the FDA’s approval before being marketed; however, all ingredients are required to be listed on the label using their common or usual name. The FDA has taken action in the past when ingredients are not properly listed on the label or when one ingredient is substituted for another ingredient.”

Not the first time

Back in 2012, ELISA Technologies tested 21 commercial dog food products are found 12 instances of mislabeling (two products had more than one labeling issue.) As reported in PetFoodIndustry.com, eight of the products had animal protein not listed on the ingredient label. Two labeled as gluten- or grain-free, tested positive for gluten.
“As in the human food industry, this type of mislabeling is typically not intentional on the part of the manufacturer,” Dr. Laura K. Allred wrote on PetFoodIndustry.com. “Rather, it is most often the result of mistakes during formulation or the receipt of mislabeled product from a supplier.”

Potential health consequences

In the Chapman study, about a third of the samples (16 of the 52) had a meat ingredient not listed on the label — most often pork, which is a common food allergen for pets.
“This does not shed a very good light on the pet food industry,” said Dr. Joseph Wakshlag, an associate professor of clinical nutrition at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Professor Wakshlag told that just a small amount of pig liver added to the product — and not disclosed on the label — would be more than enough to cause a problem for an allergic dog or cat.
If you have a pet with a food allergy, talk to your vet to make sure you’re using a food that’s appropriate and safe.

Shelter clears all animals available for adoption

Last dog sweet send-off

Animal shelter clears all animals available for adoption, giving last dog sweet send-off. (WPVI)

HONOLULU -- There were cheers at the Hawaiian Humane Society's animal shelter in Honolulu recently as they cleared out all their animals available for adoption for the first time in its 130-year history.To mark the occasion Thursday, staff and volunteers formed a human tunnel and applauded and cheered as the last animal adopted that day, Beauty the dog, walked triumphantly out with her new family.

"We just really wanted to celebrate Beauty's adoption and the fact that we were able to clear the shelter for the first time ever," Hawaiian Humane Society spokeswoman Suzy Tam said.

Video of the warm farewell has received more than 52,000 "likes" on the Hawaiian Humane Society's Facebook page.

Beauty, who is estimated to be about 5 years old, was surrendered to the shelter on the day after Christmas, Tam told ABC News.

Beauty the dog was the last animal adopted during the Hawaiian Humane Society's first ever shelter clear-out on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016.
"But the timing just kind of worked out incredibly," Tam said, noting how Beauty had a forever home just in time for New Year's.

"A woman named Jan found her photo on the website, fell in love and came to see her on Thursday [Dec. 29]," Tam said. "Beauty happened to have just been cleared for adoption that same day, and she also happened to be the last dog available for adoption that day, too."

The Irish Elk

The Irish Elk, Megaloceros, is misnamed, for it is neither exclusively Irish nor is it an elk. It is a giant extinct deer, the largest deer species ever, that stood up to seven feet at the shoulder (2.1 meters), with antlers spanning up to 12 feet (3.65 meters). The Irish elk evolved during the glacial periods of the last million years, during the Pleistocene Epoch. It ranged throughout Europe, northern Asia and northern Africa, and a related form is known from China. The name "Irish" has stuck because excellent, well-preserved fossils of the giant deer are especially common in lake sediments and peat bogs in Ireland. The skull on display at the old UC Museum of Paleontology came from such a locality, 18 miles north of Dublin. Such skulls, with their enormous racks of antlers, adorn the walls of castles and hunting lodges throughout Ireland. On the other hand, the complete skeleton pictured at the top of the page, on display at the Paleontological Institute in Moscow, was found at the other end of Europe, near the Russian town of Sapozhka.
Unable to adapt to the subartic conditions of the last glaciation or the marked transition that occured after the final retreat of the ice sheet, the largest deer that ever lived became extinct, the last one in Ireland dying around 11,000 years ago. Megaloceros may have possibly survived in continental Europe into historic times.
Beyond its arresting size and singular appearance, the giant deer is of great significance to paleontologists because of the way in which the animal has become involved in evolutionary debates down through the years.

Can Extinction Happen?

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was becoming increasingly apparent that many fossils represented organisms that were not known to survive anywhere on Earth. But to scientists who believed in the Divine creation of the Earth and its life, this posed a jarring philosophical problem: why would a good, perfect God allow any of the animals in His perfect creation to die out completely? Many scientists denied the reality of extinction, and instead suggested that animals known only as fossils would one day be found alive in some unexplored part of the globe. In the words of Dr. Thomas Molyneux, the first scientist to describe the Irish elk:

That no real species of living creatures is so utterly extinct, as to be lost entirely out of the World, since it was first created, is the opinion of many naturalists; and 'tis grounded on so good a principle of Providence taking care in general of all its animal productions, that it deserves our assent.

Molyneux erroneously identified the Irish elk with the American moose, while others thought the Irish elk was identical with the European reindeer. Not until 1812 did the great French scientist Georges Cuvier document that the Irish elk, along with other fossil vertebrates such as the mammoth, did not belong to any living species of mammal. Cuvier's study of the Irish elk was a key part of the documentation that extinction had happened in the past.

Orthogenesis: Evolution in Straight Lines

A once-popular hypothesized evolutionary mechanism was orthogenesis, in which change in organisms was due not to natural selection, but to internal directional trends within a lineage. The Irish elk was once considered a prime example of orthogenesis: it was thought that its lineage had started evolving on an irreversible trajectory towards larger and larger antlers. The Irish elk finally went extinct when the antlers became so large that the animals could no longer hold up their heads, or got entangled in the trees.

Although orthogenesis was a common evolutionary theory in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it has since been abandoned for lack of a plausible mechanism. It is perfectly possible, however, to reconcile the huge antlers of Megaloceros with evolution by selection. Some paleontologists suggested that the enormous weaponry of the Irish elk served a defensive purpose, to kill predators and fight off rivals for mates. A more modern interpretation of the function of the antlers in the giant deer suggest that they were used for sexual displays, as they are in living deer. Some living deer use their antlers in ritualized combats at mating time, in which few individuals actually get hurt. It is possible that the Irish elk used its antlers in this way, but there is another possibility: The antlers of the Irish elk face forward, to show maximum area when the animal looks straight ahead. They may not have been used in combat at all, but simply served as visual signals during courtship. Whichever is the case, sexual selection is the most likely explanation for why the antlers of Megaloceros were so huge. The larger and stronger the antlers, the more successful in mating the male deer would be, and the more offspring he would have — offspring which could inherit parental genes for large antlers.

Medical students tortured and killed Monkey tortured and killed in India

Medical students tortured and killed Monkey

Four medical students from the prestigious Christian Medical College in Vellore, India have already failed their oaths, whether it be saving the lives of humans or animals. In a disturbing case of animal cruelty, a one-year-old female monkey was tortured and killed after she accidentally entered the hostel room of the students. According to an animal lover’s Facebook page, another activist told him about the monkey torture; once posted, the photos of the disgusting act went viral leading to the apprehension of the students.


Shravan Krishnan shared the egregious situation after writing a post describing the heart wrenching monkey torture on Saturday, November 19:

“They tied her hands and started abusing and torturing her by beating her with sticks and belts, broke her legs, jaw and finally put a rod up her anus and killed her.”

Krishnan stated the students carried the monkey’s body out and buried her behind the hostel. As students became aware of the situation, they urged the college to act. Another student called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for emergency help. According to the media , the monkey’s body was exhumed and sent for a necropsy:

“The post mortem showed that the monkey’s neck, hands and legs were tied up with a phone wire. The animal’s knee, neck and ankle were fractured implying that it was thrashed. The worst cruelty that the animal was subjected to, was that it was impaled with a sharp object from behind and it came out the front.”

Animal cruelty charges under IPC section 429 and various sections of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 have been registered against Jasper Samuel Sahoo, Rohit Kumar Yenukotti, Arun Loui Sasi Kumar and Alex Chekalayil at Bagayam police station. The four students are being questioned, and were suspended on Wednesday from the school after an internal committed preliminary investigation.

The monkey belonged to the Bonnet Macaque species listed under Indians protected species.

Strange Facts about the giraffe

Here are some unusual facts about one of the most distinctive-looking creatures on the continent. Neck The giraffe's best-known feature can be longer than most people are tall. However, like humans it still only has seven vertebrae. Each is about 25 centimetres (10 inches) long. It is used to reach high up into trees for food but too short to reach the ground, so the animals have to splay their legs or kneel down to drink water. Luckily they only drink every few days and get most of their hydration from plants. The neck is also used in an elaborate ritual fight known as "necking" in which giraffes swing at each other to establish dominance.

Markings

 With its spotted pattern and long legs and neck, the giraffe was given the Latin name "camelopardalis", meaning "camel marked like a leopard". But the spots are not only for camouflage. According to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF), each patch is surrounded by a sophisticated system of blood vessels which act as thermal windows to release body heat. A thermal scan of a giraffe shows the intensity of heat in its body matching the pattern of the spots. Like the human fingerprint, each giraffe has its own unique pattern. Big tongue, big heart It's not just the neck and legs which are outsized on a giraffe. Its tongue can measure up to 50 centimetres to give the animal even more leverage in nibbling from the top of its favoured tree, the acacia. 

The tongue

Blue-black colour is believed to shield the organ from sun exposure and it is widely accepted that a giraffe's sticky saliva has antiseptic properties to protect it from spiky thorns on the acacia. A giraffe's heart weights up to 11 kilograms—to power blood up a neck of nearly two metres—and beats up to 170 times per minute, double the speed of a human heart. 

Breeding 

Giraffes have one of the longest gestation periods, at 15 months. They give birth standing up, which means their calves drop just under two metres to the ground. This startling introduction to life gets them up and running around in less than an hour. A newborn calf is bigger than the average adult. In the wild, giraffes can live up to 25 years, while in captivity they can survive over 35 years. Genetics Giraffes evolved from an antelope-like animal of about three metres tall that roamed the forests of Asia and Europe 30 to 50 million years ago. Its closest living relative is the okapi. In September scientists revealed there were in fact four distinct giraffe species and not one, as initially thought.

Keep your animals happy and healthy when the temperature drops

Winter pet safety tips:

Winter can be a dangerous season for pets – freezing temperatures, ice-melting chemicals and indoor drafts are potentially hazardous to an animal’s health. Looking for ways to keep your pet healthy and happy during the coldest months of the year?

Here are some tips.

"The most dangerous parts of winter are being outside too long on extra cold days and walking through excessive salt on the ground,” Krysty Vallejos, founder of NYC-based pet care services company Urban Pawz told us on Friday. “On extra cold days, the best thing to do is pay attention to your pet to ensure she isn't showing signs of discomfort, like shivering, lethargy, or pulling to go back home.”
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals also advises against shaving your cats or dogs during the winter. However, long-haired animals should be trimmed to minimize clinging ice balls and salt crystals. Consider covering short-haired pets in thick sweaters or turtlenecks with high collars. Despite their fur coats, animals are still vulnerable to the dangers of below-freezing temperatures.

Sidewalks or streets can also become hazardous to pets' health during the winter.

“Be mindful of the salted sidewalks on extra icy days, as they can cause wounds on your pup's pads and can even make your pup sick,” Vallejos explained. “You can avoid this by applying Mushers Secret on their paws before stepping outside and/or wiping down their paws once inside so they do not lick off the salt. "Pet owners should also keep their homes properly humidified to keep pets' skin healthy. Additionally, hot bathwater can remove the essential oils from an animal's skin, increasing the chance of dry, itchy patches. Don't bathe dogs or cats too frequently, and use extra-moisturizing shampoos and conditioners every time you clean them.

Winter dangers: Antifreeze is toxic to pets

Animal drinking Anti-Freeze

At this time a year, most of the USA and other northern countries are covered with snow and ice, and cars need to be protected against freezing. Unfortunately, antifreeze is very toxic to pets, and this is a concern even for pet owners who don't have a car.
Regular antifreeze has a sweet scent and taste, and is quite attractive to dogs and cats. Some manufacturers have changed their solution to remove the sweetness and make the liquid less appealing to pets, and some make "pet safe" versions, but all of these variants are still dangerous to pets. Pet safe antifreeze is less toxic than regular, but it still toxic.

If you're walking your dog and see a puddle on the ground, don't let him or her walk through it or drink from it. It's a good idea to always wipe off the pet's feet when you get back home - they will lick themselves clean, and can ingest antifreeze in the process.

Needless to say, keep these types of products out of reach for pets and children, and clean any spills immediately.

If you suspect or know that your pet has ingested antifreeze, contact your veterinarian or pet ER immediately. Minutes matter, and quick treatment can save your pet from severe illness and even death.

The 5 Most Endangered Canine Species

Endangered Canine Species

Domesticated dogs are some of the most popular animals on the planet, but their cousins in the wild aren't always as beloved. For thousands of years humans have persecuted wolves, jackals, dingoes, foxes and other members of the family Canidae, pushing many species into or close to extinction. Here are five of the most endangered canine species and subspecies, three of which only continue to exist because a few people and organizations have taken extraordinary efforts to save them.

The Ethiopian Wolf

Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis) don't have the smallest population on this list—estimates put the species at 450 to 500 individuals—but looking at that number alone hides the true circumstances of these rare canids. The animals live in six fragmented population groups, some with fewer than 25 wolves, all of which are scattered hundreds of kilometers apart from one another. Few Ethiopian wolves are able to travel from one pack to another, so the species is at a high risk of inbreeding according to a study I covered last year. Meanwhile the wolves face continued persecution from livestock owners, reduced prey levels, diseases from domesticated dogs and a rapidly growing human population. Luckily the wolves' biggest subpopulations live in protected areas, and efforts are underway to establish a new national park that will protect them even further, but we have already seen one subpopulation die out in the past decade, and it's likely we'll lose one or two more in the coming years.

The Mexican Gray Wolf

Once hunted into near-extinction as a supposed threat to cattle and other livestock, Mexican gray wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) currently live in a sort of limbo. All of the wolves alive today are descended from just five animals captured in 1973 to prevent the subspecies from disappearing. About 300 wolves live in captive-breeding facilities in the U.S. and Mexico. Roughly 60 more have been released into the wild where they are defined as a "nonessential experimental population," a status that affords them only partial protection. As I wrote earlier this year, all remaining Mexican gray wolves have very limited genetics, and continued breeding of both captive and wild wolves must be done carefully to preserve their scant genetic diversity. Even though the wild population breeds on its own, dozens of the released wolves have been killed by cars or hunters, making every animal that remains all that more precious.

The Red Wolf

 

The rarest wolf species, red wolves (Canis rufus) almost went extinct by the middle of the 20th century. First they were nearly eradicated in order to protect livestock. Then coyotes started moving into their territory, where they hybridized with the wolves. By the time the last red wolves were brought into captivity in 1973, only 14 pure individuals remained. Today that population has increased to nearly 200 wolves living in captive-breeding centers and about another 120 in the wild in northeastern North Carolina. Like Mexican gray wolves, that wild population is classified as an experimental nonessential population. Also, like their Mexican relatives, the wild population has been heavily hit by illegal hunting, with at least 10 animals killed since the beginning of 2012. As I wrote earlier this year, those deaths bear heavy penalties under the Endangered Species Act, and the FWS is seeking information on anyone responsible for the killings.


 

Darwin's Fox

First up is the critically endangered Darwin's fox (Lycalopex fulvipes). Native to Chile, 250 of the 320 members of the species can be found on the 8,400-square-kilometer Chiloé Island. The remaining 70 live on the mainland at just one site, the 68-square-kilometer Nahuelbuta National Park. This secondary population, which was only discovered about 20 years ago, is obviously the more fragile of the two. The park is frequently visited by tourists and the foxes have become habituated to their presence, leaving the animals vulnerable both to cars and the dogs that humans bring with them. The population on Chiloé Island is a bit safer, especially within the island's two national parks, but elsewhere on the island they still face a small amount of poaching as well as habitat loss from logging and development. Unlike a lot of other critically endangered species, though, the scientific consensus seems to be that these rare foxes are relatively safe and their population is stable.

Island Fox

It's almost unfair to list to the island fox (Urocyon littoralis) as just one entry on this list. It's not really one species: it is actually six different subspecies, each of which lives on its own island off the California coast. These foxes have been hard hit by distemper, mostly affecting the foxes on Catalina Island, and an incursion of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), massive birds that see the tiny, cat-size canines as easy prey. Golden eagles didn't used to visit California's Channel Islands often, but the decline of the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in the 1960s allowed the birds to expand their territory. As a direct result, four of the six island fox subspecies were nearly wiped out during the 1990s. By the year 2000 the San Miguel Island fox and the Santa Rosa Island fox had each declined to just 15 individuals. The Santa Cruz Island fox had just 80 individuals and the Santa Catalina Island fox wasn't far behind at 103 animals.