Friday, December 20

Tag: Animals

Ancient sea turtle housed at Boston aquarium for more than 50 years passes another physical
9Apr By adminNo Comments
Entertainment

Ancient sea turtle housed at Boston aquarium for more than 50 years passes another physical

BOSTON -- Apparently, it's pretty easy being green after all.That was the takeaway from Tuesday's physical examination of Myrtle, an ancient green sea turtle that has delighted visitors to the New England Aquarium in Boston for more than 50 years. Veterinarians performed Myrtle's checkup after the 500-pound reptile was hoisted from the aquarium's Giant Ocean Tank in an enormous crate on a chain. Watching the humungous turtle elevated from the tank in a way that resembled the way a piano is lifted outside a building provided some of the aquarium patrons with an unexpected thrill.Myrtle is thought to be up to 95 years old, which would place her just beyond the upper boundaries of the species' longevity. But the big turtle is “in robust condition” despite her advanced age, said Mike O'Neill,...
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How Will the Solar Eclipse Affect Animals? NASA Needs Your Help to Find Out
6Apr By adminNo Comments
Technology

How Will the Solar Eclipse Affect Animals? NASA Needs Your Help to Find Out

In other anecdotes, onlookers have reported birds that stop singing, crickets that stopped chirping, or bees that return to their hive, reduce their foraging, or suspend their flight during total darkness. But there are also studies that deny that some of these behaviors occur or can be attributed to the eclipse.Therefore, NASA scientists plan not only to systematize observations but also to document what people hear and see under the shadow of the moon.“The Great North American Eclipse”NASA has created the Eclipse Soundscapes citizen science project to collect the experiences of volunteers. It was inspired by a study conducted nearly 100 years ago by William M. Wheeler and a team of collaborators. At that time, the Boston Natural History Society invited citizens, park rangers, and natura...
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Elon Musk’s New Monkey Death Claims Spur Fresh Demands for an SEC Investigation
13Dec By adminNo Comments
Technology

Elon Musk’s New Monkey Death Claims Spur Fresh Demands for an SEC Investigation

In October 2018, a UC Davis veterinarian approved Animal 13 for use in a Neuralink experiment. She was six years old when she received her Neuralink implants. According to her pre-project physical exam and echocardiogram, Davis staff did not observe any medical abnormalities prior to her surgery, only noting that she had superficial scratches on her lips and minor lip trauma as part of a “suspect pair fight.”Beginning in November 2018, Animal 13 was regularly sedated with ketamine and hooked up to scientific instruments for “neuro recordings.” After one of these sessions the following month, Davis staff observed that the skin near the implants felt warm to the touch, the records show.Over the next three months, her implants became infected. She was euthanized in March 2019. Her autopsy no...
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Here’s Scientific Proof Your Cat Will Eat Almost Anything
12Dec By adminNo Comments
Technology

Here’s Scientific Proof Your Cat Will Eat Almost Anything

Don’t let their fluff fool you: Your cat was built for murder. Felines, no matter how chonky, eepy, or boopable, are remarkably adaptable obligate carnivores, down to eat just about anything that fits in their mouth.Well-intentioned (or … threatening?) gifts of dead birds, rats, and lizards are familiar to outdoor cat owners—even my shockingly uncoordinated indoor cat has killed a spider or two in her day. But an analysis published today in Nature Communications, led by Auburn University ecologist Christopher Lepczyk, reveals that there’s shockingly little that cats don’t eat.Compiling evidence from a century of research from across the globe, Lepczyk’s team identified over 2,000 animal species eaten by cats—and that’s only what scientists have recorded so far. Of those species, 347 are a...
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The Second Person to Get a Pig Heart Transplant Just Died
1Nov By adminNo Comments
Technology

The Second Person to Get a Pig Heart Transplant Just Died

Lawrence Faucette, the 58-year-old patient with terminal heart disease who was the second person to receive a genetically engineered pig heart, died on October 30, according to a statement from the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, where the transplant was performed.Faucette received the transplant on September 20 and lived for six weeks—less time than the first recipient, despite extra precautions by the Maryland team. Initially, Faucette made progress following his surgery. He was doing physical therapy, spending time with family members, and playing cards with his wife, according to the university. But in the days leading up to his death, his heart began to show signs of organ rejection; in other words, his immune system recognized the pig heart as foreign and attacke...
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What was Heidi Klum for Halloween this year? See her 2023 costume
1Nov By adminNo Comments
Entertainment

What was Heidi Klum for Halloween this year? See her 2023 costume

ByThe Associated PressNovember 1, 2023, 12:50 AMHeidi Klum, center, in blue, arrives at her 22nd annual Halloween party at Marquee on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)The Associated PressNEW YORK -- NEW YORK (AP) — Heidi Klum shook her tail feathers Tuesday for her latest elaborate Halloween costume, dressing up as a peacock with several acrobats forming her tail feathers. Klum capped her resplendent costume off by having her husband, Tom Kaulitz, accompany her dressed as her egg.Klum's party has been a staple of the spooky season for more than two decades, drawing a host of celebrities since its first iteration in 2000. The German-born supermodel typically undergoes hours of makeup, emerging in past years as Fiona from “Shrek,” Jessica Rabbit from ...
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Everyone Was Wrong About Why Cats Purr
31Oct By adminNo Comments
Technology

Everyone Was Wrong About Why Cats Purr

Feline researchers have long believed that purring is produced by voluntary muscle contractions, but a new report indicates that this vibration in the larynx of cats may be explained by the myoelastic aerodynamic theory of phonation.Studies on the complex action that produces a unique vibration in the larynx of cats—known as purring to most of us—have taken an important turn. It turns out that the biomechanics of the sounds emitted by domestic cats when they feel comfortable or stressed may be closer to a snore than a voluntary muscle spasm.New research published in Current Biology suggests that connective tissue masses are embedded in the vocal folds of the larynges of domestic cats. These may allow felines to produce self-sustained low-frequency oscillations without neural input or musc...
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Judi Dench Gets To Meet Seal Pup Who Shares Her Name
8Oct By adminNo Comments
Entertainment

Judi Dench Gets To Meet Seal Pup Who Shares Her Name

Judi Dench has received the seal of approval from a British wildlife charity.The acclaimed British actor met a gray seal pup named after her when she visited the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, England, last month, the organization shared in a press release this week.Dench, 88, was in the region with family on Sept. 22 and decided to stop by the sanctuary. The facility took in an injured and dehydrated female pup the same day.Judi Dench, the seal pup.“It was like fate,” sanctuary fundraising manager Leanne Atwood said in the release. “It just so happened that, as Dame Judi and her family explored the Sanctuary, this pup was admitted to our Seal Hospital.”Since the sanctuary’s theme for naming seals this season is “actors and actresses,” there was only one moniker choice for the female pu...
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