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The Pets Blog Week in Review for May 12-18

What sort of personal anecdotes, as well as helpful info and animal folktales, did Aimee and I share with you last week? If you can’t answer that because you missed any days, check out the handy Week in Review below. Monday, May 12 Since the stroke, my mom’s being talking about “going home.” I wondered when it’s time for me to “go home” who will be waiting for me? Aimee told about her Mother’s Day and the nice things her friends (and dogs) did to make it special. Tuesday, May 13 An article Aimee read led her to ponder the … Continue reading →

The Smartest Species

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I saw a headline on MSN about the smartest animal species… of course I had to click that link! The article compared signs of human intelligence — like making tools, solving problems, self-awareness, and more — with animal behaviors. Humans are the top of the list of the smartest species (at least as far as we know). Next on the list of smartest animals came chimpanzees. Humans and chimps share a lot of the same genomes — and chimp behavior demonstrates that some of that is shared intelligence. Among documented intelligent behaviors in chimps are: Making and using tools Hunting … Continue reading →

Chimpanzee Testing to Resume?

A chimpanzee at work for NASA Animal testing is a tricky issue. Given my love for animals I’d normally think I’d come down firmly against it, but it’s not that easy. For a while I worked for a medical journal, specifically, an immunology journal. Immunologists are the ones who research and cure diseases. Although it was hard to read over the studies in which they used animals for testing, their findings were always applied to fighting terrible diseases. But none of that is the case here. The Huffington Post published an article on August 23 examining the plight of more … Continue reading →

Are You Ready For “Pig Brother”?

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If you’re a fan of reality television, you’re probably familiar with Big Brother — the show where strangers are put in a house together for the world to watch. Cameras capture every move as one by one, the contestants are voted out of the house. In preparation for the third annual Speck-Spektakel in Helfenberg, Austria, the town is hosting their own version of Big Brother — featuring four piglets. “Pig Brother” stars Piggy, Lilly, Pauli, and Fredi competing for the title of Super Pig at Helfenberg’s Speck-Spektakel (Bacon Trade Fair). Between now and the June festival, you can watch the … Continue reading →

Amazing Animal Videos

A while back I wrote about a baby water buffalo who had survived a lion and a crocodile attack –all of which was caught on tape. I was so impressed by that baby water buffalo and his brave herd. (The herd had come back to help save the baby and chased off the lions.) But recently two other amazing animal videos have come to my attention. Dolphins Try to Save Their Own On YouTube there are a ton of dolphin rescue videos. Mostly of people saving dolphins, though. There are a couple of dolphins saving whales, but the other day … Continue reading →

On Koalas, Dogs, and Writing: An Interview with Author Lee Barwood

I’ve interviewed a couple of authors now. Besides the fact that many base animal characters on their own pets, or that animals influence their writing as a career choice in some way, they all have something else in common too: a deep sense of reverence, tenderness, and love for their pets that only an animal can elicit. Lee Barwood is no exception. And perhaps she sums it up best in her answer to my question about whether animals factor into her fiction writing. “I think we’ve gotten too far removed from animals in modern life,” she says. “and if we … Continue reading →