Every October 4, people around the world come together to celebrate World Animal Day, recognizing the many ways animals enrich our lives and sustain the world we share. Whether providing companionship, supporting healthy ecosystems, or inspiring wonder and discovery, animals play a vital role in...
Introduction Rabies is a frightening viral disease that, once contracted by a human patient, is always fatal. The first phase of the infection, incubation, can last from weeks to months, during which the virus replicates without causing symptoms. The first symptoms include fever and malaise, and...
For most of the last four centuries, the beaver's relationship with North America was transactional. Europeans wanted its fur to make hats. Farmers wanted the dams gone from their fields. Homeowners wanted its flooding to stop. In each case, the animal was assessed by what...
Marius Gilbert, a geospatial analyst at the University of Brussels, and ten colleagues from around the world have published a paper that tracks how the raising of farmed animals shifts from extensive husbandry to intensive systems as a country's per capita GDP rises. A summary...
Introduction Recent articles defending or examining animal research are common in North America and Europe, but much less common from scientists in the Global South. Mario Treviño and Oscar Arias-Carrión from Mexico are exceptions to that rule and have produced an excellent analysis of the current...
It is now widely accepted that sharing one's home with a companion animal, especially a dog, confers both organic and mental health benefits on the humans in the pet-owning household. This recognition of the health benefits of companion animals has been shaped by marketing campaigns...
India's tiger recovery is one of the most closely watched conservation stories in the world. The fourth cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation reported 2,967 tigers in 2018 -- roughly three-quarters of the world's wild tiger population -- and marked a major milestone: India had...
A recent scientific paper explains why cats can right themselves when falling, so they always land on their feet. How they managed this feat had been a mystery, but Yasuo Higurashi and his colleagues report that they have solved it. Cats, it turns out, have...
Nearly 70 years ago, a two-person team published a manuscript outlining methods, approaches, and – broadly speaking – the shifts in mindset necessary to make animal use in experimentation more humane. The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique by W.M.S. Russell and Rex L. Burch published in 1959 by Methuen introduced the concept which has come to make an indelible...
Until the lion has a historian of his own, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. This African proverb inspires the title of Professor Sandra Swart's book, as she sets out to take on the challenge of writing a multi-species history that does not glorify the hunter. Professor Swart from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, successfully produces a compelling multispecies history of Africa. As...
