Christmas is fast approaching and this means it’s that time of year again when we all need to think about what gifts we are going to give our friends and family. At Udopt we have a particular passion for Guide Dogs for the Blind and all the good work they do, so we though this year we would compile a list of five reasons why you should sponsor a guide dog puppy this Christmas.
The killer whale is famous for its complex clicks and whistles that can sometimes resemble a haunting song. However the latest research suggests that they also have the ability to learn “dolphin speak”. Some species such as human beings have the ability to imitate new sounds and use them correctly socially. This is the foundation of language and is known as vocal learning.
The ability to learn vocally is present in some birds, bats and cetaceans, which is a group that includes porpoises, dolphins and whales. Some scientists that study birds have been able to identify which neural pathways are responsible for learning birdsong. However it is much more difficult to study language learning in large marine animals the researchers say.
The lion is a big cat that is also known as the “king of the jungle.” these large felines used to prowl throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. Now however, lions only remain in two parts of the world and are classified according to two subspecies. The African lion can be found in southern and central Africa, whilst the Asiatic lion can only be found in India’s Gir Forest. Whilst they both look a lot alike, the two subspecies are very different in many ways including, habitat, diet and size.
Brazilian wild marmosets have never watched a movie or seen a television show in their jungle homes until very recently. A scientist showed a group of wild marmosets a short flick of one of their compatriots opening a box in order to eat a slice of banana. The study found that wild marmosets were likely to mimic the behavior they saw in the video and open the box themselves.
Leopards that prowl around rural India have an interesting favourite food: dogs
These large felines seem to prefer eating domestic dogs even in areas where there are goats, cows and other farm animals according to the results of a new study.
Conservationists took a close look at leopard poop to reconstruct their diets. A team of scientists with the Wildlife Conservation Society looked at 85 leopard fecal samples in Western Maharashtra India. When they took the specimens back to the lab, they were looking for claws, hair, hoofs or other indigestible parts of prey.
If you are a shark lover then there is some good news, beginning September 14th, new international laws came into effect that added to protection for five different species of shark that have been threatened by overfishing.
Special permits are now required to export live sharks as well as fins, gills and meat of these five species as well as all species of manta ray. The new regulations were adopted last year at a meeting in Bangkok of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as CITES.
Have you ever sat in a meeting and looked at a colleague yawning, then had the uncontrollable urge to yawn yourself. We can’t tell you how many times that has happened to us, fortunately most of the time we manage to control it or yawn without the boss seeing! A new study suggests that just as with humans when a wolf sees one of its compatriots yawn it will yawn as well.
We at udopt are split with some loving marmite on toast and others finding it hard to understand how anyone could like it! But have you ever wondered whether big cats like Marmite? If not why not?! Check out this video from Big Cat Rescue to see the marmite effect.
A new study suggests that the elephant population in Africa has reached a tipping point with more being killed every year than being born. According to the research since 2010, the average number of elephants killed annually on the continent was 35,000.
Recently it was International Orangutan Day which came shortly after it was revealed there may be a discovery of a new species of the ape.
Dr. Michael Krutzen of Zurich University who has spent a lot of time studying the southern most population known as Batang Toru orangutans which are located in the Tapanuli region of northern Sumatra said:
“From a genetics point of view we were taken by surprise to see these stark differences compared to other Sumatran orangutan populations further north. Our findings highlight the urgent need for special conservation status for the Batang Toru forests.”
Let's be friends