Category Archives: nature
Bullfighting is the most indefensible type of animal abuse. It is the activity of brutal and cruel cowards desperately attempting to hide themselves behind a facade of art, bravery and tradition by challenging a hopelessly overwhelmed opponent.
Contrary to the propaganda of bullfighting apologists, bulls are normally quiet and peaceful animals, and only react violently in self-defense, or the defense of their turf. For a number of hours prior to the bullfight, the bull is held in a tiny isolation cell, devoid of food, water, light or the company of his herd. This confuses and panics the bull, and debilitates him physically and mentally. Just before entering the bullring, the bull is harpooned. He begins the fight for his life already wounded and bleeding. Bullfights do not pit one brave man against one ferocious bull.Instead, a gang of thugs mob an animal who is wounded, crippled and debilitated before he ever enters the bullring.
The rider repeatedly slams his spear deep into the bull’s back and shoulders, ripping and tearing the muscles and tendons that would allow the bull to defend himself, and causing severe blood loss. The wounds and blood loss from the brutal spearing are incredible, and further destroys any claim that this is a fair fight. Often, the bulls are so thoroughly disabled by their torture they literally crawl or collapse completely in an attempt to escape their persecutors.
It is only after the exhausted, confused and terrified bull has endured hours of abuse, crippling wounds and incredible blood loss at the hands of bullfighters, that the brave matador displays his “courage.” The bullfighter performs tricks and humiliates the exhausted and dying bull who can barely stand and defecates and urinates uncontrollably.
Bullfighting propaganda claims that the sword should hit the heart and instantly kill the bull. This almost never happens. The best chance the bull has of a relatively quick death is when he is stabbed in the lungs, in which case he vomits blood out of his nose and mouth, and drowns in his own blood. Often the bull is stabbed over and over.
Once stabbed by the long sword, the bullfighters try to force as much movement as possible from the bull, so the sword will hack his insides to pieces and force him to go down, where he will endure more torture.
Finally the bull can no longer stand, and he goes down in complete submission. Then brave bullfighter, knife in hand, walks up to the exhausted, dying bull to cause more torment. The thug stabs the bull in the back of the neck, and then savagely rips the knife back and forth to destroy the bull’s spinal cord. The devastation of the knife renders the bull paralyzed, but still alive and alert. The paralyzed by still conscious bull is dragged around the bullring for the final pleasure of the bloodthirsty mob.
Should apes have human rights?
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By Tom Geoghegan
BBC News Magazine |
Apes and humans have common ancestors but should they have the same rights? An international movement to give them “personhood” is gathering pace.
What would Aristotle make of it? More than 2,000 years after the Greek philosopher declared Mother Nature had made all animals for the sake of man, there are moves to put the relationship on a more equal footing.
Judges in Austria are considering whether a British woman, Paula Stibbe, should become legal guardian of a chimpanzee called Hiasl which was abducted from its family tribe in West Africa 25 years ago.
The animal sanctuary where he has lived is about to close and to stop him being sold to a zoo, Ms Stibbe hopes that she can persuade the court he deserves the same protection as a child.
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APES AND US
Gorillas, bonobos, orang-utans and chimps are great apes
Chimpanzees and bonobos differ from humans by only 1% of DNA and could accept a blood transfusion or a kidney
All great apes recognise themselves in a mirror
Elephants and dolphins show similar self-awareness
Great apes can learn and use human languages through signs or symbols but lack the vocal anatomy to master speech
Great apes have displayed love, fear, anxiety and jealousy
In 1997 the UK government banned experiments on great apes but not on primates such as marmosets and macaques
Sources: Ian Redmond, Charlotte Uhlenbroek
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Spanish MPs are also being urged to back a similar principle, one already endorsed by the Balearic parliament and held dear by the international organisation The Great Ape Project – that apes be granted the right to life, freedom and protection from torture.
So should apes such as those at London Zoo, which opens its Gorilla Kingdom on Thursday complete with gym and climbing wall, get the same rights as their zookeepers?
They need greater protection in the eyes of the law, says Ian Redmond of the UN’s Great Apes Survival Project, who believes welfare groups could use guardianship as a way to rescue ill-treated apes.
Some rights are conferred on apes but only because they are endangered. And the international trade ban is flouted in Africa and South-East Asia, where mothers are shot and their infants shipped off as pets, circus performers or lab animals. Vivisection on apes is banned in much of Europe but still goes on in the US and Japan.
“Apes are special because they are so closely related to us,” says Mr Redmond. “Chimpanzees and bonobos are our joint closest living relatives, differing by only one per cent of DNA – so close we could accept a blood transfusion or a kidney. Gorillas are next, then orang-utans.”
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  If you take a chimp away from its family groups it’s a real wrench  Charlotte Uhlenbroek
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Hiasl the chimp
But there is a stronger cognitive argument, he says, because the apes’ intelligence and ability to reason demands our respect.
“Show a gibbon a mirror and the reaction suggests he or she thinks the reflection is another gibbon. But all the great apes have passed the ‘mirror self-recognition’ test and soon begin checking their teeth or examining parts of their body they couldn’t see without the mirror. This self-awareness surely suggests that they know they exist.”
Family ties
Apes also share a range of human emotions, says zoologist Charlotte Uhlenbroek, who thinks they should be afforded legal protection enshrined in law.
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 The great apes: Status check
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In pictures
They have a similar lifespan to humans and form strong family bonds which they maintain for life, she says. And apes have displayed a tenderness which could be described as love, anxiety when separated, and fear, jealousy and trauma.
“If I was an alien from Mars and looked at human society and a society of apes then in terms of the emotional life I would see no distinct difference, although we live very different lives because of language and technology.”
Giving them rights does not mean throwing open all the cage doors because some zoos are important to preserve the species, but it is vital to establish a principle that apes should not be treated like objects, she says.
Daniel Sokol, a medical ethicist, says apes possess cognitive and emotional faculties that make them worthy of moral consideration.
Orang-utans can kiss and cuddle
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“Justice and consistent thinking require that we treat non-human animals who share morally-relevant properties in a respectful way, and that surely means giving them the opportunity to flourish and not be tortured or subject to cruel or degrading treatment.”
But Steve Jones, professor of genetics at University of London, says human rights are a construct which can’t be imposed on animals.
“Where do you stop? It seems to be that being human is unique and nothing to do with biology. Say that apes share 98% of human DNA and therefore should have 98% of human rights. Well mice share 90% of human DNA. Should they get 90% of human rights? And plants have more DNA than humans.”
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 I’ve yet to see a chimp imprisoned for stealing a banana Professor Steve Jones
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Chimps can’t speak but parrots can. Defining creatures and allowing them rights based on criteria invented by one group is itself an enormous breach of human rights, he says, and one need look no further than Austria in 1939 to see why.
“Rights and responsibilities go together and I’ve yet to see a chimp imprisoned for stealing a banana because they don’t have a moral sense of what’s right and wrong. To give them rights is to give them something without asking for anything in return.”
There is a moral case to make about animal welfare, he says, but it has nothing to do with science.
Arctic sea ice melt ‘even faster
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By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BB News website |
A widespread Arctic melt would have major impacts on wildlife
Arctic sea ice is melting even faster than last year, despite a cold winter.
Data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) shows that the year began with ice covering a larger area than at the beginning of 2007.
But now it is down to levels seen last June, at the beginning of a summer that broke records for sea ice loss.
Scientists on the project say much of the ice is so thin as to melt easily, and the Arctic seas may be ice-free in summer within five to 10 years.
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I think we’re going to beat last year’s record, though I’d love to be wrong Julienne Stroeve
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“We had a bit more ice in the winter, although we were still way below the long-term average,” said Julienne Stroeve from NSIDC in Boulder, Colorado.
“So we had a partial recovery. But the real issue is that most of the pack ice has become really thin, and if we have a regular summer now, it can just melt away,” she told BBC News.
In March, Nasa reported that the area covered by sea ice was slightly larger than in 2007, but much of it consisted of thin floes that had formed during the previous winter. These are much less robust than thicker, less saline floes that have already survived for several years.
After a colder winter, ice has been melting even faster than last year
A few years ago, scientists were predicting that Arctic waters would be ice-free in summers by about 2080.
Then computer models started projecting earlier dates, around 2030 to 2050.
Then came the 2007 summer that saw Arctic sea ice shrink to the smallest extent ever recorded, down to 4.2 million sq km from 7.8 million sq km in 1980.
By the end of last year, one research group was forecasting ice-free summers by 2013.
“I think we’re going to beat last year’s record melt, though I’d love to be wrong,” said Dr Stroeve.
“If we do, then I don’t think 2013 is far off any more. If what we think is going to happen does happen, then it’ll be within a decade anyway.”
Rising tide
Countries surrounding the Arctic are eyeing the economic opportunities that melting ice might bring.
Canada and Russia are exploring sovereignty claims over tracts of Arctic seafloor, while just this week US President George Bush has urged more oil exploration in US waters – which could point the way to exploitation of reserves off the Alaskan coast.
But from a climate point of view, the melt could bring global impacts accelerating the rate of warming and of sea level rise.
“This is a positive feedback process,” commented Dr Ian Willis, from the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge.
“Sea ice has a higher albedo (reflectivity) than ocean water; so as the ice melts, the water absorbs more of the Sun’s energy and warms up more, and that in turn warms the atmosphere more – including the atmosphere over the Greenland ice sheet.”
Greenland is already losing ice to the oceans, contributing to the gradual rise in sea levels. The ice cap holds enough water to lift sea levels globally by about seven metres (22ft) if it all melted.
Natural climatic cycles such as the Arctic Oscillation play a role in year-to-year variations in ice cover. But Julienne Stroeve believes the sea ice is now so thin that there is little chance of the melting trend turning round.
“If the ice were as thick as it was in the 1970s, last year’s conditions would have brought a dip in cover, but nothing exceptional.
“But now it’s so thin that you would have to have an exceptional sequence of cold winters and cold summers in order for it to rebuild.”
Dog Intelligence
Dog intelligence is the ability of a dog to learn, think, and solve problems. Dog trainers, owners, and researchers have as much difficulty agreeing on a method for testing canine intelligence, as they do for human intelligence.
There are three types of dog intelligence:
- Adaptive Intelligence (learning and problem-solving ability). This is specific to the individual animal and is measured by canine IQ tests.
- Instinctive Intelligence. This is specific to the individual animal and is measured by canine IQ tests.
- Working/Obedience Intelligence. This is breed dependent.
Recent research has demonstrated that dogs read human gestures more readily than both chimpanzees and wolves. Even kennel-reared dogs outperformed hand-reared wolves, suggesting the capacity is not a product of experience around people. Part of dogs’ specialization is making the most of their human-rich environment. Another study suggests that dogs gauge their play solicitations to other dogs based on whether the potential playmate is attending or not.
Dogs are pack animals. They understand social structure and obligations, and are capable of interacting with other members of the pack. Adult canines train their young by “correcting” them when they behave in an unacceptable manner (such as biting too hard or eating out of turn) and reward them for acceptable behavior, by playing with them, feeding them, or cleaning them.
They are also den animals. This means that they can easily learn behavior related to keeping the den clean (such as housebreaking) and relaxing in an enclosed area (such as a crate during travel or for training).
Some breeds have been selectively bred for hundreds or thousands of years for the quality of learning quickly. That quality has been downplayed for other breeds in favor of other characteristics like the ability to track or hunt game, or to fight other animals. The capacity to learn basic obedience, however, and complicated behavior is inherent in all dogs. Owners must simply be more patient with some breeds than with others.
Nonetheless, inherited behavior is not necessarily an indicator of intelligence. For example, a sheep herding breed, like a Border Collie, would be expected to learn how to herd sheep very quickly and might even perform the job with little training. The same breed, however, would be a challenge to train how to point and retrieve game. A Pointer often points to game instinctively and naturally retrieves game without damaging it, but most likely could not be taught to herd sheep.
Intelligent dogs are inadvertently taught many unwanted behaviors. Increasing the activity level in a household, and increasing the number of people that are present in it, increases the likelihood that chance associations will be learned. For the intelligent dog this means that there is a greater opportunity to learn things that will be useful in adapting to everyday life, but also provides a greater opportunity for the dog to learn “odd” or annoying associations.
Intelligence is a complex subject. A breed of dog that does not learn very quickly may have other talents.
It is important to remember that intelligence should not be judged only by the willingness to follow obedience commands. The willingness or ability to be obedience trained may reflect a desire to please or a dependence upon humans, as well as intelligence. Many long time livestock guardian breed owners believe that working breeds such as the Great Pyrenees or the Kuvasz are not easily trained because they do not see the point of such commands as “sit” or “down”. Hounds may also suffer from this type of ranking; several rank in the bottom tier of this list (such as Beagles, Bloodhounds, and Basset Hounds). These dogs are bred to have more of a “pack” mentality with other dogs and less reliance on a master’s direct commands. While they truly may not have the same kind of intelligence as a Border Collie, they were not bred to learn and obey commands quickly, but to think for themselves while trailing game.
The Intelligence Ranking
- Border Collies
- Poodle
- German Shepherd
- Golden Retriever
- Doberman Pincher
- Shetland Sheepdog
- Labrador Retriever
- Papillon
- Rottwieler
- Australian Cattle Dog
- Pembrook Welsh Corgi
- Miniature Schnauzer
The less intelligent are:
- Borzoi
- Chow Chow
- Bull dog
- Basenji
- Afghan Hound
Save the koalas
KOALA
Phascolarctos cinereus
MAMMAL
Order Marsupial
Habitat
Eucalyptus (gum tree) forests and woodlands.
Niche
Strictly arboreal, living in and feeding on the leaves of eucalyptus trees. Caecum of gut is greatly enlarged (about 6 ft. long) and houses a large bacterial colony that aids in leaf digestion. Usually comes to ground only to change trees. Preyed upon at those times by foxes and dingos. Young hunted by large birds of prey.
Appearance
Koalas have soft, thick, grey or brown fur on their backs. The fur on the stomach is white. Koalas that live in the south have thicker fur than those in the north because of the cold winters, whereas the koalas in the northern part of the country live in warm to hot weather most of the year so have thinner fur. A koala has a large, hairless noses and round ears. Koalas don’t have tails. Adult koalas measure between 64 to 76 centimetres in length and weigh between 7 and 14 kilograms.
Koalas have strong, sharp claws and long toes to help them climb. The front paws have two thumbs to help them grip branches strongly. The second and third toes on the back legs are joined together to form a grooming claw.
Although mostly silent, koalas communicate with each other using a range of noises ranging from one that sounds like a loud snore, and a burping sound, to a loud bellow.
Life History
Mating occurs Nov-Feb in the south, Sep-Jan further north. Gestation about 35 days; single young weigh about 1/5 oz and are about 3/4 in long. Newborn crawls from cloaca to pouch and attaches to a nipple to complete its development. Leaves pouch .first at about 5.5 months, permanently at about 8 months. Young joey then clings to mother’s back or stomach, sticking head into pouch to feed. During weaning, joey eats partially-digested eucalyptus that emerges from mother’s cloaca, thus receiving bacteria needed for digestion as well as food. Life span 12+ yrs (wild) 16+ yrs (captivity).
Diet
Koalas eat the leaves and young shoots of some kinds of eucalyptus (say you-kul-ip-tus) trees. In Australia there are over 600 species, or kinds, of eucalypts, but koalas only eat about 20 species. Within a particular area, there will be only three or four species of those eucalypts that will be regularly browsed (eaten) by koalas. A variety of other species, including some non-eucalypts, are eaten by koalas occasionally or used for just sitting or sleeping in. Different species of eucalypts grow in different parts of Australia, so a koala in Victoria has a very different diet from one in Queensland.
Life Cycle
Breeding season is generally from August to February. During this time the males will be heard bellowing as they compete for females. At this time the young from the previous year are ready to leave their mothers and become independent. Usually a female has one young each year, but may not breed in some years.
About 35 days after mating, a tiny baby called a joey is born. It is about 2 cm long, weighs less than 1 gram and is pink, hairless, blind and without ears. Amazingly, this tiny creature travels up its mother’s belly and finds the entrance to the pouch. Inside the pouch, it attaches itself to a teat that immediately swells inside its mouth so that the joey cannot let go and lose the teat. The female is able to tighten muscles at the opening of the pouch to prevent the baby falling out.
The female carries her baby in the pouch for 6 or 7 months after it is born. The baby, called a joey, feeds on its mother’s milk inside the pouch. Between 22 and 30 weeks of age, its mother starts feeding the joey a substance called pap formed from pre-digested food and her droppings. This is important, because it trains the joey to be able to eat eucalyptus, which is poisonous to most mammals. After it leaves the pouch, the baby travels around on its mother’s back, but continues to drink milk until a year old. Generally this is when a young one leaves its mother, but if she does not breed then the young one stays longer.
General characteristics
They aren’t even related to bears. The reason the koala is called a koala bear is because the koala looks like a teddy bear. The koala is related to the kangaroo. The koala’s nickname is a Native Bear. The koala is a mammal. They are warm-blooded. The koala’s young is called a cub. The koala’s young are born alive. Koalas drink milk from the mother. The koala breaths oxygen from air. The koala might look all cuddly but the koala has very sharp teeth and very sharp claws.
Koalas live for 20 or more years. The koala can run as fast as a rabbit. The koalas sleep for up to 19 hours. The koala’s territory is getting smaller because people are cutting down trees and making farms on them. Koalas can only live in one place in the world. The koala only eats Eucalyptus leaves and it eats so many leaves, it smells like the leaves. The koala hops from tree to tree and climbs the trees to get the leaves. The koala will eat 2.5 pounds of food a day. It uses its claws to get the branches and get the leaves. The koala used to be endangered because people would kill the koala for its fur. But now its against the law to kill the koala. Over 2 million koalas were killed between1908 and 1927. Occasionally koalas are taken by Goannas, Eagles, and Owls. Humans are koala’s worst enemies. Dingoes will kill the koala. Now there are 2,000 to 8.000 koalas in the wild. The koala does not have very many enemies.
Danger of extinction
Loss of koala habitat is the major threat facing koalas today. Since white settlement of Australia, roughly 80% of the koala’s habitat has been destroyed and of what remains, most occurs on privately owned land and almost none is protected.
Koalas face additional threats such as road death, dog attack, disease and bushfire. From a national population of around 100,000 koalas, roughly 4000 are killed by dogs and cars each year. In the 1920s approximately 3 million koalas were shot for their fur. Today the koala is a protected species but its habitat is not protected.
The koala is arguably now on the brink of disaster in many parts of its remaining geographic range. Regardless of recent public debates over population estimates, there is little disagreement over the dramatic extent of habitat clearing, degradation and fragmentation, nor about the fact that numbers have declined to a fraction of the millions that existed at the time of legalised hunting for the fur trade, which continued until as recently as the 1920’s.
The only way to save koalas is to save their habitat, the eucalyptus forests where they live, and which they must have to survive. This is what the Australian Koala Foundation is trying to achieve.
Now a disease called chlamydia (say clu-mid-ee-u), which makes koalas blind and makes the females unable to have babies, is harming these animals. Many koalas die because of the disease. Conservation organisations in Australia and around the world are working hard to help save the koalas.
Sinpiel.org – Campaña en contra del uso de pieles de animales
Cada año mueren millones de animales solo para abastecer la cruel industria de las pieles. Zorros, visones, chinchillas, castores, lobos, mapaches… víctimas todos de la moda y la ignorancia de las personas, que parecen no saber que sus abrigos de pieles significaron el asesinato de 20 zorros, 40 conejos… o de 120 chinchillas!
Es por ello que AnimaNaturalis ideó una impactante protesta en el año 2005, en el que varias decenas de activistas por los derechos de los animales se desnudaron en plena calle simulando ser los cadáveres sin vida del número de zorros que se requieren para hacer un solo abrigo.
La protesta tuvo gran éxito mediático, apareciendo en numerosos medios de comunicación de más de 10 países. Nuestro objetivo era representar con veinte activistas desnudos, tumbados en el suelo, el número de zorros que se necesitan para un abrigo de pieles.
Desde entonces cada año hemos repetido la experiencia, con el objetivo de alcanzar un número mayor cada vez, y así en el 2006 fuimos 70 activistas simulando ser los visones que se matan para hacer un abrigo, y en el 2007 conseguimos ser hasta 120 personas de todas las edades, sexo, colores y nacionalidades, para mostrar a la sociedad el número de chinchillas que se requieren para confeccionar un único abrigo.
La repercusión fue inmejorable, apareciendo la noticia en cientos de diarios de toda España, consiguiendo portadas en El periódico, el Diario ADN, etc,. y del resto del mundo. Más de 20 canales de radio y televisión nos concedieron entrevistas, que nos dieron la oportunidad perfecta para hablar acerca del sufrimiento de los animales y lo que pasa en las granjas peleteras.
Este próximo enero de 2008 queremos superarnos y alzar aún más fuerte la voz de los animales: queremos reunir 200 activistas que se desnuden para simbolizar la gran cantidad de animales que mueren cada segundo en manos de las industrias peleteras.
Tu participación es muy importante. Ayúdanos a mostrar que hay cada vez más gente dispuesta a defender a los animales.
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