Some fun news bits in just a moment - no animal update would be complete without an Animal Place animal update.Arturo is the dominant rooster at the sanctuary, but he doesn't rule with an iron beak. He's extremely gentle with the hens and even tolerates many of the lower-ranking roosters. Posing for the camera is also a favorite past-time of his, as you can see in this photo.
Parrots can groove
We're not sure if using YouTube videos as data is the most effective research tool, BUT we love that Harvard University researchers used video data instead of actual research on animals! The researchers analyzed video to see if nonhuman animals had the ability to synchronize with music. Turns out that they do, especially mimicking animals, like parrots.
Wildlife trade poorly regulated
The multi-billion dollar wildlife trade is poorly regulated, according to research from Brown University, Wildlife Trust, Pacific Lutheran University, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Global Invasive Species Programme. Approximately 200 million animals are imported to the United States every year. These animals are often taken directly from their native habitats, shipped without concern for their welfare, and sold to people ill-prepared to properly care for them.
A duh! moment in science
Fish feel pain. We already knew that (a previous study showed fish injected with bee venom exhibited classic pain behaviors that stopped when injected with morphine) but I guess folks need even more evidence. A Purdue University researcher studying pain response in gold fish showed that fish given morphine during a noxious stimuli (in this case, a heated foil strapped to the fishs' body) exhibited fewer pain-related behaviors than fish injected with the control, saline. The researcher feels that this may show fish have reflexive (like pulling your hand away from a hot burner) and cognitive (not eating, etc) pain response.
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