Latest news with #animals
CBC
a day ago
- General
- CBC
Search for B.C.'s Best Symbol: Battle of the salmon, bears, orca and marmot
The quest for B.C.'s best symbol continues. There are eight animals in this round of our summer competition, and 32 entries left overall to determine the best symbol in this province. As CBC's Justin McElroy reports, some favourites are emerging — but it's up to you to vote on which one gets to advance.
WIRED
2 days ago
- Health
- WIRED
Animals Are the Original Wellness Influencers
Jul 21, 2025 6:00 AM Long before TikTok and probiotics, animals were teaching each other tips on feeling better, from swallowing leaves to get rid of parasites to using icebergs for exfoliation. Illustration: Haeryung Choi In the early 2010s, researchers in Mexico City noticed that sparrows and finches at the national university were lacing their nests with cigarette butts. The birds would collect the butts—mostly smoked—carefully remove the outer paper layer, and weave fibers from the filters into their homes, among the twigs and grass. This sort of dubious yet intriguing lifestyle choice will be familiar to anyone who follows health trends. It seems weird—but does it make some kind of backward sense? In this case, the birds were vindicated: The more cigarette filter fibers the nests had, the fewer parasites they harbored, probably because nicotine repels bugs. There are drawbacks, though: Chicks raised in butt nests are more likely to develop blood cell abnormalities. Again, familiar. While we may not want to follow this particular lead, animals are the original wellness influencers. 'Healers and shamans have looked at animals for thousands of years,' says biologist Jaap de Roode, author of the recent book Doctors by Nature . Some of these discoveries have trickled up: Oshá root—which, as indigenous Americans have long observed, bears like to chew up and rub on their fur—is available in many natural medicine stores for various uses, including pain relief. Other animal wellness trends might not be quite as imitable, sadly, for our species. Illustration: Haeryung Choi Insect Herbalism Parasites are a top concern for animals and have inspired waves of evolutionary creativity. Some parasite-infected sea slugs shed their entire bodies, then regenerate from the head. But more common is what de Roode calls 'animal medication.' Animals are considered to medicate when they eat or apply an external substance that they normally wouldn't and it helps them 'by preventing or clearing infection or reducing disease symptoms,' he says. Over the past few decades, more studies have focused on animal medication in a particular group: insects. When woolly bear caterpillars are infected with fly maggots, they begin eating more alkaloid-heavy, parasite-killing plants with no nutritional value. Research has shown that infection changes the caterpillars' buds so that the bitter plants 'taste really good,' de Roode says, perhaps like a saltine when you're finally kicking norovirus. Wood ants fill their nests with foraged spruce resin, which has antibacterial and antifungal effects. We can learn a lot from bug herbalists, de Roode says. The chemical mixes found in resins and plants may help other animals avoid the drug resistance humans run into with single-chemical medicines. And many insects invest in community and intergenerational health, practicing what some researchers call 'social medication.' For instance, parasite-infected monarch butterfly moms lay their eggs on more medicinally powerful milkweed species, so their offspring won't have to suffer like they do. Monkey Business Ideas Closeness can help in more direct ways. Social animals, especially primates, also share wellness tricks with one another. Capuchin monkeys will rub themselves with extruded millipede toxin, which serves as a bug repellent and also gets them mildly high. Clusters of capuchins will pass around a potent 'pede. Great apes get wisdom from others through a behavior called 'peering,' says primatologist Isabelle Laumer. When one ape is doing something, another will come close and watch them intently. Peering and other ways of teaching and learning have led primate groups to develop specific wellness cultures. Chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos deal with parasitic infections by gulping down hairy leaves, a practice so widespread it's known as 'leaf-swallowing.' As the leaves pass through the digestive tract, the leaf fuzz grabs parasitic worms and ferries them out. Different ape societies have different leaf-swallowing preferences, their equivalent of family chicken soup recipes. Also, innovation is a constant, for both human and animal wellness. Research that Laumer and others published in 2024 describes how an orangutan named Rakus made a poultice out of a chewed-up plant and applied it to a big gash on his face. The plant is known to be 'anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and pain-relieving,' Laumer says. Rakus turned it into a bandage—a behavior never seen before, meaning he may be an innovator in the orangutan wound care space. Will it become the new leaf-swallowing? Virality is notoriously hard to predict, but who knows—it has a shot. Illustration: Haeryung Choi Of course, wellness shouldn't just be in response to sickness: It can be proactive, and even fun. Here, we can take inspiration from whales and their inventive exfoliation routines. Ocean water is thick with viruses and bacteria, and whales must 'shed continuously to maintain healthy skin' and get rid of barnacles, says marine ecologist Olaf Meynecke. This is challenging for animals with such short limbs, so they have gotten creative. Bowheads in the Arctic rub themselves against craggy rocks, and orcas in the Antarctic do the same with icebergs. Another orca population, the northern residents of British Columbia, have perfected a technique called beach rubbing, where they gather to drag their bellies across smooth pebbles. Summer 2026 TikTok trend, anyone? In Australia and elsewhere, groups of humpbacks drop down to sandy areas of the seabed and roll, sending 'sand and skin flying around everywhere,' says Meynecke, who was the first to film them performing this behavior. (Fish flocked to eat the nutritious skin flakes.) 'Maybe,' he muses, 'it was a spa.' Humpbacks even supplement their sand treatments with 'kelping'—playing around and rubbing themselves with the seaweed, which has antibacterial properties. Real Vampire Facials Whales may go to the spa with their friends. For other animals, the spa is their friends. Social grooming—when community members lick each other, comb each other's fur with their fingers, etc.—is a top activity for critters ranging from field mice (who flirt through grooming) and cows (who prefer to groom their twins) to female vampire bats (who will try to nibble off tracking devices that researchers place on their friends). Grooming helps animals stay clean, but there are additional benefits. It can reduce stress for both participants by slaking a thirst for interaction, says animal behaviorist Gerald Carter. Having someone's teeth and claws so near also 'requires a level of tolerance and trust,' he adds, laying the groundwork for higher-stakes cooperation. This is especially apparent with female vampire bats, where grooming relationships can graduate into food-sharing ones. If a bat doesn't hunt successfully, her comrades will regurgitate blood into her mouth, potentially saving her life. In one of Carter's experiments, vampire bats consistently spent about 4 percent of their waking time grooming each other whether they really needed it or not, strengthening those bonds for when it matters. People can learn from this. Most measures of human health are 'correlated with the quality and the quantity of your social relationships,' Carter says. While we may not demonstrate closeness by regurgitating blood, or even low-key mutual scratching, strong friendships mean better health.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
London leaver: 'we swapped a Battersea townhouse for 25 acres near the Devon coast'
Until quite recently Jenny and Ed Henderson's only pet-owning experience was with a couple of gerbils and rats when they were students. Today the couple and their two sons care for a menagerie including four cows, four pigs, four goats, two peacocks, and 19 chickens at their Exmoor smallholding. Once Loki, seven, and Bodhi, three, are up and ready for school and nursery Jenny turns her attention to the animals, distributing breakfasts, letting the hens out, and making sure all is well. 'The goats are the worst,' she says. 'You never know when one of them will get its head stuck in the fence, and they are real escape artists.' Life was very different back in London, where Jenny, 40 was getting increasingly burned out working as a primary school teacher, and Ed, also 40, was a freelance photographer and videographer. The couple had met at boarding school in Dorset and they got an early start on the property ladder, buying their four-bedroom Victorian house in Battersea back in 2003 when they were both students and taking in lodgers to help pay the mortgage. But London was never their lifelong plan. 'It had always been in our heads that we wanted to live by the sea, and to be out of London once kids came along,' says Jenny. They made their first escape attempt early in the pandemic in the hopes of being able to move before Loki started school, but they found the great race for space when half of the city appeared to be moving to the coast too hot to handle. 'Everything in the South West was going for crazy money and nobody wanted to buy our London house so after about a year we took it off the market again,' says Jenny. They made their second attempt in 2023. This time they were able to sell their Battersea home for just over £1 million. The family then spent several months staying with a series of family and friends before, in October 2023, they spent £1.35 million on Heale Farm – a traditional Devon farmhouse with around 25 acres of land, and three holiday cottages near the village of Parracombe, about four miles from the coast ( 'After getting burnt out with the stress and demands of the education system I decided to leave teaching, so our focus was to find somewhere that would bring me some income,' explains Jenny. The family has found locals friendly and welcoming – their neighbours are farmers who have helped teach them how to care for their livestock, the boys are happy at the tiny village school and with the fact they can go to the beach after school, and Parracombe has a shop and a pub. 'We were a bit nervous before we moved about what people would think of these London blow-ins,' says Jenny. 'But everyone has been friendly and welcoming. We have really thrown ourselves into the community – I am a parent governor at the school and we shop locally and use the local pubs – but I still feel really lucky in that respect. 'Do we have any regrets about leaving London? None at all.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Oregon Humane Society reducing adoption fees for adult pets this weekend
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Oregon Humane Society has a special announcement worthy of a tail wag or two. At their Portland and Salem campuses this weekend, the shelter is reducing adoption fees by 50% for all animals 6 months or older. PDX carpet reimagined: Habitat for Humanity sells authentic airport squares According to OHS, adult pets often get overlooked in the height of kitten season and during the summer months in general. 'Our Portland and Salem campuses are experiencing an increase in requests to bring animals in,' said Director of Adoptions Eleena Fikhman. 'But helping more pets is only possible when loving adopters step up to help.' They add adopters for adult cats are most needed in Salem and for adult dogs in Portland, noting this is a 'particularly tough time' for large dogs who have a more difficult time finding a home. 'About Dame Time': Blazers fans react to Damian Lillard's return to Rip City 'For every pet who leaves one of our shelters with a loving family, a kennel is freed up so we can help the next animal in need,' Fikhman said. 'Plus, there are so many advantages to adopting an adult cat or dog. They have so much love to give and make wonderful companions.' The adoption special runs Thursday, July 18 through Sunday, July, 20. You can view available pets here. Each adoption includes up-to-date vaccines, spaying or neutering, a microchip, as well as a free exam at OHS' Community Veterinary Hospital in Portland and at participating clinics in Salem. Both OHS' Portland and Salem campuses are open all week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
CBC
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Holding ancient Greek and Roman coins is touching 'living history,' says N.L. collector
New Steve McBride likes to collect coins depicting animals, like goats and bees For one homesteader on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula, collecting ancient Greek and Roman coins is about holding a piece of history in his hands. Steve McBride has a homestead with his wife Lisa in Mobile, where they raise goats, honeybees, turkeys and ducks for their own consumption, and his ancient coins hit close to home. "I like them a lot because they show scenes that are very familiar to us," McBride told CBC News. He's specifically interested in coins with animals on them, which ties back to his homestead. One coin in his collection depicts a honeybee, which was a symbol of the Roman goddess Diana whose priestesses were called little honeybees and served as beekeepers. "There's a coin I've got here, one of my favourite coins, has basically somebody milking a goat. Which is something I did this morning," he said. "It makes me feel like we're directly connected to our ancestors from, not just not just a generation ago, but from many, many generations ago." Ancient coins also have propaganda messages and depict historical events. McBride said he was a child in 1986 when Halley's Comet last flew by Earth's sky. When he started coin collecting he found the Romans also marked the comet on a coin. "It brings everything full circle," he said. Accessible history McBride said history has been a longtime interest, and about 20 years ago he started acquiring his coins on eBay. Pennies, nickels and dimes are pretty common. "It means that people like me can spend $50 or something and buy one and hold a 2,000-year-old piece of history, something that was spent on bread or on a ticket to the theatre 2,000 years ago," he said. "Being able to touch something that's tangibly connected to people from so long ago … I find it really exciting." Image | Steve McBride and goat Caption: One of the coins in McBride's collection features a goat being milked, which is something he does on his own homestead. (Elizabeth Whitten/CBC) Open Image in New Tab McBride has developed a deep understanding of the time periods from which these coins were made. He said he has been asked to help identify coins for others, including auction houses and museums — all from the comfort of his home. "Basically I'll identify the coins and translate the Latin on them and try to precisely date them," he said. In some cases, details can say the month or even day the coin was struck, he added, and he's even found a few coins that have never been documented before. "When you actually get to research and add a coin to a catalogue, it feels like you're creating a little bit of history or dusting off a little bit of history and putting it back up on a shelf," McBride said. "I find that really rewarding."
