Zoo mystery: How did apes and birds know quake was coming?

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By Joel Achenbach, washingtonpost.com / Thursday, August 25, 6:45 AM.

Her name is Iris, and with her straight, elegant, red-orange hair she is beyond dispute the prettiest orangutan at the National Zoo. She’s calm, quiet, unflappable. “Iris lives the life of a queen,” says great-ape keeper Amanda Bania.

On Tuesday afternoon, the queen lost her cool.

It happened a little before 2 p.m. Primate keeper K.C. Braesch was standing just a few feet away when Iris emitted a loud, guttural cry, known to scientists as belch-vocalizing. Iris then scrambled to the top of her enclosure.

Braesch stepped back and scanned the enclosure to see what might have agitated the ape. Was it Kiko, the male? Although generally a lump, Kiko can turn into a hothead and throw things. But no, Kiko was lounging.

Then — all this had happened within about five seconds — Braesch felt the earthquake.

Rest at,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/zoo-mystery-how-did-apes-and-birds-know-quake-was-coming/2011/08/24/gIQAZrXQcJ_story.html?hpid=z2

     

VIRTUAL MADNESS?: You Can Lead a Virtual Horse to Water, But You Might Get Sued Along the Way!

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By JUSTIN SCHECK, http://online.wsj.com / JULY 30, 2011.

Disputes Over Online Animals End Up in Real-World Court; Fretting Over 'Star'.

A VIRTUAL HORSE.

A palomino mare named Star grazes on Debbie DeLouise's clover meadow, hanging out at a salt lick there and frolicking with her foal Holly.

But a legal dispute may imperil their pastoral bliss: It threatens to close the only store where Ms. DeLouise can buy food for Star and Holly. Without their special diet, the horses would waste away and turn green.

"If there's no food, I'm not sure what will happen," says Ms. DeLouise, a Long Island, N.Y., librarian. "I certainly hope no one has to find out."

Star and Holly aren't real horses. They exist only within Linden Research Inc.'s "Second Life," an online virtual world where people can fashion a new existence. But while the buying, breeding and riding of horses happens in the virtual world, litigation over them happens in real-life federal court.

The case brushing up against the horses owned by Ms. DeLouise—whose "Second Life" avatar, or alter ego, is a younger, bigger-haired version of herself—began last fall.

Virtual rabbit maker Ozimals Inc., and Amaretto Ranch Breedables LLC, the creator of Ms. DeLouise's horses, share a similar business model. Each sells cheap virtual animals to participants of "Second Life." Both make the bulk of their money by selling the food these pets need. Demand for the chow is heightened by a secondary animal market, in which bunny and horse enthusiasts breed their virtual animals and sell the offspring—sometimes for hundreds of dollars in the case of beasts with rare colors.

Ozimals, based in Pelham, Ala., has alleged that Amaretto copied its software, using horses instead of rabbits. "Amaretto's deliberate copying of Ozimals' intellectual property is undeniable," a lawyer for Ozimals wrote in a November letter to Linden and Amaretto. The letter asked that Linden shut down Amaretto's store—a move that would starve its horses and constrain its revenues. Linden declined.

Full Story at,

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904772304576470722021477098.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_tech

HARMFUL PLASTICS: Animals eating plastic die in excruciating pain!

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Have you read, “Mayhem of the Miserables!” available @ http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52075

Monkeys rummage through plastic covers strewn in the garbage thrash - DC.

A decade ago in India, a large number of cows were found to be dying on the streets from what was initially thought to be a mystery disease.

Closer inspection revealed that the cows were dying after consuming plastic carry bags. Plastic bags containing food that is thrown away ends up littering roads and in garbage dumps and the animals were eating the bags along with the food.

They are difficult to inject by animals and also by earth though natural degradation process!

Full Story at,

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/hyderabad/animals-eating-plastic-die-excruciating-pain-430