Six years ago I was taking an Australian wildlife class in Queensland, Australia. I stayed late after a laboratory session and was walking back to my apartment alone. The sun had set and the only light was coming off the metallic buildings. I had trained myself to look down at the ground for the chance of spotting unique or dangerous
Read moreI share my home with two cats, both grey with black stripes or ‘tabby’. Julian is a long and lean skinny cat who walks seductively. The other, is a not-so-long-and-lean-skinny cat who always looks surprised. Princeton has very large eyes for his head, a short nose, tiny ears and is round as a globe. The vet refers to him as
Read moreKnowledge is power and one of my favorite forms of knowledge is vocabulary. When I took a field course in Costa Rica for three weeks, studying rainforest animals, I committed to memory three terms that I use often when talking about animals and pets. In college, I was also taught that one of the best ways to not only remember,
Read moreAfter a thirty five minute drive from Ransomville to my Tonawanda home, I had a problem. Myself and two friends had picked up two boulders -not literally, they weighed a couple hundred pounds- and it was time to place them in my yard and start landscaping. Tyler drove the pickup truck in the backyard. The three of us pushed the
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Prevention is the best medicine, for both medical and behavioral problems. Identifying problems early allows you to respond appropriately the first time an undesired behavior occurs. This will prevent the likelihood of it happening again. These parrot behaviors are not mutually exclusive, and many can be addressed once you know some basic principles. Most aggression arises from some sense of
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A 2007 study, of New Year’s Resolutions, by Richard Wisemen from the University of Bristol, showed that 88% of resolutions fail, although 52% of the people were confident in success. This year include your pet in the resolution which will be helpful for all parties involved. Generally, resolutions are about improving one self. More doctor visits, more exercise and more
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‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. My question is why is there a mouse in the house? One can assume that mice and men have been connected for a very long time. Ever since we stopped being a nomadic species, mice have stayed with us. Once we
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Elmyra Duff has an overenthusiastic love for pets. She lacks the most basic concepts of pet care and shows her affection by chasing down animals and constricting a hug out of them. Elmyra, a character on Tiny Toons, loves all animals, especially when they are small, cute and hairy. Over 800 species, ranging from the size of a fingernail to
Read more“Poison dart frogs in captivity are not poisonous” I told my mother, with my face pressed up on frog glass at the veterinarian’s office. We were taking my cockatiel, Laverne, for a checkup. This was not the first time I had seen them. I had traveled to a handful of the zoos in the North East, where they displayed them
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Mother’s day. Father’s day. College graduations in May. Pre-k through high school graduations in June. And birthdays year round. What is the most frightening of all of these? The recipients not enjoying their presents. We all have pictures of our younger selves playing with refrigerator boxes or empty pots and pans, sometimes with brand new toys right next to us.
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DANTAisms 