With flu season at its peak I hear everyone discussing why we should or should not get vaccinated against the virus. With all this talk about vaccines I thought it would be the perfect time to discuss vaccines that will protect your pets. I want to discuss which vaccines you should or should not get your cat and dog vaccinated
Read moreEnclosure accessories which increase natural behaviors in your pets fall under the large umbrella term called enrichment. Enrichment can also be changes in routines, new food items or rearrangement of cage furniture. When you first give an animal a new enrichment device, observing their interaction is essential. After the initial observation, revisions can be made to the enrichment item to
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This winter I went to Belize with 11 classmates and 5 veterinarians, where we spent a week providing care for the animals at The Belize Zoo (TBZ). A small, charming zoo integrated almost seamlessly into the tropical savanna, TBZ is probably better defined as a sanctuary- all of its animals are local species and are “rescues” in one way or
Read moreby Lisa Barrett No Breeding, No Buying At about this time last year, I, along with the rest of the Think Elephants International (TEI) research team, was anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new “family” member. Elephant births are cause for huge excitement at the camp for two reasons. First, female Asian elephants only have four to five calves in
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The island of Madagascar began to split from continental Africa during the Jurassic period, approximately 135 million years ago! By 70 million years ago, it was completely separated from the continent. This separation has allowed for extensive amounts of adaptive radiation. This is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly into a multitude of new forms that can exploit different environmental
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I have received some interesting reactions when I tell new acquaintances that I study baboons. Recently, someone very enthusiastically asked, “Those are the animals with the HUGE pink butts, right?” They are indeed. And I’m actually quite intrigued by those “pink butts.” A more technical term for this is “exaggerated sexual swellings.” Around the time of ovulation, females of
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I have recently become a complete kale addict. Ask my boyfriend or any one of my six roommates, they’ll tell you I might have an unhealthy obsession. It all started when I found bags of kale for sale at the local grocery. I had never minded kale, but never sought it out either. I decided I would buy a bag,
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A marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) basking in the equatorial sun of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Found only on this special chain of volcanic islands, this lizard is unique for its ability to forage in a marine habitat, diving as deep as 30 feet to feed on algae.
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We arrived at the Costa Rica field site late at night, groggy from traveling and completely overwhelmed by the pitch black of night. The sounds of the forest alive erupted at the back of our cabins. We secured our headlamps and shuffled quickly into our beds, kicking out unwanted insect-friends and wrapping ourselves tightly in our mosquito nets. Early the
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The above drawing shows the lovely fruit of the cactus Hylocereus costaricensis, or the Costa Rican Pitahaya. This fruit is known as “dragon fruit” to most, but the term “dragon fruit” applies to a variety of cacti within the genera Hylocereus and Stenocereus, both genera of night-blooming cacti native to South America. Fruit from Stenocereus cacti tend to be called
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DANTAisms 