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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I can write pages about practically any other topic, but when it comes to writing about myself, I struggle and how ironic is that: I should know myself so well I could literally write a book. I’m still on a magnificent journey toward self-discovery, but I can tell you about my life thus far: I was born and raised in
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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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“No matter what religious or spiritual beliefs you hold, it’s impossible to deny we have been blessed with a planet that has everything we need to survive and be healthy. It is up to us to care for it and to keep it livable for ourselves and all of the living things that share it with us.” -David Suzuki I
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Each year DANTA offers a number of training courses in various aspects of tropical biology. Typically, the courses are one month long but shorter courses are also offered through our organization. The courses are intended for undergraduates or early graduate level students who have a keen interest in tropical biology and conservation, but have little or no experience of working
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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 