Salon.com > Animals http://www.salon.com Tue, 02 Jul 2013 21:54:53 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 How we do it: Maybe monogamy isn’t natural! http://www.salon.com/2013/06/15/how_we_do_it_maybe_monogamy_isnt_natural/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/15/how_we_do_it_maybe_monogamy_isnt_natural/#comments Sat, 15 Jun 2013 17:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13326177 It is tempting to assume that mating arrangements directly match the typical social pattern. For instance, in a pair-living species it might seem obvious that the adult male sires any offspring of the pair. In other words, pair-living social organization and strictly monogamous mating may appear to be two sides of the same coin. Take, for example, the thousands of pair-living bird species that have traditionally been regarded as strictly monogamous. Countless hours of observation by dedicated bird-watchers failed to reveal any deviation from strict limitation of mating to the partners in a pair. However, the advent of DNA-based paternity tests changed all that. Surprisingly, for nine out of every ten bird species studied, it was discovered that the pair male did not consistently sire all offspring in a nest; about half of them resulted from extrapair copulations. How, we may ask, did such extrapair mating escape detection through the binoculars of all those eager bird-watchers? The answer is that “sneaky” copulations are rapid and discreet. The pair male may be as unaware of them as the peeping ornithologist.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/15/how_we_do_it_maybe_monogamy_isnt_natural/feed/ 44 “We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves”: Growing up primate http://www.salon.com/2013/06/13/we_are_all_completely_beside_ourselves_growing_up_primate/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/13/we_are_all_completely_beside_ourselves_growing_up_primate/#comments Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13325067 If Rosemary Cooke happened to be telling you a story about stories, instead of a story about the relationships between human beings and animals (and other human beings), she'd probably pause to inform you of a recent study -- Rosemary likes to refer to studies. The one I'm thinking of reveals that spoilers are not spoilers after all. Turns out that knowing how a story ends, let alone learning in advance about some mid-plot reveal, does not ruin most readers' experience of a tale; to the contrary, the results of the study showed that people enjoy stories even more when the plot twists have been "spoiled."

Anyway, by now you probably already know that Rosemary, the narrator of Karen Joy Fowler's marvelous and justly celebrated new novel, "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves," was raised, until the age of 5, with a chimpanzee "sister" named Fern. Rosemary begins her story in the middle, recalling the course of a few months in 1996 when she was as an undergraduate at the University of California at Davis. During this period, Rosemary made and lost a new friend; saw her brother, a fugitive from the law, for the first time in 10 years; was arrested twice and finally learned to face the truth about what happened to Fern. Fern's non-human nature isn't explicitly spelled out until a third of the way through the novel, but knowing about it in advance only makes the complexities of Rosemary's relationship to her feel richer from the very start.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/13/we_are_all_completely_beside_ourselves_growing_up_primate/feed/ 1 Rotten Tomatoes for rabid dog lovers http://www.salon.com/2013/06/01/does_the_dog_die_the_perfect_meme_for_pet_owners_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/01/does_the_dog_die_the_perfect_meme_for_pet_owners_partner/#comments Sat, 01 Jun 2013 18:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13314190 The Daily DotIn the Age of the Internet, it’s not unusual to see instant celebrities or overnight viral sensations: yesterday an obscure nobody posted something interesting online, and today almost everyone knows about it.

Other sites have to wait for their fame, languish for months or even years with barely a handful of Facebook fans, a once-in-awhile tweet or blog post linking to their site—but if they’re lucky they’ll keep gaining momentum, like a snowball rolling downhill until eventually you realize “That’s not a snowball; that’s an avalanche.”

With this in mind, here’s a cool movie-spoiler website, DoesTheDogDie.com, which rates movies solely by that standard—“the most important movie question” according to its subheading.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/01/does_the_dog_die_the_perfect_meme_for_pet_owners_partner/feed/ 1 Okla. tornado survivor reunited with dog trapped in rubble live on camera http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/okla_tornado_survivor_reunited_with_dog_trapped_in_rubble_live_on_camera/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/okla_tornado_survivor_reunited_with_dog_trapped_in_rubble_live_on_camera/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 12:48:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13304340 Among the many scenes of devastation caused by the vast tornado that swept through Oklahoma City and its surrounding suburbs on Monday, a small sliver of hope was captured on camera.

Barbara Garcia took shelter in her bathroom during the tornado; when she emerged, her home had been leveled and her beloved dog was missing. While recounting her ordeal to CBS News' Anna Werner, Garcia discovered her dog, alive and well, among the rubble.

Their happy reunion was captured live.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/okla_tornado_survivor_reunited_with_dog_trapped_in_rubble_live_on_camera/feed/ 12 Chimp’s blurry pictures to fetch six figures at auction http://www.salon.com/2013/05/18/monkeys_blurry_photographs_expected_to_sell_for_up_to_100000_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/18/monkeys_blurry_photographs_expected_to_sell_for_up_to_100000_partner/#comments Sat, 18 May 2013 17:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13301795 Hyperallergic

 

While staggering auction record peaks were summited this week by some talented human artists, a more amateur representative of an underrepresented artist species is expected to gain some auction attention of his own. Photographs by Mikki the chimpanzee that show blurry views of Moscow are estimated to fetch between $75,000 and 100,000 at Sotheby’s.

Chimpanzee Photographer

Mikki posing in Red Square

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/18/monkeys_blurry_photographs_expected_to_sell_for_up_to_100000_partner/feed/ 2 How much is a cat worth? http://www.salon.com/2013/05/07/how_much_is_a_cat_worth/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/07/how_much_is_a_cat_worth/#comments Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13290828 Hi Cary,

I love your column, and I have a problem. Actually, my best friend has a problem and it's about his cat.

My friend lives on a disability pension, so has no extra cash for luxuries. His cat, less than 5 years old, is getting tumors under the skin. So far this year, my friend and his roommate have spent about $2,800 for two separate operations for the cat.

In my mind, this is crazy, but I don't know what to say to my friend that will help him see clearly the hopelessness of this situation and the madness of going into crazy debt for the sake of a year or two of life for a cat.

Don't get me wrong, I love this cat, but if he were mine, I would have him live until he was no longer comfortable, then have him put down.

What would you say to me or my friend?

Thanks,

Jim

Dear Jim,

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/07/how_much_is_a_cat_worth/feed/ 67 Cicadas prepare to invade by the billions http://www.salon.com/2013/05/03/cicadas_prepare_to_invade_by_the_billions/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/03/cicadas_prepare_to_invade_by_the_billions/#comments Fri, 03 May 2013 16:10:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13288106 Cicadas have black bodies, blood-red eyes and legs, delicately veined gossamer wings and oddly ridged faces that resemble the Klingons from “Star Trek.” Entomologist Cole Gilbert finds them “amazing.” And after listening to him discourse about the species over lunch late last month, I think I understand why. Cicadas (Magicicada septendecim) -- like many of the species Gilbert studies -- are just plain weird.

The Pilgrims called cicadas “17 year locusts,” because some of them survive for that long underground, sucking the sap from roots, between periodic emergences in epic swarms. Locusts are in the grasshopper family, however, and cicadas are garish relatives of spittle bugs and crickets. Beyond that we know precious little about cicadas' mysterious lives under the earth. And we don’t understand why they wait 17 years between appearances (for some subgroups it’s 13 years, and there are also annuals.) Why 17? Why 13? We also don’t have a clue how these brainless arthropods manage to keep track of the passing years. And how exactly do cicada nymphs know when to all come wiggling out of the soil on cue, emerging within hours of one another after spending over a decade interred?

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/03/cicadas_prepare_to_invade_by_the_billions/feed/ 28 Can slaughterhouses be humane? http://www.salon.com/2013/04/21/is_there_such_thing_as_a_humane_slaughterhouse_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/21/is_there_such_thing_as_a_humane_slaughterhouse_partner/#comments Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13275471 Modern Farmer A $5.25 all-beef hot dog at the Stang’s Hot Dogs and Sausages stand in the Corte Madera mall in Marin County, California, is labeled with enough buzzwords to satisfy the most discerning of foodies. “Contains no nitrates.” “Organic grass fed.” “Certified humane raised.” Its producer, Prather Ranch Meat Company, claims to be the most sustainably raised meat available, and Prather’s hot dog is the most popular item on Stang’s menu. “People pay extra for it,” says owner Jon Stanger. “The name Prather Ranch holds a lot of weight around here.”

The sprawling and lovely 34,000-acre ranch headquarters is located at the northernmost corner of California, near the Oregon border, with the volcanic Mount Shasta providing a scenic backdrop for the sometimes thousands of grazing cows. Prather’s web site describes the operation as “a unique closed-herd operation that raises its own hay, breeds its own cattle and does its own slaughter and processing.” The ranch was one of the first ranches to be certified organic for beef products and to gain Certified Humane Raised and Handled approval.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/21/is_there_such_thing_as_a_humane_slaughterhouse_partner/feed/ 10 Ten amazing memories: Heartwarming stories of my dog, Brando (2000-2013) http://www.salon.com/2013/04/12/ten_amazing_memories_heartwarming_stories_of_my_dog_brando_2000_2013/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/12/ten_amazing_memories_heartwarming_stories_of_my_dog_brando_2000_2013/#comments Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13268360 When I was in first grade, I wrote my first "published" story, for our school's mimeographed weekly publication. It was a memoir actually. It was the story of our family cat, Puss, who had just passed away. It was only relatively recently that the significance of this first piece of writing came clear to me: This was, at that point in my life, a huge, mysterious event. It read, in its entirety, "My cat died.  My cat is dead." I hadn't learned to be sentimental. Later that year, I discovered one of my first favorite books, "The Tenth Good Thing About Barney," by Judith Viorst.  It was about a boy whose cat dies, and his mother tells him he should think of 10 good things to say about Barney when they have a funeral in their yard.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/12/ten_amazing_memories_heartwarming_stories_of_my_dog_brando_2000_2013/feed/ 14 Are wolves and lions man’s best friends? http://www.salon.com/2013/04/07/are_wolves_and_lions_mans_best_friends_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/07/are_wolves_and_lions_mans_best_friends_partner/#comments Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13262844 International Business Times

"What were you, raised by wolves?”

Parents usually ask this to cow an unruly child, but actually, when you think about it, the track record of wolf-raised children is pretty good. Mowgli anchored a best-selling book and a Disney movie; Romulus founded Rome. While wild animal encounters don’t always turn out as pleasant as “The Jungle Book,” there are plenty of children and adults that have been saved by wild creatures.

In 2005, a 12-year-old Ethiopian girl was reportedly saved from a group of kidnappers by three lions. Seven men had abducted the girl to try and force her into marrying one of them, and they had beaten her repeatedly. But the lions apparently chased off the men and stood guard over her until the police and her family came.

The case is particularly amazing because lions are well-known potential man-eaters. A 2005 study published in Nature found that lions had killed more than 563 people and injured 308 in Tanzania alone. But in this case, the lions may have been moved to sympathize with the girl because she was crying after being beaten.

“A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they didn’t eat her,” wildlife expert, Stuart Williams, in 2005, told the Associated Press.

Take heed: If you’re in need of leonine assistance, your best recourse may be to start sobbing uncontrollably.

If you’re looking for more long-term help from the animal kingdom, your better bet might lie with wolves, as Mowgli discovered. Don’t forget that Man’s Best Friend is almost genetically identical to a wolf; that’s why wolves and dogs can interbreed. Wolves do occasionally attack people – especially if they’re starving, habituated to humans or rabid – but despite their fierce portrayal in fairy tales and Liam Neeson movies, wolves actually are more likely to turn tail if they see a person.

“Most people don’t realize this, but wolves are wimps,” Utah State University ecologist and researcher Daniel MacNulty last year told National Geographic.

There are stories of wolves assisting children in the wilds of Russia and India, but these are hard to verify. One of the more famous stories of such wolf children, two girls, Amala and Kamala, was based on a single claim by the reverend who claimed to have discovered the girls.

Wild dogs have also occasionally been reported to take in runaway children, like the feral “Mowgli Boy” of Romania, who allegedly fled an abusive father.

Dolphins might be the most reliably altruistic animals in nature, with accounts of them saving humans stretching back to Greek mythology. There are numerous accounts of dolphins assisting injured podmates, beached whales and humans. A group of dolphins was reported to have circled around four swimmers in New Zealand to keep a great white shark at bay. Another pod protected a California surfer who had just been mauled by a great white.

Other cetaceans have a knack for altruism as well. In 2009, a beluga whale at a Chinese theme-park pushed a foundering freediver to the surface after the human’s legs cramped up.

It’s still unclear what motivates an animal to save a drowning swimmer or protect a girl from kidnappers,or raise a lost child; it seems to defy evolutionary sense. But altruism and cooperation may be just as natural as predation. Some experiments in humans suggest that generosity can induce the same kind of pleasurable reward in the brain that we get from food or sex. And if we're hard-wired to enjoy being nice, there might be similar setups in brains across the animal kingdom.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/07/are_wolves_and_lions_mans_best_friends_partner/feed/ 12 Military-trained dolphin killing machines are not on the loose http://www.salon.com/2013/03/13/military_trained_dolphin_killing_machines_are_not_on_the_loose/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/13/military_trained_dolphin_killing_machines_are_not_on_the_loose/#comments Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:12:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13227725 Everyone relax, a Tuesday report that three combat-trained dolphins from the Ukrainian army escaped has turned out to be a hoax. You are free to safely restart your regimen of power laps in the Black Sea.

The story took off after Russian news outlet RIA Novosti quoted an unconfirmed report on the alleged military program, which, admittedly, sounds terrifying. "The killer-dolphins will be trained to attack enemy combat swimmers using special knives or pistols fixed to their heads," according to the unnamed source. "We are now planning training exercises for counter-combat swimmer tasks in order to defend ships in port and on raids."

But a Wednesday report revealed the unnamed "expert" was actually a disgruntled museum employee, and that all of the Ukraine's military dolphins (yes, they apparently have those if you believe reports like this) are safe and accounted for, knife-faces and all.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/13/military_trained_dolphin_killing_machines_are_not_on_the_loose/feed/ 2 Stop dogging Michael Vick! http://www.salon.com/2013/03/12/michael_vick_calls_off_his_book_tour/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/12/michael_vick_calls_off_his_book_tour/#comments Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:11:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13226988 Delete it from your iCal: Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and convicted former animal abuser Michael Vick will not be appearing in a bookstore near you any time soon. His publisher announced this week he has withdrawn from a scheduled book tour due to "credible threats."  Nice grasp of how it works, bullies. Because nothing says I am a compassionate humanitarian who's on the higher moral ground than anybody else like throwing around a few threats of violence.

Vick, who served over a year and a half in prison after pleading guilty in 2007 to felony charges regarding a dogfighting ring, has spent the past six years trying to prove he's a changed man. Since serving his sentence, he's not just gone back to his football career; he's become a volunteer for the Humane Society, speaking out in schools and public events about animal abuse and dogfighting. Last year, his foundation gave $200,000 to renovate a rundown local Philadelphia football field. He even became a dog owner, and when the news of his family's new addition emerged, he announced, "I want to ensure that my children establish a loving bond and treat all of God’s creatures with kindness and respect. Our pet is well cared for and loved as a member of our family. To that end, I will continue to honor my commitment to animal welfare and be an instrument of positive change." And now, he's written a memoir for a Christian book publisher with the hopeful title, "Finally Free" – a tale his publicity materials describe as the story of "how a broken man sought and received forgiveness for his wrongs."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/12/michael_vick_calls_off_his_book_tour/feed/ 44 Save the rhino! http://www.salon.com/2013/03/09/save_the_rhino_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/09/save_the_rhino_partner/#comments Sat, 09 Mar 2013 20:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13222903 Like the dodo, the dinosaur, and the pig-footed bandicoot (maybe), the western black rhinoceros is now a thing of the past, hunted to extinction for its horn. And small wonder. Despite being banned in 1977, the rhino horn trade is flourishing. Twenty years ago, a kilo of horn went for $4,700. Today, it sells for $65,000, making it more valuable than either gold or cocaine. Poaching is on the rise, and by some accounts, the number of endangered (but not yet extinct) white rhino killed doubles each year. By 2035, African wildlands could be devoid of the animal.
Pacific Standard

As parties to the international Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) meet in Bangkok this week, a team of Australian conservationists are presenting an unusual—and controversial—proposal: in order to save the remaining African rhinos, farm them for their horns.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/09/save_the_rhino_partner/feed/ 14 Polar bear trade to remain legal http://www.salon.com/2013/03/07/polar_bear_trade_to_remain_legal/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/07/polar_bear_trade_to_remain_legal/#comments Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:11:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13221965 An Obama proposal to ban the trade of polar bear pelts, hides and other body parts was rejected by an international gathering of conservationists after a plea from Canadian Inuits. The ban was intended to help save the wild polar bear population, as global warming threatens to reduce its numbers by as much as two thirds in coming decades. But the Canadians claimed that “selling polar bear hides enables us to support ourselves,” Terry Audla, a spokesman for the Inuits, told the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), according to the Washington Post:

Canada is the only nation with polar bears that allows sports hunting. With two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population, Canada exports several hundred polar bear hides and parts for sale each year.

...Each year, an average of 3,200 items made from polar bears – including skins, claws, and teeth – are reported to be exported or re-exported from countries in which the animals live. Polar bear hides sell for an average of $2,000 to $5,000, while maximum hide prices have topped $12,000.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/07/polar_bear_trade_to_remain_legal/feed/ 7 My best relationship is with my dog http://www.salon.com/2013/02/23/dog_is_love/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/23/dog_is_love/#comments Sat, 23 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13208641 The bag of ashes is no bigger than a dimebag, but dense with the gray remains of what had been a beloved dog. The woman beside me murmurs his name—Poochie—when she takes the bag from a vet tech who can only say that he’s sorry. I instantly wish I hadn’t heard the name, as if the mere mention of poor doomed Poochie will jinx my Tova, my German shepherd. She’s flattened all 80 pounds of herself against my legs, smacking her mouth and whimpering.

We are here because Tova began pacing my apartment, her tongue shooting out of her snout; she worked her jaws and licked the air. The vet tech who answered the phone, the same one who hands Poochie’s owner a leash and collar with a heart-shaped tag, told me to bring her in right away: “It could be gastric torsion.” Gastric torsion: The belly, swollen with gas, crushes the diaphragm, pinches blood from the heart. It could kill my sweet girl—the one who finally wakes me with head-butts and nuzzling after the alarm has gone off; the one who dances when my key turns in the door—within an hour.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/23/dog_is_love/feed/ 43 Seedy side of the circus http://www.salon.com/2013/02/17/seedy_side_of_the_circus_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/17/seedy_side_of_the_circus_partner/#comments Sun, 17 Feb 2013 22:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13202048 In documenting the rough corners of 1970s New York, Jill Freedman brought out with her photography something old-school lurid; like the flashbulb exposures of Weegee and Brassaï in the decades before, she always offered a startlingly and very human view on her street subjects. When in 1971 the photographer, then in her early 30s, borrowed a white Volkswagen bus to join the circus for two months, she turned her 35-mm camera on the claustrophobia of the caged animals and strange lives of the clowns and performers.

Circus Days
Two photographs by Jill Freedman from “Circus Days” (1971), vintage gelatin silver prints

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/17/seedy_side_of_the_circus_partner/feed/ 0 Save the wolverines! http://www.salon.com/2013/02/17/save_the_wolverines_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/17/save_the_wolverines_partner/#comments Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13202915 OnEarth When 18th century zoologists gave the largest land-dwelling member of the weasel family the scientific name Gulo gulo -- which translates, not so roughly, to gluttonous glutton -- they were foreshadowing what would be mankind’s rather one-dimensional view of the creature we now know as the wolverine. The black-and-white, 30-pound, bushy-tailed scavenger has come to loom as a voracious, flesh-ripping hellion in our popular imagination -- largely, it seems, because we don’t know much about it.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/17/save_the_wolverines_partner/feed/ 1 Scientists release most precise date of dinosaur extinction http://www.salon.com/2013/02/09/scientists_release_most_precise_date_of_dinosaur_extinction_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/09/scientists_release_most_precise_date_of_dinosaur_extinction_partner/#comments Sat, 09 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13195721 Global Post

An international team of scientists has come up with the most precise date yet for the extinction of the dinosaurs, BBC News reported. Their radiometric dating analysis of rock and ash samples indicates that the dinosaurs died out 66,038,000 years ago, plus or minus 11,000 years.

The findings of the researchers, from the Berkeley Geochronology Center and the University of California at Berkeley in the US, Glasgow University in the UK and Vrije University Amsterdam in the Netherlands, appear in the Feb. 8 issue of the journal Science.

The new extinction date supports the theory that the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, which killed off all dinosaurs except the birds, was caused by an asteroid or comet slamming into what is now Mexico, BBC News reported. The revised date is no more than 33,000 years after an asteroid collision created a 110-mile-wide crater near the Mexican town of Chicxulub.

According to LiveScience:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/09/scientists_release_most_precise_date_of_dinosaur_extinction_partner/feed/ 7 Minn. cancels moose hunting as population plummets http://www.salon.com/2013/02/06/minn_cancels_moose_hunting_as_population_plummets_2/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/06/minn_cancels_moose_hunting_as_population_plummets_2/#comments Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:24:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13192599 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota officials are canceling the state's moose hunting season because of a sharp decline in the moose population.

Department of Natural Resources officials say their annual aerial survey to estimate the moose population was "extremely disappointing," at about 2,760 animals.

Minnesota's moose population was estimated at a little more than 4,200 in last winter's survey. That number was already down by half from 2006.

Researchers are studying why one of Minnesota's signature animals is dwindling. Scientists think warmer weather, parasites and disease are contributing factors.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/06/minn_cancels_moose_hunting_as_population_plummets_2/feed/ 0 Is your dog smarter than other dogs? http://www.salon.com/2013/02/05/is_your_dog_smarter_than_other_dogs/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/05/is_your_dog_smarter_than_other_dogs/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2013 22:08:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13191743 "Aren't you just the smartest little guy in the whole entire world?"

Be honest: You've probably said this to your dog before. Maybe it's because he once successfully fetched a tennis ball that was hidden by some bushes. Or how about that time he barked in the direction of your apartment keys while you were looking for them? Or perhaps it's how he can make toaster waffles for you in the morning. (OK, that last one is actually really smart.)

If you are looking to quantify that hunch about your pup's superior brain power, there is now an app for you.

Duke University's "Dognition" project is trying to revolutionize scientific understanding of canine cognition by crowdsourcing data about man's best friends from around the world.

"In a weekend, we could have 10,000, maybe 50,000 people give data," Brian Hare, associate professor in evolutionary anthropology at Duke, director of Duke's Canine Cognition Center and creator of the "Dognition" app, told LiveScience. "I can't even say how big of a quantum leap this will be."

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