Scientists at Bowling Green State University in Ohio found that the rodents most people consider filthy pests are also playful and love to be tickled.
"Bat detectors" which are used to pick up high-pitched sounds recorded the giggling rats. When researchers played back the tapes, "it sounded like a playground." said one of the scientists.
When Mark Hatterer was pumping out a customer's septic tank, the homeowners Scottish Terrier fell in. Quickly grabbing into the tank, Hatterer pulled the unconscious pup up and started mouth-to-snout resuscitation.
The dog, named Scottie, was treated at an animal hospital and back home a few hours later.
District of Columbia officials this week will begin evicting pit bulls from 55 public housing communities where they estimate some 250 dogs live.
The campaign - dubbed Operation Bark and Bite- will enforce a "no pet' clause in tenants' rental agreements. The eviction is being imposed by David Gilmore, the independent receiver appointed by the courts in 1995 to run the city's troubled public housing system.
The enforcement campaign was launced after complaints from dozens of residents and officials. "It's the pit bulls that are the largest nuisance." said housing spokesman Arthur Jones.
Disney's newest theme park in Orlando has been deadly for it's inhabitants. Still 2 1/2 weeks away from the April 22 opening, the tally of dead animals includes four cheetah cubs, two rhinoceroses, two hippopotamuses, three herd animals and two West African crown cranes that were run over by park tour buses.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reviewed most of the deaths and found no violations of federal animal welfare regulations. The 500 acre park is being touted to become one of the nation's pre-eminent zoos.
Recent sightings of J.J. the grey whale are reaching Elvis status. People claimed they've seen her, but nobody has any proof.
Researchers investigated a few reports over the weekend that J.J. was swimming off the coast of San Diego, but none of them were confirmed, said Don Kent, executive director of Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute.
"The problem is there are a lot of migrating yearlings and a lot of them like to hang out near the coast." Kent said.
J.J. the gray whale was resued as a sick newborn and raised in captivity at Sea World in San Diego. But one year later the time had come to release the now healthy 19,000 pound, 31 foot long whale back into the sea.
A transmitter pack designed to last 18 months - which fit like a saddle and was bolted to her blubber - fell off after only a few days of freedom. The only way to track her now is by looking for a color-coded tag, a thin strand implanted near her blow hole, through a telephoto lens or from aerial photographs.
Researchers who had followed J.J. had no plans to resume tracking her. "She seems to be adapting well to her environment." researcher Ann Bowles said. "She is navigating choppy water and successfully avoiding boats, kayakers, piers and other things she's not been exposed to before."
Bowles said J.J. could survive even if she stayed along the Southern California coast for several weeks.
A Hispanic civil rights group wants Taco Bell to stop running commercials that feature Dinky, a pointy-eared Spainish speaking Chihuahua. The fast food chain uses the dog to hype its products with the signature phrase "Yo quiero Taco Bell" which means, "I want Taco Bell."
Gabriel Cazares, a former Clearwater mayor who is of Mexican descent says it's demeaning. But Taco Bell said they have not received any negative comments about the dog. Spokeswoman Laurie Gannon said, "In fact, we think the commercials portray a sort of quasi-Mexican heritage that is cool and hip."
What is the only animal besides humans to have true fingerprints?
The Koala. (those in the know no longer call them "koala bears"; they're marsupials.)
According to a scientist at the University of Adelaide, the koala's prints are so similar to ours that they could be mistaken for a human's at the scene of a crime.
An elephant who killed two people gets a new start on life.
Raja, used to be the star attraction at the National Zoological Gardens in Colombo, Sri Lanka, but his life wasn't one of glamour. Trainers would prod him with sharp instruments, not unlike spears, in order to make him perform his tricks.
A year and a- half-ago, while being led to a performance, he grabbed his trainer with his trunk and smashed him against an electric pole, killing him. He was immediately placed under observation. But during that time he killed another trainer by piercing him with one of his tusks.
The zoo realized they couldn't keep Raja and decided to auction him off to the higest bidder who ended up being Nilaga Dela, the son of a wealthy gem dealer. The winning bid - $14,836.
Dela plans on letting Raja spend his remaining days wandering around on his family's estate, all the while giving him enough love so he can "start over again."
Bob the lobster was spared from a boiling pot in Denver but his well meaning rescuers screwed up not once, not twice but three times!
Strike one. On his flight to freedom in Boston he lost a claw. OK, so maybe the big 10-pounder could learn to live with a slight handicap.
Strike two. When rescuers dropped him into Boston Harbor they left one claw bound shut with a rubber band. Now, this presents a problem.
Strike three. The area of ocean he was set free in was full of lobster traps!
With friends like this, who needs enemies??
In Santa Rosa, California roving rovers will have to pay a steep price. Owners of dogs caught twice by animal control officers will be required to sterilize their pets. If owners fail to comply with the law they could face fines ranging from $250 to $1,000 or six months in jail.
In order to crack down on irresponsible dog breeding in Los Angeles, there is currently a proposal to raise the dog licensing fees from $30 to $500 for unneutered dogs. The higher fees would be enacted as a means to help control the overpopulation problem. Exceptions to the new higher fee would be dogs used in shows and field trials. Their fee would only be raised from the current $30 to $35. The fee for spayed and neutered animals would remain $10.
The University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine will be conducting a study to see if dogs really can detect seizures that are about to occur in their owners. About 300 questionnaires have been sent to epilepsy patients at the Shands Hospital Veteran's Administration Medical Center asking them if they had dogs who have alerted them to an oncoming seizure. Those questionnaires will be analyzed next year. In preliminary finding its been found that dogs do respond in a variety of ways - barking, nudging, vocalizing, etc - before, during, and after a seizure. The study will then try to find out if these reactions are spontaneous or a trainable behavior.
President Clinton revealed the name of his new pet puppy amongst much speculation. The envelope please! and the winner is - Buddy. The name was choosen after Clinton's deceased uncle who was a dog trainer for many years.
President Clinton is in love- with a chocolate Labrador that is. The 3 month old puppy will live in the white house and take on the role of first dog after he's been trained. Clinton had told longtime friend Tony Harrington that he'd been thinking about getting a dog for a couple of months. So Harrington brought the puppy to the White House where the President played around on the South Lawn for half an hour before making the official decision.
A rare all white lobster gets to stay out of hot water. The 1 1/4 albino was hauled in recently to Bill Copper-Smith's market in Raymond, Maine. The lobster, which was named Lincoln, will be auctioned off to an aquarium where it will live out the rest of its days.
New research suggests that parrots, like chimps and dolphins are capable of mastering complex intellectual concepts that children cannot handle until the age of 5.
Pet experts who gathered in Chicago for the American Veterinary Association forum believe the parrot's intelligence is why the bird has grown faster in popularity than any other pet over the past decade.
Iren Pepperberg, an ecologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who studies the intelligence of parrots, has focused her studies on a bird she bought at a Chicago pet store in 1977.
The parrot, Alex, can name 50 objects when shown them, knows colors and numbers up to eight and even understands the concepts of same and different.
"All the tests we've done with dolphins and great apes to investigate their intelligence, we've done with Alex," Pepperberg said. "He scored as well as they did in many of them, better in some."
Intelligence doesn't always equal a good pet, however. Experts said parrots can be domineering, "I have seen entire families, their German Shepherd included, buffaloed by a bird." said Chris Davis, a parrot psychology expert, "They are never subservient."
But Liz Wilson, a parrot behavior consultant from Philadelphia, said she has heard of cases in which people come home feeling blue and their parrot asks: "Is something wrong?"
"You have to earn their love. I like that," she said.
Companies in Britain have voluntarily stopped testing cosmetics on animals at the request of the Labor government, but animals will still be used in medical research tests.
Home Office Minister Lord Williams also announced that Britain would seek to tighten the laws on scientific research and ban experimentation on great apes such as chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. No test in Britain currently involves great apes. Animal rights campaigners have protested for years, sometimes violently, over the cruelty to animals caused by the testing of lipsticks and other beauty aids. Lord Williams described this move as a major step forward, but he conceded that the 2,800 cosmetic tests on animals last year amounted to 0.01 percent of the number of experiments carried out.