What affects us affects cats
A recent study published in PLOS ONE has detected microplastics in the placentas and fetuses of domestic cats during early pregnancy, raising concerns about environmental pollution’s impact on animal reproduction. The infographic below concerns and associated, earlier study from China. Study Overview Researchers from the University of Parma, Italy, led by Ilaria Ferraboschi, conducted …
The study titled “Behavioral responses of domestic cats to human odor,” published in PLOS ONE on May 28, 2025, investigates how domestic cats utilize their sense of smell to differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar humans. Conducted by researchers from the Tokyo University of Agriculture, the research aims to elucidate the role of olfaction in …
Survey Reveals Pets Are Preferred Over Spouses in Tough Times – but read about the bi-directional relationship in the second part of this article. A groundbreaking global survey has revealed that cats and dogs may offer more emotional comfort during stressful times than even our closest human companions. The study, conducted across 20 countries …
Here is an infographic which touches on a couple of essential factors in the successful reintroduction into the wild of tiger cubs orphaned in the wild and hand-raised by conservationists. And below is some more information to support the infographic which by necessity is a highly compressed summary of the process. I start with …
Left alone, nature operates natural selection, a process which leads to cleverer animals surviving more successfully. This led to the evolution of larger brained animals and ultimately to the dominance of humans over all animals. But for dogs selective breeding has interrupted this process with a research study deciding that dogs with smaller brains …
This is Nathan Winograd’s pet campaign and it is a good one. I think he hates the lack of science behind the banning of a dog breed because they are aggressive and dangerous. The title to this post sums up the issue. The recent banning of XL Bully dogs in the UK is a …
A recent study – and one which I would argue is pretty important – discovered that crows can hold grudges for 17 years. They hold grudges against people who have maligned them; who have been harmful to them and who they don’t trust because of experiences and interactions that they have had with these …
Here is an infographic prepared by me which explains the origins of human kissing as per a theory proposed by Adriano Lameira (and team), an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Warwick in the UK. What all kisses have in common Lameiro concluded was a “protruding of the lips and slight suction”. He then …
