Posts by Jennifer Huizen
Cat’s 'picky' culinary preferences likely genetic
Researchers find that carnivores have retained bitter taste receptors—even those that have evolutionarily lost the ability to distinguish sweet flavours. While us humans savor food on many levels, most people forget that a big part of our partialities come down to our individual taste buds. Though it’s long been thought that the ability to distinguish … Continued
Freshwater fish and amphibians have an enzyme that acts like night-vision goggles
Researchers uncover an enzyme that allows various marine species to see a much wider range of light than us humans — from the blue-greens of marine environments to more cloudy, infrared inland streams. For nearly a hundred years researchers have known that fish and amphibians have an unreal ability to fine-tune their visual abilities to … Continued
Cougars could return to the American Midwest in just 25 years
Call them cougars, mountain lions, or pumas, but one sad fact remains: these big cats used to be one of the most widely distributed land mammals on the face of the Earth, found from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean, and from the tip of Northern British Columbia to Chile. ‘Humans changed all that,’ says Michelle … Continued
Yellowstone's grizzly bear breeding population has expanded fourfold, new study reports
Forty years ago, when grizzly bears gained protection under the Endangered Species Act, they were in serious trouble. In the lower 48 states the bear held just two percent of its former range, with only 800 to 1000 individuals persisting in five or six holdout communities. The most southernmost and isolated of these populations was the bears … Continued
Turns out your cat is a miniature lion but don't worry, it's not out to kill you. We think
This may be shocking news to cat lovers everywhere, but we know virtually nothing about feline personalities. While there’s been 150 studies into the specifics of primate personalities, and 51 concerning candids, to date there’s only been 20 to query this aspect of cats and most have focused on domesticated subjects only. This is especially … Continued
The animals that live fast and die young
Some animals give rockers and daredevils a run for their money when it comes to the old live fast die young adage. Madagascar’s Labord’s chameleon (pictured above) is one of the most extreme examples. These gorgeously mosaicked lizards are alive for just a single year, and only out of its shell for four or five … Continued
Animals need personal space too
Humans have probably always had a propensity towards bugging wildlife, but today’s selfie-culture could be pushing things too far. Seen that startled sea otter video floating around the Internet a little while ago? Well it might not seem like it, the person waking this sound-asleep otter was actually breaking the law—not just in the United States … Continued
The products hurting habitats
At this point, if you haven’t heard about the big problems with palm oil, you’ll probably be in the minority. Celebrities, charities and research groups have helped expose the damages that come from unsustainable palm practices, like clear-cut or burnt plots of pristine forest—ranging on a scale from individual farmer’s few acres to corporations’ thousands. These … Continued
The case for false animal sounds
The team behind Sir David Attenborough’s upcoming BBC One series ‘The Hunt’ got a lot of heat for disclosing what many wildlife filmmakers have been doing from the start writes Jennifer Huizen: faking animal noises. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s ever tried to capture animal antics up close, but when you zoom you compromise … Continued
Canada gets its first giant panda cubs
Earlier this month Er Shun and Da Mao, the giant panda pair on loan from China to the Toronto Zoo, became the proud parents of two healthy cubs. Now zoo staffers and Chinese experts are working round the clock to ensure everything continues to go smoothly. Dr. Chris Dutton, the head of veterinary services at … Continued
Dingoes and Aboriginal Australians have likely been tight from the start
For over thirty years now researchers have been trying to explain changes in the Australian archaeological records from around 5,000-years-ago, when people suddenly began using new tools, eating harder to process foods, and hunting a wider array of animals. While many would like to think these developments were the result of increasing human ingenuity, people like Jane … Continued
Killing endangered creatures by mistake is WAY more common than you'd like to believe
It made European headlines when a pair of hunters mistakenly entered the confines of Norway’s Polar Park Zoo and shot two elk, but sadly, people accidentally kill wild and often endangered animals quite a bit. Last week two Norwegian hunters called up officials at the northernmost zoo in the world with some seriously bad news. … Continued
This animal has an insane tolerance to alcohol (and no it's not us)
Ever want to take that obnoxious fellow boasting at the pub about their epic booze-tolerance down a few pegs? Try daring them to a g/kg drinking contest with a dwarf hamster. For decades it’s been known that hamsters have a particular fondness for alcohol. Some critters that eat fruits, nuts, and seeds come across the … Continued
Zoo animals enjoy their yearly dose of pumpkin-fun
Zoos are always trying to come up with new ways to enrich their animals’ lives, and entertain audiences in the process if possible. That’s why many have taken on the tradition of offering their inhabitants autumn pumpkins—be them bears, birds or snakes. Though not every animal that gets the veg may be eager to dig in … Continued
The reason elephants don't get cancer
Elephants very rarely get cancer, a long known fact now attributed to the pachyderm’s 20 modified copies of a gene us humans have just one of, the tumour suppressor gene, p53. Joshua Schiffman, a paediatric oncologist at the University of Utah’s High Risk Paediatric Cancer Clinic and researcher at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, was first inspired … Continued
Spay/neuter vaccine inching closer to reality
Spay and neuter procedures have revolutionised animal management programmes worldwide, and majorly benefited us all in the long run, but is it time for another infertility option? The world’s bustling cat and dog populations, both feral and pet, are a problem. This fact isn’t earth-shattering news—it’s the reason spay and neuter techniques are endorsed by … Continued
Black Fox spotted in a British backyard gains celebrity status
Wildlife artist Robert Fuller has had some pretty extraordinary animal-encounters, but when a patron called to say he’d spotted a Black fox outside his flat a few hours away, Fuller got excited. Black or Silver foxes are actually just melanistic versions of Red foxes, but they’re incredibly rare in Britain. When Fuller first got the call, and subsequent … Continued
Here's the first ever recorded video of Borneo's 'deer-killing' vampire squirrel
Deep in the forests of Borneo lurks a squirrel with the largest tail-to-body mass ratio of any mammal—and a taste for deer blood. Ok, so maybe only one of these facts is verified, but odder animal-legends have proven true in the past. The real name of this animal in question is the Tufted Ground squirrel, but it also … Continued
Did our tooth enamel evolve from fish scales?
Researchers cut up a 415 million year old fish fossil searching for the origin of the hardest-vertebrate tissue out there Sometimes evolutionary concepts can be hard to come to terms with. Take for example, the fact that land vertebrates arose from fish. This isn’t new information, but there’s a lot about this linkage that remains unknown, … Continued
#Cuteoff crowns the cutest animal on Twitter, for now
On an average day, the Internet is a variable smorgasbord of animal cuties, but earlier this month, an even higher number of adorable baby birds, itty-bitty reptiles and comically posed amphibians flooded Twitter, thanks to a worldwide hashtag battle. Cheetah researcher Anne Hilborn, a doctoral student at Virginia Tech, is cited as the genius behind … Continued
Safari webcams allow users to become virtual conservationists
Mozambique’s Gorongoso National Park is reaching out to citizen scientists globally for help making sense of their plethora of trail-cam data. If you’ve ever been jealous of researchers working in some of Africa’s greatest safari parks, take a moment to thank the technology gods. With the help of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, anyone with … Continued
Fuzzy nautilus filmed for the first time in 30 years
After a three-decade-long hiatus from human observation, the Fuzzy nautilus is filmed, tagged and swam with in Papua New Guinea. American marine biologist Gregory Barord and palaeontologist Peter Ward from the University of Adelaide have been trying to answer basic nautilus conservation questions, travelling through the animal’s range in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean several times … Continued
New seahorse study redefines the term 'superdad'
Scientists from Australia, the United States and Switzerland recently got together to shine a light on the more intimate details of seahorse pregnancy, and their amazing findings might just redefine the term ‘superdad’. ‘In a nutshell we found seahorse dads’ brood pouch, that holds the females’ deposited eggs, undergo changes and processes quite like human … Continued
Giant virus found frozen in the Siberian permafrost
Climate change and human development may awake prehistoric viruses of a whole new breed, complexity and size. When one decides to trek into the Arctic circle, there are plenty of hazards to consider. Polar bears, freezing temperatures, and hardcore snowstorms are all normal worries to consider, but the human thirst for natural resources, coupled with a … Continued
Tiny solutions for tiny survivors
Australia’s endemic species aren’t doing so hot, but an endangered songbird—the Forty-spotted pardalote—could get a big break thanks to researchers, a bird-friendly insecticide, and cotton balls. Since 1997, the Forty-spotted pardalote, an aptly named white-spotted bird native to Southeast Tasmania, have lost 60 percent of their population. Why? No one really knows, but researchers are trying to … Continued
The rhino who survived against all odds
A rhino in South Africa gets a second chance at life thanks to some clever veterinarians, and a dead elephant. Back in May, orn pope the Black rhino went through something too traumatic for most of us to imagine. Poachers snuck into her home in South Africa’s Lombardi Game Farm, stuck her with a sedation … Continued
