Pets

Big Question

Did a Cow Really Cause the Great Chicago Fire?

1871 illustration from Harper's Magazine. Wikimedia CommonsAround 9 pm on Sunday, October 8, 1871, a fire started in a barn in the alley behind 137 DeKoven Street in Chicago. Two days later the blaze died out, after burning nearly three and a third square miles of the city. The Great Chicago Fire killed 300 people, left some 100,000 homeless, and destroyed $200 million worth of property.In all of American, and even world, history, no bovine is more infamous than a cow, belonging to Patrick and... READ ON

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6 Remarkable Police Animals

We’ve seen bookstore cats, animals trained to sniff out bombs and heroic dogs, but now we're here to focus on animals who have served, or are currently serving, their local police departments. 1. Momo, Nara Police Department, Japan http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YVn9UKutgAs We’re used to seeing large police dogs because, let’s face it, a lap dog can’t take down a running fugitive. But there are a lot of other duties for police dogs out there—and a pup doesn't have to... READ ON

Big Question

Why Are Dalmatians Linked to Firefighting?

Sure, his coloring makes him look good against a red background, but it turns out that in the early days of firefighting, the Dalmatian served an important... READ ON

Big Question

How Do Cats Purr?

Biologists used to think that purrs were the sound of blood surging through cats’ inferior vena cava, the large vein that carries blood from the lower half of the body into the heart. More recent research suggests that the sound is actually produced by laryngeal muscles, which are responsible for moving the vocal cords and opening and closing the glottis (space between the... READ ON

Big Question

How Did the Chicken Cross the Ocean?

At some point in the last few thousand years, someone in India or Southeast Asia decided to try catching one of the wild fowl than ran through the jungles and roosted up in the trees. We don’t know exactly what that person was intending, but the bird probably wasn’t destined to be stuffed and roasted or battered and fried. Archaeological evidence suggests that the birds were first caught for cockfighting (pit matches between wild partridges and quails were already common), and the idea of eating them... READ ON

Big Question

What Do Chickens Have to Do With Chicken Pox?

Chickens image via ShutterstockThe birds themselves? Not a whole lot. Chickens don’t even get infected by the virus — varicella zoster, a member of the herpes family — that causes the rash. (They can however, get an infection with similar effects called fowl pox.)The name, rather, likely comes from chickens’ association with weakness and... READ ON

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Horses Befriending Goats

It may look like an odd coupling, but race horses and goats have been befriending each other for centuries. For whatever reason, the goats seem to have a greatly calming effect on race horses, who are often extremely temperamental. Even Australia's top horse, Black Caviar, has a billy goat friend (appropriately named Billy). Trainer Peter Clarke says the bond was "instrumental" in the horse's unbeatable form: "He's always up for a rumble and he rears up and rolls on his back and she rears up and spins... READ ON

Big Question

Why Do Dogs Stick Their Heads Out of Car Windows?

Dogs image via ShutterstockDogs seem to stick their heads out of moving cars almost any chance they get. What’s so great about a wind-whipped snout?While I wasn’t able to find any scientific research on the phenomenon, a number of dog behaviorists agree that the window’s main draw isn’t the scenery or the breeze. What dogs are after are smells.A few months ago, in a post about bloodhounds, I explained that dogs are basically walking noses. While our human olfactory membranes (a lump of... READ ON

Big Question

Why Is Chocolate Bad for Dogs?

Puppy image via ShutterstockI grew up with a series of dogs that were shameless food moochers. Max, our German Shepherd-Black Lab mix, was once left on his own in the house while the humans were having a backyard cookout. Poor Aunt Sophie went in to get something from the kitchen and found Max standing on the kitchen table, working his way in a circle around the top of her homemade bundt cake. Needless to say, the utmost precaution had to be taken with certain foods the dogs couldn’t have. Chocolate... READ ON