Saturday, February 18, 2012

Goats can form accents, study finds  - NY Daily News

Goats can form accents, study finds  - NY Daily News

Humans, elephants and dolphins do it, and apparently goats do, too.

The horned ruminants pick up accents as they get older and join social groups, according to researchers at Queen Mary University, London, The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

Experts previously thought only a select group of mammals has the ability to modify vocal sounds according to their surroundings, and that other species' "voices" were determined solely by genetics. Whales and bats pick up accents as well.

The researchers recorded the bleats of four groups of pygmy goats at one week old, when kids, as young goats are known, from the same litter remain with one another, and again at five weeks old, when they form social groups with other goats of the same age.

Not surprisingly, the study found genetically related kids produced similar calls. But it found the vocal calls of goats raised in the same social groups also became more similar as the kids grew older.

"This suggests that goat kids modify their calls according to their social surroundings, developing similar ‘accents,’" said Dr. Elodie Briefer, one of the researchers.

Briefer said she and her colleagues don't know whether other mammals may be able to form accents, but suggested that if goats' calls can be affected by their environment maybe all mammals' calls could be too.

Posted via email from Tony Burkhart

Leopard From Zanesville, Ohio, Reserve Is Euthanized After Accident - NYTimes.com

Leopard From Zanesville, Ohio, Reserve Is Euthanized After Accident

A leopard that survived the mass killing of exotic animals at an Ohio reserve last year was euthanized after a zookeeper accidentally struck it with a heavy steel gate while closing its cage at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, officials said Tuesday.

“It was partly that you had an animal that was moving quickly and part human error,” said Patty Peters, the zoo’s spokeswoman. “It was just a freak accident.”

The 2-year-old spotted leopard had been one of only six animals from a total of 56 that had not been hunted down and shot by law enforcement officers in October after the owner of the reserve, Terry Thompson, 62, cut open their cages.

It remains unclear why Mr. Thompson, who fatally shot himself in his driveway, released the animals.

The leopard and the other surviving animals were taken to the Columbus Zoo
and have been held in quarantine there to ensure that they are not carrying contagious diseases.

Ms. Peters said on Tuesday that the accident had occurred Sunday morning after a zookeeper was moving the 84-pound leopard from its cage into an adjoining enclosure to feed it and clean its cage.

As the keeper pulled a lever to lower a stainless steel, pneumatic gate that divided the cages, the animal tried to race back under it, but the 200-pound gate hit it on the neck, stopping its heart, Ms. Peters said.

The zookeeper was able to prevent the gate from closing completely, Ms. Peters said, and yelled for a veterinarian who used chest compressions to revive the leopard.

When Tony Forshey, director of the state’s Agriculture Department who is also the state’s veterinarian, arrived at the zoo he ordered that the leopard be euthanized.

Dr. Forshey said a gross necropsy revealed that the leopard had several pre-existing conditions that exacerbated the injury, including under-nourishment that weakened its bones, a genetic malformation to its cervical vertebrae and broken bones in its back and tail that had not properly healed.

“Unfortunately, the combination of these factors meant that the leopard wasn’t able to survive an injury that would have had little effect on a normal, healthy animal,” Dr. Forshey said in a statement.

Ms. Peters said the zoo’s veterinarians and a neurologist had determined that the wounded leopard would not have been able to move or to breathe on its own.

Many of the animals on the reserve were abused and neglected, according to the authorities, including a bear and two lion cubs that in 2008 were found living inside a cage meant for a parrot.

The leopard and the other survivors from the Zanesville reserve — a brown bear, two Celebes macaques, and two other leopards, one black, the other spotted — had not been examined by the zoo due to a dispute over whether Marian Thompson, Mr. Thompson’s widow, who had helped care for the animals, should retain ownership.

In the meantime, the state has directed that the animals be quarantined until it is clear they are not carrying serious communicable diseases, including the herpes B virus. But an examination would require that they be sedated, which can be fatal to unhealthy animals. The medical histories of the animals are unknown because the Thompsons did not provide records, the state said.

“They’ve been receiving cleaning and feeding and pretty much nothing else,” said Ms. Peters. “They don’t belong to us. We’re not going to take the chance of sedation.”

Ms. Thompson, who could not be reached through her lawyer on Tuesday, has sought to have the animals returned.

Posted via email from Tony Burkhart

I used Shazam to discover No, You Don't by Nine Inch Nails


Hi,
I just used Shazam to discover No, You Don't by Nine Inch Nails and thought I'd share it with you.
Buy on iTunes

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Tony Burkhart

I used Shazam to discover Playground Love by Air


Hi,
I just used Shazam to discover Playground Love by Air and thought I'd share it with you.
Buy on iTunes

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Tony Burkhart

I used Shazam to discover You Grow More Beautiful by No-Man


Hi,
I just used Shazam to discover You Grow More Beautiful by No-Man and thought I'd share it with you.
Buy on iTunes

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Tony Burkhart

Google Secures 32 Misspelt Domain Names From Typo-Squatter

Google has won a dispute against a Hong Kong-based domain typo-squatter who allegedly held 32 ‘ Google  typo’ domain names for no good purpose.
Following the complaint filed by the search giant, the National Arbitration Forum awarded the domains to Google asserting the three ICANN rules:

(1) The domain name registered by Respondent is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which Complainant has rights; and
(2) Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and
(3) The domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

The domains hence  obtained by  Google are  (what a waste of money for a company!) :

geoolge.com gggoogle.com ggolge.com ggoole.com go0gle.com gogelmail.com goggleemail.com gogglemails.com gologle.com googemail.com googer.com googlae.com googlecalander.com googlede.com googledevice.com googleen.com googlehomepage.com googleparking.net googlepictures.com googletr.com googlev.com googlp.com googlse.com googlu.com googne.com googole.com googu.com goolggle.com goolgle.com goolglemail.com gooogly.com gougle.com

Read more stories at What The Nerd!? - http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wwwery/~3/mI_EwuJwPXM/

Posted via email from Tony Burkhart

Pick n Pull - there is nothing better on a Saturday morning, than pulling car parts