Our Best Friends

The presence or absence of suitable receptacles for bags is not the whole picture.

Because opossums, and coyotes, and bears.

Maybe as smart as a four-year-old child?

Dogs and cats have both advantages and disadvantages for street-involved youth.

A study out of Japan earlier this year surveyed pet owners about strange behaviors demonstrated before the magnitude 9 earthquake in 2011.

The popular press often reminds us of the graduation hypothesis, but there's more to it than that.

Ask a great white shark.

Or does mom do it all?

Successful problem solving makes dogs happy.

New research supports the idea that positive reinforcement is best for both animal welfare and strengthening our relationship with our pets.

While more people fear snakes or spiders, with dogs everywhere, cynophobia makes everyday public life a constant challenge.

Over 100 years ago, Eugene Schieffelin set out to introduce every bird mentioned in Shakespeare's plays to America. Today, one of those birds is causing irreparable crop damage.

A study of over 2,000 shelter animals investigates, with some surprising results, the physical and behavioral characteristics that help dogs find new homes.

As beluga sturgeon populations dwindle, poachers have descended on the waters of Oklahoma, searching for the source of next-best caviar: the paddlefish. But conservation officials might have found a way to save the prehistoric-looking creatures from a steady decline—they're selling the caviar themselves.

A new study involving more than 1,200 animals attempts to establish a profile of people who have so many pets that they're unable to care for them properly.

If existing behavioral programs aren’t working, can therapeutic sessions with a dog help kids who have problems at school?

It’s frighteningly common for those who cover food issues to assume that smaller farms are safer farms. They may be happier, but they’re not necessarily healthier, as the recent spread of a devastating disease shows.

Thousands of abandoned roosters and past-their-prime hens have landed in animal shelters across the country since urban farming took flight.

What America’s most prestigious dog show tells us about our relationship with our canine companions.

Over 150 years ago, squirrels were imported from the countryside as a way to beautify our urban parks. They taught us important lessons about charity and compassion. And then we turned on them.

A new paper argues that academics have been missing important connections.

If an Unusual Mortality Event sounds like something out of a movie, it's not. There's one happening right now.

In fact, they might be something way more interesting.