Our Best Friends
What Influences Whether Owners Pick Up After Their Dogs?
The presence or absence of suitable receptacles for bags is not the whole picture.
How Clever Do You Think Your Dog Is?
Maybe as smart as a four-year-old child?
The Importance of Pets to Homeless Youth
Dogs and cats have both advantages and disadvantages for street-involved youth.
Can Dogs, Cats, and Cows Predict Earthquakes?
A study out of Japan earlier this year surveyed pet owners about strange behaviors demonstrated before the magnitude 9 earthquake in 2011.
Does Being Cruel to Animals Predict Later Criminal Behavior?
The popular press often reminds us of the graduation hypothesis, but there's more to it than that.
How Do We Know Our Environmental Laws Are Working?
Ask a great white shark.
Do Dogs Get That Eureka! Feeling?
Successful problem solving makes dogs happy.
Dog Training and Animal Welfare
New research supports the idea that positive reinforcement is best for both animal welfare and strengthening our relationship with our pets.
The People Who Are Scared of Dogs
While more people fear snakes or spiders, with dogs everywhere, cynophobia makes everyday public life a constant challenge.
A Shakespeare Fan Who Loosed the Bard's Birds on America
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.
What Do People Look for When Adopting a Dog?
A study of over 2,000 shelter animals investigates, with some surprising results, the physical and behavioral characteristics that help dogs find new homes.
Catch, Fillet, and Sell the Eggs of a Dinosaur
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.
What Does a Typical Animal Hoarder Look Like?
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.
Can Animal-Assisted Therapy Be Used to Help At-Risk Boys?
If existing behavioral programs aren’t working, can therapeutic sessions with a dog help kids who have problems at school?
When It Comes to Animal Farms, Sometimes Size Doesn’t Matter
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.
Casualties of the Coop: Abandoned Chickens and Hens and Their Rescuers
Thousands of abandoned roosters and past-their-prime hens have landed in animal shelters across the country since urban farming took flight.
A Tale of 2 Dog Shows: Inside the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
What America’s most prestigious dog show tells us about our relationship with our canine companions.
Consider the Squirrel
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.
Why Pets Should Be Included in Sociological Inquiries
A new paper argues that academics have been missing important connections.
Dolphins Are Dying, But What Does It All Mean for Us?
If an Unusual Mortality Event sounds like something out of a movie, it's not. There's one happening right now.
Pet Selfies Are Not Selfies
In fact, they might be something way more interesting.