All posts tagged: pets

Cats and Owls and Axolotls, Oh My!: The Best Library and Bookstore Pets

Cats and Owls and Axolotls, Oh My!: The Best Library and Bookstore Pets

Published by Jenni Sidey

I used to work at a library that changed up the theme in the children’s department every year, and for the first few years, the themes involved animals. “Under the Sea” was fish. “Creepy Crawlies” was tarantulas and a giant centipede (shudder). “On the Farm” was a giant incubator with baby chicks. And for many years, we had a bearded dragon named Lizzy, who was surprisingly snuggly for a two-foot lizard. (And apparently bearded dragons are popular choices for resident library animals.) I’ve loved animals since I was a kid, so I am always delighted when I learn about libraries and bookstores that have their own resident pets. Check out these places where animals and books share the spotlight. Library Cats Obviously, cats are the first animal you think of when you think of library pets. There’s no way to highlight all of the libraries and bookstores with resident cats, so here are just a few furry highlights: The South Dade Regional Library in Florida did more than bring a cat into the building: they …

How to lessen your pet’s impacts on the planet

How to lessen your pet’s impacts on the planet

Published by Miika Tikkanen

While John Harvey was working as a veterinarian in Devon, England, his clinic looked for ways to lower its carbon footprint. They installed energy-efficient light bulbs. This got Harvey thinking: What about the animals? How much did pets impact the planet? Take their food. Dogs and cats eat a meat-based diet. Raising livestock for meat uses a lot of land, water and energy. It also contributes to climate change by producing greenhouse gases. Harvey suspected pet food would have a large carbon footprint, but he couldn’t find much data on it. So in 2024, Harvey started studying how different types of dog food affect the planet. Now, he’s a researcher at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the University of Exeter in England. Explainer: CO2 and other greenhouse gases Outdoor dogs and cats may also hunt or scare local wildlife. And many other pets — reptiles, frogs, birds and fish — are taken from the wild for sale as pets. This could harm wild populations and the ecosystems they come from. But, in many …

Are Raccoons Evolving Into Pets?

Are Raccoons Evolving Into Pets?

Published by Daniella Wilson

At 10 p.m. in early July, Long Island was sweltering under a heat dome. As bedroom lights dimmed and heavy clouds rolled in, a raccoon ambled onto the porch of a split-level home, found a crack in a sliding door, and slipped inside. He tongue-polished a lasagna tray on the floor near the kitchen counter before waddling back into the damp fug of the summer night. Soon after, a raccoon with a facial scar and a thin tail entered, ate a snack, and flopped down for a nap. Next, a pair of juvenile raccoons scrounged for kibble and used the dining chairs as a wrestling ring, hanging upside down from the rungs and tackling one another like luchadores. By dawn, a procession of animals had cycled through—one piebald kitty, a bunch of raccoons—like the stoned overnight patrons of a roadside Waffle House. Marilyn Smith knows that things have escalated. Maybe, she concedes, they have even gotten out of hand. (I am giving her a pseudonym, because she worries her neighbors will call the police.) Years …

Monkeys sometimes have ‘pets’ like humans

Monkeys sometimes have ‘pets’ like humans

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. We humans love our pets, but we aren’t the only great apes who buddy up with other species. Researchers have documented multiple instances of primates forming bonds with different animals, but a recent study indicates these relationships may be even more common than expected. In a first-of-its-kind comprehensive review published in the journal Primates, anthropologists at the University of Oxford explored various instances of monkeys and apes carrying, grooming, playing, and sometimes actually adopting other creatures. The data pool sources 303 cases across available scientific literature, 66 primatologists surveys, and 58 media accounts describing cross-species interactions involving humans’ close relatives. Situations included tufted gray langurs (Semnopithecus priam) petting squirrels in Sri Lanka, snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti) playing with domesticated pigs in China, and …

This motion sensor ignores your pets but catches intruders

This $30 motion sensor ignores your pets but catches intruders

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Home security is a crucial aspect of setting up a smart home. You don’t need a smart home to have a good security system. But, if you have a smart home, it’s a good idea to include some form of security aspects that you’re able to look at while you’re not home. It can provide you with peace of mind to know your home is safe and secure. There are different levels of security that you can incorporate in your home. While you don’t need to opt for a laser grid that you’ve seen in films like Ocean’s Twelve or Entrapment, you can still get some good motion detectors or sensors to alert you if something is going on at your residence when you aren’t there. One that I personally employ is a Ring Alarm Motion Detector and it has some great features that I’ve enjoyed for years. Related This $15 smart home gadget gives me more peace of mind than a security camera I use it for a lot of reasons. My home is …

Tell us: how were you affected by grief over a pet?

Tell us: how were you affected by grief over a pet?

Published by Sam Flores

Grief over the death of a pet could be as chronic as that for a human family member, according new research published in the academic journal PLOS One. According to the study, grieving pet owners can suffer from prolonged grief disorder (PGD) – although currently only those grieving the loss of a person can be diagnosed. This mental health condition, brought about by the death of a loved one, can last months or even years, and often involves intense longing and despair, problems socialising and going about daily tasks. We would like to hear from those who have experienced the death of a beloved pet. What did your pet mean to you and your family? How were you affected by your loss? Share your experience You can tell us about how you were affected by grief over your pet using this form. Your responses, which can be anonymous, are secure as the form is encrypted and only the Guardian has access to your contributions. We will only use the data you provide us for the …