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Results tagged “dogs” from NatGeo News Watch

Sniffer dogs help survey Vietnam's elusive rhino population

Posted on November 23, 2009 | 0 Comments

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We've all observed the intensity with which dogs sniff poop, and where poop comes from. Apparently their powerfully sensitive noses can gather much useful information from whatever fragrances exude from scat, and presumably the information tells them a lot about the individual who dropped it.

Now conservationists are putting this canine talent to good use lto locate the dung of what might be the rarest large mammal on the planet--the seldom-seen Javan rhino of Vietnam.

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Drawing of a Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus)

© WWF-Canon/Helmut Diller

Two sniffer dogs from the United States are helping conservationists determine the population status of the Javan rhino in the Southeast Asian country, WWF-Vietnam said in a recent statement.

WWF researchers have teamed up with national park rangers to determine the population status of the rhinos in the forests of southern Vietnam, home to one of the world's last two remaining populations of the species, the conservation charity said.

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Simon Mahood, member of the WWF rhino project in Vietnam, with dog "Chevy," who is trained  to detect dung of the rare Javan rhino in the forests of Vietnam.

© WWF Greater Mekong

The Javan rhino is Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Three different subspecies of Javan rhino are recognized.

The most abundant subspecies (R. sondaicus sondaicus) lives only in Ujung Kulon National Park, Java, with approximately 40 to 60 individuals remaining.

The subspecies once found in Bengal, Assam, and Myanmar (R. sondicus inermis) is now extinct.

The third subspecies (R. sondaicus annamiticus) survives only in Vietnam, and is the subject of this population survey.

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Javan Vietnamese rhinoceros caught by a camera trap in the forests of southern Vietnam.

© WWF Greater Mekong

Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus was thought to be extinct on mainland Southeast Asia until hunters in Vietnam killed an individual in 1988, WWF said. It is believed less than ten remain, but no conclusive survey has ever been conducted to verify this.

"The Javan rhino is possibly the rarest large mammal on Earth," said Sarah Brook, leader of the WWF rhino project in Vietnam. "This field survey aims to reveal the secrets of Vietnam's little known Javan rhino population in an effort to save it from extinction."

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Dung of a Javan Vietnamese rhinoceros  sniffed out by dogs.

 © WWF Greater Mekong

Samples of rhino dung located by the dogs will be sent to Queen's University in Canada where DNA analysis will detect the sex and number of animals. The Zoological Society of London will carry out a hormone analysis to show the animal's breeding capability.

sniffer-dog-photo-2.jpgSniffer dog "'Pepper," who is trained  to detect dung of the rare Javan rhino in the forests of Vietnam as part of a WWF Greater Mekong rhino project.

© WWF Greater Mekong

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Sniffer dog "Chevy."

© WWF Greater Mekong

Dogs find dung

After just five days of surveying the area, seven rhino dung samples were found, WWF said. "These specimens have given the project team confidence that they will be able to gather all the necessary scientific information. The results of these analyses will used to formulate an urgent rhino conservation plan."

"If we lose the rhino the future does not look good for Vietnam's other rare and endemic species."

"The rhino is not only a rare animal unique to this country, but protecting the rhino is a flagship for conservation efforts in Vietnam," said Hien Tran Minh, country director for WWF-Vietnam. "If we lose the rhino the future does not look good for Vietnam's other rare and endemic species."

The Javan rhino is a highly valued commodity in the illegal wildlife trade, with the rhino horn, skin and feces used for medicinal purposes, WWF said. "Habitat encroachment from agricultural expansion and planned hydropower development also pose increasing threats to this small population."

Rhinomania, a blog written by the WWF team, is publishing updates on the rhino survey as well as on life in the national park. Check out the entries on leeches! 

The health and emotional benefits of human-animal interaction

Posted on September 29, 2009 | 0 Comments

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Does interaction between humans and animals provide significant health benefits?

Many pet owners say that that their animals provide company, happiness, and other emotional fulfillment.

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NGS photo by Howell Walker

"Being around dogs can have a calming effect," pet writer Maryann Mott reported for National Geographic News a few years ago. "Studies have shown that physiological changes occur when people touch dogs: a drop in heart rate, lower blood pressure, and reduced stress."

In a separate news story, Lara Suziedelis Bogle reported that "therapy dogs" seem to boost the health of sick and lonely people. "Most people are familiar with dogs that assist their blind or otherwise disabled owners," Bogle wrote. "Therapy dogs offer a different kind of help. Some pay informal social visits to people to boost their spirits, while others work in a more structured environment with trained professionals like physical therapists and social workers to help patients reach clinical goals, such as increased mobility or improved memory."

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NGS photo by Dean Conger

This fall, the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction (ReCHAI) will explore the many ways animals benefit people of all ages. The opportunity to do this will be at the International Society for Anthrozoology and Human-Animal Interaction Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.

"Lowers blood pressure, encourages exercise, improves psychological health--these may sound like the effects of a miracle drug, but they are actually among the benefits of owning a four-legged, furry pet."

"Lowers blood pressure, encourages exercise, improves psychological health--these may sound like the effects of a miracle drug, but they are actually among the benefits of owning a four-legged, furry pet," ReCHAI said in a statement about the conference.

"Research in this field is providing new evidence on the positive impact pets have in our lives," said Rebecca Johnson, associate professor in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing, the College of Veterinary Medicine and director of ReCHAI. "This conference will provide a unique opportunity to connect international experts working in human-animal interaction research with those already working in the health and veterinary medicine fields."

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NGS photo by William E. Eppridge

The conference, from October 20 to October 25, will feature presentations that will show how beneficial animals can be in the lives of children, families and older adults.

Marty Becker, a veterinary contributor to ABC's "Good Morning America" for more than 12 years, will give a presentation called "The Power of Love: the science and the soul behind that affection-connection we call The Bond."

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NGS photo by W. Robert Moore

Other conference discussions will include ways that human-animal interaction benefits humans and animals, new facets of human-animal interaction, and ways to apply new human-animal interaction knowledge to their fields, the university said. Some of the presentations will highlight the special role of companion animals in facilitating reading and physical activity in children and adults.

"Pets are of great importance to people, especially during hard economic times," Johnson said. "Pets provide unconditional love and acceptance and may be part of answers to societal problems, such as inactivity and obesity."

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NGS photo by Gilbert M. Grosvenor

In 2008 ReCHAI sponsored the "Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound and Stay Fit for Seniors." In the preliminary program, a group of older adults were matched with shelter dogs, while another group of older adults were partnered with a human walk buddy. For 12 weeks, participants were encouraged to walk on an outdoor trail for one hour, five times a week. At the end of the program, researchers measured how much the older adults' activity levels improved.

"The older people who walked their dogs improved their walking capabilities by 28 percent...The older people who walked with humans only had a 4 percent increase in their walking capabilities."

"The older people who walked their dogs improved their walking capabilities by 28 percent," Johnson said. "They had more confidence walking on the trail, and they increased their speed. The older people who walked with humans only had a 4 percent increase in their walking capabilities. The human walking buddies tended to discourage each other and used excuses such as the weather being too hot."

"The few studies that have been conducted suggest that pet ownership may have multiple health and emotional benefits for both children and adults," said James Griffin, a scientist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. "But there has been relatively little rigorous research documenting these benefits and examining how and why they occur. By providing support for this conference and additional research studies, we hope to generate some answers."

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NGS photo by Emory Kristof

The Human-Animal Interaction Conference will bring together people around the world working on similar projects as ReCHAI, Johnson said. These people include nurses, physicians, veterinarians, social workers, psychologists, physical and occupational therapists, and activity directors.

"Today, pets are in more than 60 percent of American homes," said Charlotte McKenney, assistant director of ReCHAI. "Research involving human-animal interaction can be extremely beneficial. More people are incorporating pets into their leisure time, such as making them part of their exercise routines, taking them to dog parks and bringing them to family events."

For more information or to register for the conference, visit the conference Web site.

Obama Family Dog Official Portrait Released by White House

Posted on June 19, 2009 | 1 Comments

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The official portrait of the Obama family dog, "Bo," a Portuguese water dog, on the South Lawn of the White House:

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Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

Bo Obama

Bo is the Obama family's dog.

Breed: Portuguese water dog

Family: President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Malia and Sasha Obama

Unofficial title: First Dog of the United States

Birth: Bo was born in the fall of 2008 in Texas.

First Day at the White House: April 14, 2009

Hobbies: Playing on the White House lawn and going on walks with the Obama family

Goal as First Dog: Make friends with foreign dognitaries

Favorite exercise: Running (and then napping near the Obama girls)

Favorite food: Tomatoes - or toys

Did you know?

  • Bo's name came from two different places: Mrs. Obama's father's nickname was "Diddley" and Malia and Sasha's cousins have a cat named Bo - and another cat named Diddley.
  • Bo was a gift to the Obama family from Senator Ted Kennedy and his wife, Vicki.
  • Even though Bo is a Portuguese water dog, he doesn't know how to swim.

Baseball card information courtesy of the White House

Dog "Guilt" Is All in the Mind of Human Owner, Study Suggests

Posted on June 11, 2009 | 0 Comments

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Dogs look guilty when when they do something they know they shouldn't do, right?

Wrong. The perceived look of shame is all in the owner's imagination, according to research.

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"What dog owner has not come home to a broken vase or other valuable items and a guilty-looking dog slouching around the house," write researchers in the "Canine Behaviour and Cognition" special issue of Elsevier's journal Behavioural Processes. They tested whether dogs really are embarrassed by playing mind tricks on their owners.

"By ingeniously setting up conditions where the owner was misinformed as to whether their dog had really committed an offense, Alexandra Horowitz, assistant professor from Barnard College in New York, uncovered the origins of the 'guilty look' in dogs," Behavioural Processes said in a statement.

 

NGS photo of a dog that is not guilty by Robert Sisson

"Horowitz was able to show that the human tendency to attribute a 'guilty look' to a dog was not due to whether the dog was indeed guilty. Instead, people see 'guilt' in a dog's body language when they believe the dog has done something it shouldn't have--even if the dog is in fact completely innocent of any offense."

Asked to Leave the Room

During the study, owners were asked to leave the room after ordering their dogs not to eat a tasty treat.

While the owner was away, Horowitz gave some of the dogs this forbidden treat before asking the owners back into the room.

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In some trials the owners were told that their dog had eaten the forbidden treat; in others, they were told their dog had behaved properly and left the treat alone.

What the owners were told, however, often did not correlate with reality.

"Whether the dogs' demeanor included elements of the 'guilty look' had little to do with whether the dogs had actually eaten the forbidden treat or not," the journal said.

"Dogs looked most 'guilty' if they were admonished by their owners for eating the treat. In fact, dogs that had been obedient and had not eaten the treat, but were scolded by their (misinformed) owners, looked more 'guilty' than those that had, in fact, eaten the treat.

 

NGS photo by John E. Fletcher and Robert F. Sisson

"Thus the dog's guilty look is a response to the owner's behavior, and not necessarily indicative of any appreciation of its own misdeeds."

This study sheds new light on the natural human tendency to interpret animal behavior in human, the researchers explained.

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"Anthropomorphisms compare animal behavior to human behavior, and if there is some superficial similarity, then the animal behavior will be interpreted in the same terms as superficially similar human actions. This can include the attribution of higher-order emotions such as guilt or remorse to the animal."

The editor of the special issue, Clive D.L. Wynne of the Department of Psychology, University of Florida, explained, "this is a remarkably powerful demonstration of the need for careful experimental designs if we are to understand the human-dog relationship and not just reify our natural prejudices about animal behavior."

NGS photo by Rebecca Hale

Dogs are the oldest domesticated species and have a uniquely intimate role in the lives of millions of people, Wynne added. "Recent research on dogs has indicated more human-like forms of reasoning about what people know than has been demonstrated even in chimpanzees."

The research article "Disambiguating the 'guilty look': Salient prompts to a familiar dog behaviour" by Alexandra Horowitz, appears in Behavioural Processes, Volume 81, Issue 3.

Licks Do Not Raise Risk of Getting Germs From Dogs, Study Finds

Posted on January 27, 2009 | 0 Comments

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NGS/David Boyer

Nearly half of all dog owners share food with their dogs, and more than half allow the dog to sleep in the bed and lick them on the face, according to surveys cited by a Kansas State University veterinarian today.

dog-germs-picture-2.jpgSo what are the health risks associated with such intimate bonding between humans and canines?

"These dog owners are no more likely to share the same strains of E. coli bacteria with their pets than are other dog owners," according to a K-State news release. "Dog owners are more likely to share germs with pets by not washing hands than by sleeping with their dog, or getting licks on the face."

NGS/Emory Kristof

Kate Stenske, a clinical assistant professor at K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine, studied the association between owners and pets as part of her doctoral research at the University of Tennessee. The research will appear in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Veterinary Research.

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Cats Evolved Energy-wasting Slink for Hunting Success

Posted on December 5, 2008 | 0 Comments

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Photo by James L Stanfield/NGS
To all the differences between cats and dogs, add another: They have evolved completely different locomotion efficiencies based on what has given them hunting success.

Duke University scientists studied how cats move when they stalk prey, a slow-motion gait that cautiously places one foot in front of the other. "If they're creeping, they're going to put this foot down, and then that foot down and then that one in an even fashion. We think it has to do with stability and caution," said Daniel Schmitt, a Duke associate professor of evolutionary anthropology.

Dogs depend on an energy-efficient style of four-footed running over long distances to catch their prey.

"Cats seem to have evolved a profoundly inefficient gait, tailor-made to creep up on a mouse or bird in slow motion," the researchers said in a statement. The "study suggests that evolution can behave as differently as dogs and cats."

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Dog Whisperer Talks About the Secrets of His Success

Posted on September 19, 2008 | 1 Comments

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The 100th episode of the hit television show Dog Whisperer airs on National Geographic Channel tonight.

Show host Cesar Millan has earned a reputation for rehabilitating problem pooches as well as training their frustrated owners.

National Geographic News contributor Stefan Lovgren spoke with Millan from his home in Los Angeles about everything from the most challenging cases he's faced to the secrets of his success.


 

Photo courtesy National Geographic Channel

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