Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 8, 2017

Doggone: Your Best Friend Is Red-Green Colorblind

If you're ever deciding between throwing a red ball or a green ball for your dog to fetch, know this: It doesn't matter to Fido because dogs are red-green colorblind, a new small study suggests. Researchers in Italy tested 16 dogs on their color vision and found the canids had...

Nov 17, 2017

Puppy Love: Owning a Dog Linked to Better Heart Health

Good news for dog owners: Man's best friend may help lower a person's risk of heart disease, a new study from Sweden finds. In the study, the researchers looked at the relationship between dog ownership and cardiovascular health. The results suggest that dog owners have a lower risk of heart...

Nov 20, 2017

8,000-Year-Old Rock Art Includes the World's Oldest Images of Dogs

Etched into the rock walls of dried-out valleys and slopes in the Arabian Peninsula, the 8,000-year-old hunting scenes even feature some dogs on leashes. Those images —the oldest archaeological evidence of dog leashes —suggest humans were controlling and training dogs even before they settled down into farming communities. The dog...

Nov 27, 2017

Attack of the (Adorable) Clones: Puppies Are 'Reclones' of First Cloned Dog

Purebred puppies from the same litter tend to look pretty much the same. But a trio of littermates born recently in Korea don't just closely resemble each other — they're clones that share nuclear DNA from the same cells. In fact, those cells originated in a dog that was also...

Nov 28, 2017

'Bone Treats' for Dogs Linked with 90 Pet Illnesses, 15 Deaths

Dog owners may want to get their pets gifts this holiday season, but you probably don't want to literally throw them a bone. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning dog owners that pet products known as bone treats — which are real bones that are processed and...

Nov 29, 2017

Your Dog Might Be Licking Its Mouth Because It Thinks You’re a Jerk

When your best friend catches you in a bad mood, does she try to console you, give you space to cool off or lick her own face in an uncontrollable slobber? If your best friend is a dog, this third reaction may be familiar to you. Dogs lick their own...

Dec 4, 2017

New 3D-printed Mask Helps Heal Puppy's Fractured Skull

A new 3D-printed mask helped a puppy in California heal after its face was severely wounded in an attack by another dog. The puppy, a 4-month-old female Staffordshire bull terrier named Loca, arrived at the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine with a fractured cheekbone and jawbone —...

Dec 5, 2017

Why Do Dogs Chew Everything?

For dog owners, the following scenario may be all too familiar: You get home from a long day of work only to find your favorite slippers in tatters on the floor, scattered pieces of foam torn from the sofa cushions and teeth marks running up the legs of your wooden...

Dec 20, 2017

Dog-Mauling Death: Why Dogs Turn on Their Owners

After a woman in Virginia was reportedly mauled to death by her own dogs, some of her friends had trouble believing the story, because the woman had a strong bond with her dogs. But what could cause a dog to turn on its owner? The 22-year-old woman, Bethany Lynn Stephens,...

Dec 21, 2017

Poor Pups: Chocolate Poisonings in Dogs Spike During Christmastime

'Tis the season … in which chocolate treats poison pet dogs, according to a new study from England. The research found that pups are four times more likely to go to the veterinarian for chocolate poisoning during Christmastime than any non-holiday time of the year. The findings may help raise...

Dec 22, 2017

If Dogs Can Smell Cancer, Why Don't They Screen People?

Dogs can be trained to be cancer-sniffing wizards, using their sensitive noses to detect cancerous fumes wafting from diseased cells. This sniffing is noninvasive and could help diagnose countless people, which begs the question: If these pups are so olfactorily astute, why aren't they screening people for cancer right now?...

Jan 9, 2018

A Nose for Loot? Dogs Training to Sniff Out Stolen Artifacts

A team of scientists will train dogs to see if the animals can sniff out looted artifacts from the Middle East that are being smuggled into the United States. Dogs have a greater sense of smell than humans and are already being used to sniff out bombs, drugs and ivory....

Jan 27, 2018

Killer Color: Dog's Life Endangered by Human Hair Dye

A dog suffered life-threatening injuries after its fur was colored with human hair dye, according to a Florida-based animal shelter. The dog, a Maltese mix named Violet, was found with most of her fur dyed purple, according to Pinellas County Animal Services (PCAS), which recently shared Violet's story on Facebook....

Feb 1, 2018

Are Dogs More Likely To Bite You If You're Anxious?

If you regularly feel anxious, you might be the perfect candidate for a dog bite. According to a new study published today (Feb. 1) in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, dog bites in the United Kingdom may be three times more common than official records indicate. One surprising...

Feb 9, 2018

Humans Cared for Sick Puppies Long Ago, Ancient Burial Shows

Ancient people likely cared for a sick, domesticated pup for weeks on end before it died about 14,000 years ago during the Paleolithic era, a new study finds. After it died, the dog was buried with the remains of another dog and an adult man and woman — making it...