By rubbing against the owner’s legs, the cat marks the owner with its own pheromones, demonstrating its trust and love. This is also a way of attracting attention and showing that the cat misses and wants affection.
Cats are excellent manipulators, but hypocrisy can not – immediately show dissatisfaction if they do not like something. For example, the four-legged can refuse food for a few days, if they want something tastier.
Many people may consider a long aeroplane journey, for example to Australia, to be far and difficult, but this is incomparable to what the common swifts can do. They can fly for 10 months!
Although back in the 1970s ornithologist Ronald Lockley allowed such an ability in the common swift, it wasn’t until 2016 that a team of researchers from the University of Lund, Sweden, confirmed it.
The team tracked 13 adults by tagging them with small devices to record flight data. It turned out that some swifts spend only a couple of months on the ground during the breeding season, and the rest of the time they are in flight. This is an impressive achievement for such a small bird, weighing around 40 grams.
According to Eicher, parvovirus is a contagious and potentially fatal disease that dogs and wolves are susceptible to. She pointed out that vaccination is a key way to protect animals from the disease.
The veterinarian explained that the virus affects the dog’s intestines, preventing the absorption of vital nutrients, which causes the animal to become weakened. Among the symptoms of parvovirus, Eicher highlighted diarrhoea with blood, loss of appetite, nausea and fever.
The Javan tiger was last spotted by scientists in 1976, but locals still occasionally report seeing tigers on the island to this day. The authors of the new research paper say they have been able to confirm that the species may still exist. They came to the conclusion after analysing a single hair from a plantation in West Java.
The DNA obtained from the hair closely matched DNA from the skin of a Javan tiger kept in the museum. That said, geneticists have found inconsistencies in their colleagues’ work, calling into question the validity of the study.
It is well known that dogs can understand the words spoken to them and perform the actions required of them, but Hungarian researchers have found that it is not limited to this. Thus, according to experts, when dogs hear certain words, they can imagine objects that correlate with them.
Scientists have emphasised that dogs are able to activate their memory of an object when they hear the corresponding name at the mention of an object. In order to find out, scientists conducted a series of tests aimed at learning more about how dogs perceive words and objects. The animals’ brain activity was measured using electroencephalography.
During the test, 18 dog owners voiced the names of toys that were familiar to their pets and, in parallel, showed either the appropriate object or the inappropriate object.
Watermelon snow, also sometimes called “glacier blood”, is an amazing phenomenon of snow staining pink.
The pink hue is the result of algae living in the snow, which acquires its characteristic pink colour only in the sun. Curiously, watermelon snow is said to have a fruity flavour, but if you don’t want to get poisoned, it’s best not to try it.
The algae Chlamydomonas nivalis, which has the ability to survive at low temperatures, produces a pigment to protect against UV radiation. This pigment includes carotenoids, which are also found in carrots, tomatoes and peppers. It is these pigments that give plants, algae and bacteria their yellow, orange and, you guessed it, sometimes pink colours.
Wildflowers, like most other plants, seem to be suffering from the effects of climate change and the lack of insect pollinators. However, scientists have discovered something very surprising: plants have evolved to do without insects.
Insect pollination is one of the most common forms of plant reproduction worldwide, with more than 80% of flowering species relying on bees or butterflies to fertilise their seeds. However, researchers have recently discovered that some wildflowers growing on farmland have evolved to self-pollinate.
Four populations of field pansies(Viola arvensis) growing near Paris were compared with populations grown in the laboratory from seeds collected between 1992 and 2001.
Experts analysed 73 urban and peri-urban agricultural facilities in America, Europe and Britain, assessing the life cycle of infrastructure, irrigation and supply of these facilities. As a result, the researchers concluded that the carbon footprint of food from urban and peri-urban gardens is six times greater than that of conventional agriculture – 420 grams of carbon versus 70 grams per serving of food.
The infrastructure used to grow food emits the most carbon. The scientists who conducted the study advise banning private vegetable gardens.
A year-long study by scientists has found that 4,200 chemical compounds found in plastic are dangerous. These include raw ingredients, colouring agents and stabilisers.
More than 400 of the hazardous substances identified in the report are in widely popular plastic products such as food packaging.
As past studies have shown, some plastic substances, like phthalates, can cause reproductive dysfunction and increase the likelihood of childhood asthma. Polyfluoroalkyl substances and perfluoroalkyls increase the risk of cancer and immune system disorders.
Mount Shasta in California, reaching a height of 4,322 metres, is a stratovolcano or compound volcano with a typical conical shape formed by four overlapping volcanic cones. It is an attractive destination for mountaineers, hikers and skiers due to its bright and highly visible summit covered in snow. However, the mountain is also popular with those seeking spiritual experiences or supernatural phenomena.
Indigenous legends, including Shasta, Wintu, Achomawi, Atsugevi, Moduk and Klamath, associate the mountain with various spirits and guardians. For these ethnic groups, the mountain has an ancient sacred history, and local lore illustrates the deep connection between people and nature in the area.