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Pets

Tearjerker video shows Golden Retriever enjoy one last visit to the yard she grew up in

"She knew what was gong on."

@honey.andherhumans/TikTok

Hug you fur babies tight.

Having our beloved fur babies cross the rainbow bridge is devastating, but it’s a blessing when we are able to say goodbye in an intentional way. Bestowing them their favorite treats, setting up a special place for one last cuddle, visiting one of their favorite haunts…these little rituals don’t necessarily take the pain away, but they do help us feel like we did our part to thank our beloved creatures for a lifetime of pure love.

For the family of Nala the Golden Retriever, that meant taking her to the yard she created so many childhood memories in for one last bask in the sun.

In a video posted to TikTok, we see sweet Nala being carried by dad, all smiles and tail wags. As one of her owners wrote in the caption, she seemed to “know what was going on,” and was letting her family know that “she was going to be okay.”


@honey.andherhumans I’ll love you my whole life Nala ❤️ #goldenretriever #dog #dogs #dogloss ♬ original sound - katherine


Dad, whose face in the video says it all, shared a special relationship with Nala, and considered her his “soul dog.” But really, the entire family gave her lot of love throughout her life, adorning her with beautiful bows, lighting a fire for her to watch after her nightly walks (she had begun sundowning), and offering her sips of yummy matcha.


@honey.andherhumans Nala had all the love in the world 🥹🪽these two together were everything ❤️ #dog #dogs #dogloss #souldog ♬ when the party's over - Billie Eilish


@honey.andherhumans if your dog doesn’t come on your coffee runs is it really a coffee run #dog #dogs #dogtiktok #nj #riposo #riposocoffee #riposocoffeeroasters ♬ original sound - Sofia Coelho


But really, you don’t have to know a thing about Nala to feel moved by this video, because any pet owner who’s lost a fur baby knows exactly how bittersweet these final moments are.

As one person wrote in the comments, “losing a dog is a different kind of pain.” Another echoed, “the hardest part of having dogs.”

Others were quick to offer some words of encouragement.

“In another life, she'll run towards all of you again. with the biggest smile,” one person said, while another added, “I think she got a glimpse of just how many snackies are waiting for her in doggie heaven!”

Two other honorable mentions:

“This is my yard and my dad's got me, all is well.”

“We had some good memories out here, didn’t we?”

Since Nala’s passing, her family has received support in many lovely ways. In the video below, we see a special box for her ashes made by a friend across the country, with the words to the “Rainbow Bridge" poem printed on top.


@honey.andherhumans the most special, thoughtful gift 🥹😭❤️ #dog #dogs #dogloss #dogtiktok ♬ original sound - WBsongs


We sign on to be pet parents knowing that heartbreak is inevitable. That’s why it’s so vital to fill those limited days with as many precious memories as possible for our little angels to take with them onto the other side. Luckily, those can be simple things: a car ride here, special treats there, and, of course, never underestimate the power of cuddles. So, go give your fur baby the biggest hug possible.

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Animals & Wildlife

Why have we domesticated some animals but not others? It comes down to four F's.

An entertaining video explains why we can't ride zebras or breed "war bears."

Photo credit: Canva

Horses were domesticated over 5,000 years ago. Zebras, never.

Humans have domesticated several kinds of animals over the millennia, from trusty horses and mules to livestock for milk and meat to our favorite furry companions. But why those specific animals and not others? What is it that led us to those particular choices? Why can we ride horses but not zebras? Why don't we purposefully breed "war bears" to fight for us?

That last question comes straight from the always-interesting and often-hilarious CGP Grey, whose YouTube videos explore all kinds of things we wonder about but don't necessarily take the time to research. In the video "Why Some Animals Can't Be Domesticated," Grey explains the four main elements that make an animal a good candidate for domestication, which excludes bears (and many others) from the list.

Grey alliterated the four elements to make them easier to remember: Friendly, Feedable, Fecund, and Family-Friendly. Let's dig into what those mean.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Domestication requirement #1: Friendly

This one is fairly self-explanatory, but basically an animal has to not post an inherent, immediate threat. We have to be able to catch them if we're going to domesticate them, so that eliminates all of the "carnivores whose day job is murder" as Grey puts it, as well as the large, nervous prey animals that are too afraid of us to let us get anywhere near them.

wild animals, domesticated animals, gazelleGood luck trying to catch a gazelle.Photo credit: Canva

Domestication requirement #2: Feedable

Every animals is feedable, of course, but that doesn't mean it's easy or cheap to feed them, especially in large numbers. This category pretty much eliminates pure carnivores and some omnivores, leaving mostly herbivores (and some unpicky omnivores) that are easy and cheap to feed. And that aren't dangerous (see #1).

wild animals, domesticated animals, chickens, chicken feedChickens will eat just about anything.Photo credit: Canva

Domestication requirement #3: Fecund

This requirement is all about breeding and babies. Some animals are extremely slow to breed, like pandas and elephants, making them undesirable candidates for domestication. Animals that have mate frequently and have relatively short gestation times and/or large litters are more suited to domesticated life. They also need to grow up quickly, which also takes elephants out of the pool.

However, as Grey points out, humans can still tame other animals like elephants. But taming is not the same as domesticating. The basic rule is: If it's on a farm, it's domesticated. If it's in a circus, it's tamed.

Domestication requirement #4: Family-friendly

This is where the horses and zebras question comes in. Horses were domesticated in Eurasia, but if humans started in Africa, why weren't zebras domesticated first? Grey explains that while horses tend to live in hierarchical herds, zebra are more independent with no family structure. Humans can capture the lead male horse and get the rest of the herd to fall in line. Zebra herds are more of a free-for-all and they're kind of jerks to even one another.

horses, zebras, domesticated animals, wild animalsThere's actually a big difference between horses and zebras besides just the stripes.Photo credit: Canva

Barnyard animals have inherent family structures that humans have figured out how to fit into. These animals learn to see the humans who own them as a lead cow or top chicken or whatever.

Way back in the hunter-gatherer age, when humans were just figuring out animal domestication, animals had to have all four of these requirements. Today, we have the ability and technology to domesticate more animals if we want to, but we also have less of a need to. Some breeds of foxes have recently been domesticated, bred to be friendly with humans. How fun would it be to have a pet fox?

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Technically, a lot more animals could be domesticated if people really wanted to put in multiple human lifetimes of time and effort, but why?

You can follow CGP Grey on YouTube for more fun and informative videos.

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Science

A scientist created a 'utopia' for mice and then they all started dying

The results are fascinating, but are they relevant to humanity?

Canva Photos

How could Mouse Heaven go so terribly wrong?

In 1968 John Calhoun, a scientist and animal behavioralist, decided to create a "utopia" for mice. It would have unlimited food and water, with beautiful nesting spaces and plenty of materials for the mice to make cozy homes with. Sweet experiment! the mice were probably thinking. Much better than the Maybelline trials we're used to.

However, there was a catch, of course. There was one thing the utopia would be lacking, and that would be physical space. As the mouse population grew, overcrowding would become an issue, and Calhoun wanted to study the problems this would potentially cause. That sound you hear is the collective sigh of the disappointed mice who were stoked about the 24/7 all-you-can-eat buffet.

The experiment, dubbed Universe 25, began when Calhoun introduced four mouse "couples" into the utopian complex. A year or so later, it was overrun and the conditions had turned hellish, even though the mice had not run out of food or water.

mouse, mice, animals, science, research, studies"The conditions had turned WHAT?"Giphy

Initially, for just the eight original mice, the square box Calhoun built included 256 nesting boxes (or apartments) stacked on top of one another. Water bottles and food dispensers were located all along the nesting spots, and mice could travel throughout the complex at will via mesh tunnels. The starter mice were also screened for diseases and the population was obviously protected from predators. The climate was controlled and comfortable. Conditions were perfect.

The first mouse pups showed up a little over three months later, with the population of the colony doubling every 55 days. Nineteen months later, there were 2200 mice living inside the box. With such perfect surroundings, the infant mortality rate was practically zero, leading to the rapid rise in numbers.

mice, mouse experiments, scientific research, animal experiments, overpopulationJohn Calhoun poses with his rodents inside the mouse utopia.Yoichi R Okamoto, Public Domain


By month 19, this rodent utopia had become an overcrowded hellscape. Calhoun noticed three alarming trends, in particular.

In short, everything was devolving into chaos and the very society of the mice began to collapse at a rapid rate.

The "Beautiful Ones" and the "Dropouts": Mice have a complex social hierarchy ruled by dominant alpha males. Sam Kean of Science History Institute Museum & Library notes that, in the wild, non-dominant males (the ones who lose macho showdowns) can skip town and start over somewhere else. But in the close quarters of Calhoun's experiment, with nowhere to hide, they were forced to hang around and viciously battle with each other over scraps. Eventually, non-dominant male mice, which Calhoun called the "Beautiful Ones," withdrew from society completely and only ate, slept, and groomed themselves.

Though resources were unlimited, certain aggressive males hoarded them anyway: The alpha males ruled over everything in the once-utopian mouse society. They kept harems of females in the apartments to mate with and fought fiercely to defend their territory. But new waves of hungry young male mice kept coming and coming, and eventually even the most dominant alphas abandoned their posts. This led to more attacks on nursing females, which in turn led to more mothers kicking their pups out of the nest early.

Birth rate declined dramatically: With the non-dominant males giving up completely and focusing on #SelfCare, dominant males too exhausted from endless battles, and females sick and tired of it all (many became asexual hermits by the end), stopped mating and giving birth entirely. Once this happened, the society was doomed. Even with plenty of food still available, cannibalism was rampant.

Calhoun was not shy about drawing parallels between his research and humanity. "I shall largely speak of mice, but my thoughts are on man, on healing, on life and its evolution," he once wrote.


mice, mouse experiments, scientific studies, universe 25, sociology, overpopulationAlpha male mice, anyone? Photo by Kanashi on Unsplash

There are aspects of his wild experiment that certainly sound familiar.

We live in a world with plenty of resources for everyone, but a few select people hoard more than their fair share. When you think of the rodent "apartments," it's hard not to picture densely packed urban environments where people are stacked on top of each other at every turn. Maybe on some level some of us can relate to the “Beautiful Ones” and their urge to not participate in all the ugliness and just sequester and groom themselves. You can make an argument that when the mice stopped having to worry about food and shelter, it removed the element of challenge from their lives and left them lost–like many of us are lucky enough to not have to wonder where our next meal comes from, and maybe that has something to do with our never-ending search for meaning. Some even go so far as to link more people choosing to delay having children, or not have children at all, with the collapsing society of the mice.

But Calhoun's work has also been heavily scrutinized, with some claiming it's based on shaky science. And in the end, there’s the small matter that humans are not mice. We are infinitely more complicated, and so much better suited to adapting to our environments. Kean writes, "Ultimately Calhoun’s work functions like a Rorschach blot—people see what they want to see."

It's fascinating and thought-provoking nonetheless.

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Animals & Wildlife

A crow had to solve a 9-puzzle escape room to get some chicken nuggets. Watch her ace it.

It's no secret that crows are smart, but this is incredible to witness.

Photo credit: Canva

Crows are so smart it's almost hard to believe.

When you think of some of the smartest animals on Earth, you may think of dolphins, chimps, elephants, or even the surprisingly intelligent octopus. But do you think of crows?

We've learned a lot about crow intelligence since scientists ramped up research on corvids in the 1990s and 2000s, and we're still discovering things crows can do that people didn't think were possible. Some reports estimate that crows have the approximate reasoning and memory skills of a 7-year-old human, which is pretty darn impressive-sounding. But to watch that intelligence on display is truly mind-blowing.

crow, intelligence, stacking rings, toy, learning, corvidsCrow GIFGiphy

Mark Rober, famous for his videos detailing elaborate experiments and breaking them down so that kids can understand them, found himself in a feud with a bird after his doorbell camera captured a neighborhood crow repeatedly stealing his DoorDash deliveries. In fact, the crow was so adept at scoping out his porch, recognizing when a delivery person was there, and grabbing his chicken nuggets as soon as the coast was clear that Rober felt like he was being targeted. After the crow knocked over his drink one day for no reason and then flew away cackling, Rober said he felt like the crow was bullying him.

Wanting to see exactly how smart these birds really are, Rober decided to dig in with his own experiment. He procured a rescued crow named Cheryl from a bird sanctuary and began setting up small tasks and puzzles to observe her behavior for a few months.

crows, crow behavior, tasks, intelligence, smart animals crows GIFGiphy

"It was really interesting to see how her curiosity would drive her to figure out clever ways to interact with objects in her environment, occasionally motivated by a strategically placed treat," said Rober. "It became clear she had a few favorite objects she loved to play with, [such as a] wooden ball, as she demonstrated a surprisingly deep understanding of cause and effect."

Rober then set up a 9-puzzle gauntlet for the crow to complete in order to get a reward—the coveted "nugs" that the neighborhood crow had been so keen on. But first, he had a group of kids complete the puzzles to demonstrate the difficulty level of them and what kind of reasoning or understanding they required.

From water displacement to facial recognition to cup stacking to tool creation, watching kids complete these puzzles and then watching a crow do it—sometimes better or faster than the children—is really something.

Cheryl's run through the escape room-style gauntlet begins at the 12:45 mark, but the whole thing is worth watching:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

The fact that the first puzzle required some understanding of physics made it a seemingly difficult place to start, but Cheryl figured out the first solution faster than the kids did. Several of the puzzles relied on activities Cheryl had previously engaged in in her enclosure, but that doesn't really diminish the impressiveness of what she figured out. Realizing that she needed a hook to get the little bucket out of the cylinder and then using her claws and beak to create one? Are you kidding? And the fact that see seemed to leave a dunked chicken nugget as a gift for Rober when all was said and done? Incredible.

People were blown away watching Cheryl solve the puzzles in sequence, and some commenters even shared experiences they've had with crows.

"My dad ended up getting trained by the neighborhood crows to do tricks for them... One day he noticed the crows throwing walnuts to the ground, clearly trying to break them but without much success, so he picked up the walnuts, stomped on them until they broke, and put them on the sidewalk for the crows. He did that a few more times on separate occasions, and the next thing he knew, the crows were waiting for him just to drop walnuts straight under his feet when he was passing by. They'd call him to get his attention if he didn't notice them. They trained him very well indeed... :)"

crow, corvid, crow intelligence, birds, mark roberCrows are some of the most intelligent birds on Earth.Photo credit: Canva

"You mentioned the crows throwing nuts in front of cars to open them. I have seen a fun variation on this. When I was a royal guard, and walking guarding outside a particular castle, the crows had noticed that we walked very particular routes, so particular that you can actually see the routes as the stones are more worn there. We had steel under our boots to make sound, and they would throw their nuts on my route, using me as they do cars to open their nuts."

"I got goosebumps this was such a cool video! I have been cultivating my girlfriend relationship with my neighborhood crows now for the last 3 years. They leave me presents, they come by all the time to say hello, and follow me on my walks. One of my neighbors lovingly called me birdman yesterday, and I couldn't help but smile. Thank you for this, Mr. Rober."

"You brought up crows doing things for fun. I used to live over in West Hollywood and would head up Runyan Canyon for exercise. The crows used to love diving down the side of the canyon and then doing barrel rolls once they hit top speed. They are some of the most imaginative creatures for their size and intelligence."

Seriously, crows are incredible. Just don't get on their bad side, apparently. They'll recognize you and torment you just for the fun of it.

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