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ut across the plains of South Dakota, over 1,500 bison (Bison bison bison) were rounded up recently as part of efforts to protect the species and maintain the health of the herd. Every year, the Custer State Park holds this annual health check to make sure the bison are thriving and help to vaccinate the year's new calves. Moving these animals, where the males can reach as tall as 1.82 meters (6 feet) and weigh approximately 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds), is no small matter – and keeping the species safe is vitally important. Bison used to be plentiful across the...

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Last week, a Native American botanist argued that the genetic modification of crops is a form of rape. Perhaps the next step in the #MeToo movement involves returning to the low crop yields before the Green Revolution, which saved billions of lives by making food more available through genetic modification, among other things. Robin Wall Kimmerer, a botanist, member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at SUNY-Syracuse, called corn "one of our deepest and oldest relatives." In an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio, she humanized corn as the "Corn Mother,"...

VIDEO I am seeking breeding advice for Teddy the male Golden Retriever whom you can see in this video at my sister-in-law's house where he lives. If you have any advice please post them in the comments. One big question I have is WHEN Teddy will be ready for breeding. He was born last November and now appears to be full grown or at least close to it. Hopefully, Teddy's future breeding sessions will calm him down because as you can see he is now extremely hyperactive.

An Oxford University professor Dr. Young-hae Chi has claimed aliens are already breeding with humans to create a new hybrid species that will save the planet. Poor Dr. Chi, he has stumbled across the story of the century, but hasn’t the foggiest idea why his ‘crazy theory’ is actually largely correct. And the funny part is, all it would take to clear things up for the good doctor is a King James bible from his local Five and Dime shop. Aliens interbreeding with humans, eh? Yep, that happened in Genesis 6 3,500 years ago, and Matthew 24 says that in...

Dr Chi said it was 'not only scientists and theologians, but also non-human species who appear to be greatly concerned about the survivability of the human species.' Reversing climate change now would not only save the world but would also prove to aliens that their low estimation of humans' moral capacity was wrong, he said. He added: 'It may be more or less assumed that the hybrid project is a response to this impending demise of human civilisation.' His new book, which is written in Korean, is called Alien Visitations and the End of Humanity. There are four types of...

Historically, scarlet macaws lived from South America to eastern coastal Mexico and Guatemala, thousands of miles from the American Southwest. Previously, researchers thought that ancestral Puebloan people might have traveled to these natural breeding areas and brought birds back, but the logistics of transporting adolescent birds are difficult. None of the sites where these early macaw remains were found contained evidence of breeding—eggshells, pens or perches. "We were interested in the prehistoric scarlet macaw population history and the impacts of human direct management," said George. "Especially any evidence for directed breeding or changes in the genetic diversity that could co-occur...

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Police were called to a residence on Laurel Ave. just before 6 p.m. on Friday for reports of a pit bull attack. A 10-year-old girl suffered substantial injuries from the attack, especially to the facial area. The injuries are not life-threatening, but the girl was taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center for surgery. "In 20 years of law enforcement, I've seen lots of stuff. This one was rather difficult to see her in the hospital. I haven't seen anything quite like that in my career," said Lieutenant Jake Ritonya. Police said the pit bull...

View Academic Paper DogsBite.org was recently introduced to a variety of works by internationally acclaimed animal behaviorist Alexandra Semyonova -- born in the U.S. and educated at John Hopkins University and University College London. Semyonova writes with breathtaking honesty about issues that matter the most: the reality of selecting for aggression and the repeated denial by humane organizations and dog breeders that such selection bears no hereditary significance. Semyonova's 8-page academic paper explains, in easily understandable terms, the roots and results of selective breeding. Semyonova states in the opening sentence, "Probably everyone understands that all dog breeds we have created...

For Hispanic girls in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the United States and elsewhere, the 15th birthday marks the most lavish celebration of their lives. Designating a girl’s transition from childhood to adulthood, the quinceañera is a two-part festivity that traces back to both indigenous and European cultural traditions and has become an increasingly opulent affair in recent years. Parents may even spend more on their daughters' "Sweet 15" quinceañeras than their weddings, in fact, which is why some refer them as mini bodas, or miniature weddings. Not counting the birthday presents a young girl might receive, a low-end quinceañera in...

On Monday, while a stopgap spending measure was being approved in the Senate as part of a new February deadline for immigration reform, a curious teaser video appeared online. “What if there was a smarter way that gave people the power to freely enter and reenter the United States with just a few taps of their smartphone?” a narrator asked. What if? The slick 72-second spot had largely slipped under the radar, with a mere 59 views at the time it was abruptly taken offline Wednesday evening. That’s something of an irony, considering it’s for a mobile app we’re told...

Science Newsfrom research organizations Breeding humans: Utopias from the early modern period Date: March 29, 2016 Source: Ruhr-Universitaet-Bochum Summary: The idea to improve humans and to optimise procreation emerged long before genetic engineering. As far back as the 18th century, concepts did exist that appear unthinkable from the modern perspective. Share: FULL STORY The idea to improve humans and to optimise procreation emerged long before genetic engineering. As far back as the 18th century, concepts did exist that appear unthinkable from the modern perspective. In the wake of the Enlightenment, medical sciences rose to power, and economists and administrative scientists...

A Berlin court has ordered a cat owner to have her hairless Sphynx cat castrated – because it would be animal cruelty to let the naked pet breed. Willi, a Canadian Sphynx, belongs to Berlin cat breeder Jacqueline Linke. True to his breed, Willi is almost completely hairless – a quality that makes Sphynx cats popular choices for those with pet allergies. Despite his questionable appearance, Willi emerged as champion in the 2013 Pedigree Cat Exhibition in Berlin, and has gone on to become a proud father to three naked kittens. However, Willi won't get to pass on his genes...

**SNIP** The second giraffe, coincidentally also named Marius, lives at the Danish Jyllands Park Zoo. To make room for a female giraffe it plans to acquire, the zoo plans to put down its 7-year-old male, balancing out genders in the facility. “We can't have two males and one female. Then there will be fights,” zoo keeper Janni Lojtved Poulsen told Danish news agency Ritzau. “If the breeding program coordinator decides that he should be put down, then that's what we'll do,” Poulsen said. **SNIP** "It is no secret that animals are killed when there is no longer space, or if...

The common perception of purebred dogs is that they are more striking, beautiful animals than they would be without human intervention. However, that notion has been thrown to the dogs. Strong photographic evidence has emerged that shows how 100 years of breeding has actually warped the good looks of the original hounds.

Researchers at China's breeding and research centre were concerned that five-year-old Ke Lin and her partner Yongyong never seemed to be in the mood. So they played the couple a video of pandas mating in the wild to in an effort to get them to mate.

Wealthy British couples who cannot have children are increasingly seeking "wombs for hire" from women overseas, according to figures obtained by The Independent. The number of couples formally registering children born to foreign surrogates has nearly trebled in five years, raising concerns that poor women in developing countries are being exploited by rich Westerners. "Parental orders" granted following surrogacy – to transfer the child from the surrogate mother to the commissioning parents – have risen from 47 in 2007 to 133 in 2011. While the figures are still relatively small, experts say they understate the true scale of the...

Under the proposed regulations, breeders or others who sell a puppy sight unseen, by any means including online, by mail or by telephone, would now be regulated in accordance with USDA standards, if you own more than four "breeding females" of any of the listed species, including dogs and cats. The effect of these proposed regulations would be to take away the public’s opportunity to obtain puppies from those breeders, who in many cases have dedicated their lives to breeding for health, breed type and temperament. As the leader and expert in breeding and maintaining dogs for more than a...

Australian ethicist working at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics claims that humanity has a “moral obligation” to use in vitro fertilization (IVF) to select the most intelligent embryos for the good of society, with the obvious implication that the less intelligent “surplus” embryos should simply be destroyed. Professor Julian Savulescu of Melbourne made the statement while commenting on an economic modeling research paper by Oxford University ethicists Andres Sandberg and Nick Bostrom, who claim that a rise in humanity’s IQ would result in a reduction in poverty, welfare dependency, crowding of jails, school dropout rates, out-of-wedlock births, and...

VHEMT (pronounced vehement) is a movement not an organization. It’s a movement advanced by people who care about life on planet Earth. We’re not just a bunch of misanthropes and anti-social, Malthusian misfits, taking morbid delight whenever disaster strikes humans. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Voluntary human extinction is the humanitarian alternative to human disasters. We don’t carry on about how the human race has shown itself to be a greedy, amoral parasite on the once-healthy face of this planet. That type of negativity offers no solution to the inexorable horrors which human activity is causing. Rather, The...