ThinkingShift

Following a recent post, which in part highlighted a senseless act of cruelty against a defenseless animal, comes some good news for a change. But first: just imagine for a moment that you are confined to a small cage, with no room to simply turn around or stretch out your limbs. Any natural movement of your body is totally restricted. Day in day out you are in this cage. Artificial lights glare down on you relentlessly. Up to nine other tormented individuals probably occupy the cage with you. You get no exercise and you’re in this cage for up to 12 months, in a gloomy shed that holds maybe 100,000 other individuals living in the same conditions. You become increasingly stressed, anxious and depressed. And you’re in pain.

Are you a prisoner of war? Nope, you’re a battery hen. Probably debeaked cruelly with a hot machine when you were a day or so old and now forced to live out your life in miserable, cramped conditions. Or you might be a pig or calf or sow.

A couple of months back, I told you about a book I’d finished reading: Why Animals Matter by Erin Williams and Margo Demello. One of the co-authors, Erin Williams, contacted me and is keeping ThinkingShift up to date with latest developments in animal welfare. Erin works for the Humane Society in the US and has just alerted me to a Pew Commission Report on Industrial Farm Animal Production. You can read the Humane Society’s story about this report on their website. But in a nutshell, the report says:

• factory farms pose unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and animal welfare (anyone thinking bird flu?)
• a phase-out of inhumane practices such as battery cages is recommended
• the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act has qualified for the November ballot in California after 800,000 Californians signed petitions (go California!)
• the ballot initiative prescribes that cages and crates on factory farms get the boot so that the most basic right - the right to simply stretch and move about - is granted to animals

The Pew Commission report follows a two-year investigation and site visits to facilities across America and industry leaders, animal experts, scientists and so on were consulted. And it seems that Colorado, Florida, Arizona and Oregon are following California’s lead by gathering signatures to ban gestation crates and legislate against animal abuse.

So a good news story! If you’d like to inform yourself about how calves and pigs live out their sorry lives in inhumane conditions, then read this story from the Humane Society. Hint: don’t read while eating as you’ll probably throw up.

Let’s stop worrying about whether we have the latest designer handbag or whether we are paid enough to do our jobs so we can afford THE BRANDS and the McMansion- let’s spend a moment thinking about the sorry lives of some of our planet’s species. After all, it is us who inflict such pain and suffering on these poor creatures.

Thx to Erin and the Humane Society of the United States for the story.

I want you to read this news item that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald last week. I simply can’t bring myself to describe what happened, so I’m going to ask you to read the article instead. Once you have, I’m sure you’ll be staggered by this senseless and cruel act. There is no reason to believe the woman was lying or exaggerating. Okay, perhaps it wasn’t the smartest thing to do: walking late at night, a woman alone, in an isolated industrial estate. I’ll be very interested to see if the area was monitored by CCTV: here’s where I would agree with CCTV if it can identify the “hoons” and send them off for punishment.

I’m sure that people think of Sydney as a safe place, with a glittering harbour, good food, plenty of sunshine and so on. On the whole, it’s a great place to live but I’ve been noting subtle (and not so subtle) changes of late. I’m noticing a lot more homeless people or people sitting on the sidewalks near Martin Place asking for spare change. Over the last month, about five people have come up to me asking for money. Every city has its underbelly of homeless or struggling people, but as I was growing up, it was a rare sight indeed to see people asking for money. What really gets me is whilst I give them whatever spare change I have, besuited people rush on by, almost as though to look at a person who is struggling or dirty is abhorrent.

And we seem to be witnessing a rise in unbelievable acts of violence. Melbourne has also been suffering of late with its fair share of crazed people. A young man in his late 20s was quietly reading his book on a train when a “speed-using schizophrenic” fatally stabbed the man with a serrated knife without provocation or warning. Apparently, the man who did the stabbing said his victim was “looking at me the wrong way”.

Of course, we live in a selfish society: it’s all about ME. So we indulge ourselves with drugs that mess with the mind; we want our 15 minutes of fame because we believe we have stuff to say (and that people actually want to hear it). But I think these two acts in Sydney and Melbourne point to the fact that our society is starting to cross the line. We could say the hoons in the car were (a) simply evil or (b) on some sort of drug trip and that the Melbourne incident occurred because our society prefers to ignore the plight of the mentally ill and so they are often not appropriately medicated or integrated into mainstream society.

Or we could say that there is something deep-rooted in contemporary society, something disturbing and unsettling. Whilst we are busy worrying about ME and whether ME is known and worshipped by OTHERS; and whilst we’re worrying about whether ME is paid well enough or has a big enough house - what we don’t fully appreciate is that we are isolating ourselves, drawing a tight boundary around ourselves. And this is leading IMHO to looking at others with suspicion. Trust is dead, kaput in our society. So we have CCTV cams because WE can’t be trusted by the State and private corporations; we protect ourselves from increasing abnormal behaviour by installing security alarms. We are not friendly and welcoming or helpful and caring. We are aggressive, self-centred and prone to poking fun at anything “different”.

We’re a narcissistic society - the result of post-WWII innovation and increasing prosperity, good employment opportunities and unlimitless BRANDS to choose from. We’ve grown fat and lazy like the contented domestic cat wallowing away the hours on comfy cushions. We have road-rage, steroid-rage, obviously now “pet-rage”. We’re angry and feeling vulnerable. I think that modern capitalism has led to this - it has weakened unique cultures, traditions and values and left people confused about who they are and what they stand for. We (the West) are now culturally weak. The irony is that we are told to be “multi-cultural” and respect other cultures. Fine, but we fail to really understand those cultures or find out anything about their traditions - we simply pay lip-service. And this leads to kindergarten battles over whether Santa Claus and his “ho ho ho” is offensive to other cultures. It’s descended into a struggle for the soul of Christmas.

I suspect that Samuel Huntington was indeed right: the clash of civilisations is the pattern of conflict replacing the Cold War. Huntington said: It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.

And so in a world that is facing the War on Terror, war on drugs, rage, aggression and anger - how can we not as individuals feel that our culture and self is being threatened. So we lash out or we take back control (for example controlling our bodies, hence eating disorders and diet obsessions). In no way do I think this excuses what happened to the pet dog or the train victim - these sorry and frightening incidents are symptoms of what’s coursing through the veins of Western society.

I remember that this essay by Mark Steyn had a profound impact on me when it was published in the WSJ in 2006. His bold statement is: Much of what we loosely call the Western world will not survive this century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most Western European countries.

And if Huntington is right about the clash of civilisations, then Steyn’s essay I think shows us that perhaps we don’t need to worry about whether the planet is heating up - because humans won’t be around at the rate we’re going.

A busy week this week, so no time for daily posts. But here’s a question for you - if you chuck a whole lot of domestic cats under a bird feeder, would they all be salivating at the thought of a yummy bird dinner and should the birds be extremely nervous? According to Science Daily, the birds can go on stuffing their faces happily because it seems that domestic cats aren’t interested.

A research team, looking into bird feeding habits, found evidence that a flurry of bird activity around feeding does not necessarily increase birds’ risk of predation. And for some odd reason, the presence of feeders is associated with lower levels of predation by domestic cats. We could conclude a number of things:

• domestic kitties are just plain dumb (cat lovers: don’t send me an abusive email, I don’t believe cats are dumb)
• domestic kitties are so well fed they can’t be bothered leaping up to capture a bird dinner from the feeder on the balcony
• kitties, after thousands of years of domestication and being worshipped as cat gods in Egypt, are used to the luxury life of sleeping on cushions or gazing out a window for hours. So they’ve had the hunting instinct bred out of them.

And my History of LOLCats post continues to be ThinkingShift’s No 1 post and after a spot of research and help from a ThinkingShift reader, I have now uncovered further historical details. LOLCats were around in the Medieval era. How insidious these cats are! No new cultural craze these LOLCats; they have a solid historical pedigree. You want proof? Check out this marginal illustration from a 14th Century Book of Hours (British Library MS Stowe 17) from the gotmedieval blog:

I will be looking into whether LOLCats actually originated in ancient Egypt

Perhaps my colleagues Luke Naismith and David Rymer can help me out. Both of them are currently lounging around working in Dubai in the heat, dust and sand. Is there something about camels in Dubai I should know about Luke and David?

Dubai’s crown prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (phew!), has just purchased a camel for AUD$2.9 million. Yep, you read correctly - 2.9 million not $2.90. Now, I must say that from the photo, this camel has extremely long eyelashes and a rather appealing face. But I’m not a great lover of camels. I was once on safari in Kenya, in the Masai Mara. It was a 2-week “luxury” camel safari (I think I missed out on the luxury part). I was assigned Stanley the camel, who would guide me safely across the deserts each day. Unfortunately, Stanley and I didn’t see eye to eye. He didn’t like me. I’d go to feed him in the morning, as was our duty whilst on safari, and he’d try to bite and spit.

And then as we were traversing some lonely, dusty part of Kenya in a camel train, Stanley looked off longingly into the distance, made some camel noise and bolted (with me still on said camel). Apparently, Stanley had seen some wild female camels and was lusting after them. The camel train leader had to rescue us both and I traded Stanley in for another camel pronto.

So why would anyone pay millions for a CAMEL?? Does it have diamond-encrusted eyelashes? A tail of gold? Does it have the secret to long life? Has it starred in the latest Indiana Jones film (and therefore had the gorgeous Harrison Ford on its back)? Is it some sort of camel celebrity?

It seems that Dubai recently had a camel beauty pageant (I think they get too much sun over there). And the Sheikh also bought up camels to the tune of AUD $4.8 million. Now, clearly the Sheikh has pots of money and I’m sure he puts it to good use. But a camel beauty pageant?? And paying 4.8 million for CAMELS?

I couldn’t find out any details about these camels to see if they’re special in some way. But I’m concerned about camel discrimination - apparently, the camels are judged in categories based on age and skin colour. Sorry but I didn’t realise that skin colour was an issue with camels. And is there age discrimination going on I ask - if a camel is over 40 years old and a female, is she considered over-the-hill and no longer attractive to male camels? Even worse, the five judges assess the camels’ bodies, along with their necks, heads, lips, noses, humps, legs and feet separately.

So what is it about the camel shown in the photo above that warrants a price tag of 2.9 MILLION??? I realise that the UAE is awash with money but when we have people starving in this world, I’m a bit staggered by this story of Dubai’s prettiest camel.

I’m sure that Luke and David have been immersed in knowledge management in Dubai and perhaps can enlighten us about camel beauty pageants. Meanwhile, whilst they gather the camel knowledge, I’m off to the desert of Central Australia to round up some wild camels!

Source and image credit: The Age

I’ve collected some choice stories for ThinkingShift’s How Curious! regular feature. Our world can still be wondrous, bizarre, amusing and touching despite all the cruelty that goes on.

Dinosaur did it. Our first story suggests that giant pterodactyls might still be cruising the skies or that a Washington man pulled over by police has been smoking the whacky tobaccy. A 29-year old dude smashed his car into a streetlight at 11.20pm. The cops arrived and this dude’s excuse - one word - pterodactyl. Now this guy might have been smoking magic mushrooms but reports of giant winged creatures have come out of Africa and people in Texas in 1976 reported sightings of enormous flying creatures with faces like cats. Texas: mmm…isn’t this the home state of Prez Bush? Say no more! So next time you’re faced with explaining things to the cops, simply say the pterodactyl did it. Source: Fortean Times

We’re not that smart. Apparently, the Boskops were smarter than us. The Boskops were early humans who lived in southern Africa between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago. Fossil records tell us they were similar to modern humans but with child-like faces and huge melon-shaped heads that encased a brain 30% larger than our own. And according to a cognitive scientist, the Boskops probably had a mental life beyond anything we can imagine - fabulous memories, more insightful and self-reflective than modern humans. But the jury’s still out on this question as far as I can tell: if they were so smart, why are they extinct? Source: Discover Magazine

Melting mole. Should you need to bore your way through ice, grab the nearest mole. In Antarctica, there are hairless pink mole-like creatures that have body temperatures of 110 degrees. They live in labyrinthine tunnels under the ice and bore their way through ice with their heads, melting it along the way to scoffing a penguin or two. The bony plates on the animals’ heads radiates heat, melting ice so that poor penguins fall through and become dinner. Source: Discover Magazine.

Knut: psychopathic bear. Knut’s a pretty famous and cute polar bear who lives at Berlin Zoo. I have to admit I don’t visit zoos because I hate to see animals as spectator sport, for humans to ogle at. And Knut’s keepers now say that Knut has turned into a publicity seeking psychopath and “a combination of abused child-soldier and abused child-star — treated as a useful spectacle, with too little regard for his long-term psychological well-being”. Apparently, he chucks a hissy fit if he’s not the centre of attention. Sad. Source: The Atlantic.

Caffeine to the rescue. I gave up coffee in January, well reduced my intake really. Maybe that was a bad move. Because it seems that caffeine might just protect the brain from dementia by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on the body. The ‘brain blood barrier’ is a filter which protects the central nervous system from harmful chemicals and cholesterol apparently makes this barrier leaky. Caffeine appears to stabilise this barrier. No word on how many coffees per day or whether they can be my beloved vanilla-flavoured lattes. Wonder if caffeine would make our brains grow to the size of the Boskops?! Source: BBC News

I reckon when your number is up, you should aim to go in a spectacular fashion. Nothing as mundane as carking it in your sleep. Far preferable to snuff it a dramatic moment that will go down in history. So if you spend your time wondering about how you’ll go, perhaps one of the following will happen to you (or all of us):

An Australian astronomer is giving us dire warnings about a beautiful star that could send us all kaput. WR104 is an elegant rotating pinwheel system located in the Sagittarius constellation. Discovered 8 years ago, the system contains a very unstable star (mmm…think I work with a few of them!) named Wolf-Rayet, which is known to star-gazing types as a ticking time bomb. The hot dust and gas that is the swirling star is getting ready to explode and is really just down the road from Earth - a mere 8000 light years away. And should it explode, Earth is in the line of fire. A destructive gamma-ray radiation burst would come our way and zap. Earlier fossil extinctions are said to have been caused by gamma-ray bursts from supernovas having hissy fits. Dr Tuthill, the astronomer who first clamped eyes on WR104 says:

“I used to appreciate this spiral just for its beautiful form, but now I can’t help a twinge of feeling that it is uncannily like looking down a rifle barrel“. Okay, well when you gotta go, snuffing it along with all of humanity in a spectacular explosion and death rays caused by an adolescent star having a melt down could count as pretty memorable, not that we’d be around to remember!

Should you be contemplating just how long you can hang around and avoid that final moment, you might want to consider leaving out the protein. Protein can apparently hasten your exit from this world, but the good news is protein can lead to more children. Eating less protein, not just fewer calories, is the (new) key to longevity. The balance of protein to carbohydrate in the diet is critical scientists are saying. In experiments with fruit flies, scientists are showing that eating less protein may extend life; but protein is needed for the reproductive system, so cutting down on protein will lead to having fewer children.

Okay, so a bit of a dilemma here: eat less protein, maybe delay the inevitable but be pretty lonely when you have no kids to look after you in your dotage; or scoff a lot of protein and have kids, but maybe not live long enough to have them look after you in your dotage.

But then we may not even have to worry about protein or death stars, because something else may be capable of snuffing us out in one blaze of glory. The plague. It’s here again. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified the plague as ‘re-emerging’. Did you know that WHO records a few thousand cases of the plague each year around the world? Scared the bejesus out of me when I read that! Since the early 1990s, the plague has returned to places like Mozambique (gulp: I’ve been there), India, Zambia (been there too), Algeria and parts of China. In the 1970s, the plague mostly existed in Asia; but now it’s zeroing in on Africa where more than 90% of cases are reported.

You probably were taught in Modern History that the worst manifestation of the plague happened during the Black Death that devastated Europe in the 14th Century. And you probably found out that this creature and its fleas was to blame - the rodent:

Mind you, the Medieval plague rodent probably didn’t look as cute as this fellow because it was busy living in the garbage of medieval European towns. But scientists are now beginning to understand the dynamics of plague infection. It’s not just the Yersinia pestis bacteria, which animal populations can carry, that is the problem. The spread of the bacteria is dependent on interactions between rodents AND contact between humans and wildlife. Rodents are now being displaced by deforestation and sprawling human populations are now reaching areas where black rats live.And global warming could accelerate the whole thing. Following a 50 year study, scientists from the former Soviet Union noted that human plague in Kazakhstan occurs only when the local gerbil population reaches a certain threshold in winter. Warmer winters mean more gerbils. A warmer world could mean the unleashing of this virulent pathogen. And given the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, don’t count on drugs to save us from a rerun of the 14th Century.

So…let me count the ways: a Death Star, too much protein, the plague, terrorists, ebola, bird flu, George Bush….

Sources: University of Sydney; University of Sydney News; Time.

Now, I’m sure you’ll be shocked to learn that the human species is the cruelest on the planet. Gasp, quell horror!! I bet you thought it was collie dogs or doves. Nope, it’s humans. And here’s a round-up of what we’ve done to other species on this planet.

• single-handedly revived the fur industry and exotic animal skin trade. Dead minks, dead foxes, dead rabbits and other carcases are being increasingly worn on the backs of stick insects tottering down the catwalks of the world and by rappers. According to the Fur Information Council of America, retail sales of fur and fur trim continued to grow in 2005, totaling $1.82 billion, an increase of 82% from 1991. Let’s read that again: an 82% increase in wearing dead animals over a 14 year period.

• 39 states in the US allow the hunting of mourning doves. Yep, really dangerous creatures these. Here’s a picture of this ferocious bird so you can recognise it should it menace you.

• Apparently, there are twisted individuals who like to go out hunting this innocent bird because it flies at breakneck speed, turning and diving as it flies. 22 million mourning doves are slaughtered every year in the US.

• we gorge on salmon, factory-farmed in such overcrowded tanks that their skeletons become malformed and their skullbones burst through their skin in a condition called “death crown.“

• some of us wear dead alligators or crocodiles - as handbags or shoes - without giving a moment’s thought to how these poor creatures were flayed alive or slashed to death. Or how their spinal cords are severed and it takes from 1 hour 41 minutes to 1 hour 53 minutes for the animals to lose consciousness, during which time they probably experience terrible pain.

• the really cruel amongst us purposely breed fighting roosters and fowl that are bred to rip each other’s eyes out or claw an opponent to death. The birds are often drugged with steroids, strychnine and amphetamine to give them that “fighting spirit”. Humans stand back, watch and bet on the outcome.

• and if humans can’t wait for the hunting season to begin, they can choof off to Texas to hunt zebra, blackbuck, gazelle and yaks all-year round. And if humans are really bored and have nothing better to do, they can even hunt rare animals like Pere David’s Deer or Sambar Deer in Texas.

So, yes, we should be worrying about global warming and whether our shampoo has sodium lauryl sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate in it. But we should also pause and think about how we humans are insufferably cruel to other species that share this planet with us.

Instead of going to movies or being dumbed-down by TV, spend your weekend reading Erin E. Williams and Margo DeMello’s Why Animals Matter and learn about our crimes against nature. You will be appalled.

Source: Alternet

Let’s kick off 2008 with an overview of what’s happening with some of Earth’s spectacular and precious species.

First up is this giant rat - a new species found in Indonesia’s Papua province. During an expedition to Papua’s Foja Mountains (an area known as the ‘lost world’), scientists discovered a treasure trove, including a pygmy possum previously unknown to science and dozens of new plants and animals.

The rat is known as a Mallomys giant rat (no kidding, look at the size of it!) and is about five times the size of your average city rat. It had no fear and came waltzing into the scientists’ camp. Just hope said rat doesn’t make an appearance in my house too soon. Source: New Scientist. Image credit: ABC.

A mysterious mammal has been caught on film - check out the ears! It’s a long-eared jerboa, a small nocturnal animal that dwells in the desert areas of Mongolia and China. This little chap has been very elusive to scientists. It hops like a kangaroo and has hairs on its feet to help with hopping along the sand. During the day, jerboas hang around in underground tunnels. They are endangered due to habitat disturbance. How cute is he! Source: BBC News.

A 10-millimetre new frog has been discovered. The little critter was found under ferns and leaf litter in the steamy rainforest of the Western Ghats of Kerala, a mountainous region in western India. The frog has been given the name Nyctibatrachus minimus and is the smallest of all known land vertebrates in India. Apparently, he belts out a mating song from under the leaf litter during the monsoonal period. Source: Science Daily. Image Credit. Image courtesy of University of Delhi.

And for ThinkingShift’s international readers, a good news animal story from Australia. The Mogo Zoo on the south coast of New South Wales is the first zoo in the world to successfully rear a pride of five male white lion cubs. How cute are these fellows, affectionately called ‘the gangsters’. Apparently, producing a pride of five male white cubs is unique. The zoo specialises in endangered species and is now home to a 12-strong pride of big white cats.

All good news so far, but red squirrels in Scotland are in danger of going kaput. Scotland’s 121,000 red squirrels, which make up 75% of the country’s squirrel population, could die out within 50 years because their woodland habitats are being lost and they are being threatened by grey squirrels, which were brought to the UK from the US in the late 1800s. Grey squirrels out-compete the reds for food and they also carry and spread the deadly squirrel pox virus. Source: BBC News.

To kick-start the New Year, let’s have a look at some curious bits and pieces I’ve found.

Glow-in-the-dark kitty. Perhaps you’re tired of the usual assortment of colours cats come in: tan, black, white, gray, marmalade, chocolate. So why not colour-coordinate so kitty matches your personal colour scheme preference? Scientists first cloned a cat in 2002 (the cat was named Copycat - how droll) but not content to just clone felines, researchers have now found a way to change the colour of cats. By modifying a gene, the enterprising scientists have produced the planet’s first red cloned cat (seems the colour palette is limited to red at the moment, so if red’s not your fav colour, bummer). The photo above shows two cloned Turkish Angola kittens (cute!). Due to the red fluorescence protein in their skin cells, the kittens look reddish under ultraviolet light.

I would think this would be a most useful feline feature should you have trouble finding kitty in the dark. Here’s a video of the glow-in-the-dark cats.

Source: The Korea Times

A beetle of many colours: staying with the colour theme, there’s a golden beetle species in Panama that can do its very own colour-changing trick without the need for gene modification. If it desires, the Panamanian tortoise beetle can turn brick-red in less than two minutes. This is not due to external temperature changes. The beetle can alter the flow of fluid in its ecoskeleton, which consists of 20 to 40 layers. Apparently, when the beetle is wet, wavelengths of light bounce off the ecoskeleton due to the porous nature of the layers and gives the beetle an overall glossy golden colour. But when the beetle has dried off, the light doesn’t bounce off evenly and the ecoskeleton becomes translucent, revealing red pigment. The colour-changing trick could have implications for biomimicry. If a house plant dries out, for instance, the pot could change colour to warn that the plant needs watering. Source: Discover Magazine

Don’t bug a cockroach in the morning. If you’re not a morning person, well you have some company: neither are cockroaches. Scientists have found that the learning ability of cockroaches is pretty kaput in the morning, but by evening, they’re raring to go with learning tasks and it’s the first example of an insect whose ability to learn is controlled by its biological clock. Now, I was more interested in what on earth scientists are teaching cockroaches. It seems they were taught to associate peppermint, which they don’t like, with sugar water so they would favour peppermint over one of their favourite smells - vanilla. Apparently, the bugs trained at night could remember the smell association for several days, but their morning trained counterparts were incapable of learning anything new, let alone remembering it. Mmmm….better get that vanilla out of my pantry or start training cockroaches fast! Source: Reuters.

How much would you pay for dessert? Well, if you have a spare US$14,500, you can savour the taste of the world’s most expensive dessert. A Sri Lankan hotel is serving up a chocolate pudding but this is no ordinary choc pud. This pudding includes a gemstone - an 80 carat aquamarine. The dessert sits on a pedestal with a model of a fisherman perched on a stilt and contains chocolate, champagne, caramelised sugar and the gemstone. This culinary experience costs seven times the average national income and so far only one dessert has been ordered. Let’s hope the person didn’t choke on the gemstone. Source: BBC News.

Japanese mutant ninja mice. Back to messing around with animals’ genetic make-up - a Japanese university professor has been interfering with the receptors in the olfactory bulb of mice and has produced fearless mice. Normally, a mouse gets a whiff of a cat and runs fast in the opposite direction. But because the part of the brain that processes information about smell has been blocked, the mice are so fearless they actually play with their nemesis as if they were long-lost friends. Mind you, the cat in the video below is Mochikko-chan, a cat that was specifically selected for the demonstration because of her docile nature. But still this mouse is pretty game!

The Seattle Times carried a disturbing article recently about Pacific walruses. Seems earlier this year, thousands of walruses were killed in the midst of a stampede brought about, according to scientists, by climate change. The disappearance of sea ice caused the poor creatures to crowd onto the shoreline on the Russian side of the Bering Strait. Apparently, walruses can’t swim for long periods unlike seals. They have to heave themselves up onto ice or land to rest but, as the ice is rapidly disappearing, as many as 40,000 walruses made their way to land where they can become extremely skittish and stampede. A polar bear or a helicopter for example will cause a rush. Scientists estimate that as many as 4000 walruses out of a total population of 200,000 may have been crushed, including calves. They are also saying that the stampede matches predictions of what could happen to walruses should the ice recede, but they’re surprised by the magnitude.

By how much has the sea ice receded? Well, apparently sea ice cover fell to a record minimum in September 2007 - 4.13 million sq km, beating the previous low record set in 2005 by 23%. One specific ice mass that has been studied by scientists has slimmed down from being a 3.3m-thick slab of perennial sea ice to just half a metre. The slab lost 70cm off its top and 2.2m off the bottom, which is apparently 5 times what is normally expected. The amount of ice is not the only issue of concern, it’s also the thickness of the ice.

Arctic Ocean surface temperatures are to blame. They were 3.5C warmer than the historical average and 1.5C than the historical maximum. The warming is most likely caused by ice-albedo feedback, which is the heating up of increasing amounts of open water that absorb the sun’s rays. The more ice, the more the sun’s rays are reflected rather than absorbed.

And so ice-free summers are looking a lot closer than we thought and poor walruses may continue to stampede and die. In fact, the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free by 2012 according to scientists.

Source: BBC News. Image credit: ABC News