Humanimalia

12/11/2024

Meta's plans for a new data center were scuttled by environmental complications.

12/11/2024

Drawing of how to relieve a constipated horse, from the Veterinary Book on Horses, by Jo Jun. Korea, Joseon dynasty, 1399

31/10/2024

The custom of "telling the bees" is a charming and ancient tradition where beekeepers inform their bees about significant events in their lives, such as deaths, births, marriages, and other major occurrences. This practice is believed to have its roots in Celtic mythology, where bees were seen as messengers between the human world and the spirit world. The presence of a bee after a death was thought to signify the soul leaving the body. The tradition became particularly prominent in the 18th and 19th centuries in Western Europe and the United States.
To tell the bees, the head of the household or the "goodwife" would approach the hives, gently knock to get the bees' attention, and then softly murmur the news in a solemn tone. This ritual was believed to keep the bees informed and prevent them from leaving the hive or dying. The custom underscores the deep connection and respect that people historically had for bees, viewing them as integral members of the household and community.

31/10/2024

The question isn’t whether other creatures share our concept of mortality; it’s whether any living being truly grasps what it means to die.

28/10/2024

File under

16/10/2024

Language is said to make us human. What if birds talk, too?

12/10/2024

Allie Young, 34, started the Ride to the Polls campaign in 2020 to register new voters in person and online

02/10/2024

Arthur Schubarth of Montana used tissue and testicles from Marco Polo sheep to clone animal and create hybrid

27/09/2024

E. B. White was accustomed to slaughtering pigs, until one stole his heart.

25/09/2024

“The hottest, hottest new It girl on the planet.”

Meet Moo Deng. The internet’s favorite pygmy hippopotamus, whose name translates to “bouncy pork.” She’s a bit of a diva. https://nyti.ms/3XWxG5Z

20/09/2024

Sloth: A Journal of Emerging Voices in Human-Animal Studies Note: Following a Covid-19 related hiatus, we are pleased toannounce the relaunch of Sloth. The journal is now acceptingsubmissions!As part of our efforts to reach out to students with an interest in human-animal studies, ASI created a jou...

15/09/2024

In a discipline that is small but has literature dating back to Aristotle, some scientists ask one existential question, Ross Andersen writes: Are animals as haunted by death as we are? https://theatln.tc/eShgHmxM

Comparative thanatology, the study of how animals experience death, is hampered by certain practicalities. Scientists “cannot interview animals (or at least not yet). They can monitor their hormonal shifts—baboon cortisol levels spike when they lose someone close—but these can be triggered by other stressors,” Andersen writes. “They don’t give us the texture and grain of their grief, if indeed it is grief that they feel.” So far, the best results have come from years’ or decades’ worth of work studying the behavior of animals with long lifespans—“the usual suspects: nonhuman primates, whales, and elephants,” Andersen continues.

“Humans have spent months in steamy jungles or zoo enclosures, dodging f***s, to pursue this work,” he writes. “We are death-obsessed animals, after all, and have been since the dawn of recorded history, if not before.” Human cultures have devised richly symbolic rituals to precede death and to follow it, something that is not passed down through our genes.

“Comparative thanatologists aren’t really in the business of giving answers, at least not yet,” Andersen continues. “We can only hope that by continuing to watch chimps, we will notice new behaviors that betray a bit more of their interiority, or at least give us new grounds to speculate.”

Read more: https://theatln.tc/eShgHmxM

📸: Brad Wilson

10/09/2024

Why being eaten by a crocodile named Little Karl is really a lesson in the dangers of foreign capital.

19/08/2024

What we lose when we lose a pet.

19/08/2024

“It was a really good example of women supporting women, regardless of species.”

Dublin Zoo's 19-year-old orangutan, Mujur, gave birth to a healthy male baby at the end of July.

19/08/2024

What makes human existence worth the bother? How can we free ourselves of inner conflict and live with joy? In an extract from his new book, philosopher Mark Rowlands seeks canine counsel in answer to these eternal questions

12/08/2024

16/06/2024

African giant pouched rats use their acute sense of smell to sniff out landmines and detect TB in sputum samples. Now, they are set to become search-and-rescue specialists too.