Tag Archives: animal

The Latest (and Greatest) on Climate Change

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Thanks to climate-change skeptics, we’ve been fortunate to have a lot of talented, driven people doing great research that proves just how real and dangerous climate change really is. Unfortunately, even with the best of intentions, the media has turned the frequent updates from the scientific community into a deluge of climate change news, which led to the audience developing a sort of selective hearing when it comes to this topic. “Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it all before”. However, here on Mentatul I need to address dozens of topics while keeping at roughly one post per week. This forces me to be very selective about what I post. So yes, this one is important.

Two articles are the reason for this post. The first one is about farts. Cow farts to be precise. The methane that they contain, to be even more precise, and how it affects global warming:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/samlemonick/2017/09/29/scientists-underestimated-how-bad-cow-farts-are^

And then I read this other article^ that lead me to another, even better article, which provides a rather appalling prognosis for our future. And it’s not even “the worst case scenario”. I’m sorry to say, but given all the statistics I’ve seen recently, it seems to be that the following article is presenting a future that has a high probability of becoming reality. And I see very few governments do anything about it, especially when it comes to the world’s biggest polluters.

I am tempted to say that you shouldn’t read this if you’re currently feeling good with your life, because this piece is a real downer. But it is also one of the most relevant and well-written articles on climate change that I’ve come across in the past couple of years. This is an alarm bell made of pure gold:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html

I consider myself lucky to still have running water, electricity and generally healthy food available. In the same time, I feel it is almost disrespectful towards my child to enjoy all this without doing something about the immediate (speaking on a generational level) danger we’re in. I plan to do whatever I can to raise awareness about this topic. It’s never too late.

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The Slow Loris and the Pet Industry

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I have to confess that this one caught me completely off-guard. During the past years of course I’ve seen several videos featuring the ridiculously sweet Slow Loris. Little did I know about the horror hidden behind the Loris pet trade. The website below explains the crime being committed in no uncertain terms (beware, the video may be difficult to stomach, as it should be):

https://www.ticklingistorture.org/^

This is the same video as the one from the website, provided here as back-up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otTNxR8C4uE^

In case you don’t want to watch the video, here’s a page that explains things in text mode:

https://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/how-slow-loris-became-someones-pet^

I’ve signed the pledge to never encourage this heinous trade. And as a matter of fact, please give me a pledge where I can sign to not have any pets. Forcing any creature to live in an enclosure much smaller than its usual habitat is, in my opinion, unfair. I’m (not) sorry to break it, but this applies to the super-common dogs and cats.

I also don’t condone the actions of people who sterilize or cut parts from their pets “because it’s for their own good”. Yes, it’s for their own good because they’re prisoners and owners don’t want them to (hear them) “suffer” while their procreation instinct is not met. This human interference in the ways of nature has to stop sooner or later.

I have nothing against animal companionship that is gained naturally and where the animal has freedom to move inside a large habitat. Creatures shouldn’t be bound by the owner’s schedule of allowing them droplets of freedom (often, even those are by the end of a leash).

There is no delicate way of saying it: the pet industry (food and chemicals producers, slave “cute animals” shops, etc.) reeks of ignorance and lack of respect towards other life-forms. In general, our attitude towards our ecosystem is one of this species’ worst crimes.

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Superbugs & Antibiotics

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Bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotics are slowly but surely spreading through our world. After almost a century of heavy antibiotic use, many bacteria have started to develop resistance to our methods of treatment. The result could be disastrous. Even routine surgery and minor infections could become life-threatening.

Here’s a very well written piece about the situation:

https://medium.com/@fernnews/imagining-the-post-antibiotics-future-892b57499e77#.ojct9q7xd

As the article above points out, 80% of the antibiotics we use globally are used for farm animals. And by “farm”, I mean those grotesque factories where we shove animals into enclosures and keep them there until the end of their sorry lives, never to walk under the open sky.

But even cutting down on these antibiotics won’t do much other than to slow down the inevitable evolution of bacteria. Life is a perpetually evolving process. It will not stop for us. As the article above also points out, changing ways of farming won’t be easy for the farmers or their customers. But eventually, changes must be done, or we will face some serious consequences sooner or later.

Farms in the third millenium.
Farms in the third millennium.

Last week, the USA grimly realized that an antibiotic-resistant variant of the E. coli bacterium has been found^ within its borders. The infection was discovered in the urine of a 49-year-old woman. This bacterium is still vulnerable to other types of antibiotics, but researchers are afraid that, through genetic exchange, bacteria might share immunities between species.

Perhaps our rapidly evolving technology might be able to save us. The evolution and spread of bacteria could be monitored via electronic records. Additional funds can be directed into finding better, smarter ways of dealing with infections.

I have great hopes in the fields of nanotechnology and bio-engineering. However, such solutions may carry even greater risks. Our attempts to control natural processes at an exponentially increasing scale have as a result an exponential risk to lose our balance altogether.

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Dolphins Get High Too

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We’ve known for many years that several species of animals get drunk by eating fermented fruits. In 2013, biologists have made yet another surprising discovery. Groups of dolphins get high by chewing on puffer fish. After obtaining a sufficient amount of perception-altering neurotoxin from the creature, they pass it to another dolphin in the group.

Here’s the story, more than two years old by now:

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/dolphins-deliberately-get-high-on-puffer-fish-nerve-toxins-by-carefully-chewing-and-passing-them-9030126.html^

Good job, dolphins! Can’t light a cigarette? Fermentation doesn’t work? Then use another creature’s venom. Truly fantastic! This behavior adds to the theory that there is an interesting drive present in all living creatures: an unexplainable desire to change their perception of the surrounding environment. Given some countries’ policies regarding consciousness-altering substances, this is important food for thought.

Nature surely never ceases to amaze. Why am I writing about this in 2016? Simply because I was really fascinated by the method that dolphins use and I want as many people as possible to know about such a wonder – just doing my job when it comes to “sharing is caring”. It’s also something that I need to have on this website.

And because I want this posting to also contain some new information about our fellow lifeforms, here’s a recent (unrelated) discovery about birds and crocodiles. Impressive stuff:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-birds-alligators-study-20160302-story.html^

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Ravens Might Have a Theory of Mind

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Another month, another revelation about the intelligence of other beings sharing the ride here with us, on Earth. Especially during the past couple of decades, our understanding of the various creatures inhabiting this planet has advanced formidably, not only as a result of technological progress but also due to our maturing as a species. We’re starting to awaken to the fact that we should perhaps take more care of our ecosystem and the beautiful planet we live on. With this step forward, comes a perpetually-renewing interest in other forms of life.

This recent discovery is about the Theory of Mind^, which is the ability to attribute mental states – beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc. – to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one’s own. It’s one of the building blocks of consciousness. And ravens appear to have it.

Here’s the article where you can read more about the discovery:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0202/Ravens-might-possess-a-Theory-of-Mind-say-scientists^

After reading about various such discoveries in the past decade, I can’t say I’m surprised. We’re slowly waking up to the fact that intelligence cannot be defined or constrained by our anthropomorphic boundaries. Life is an incredibly diverse and complex process. Rather than dominating and abusing it, I hope we will continue on our path towards respect, knowledge and awareness.

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