One Green Planet | One Green Planet

Getting a Feeling for Fish: Can They Feel Pain?0

Two new scientific studies illustrate the current scientific interest in animal pain, and a stark contrast in viewpoints. On the one hand, a research team from Belfast, Ireland has shown…
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Animals & Nature

In Awe of the Wren: One of Nature’s Many Miracles0

I am not much one for miracles. I’m not religious or superstitious, and my interpretation of what we call “supernatural” is that it is something perfectly natural that we just…
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Animal Treatment: Why it Matters for Human Health0

On the occasion of her new book, Animals and Public Health. Why Treating Animals Better is Critical to Human Welfare, I asked author and long-time friend, Dr. Aysha Akhtar, to…
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The Honey Bee: Queen of Surprises0

A recurring theme in a course I teach, “Animal Behavior, Animal Minds, and Animal Protection,” is that animals are good at what is useful to them. A salmon isn’t known…
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Animals & Nature

Animals: Not Savage Beasts but Valiant Pleasure-Seekers1

In my talks, I often tell audiences that it is an exciting time to be an ethologist. As a student of animal behavior, I rarely see a week pass without…
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Animals & Nature

Seeking Action in “Clean Green” New Zealand0

I wrote this from the Overlander, a 9-hour train journey from Palmerston North to Auckland. My third visit to New Zealand is nearing its end. By the time I disembark…
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Animals & Nature

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a thousand pictures. One of the rewards of being a passionate animal observer in this day and age is the proliferation of video clips that circulate on YouTube and Facebook. They provide precious glimpses of their emotions, and they often belie common prejudices about animals and nature.

Animal Rights & Veganism

It’s Time to Replace Animals in Harmful, Painful Experiments1

I and a growing number of my scientific colleagues share the view expressed recently by the noted British biologist Richard Dawkins that “we have no general reason to think that non-human animals feel pain less acutely than we do.”

Animals & Nature

News That Gets it Wrong on Animals0

Three years ago I spent an hour with about 15 other volunteers lining up ripe tomatoes on the broad square in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) building in Washington, D.C. A salmonella food poisoning epidemic linked to tomatoes was splattered all over the news at the time.