On Monday, January 16th, we had a vet put Snowball, an almost-19-year-old cow, to sleep. “Put to sleep” is a nice euphemism for “put to death,” because death tends to be hard for most humans to think about, and it’s easier to imagine someone going to sleep than someone going . . . → Read More: We Will Miss You, Snowball]]> http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/447/feed 11 http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/441 http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/441#comments Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:24:55 +0000 bravebird http://blog.bravebirds.org/?p=441 For once, the world wide web brings us some non-intrusive, non-exploitative evidence of avian capabilities: Here’s a video of a crow playing on a rooftop, using a circular object as a sled. Tool use has been widely documented among crows, who often both express and develop their intelligence in play. But it’s rare to . . . → Read More: The Latest Craze: Crowboarding]]> http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/441/feed 3 http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/431 http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/431#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:48:50 +0000 bravebird http://blog.bravebirds.org/?p=431 If you are the sort to make New Year’s resolutions, which ones have you made that pertain to non-human animals? While it’s common to focus one’s efforts upon Improving Oneself (I will lose weight, I will read more, I will take an evening class), how about this year making at least one resolution that . . . → Read More: New Year’s Resolutions, Anyone?]]> http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/431/feed 6 http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/422 http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/422#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:40:51 +0000 bravebird http://blog.bravebirds.org/?p=422 This just in:

“Thousands of dead blackbirds rained down on a town in central Arkansas last New Year’s Eve after revelers set off fireworks that spooked them from their roost, and officials were reporting a similar occurrence Saturday as 2012 approached.”

That’s right: After finding thousands of dead bird bodies in the . . . → Read More: Bye Bye Blackbirds]]> http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/422/feed 8 http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/423 http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/423#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:21:18 +0000 bravebird http://blog.bravebirds.org/?p=423 A new study published in Current Biology proves (as if more evidence were needed) that, in the words of zoologist Matthew Cobb, “humans aren’t quite so unique, after all.” The so-called news is that chimps will warn other chimps about a hazard if and only if the other chimps don’t already know about the . . . → Read More: Chimps, Chickens, and Communication]]> http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/423/feed 4 http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/420 http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/420#comments Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:27:35 +0000 bravebird http://blog.bravebirds.org/?p=420 Thanks to everyone who wrote in and let me know that the piece about the teacher taking kids to see cows being murdered was fake. I did see that the site was “NewsWEAK,” but I thought that referred to the authors’ opinions about the news, not that the news itself was FAKE.

So, I . . . → Read More: Sorry I’m a Sucker!!]]> http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/420/feed 11 http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/417 http://blog.bravebirds.org/archives/417#comments Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:19:28 +0000 bravebird http://blog.bravebirds.org/?p=417 I suggest we all send thank-you notes to this teacher who inadvertently (one hopes) turned at least a few kids into life-long vegans:

http://newsweak.com/news/school-field-trip-tour-of-slaughterhouse-traumatizes-children#.TvkcWoXncWw.facebook