The Columbian

Pets & Wildlife

Luciana Benetti, 16, embraces her pet pig Chanchi at home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021. Benetti found her plans for a big traditional 15th birthday party scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year. In its place, her parents gave her a pig, which turned out to be a loyal and loving companion.

Unusual pandemic pets provide comfort

October 1, 2021, 6:00am Pets & Wildlife

Millions of people have found solace during the pandemic in cuddling a dog or cat. For a few, comfort comes in other forms — those of a horse or a pig, perhaps a possum-like sugar glider or even a tarantula. Read story

An ivory-billed woodpecker specimen is on a display at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. Death's come knocking a last time for the splendid ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 assorted birds, fish and other species: The U.S. government is declaring them extinct. It's a rare move for wildlife officials to give up hope on a plant or animal, but government scientists say they've exhausted efforts to find these 23.

US says ivory-billed woodpecker, 22 other species extinct

September 29, 2021, 8:17am Nation & World

Death’s come knocking a last time for the splendid ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 more birds, fish and other species: The U.S. government on Wednesday declared them extinct. Read story

In this May 17, 1999, file photo, two Makah Indian whalers stand atop the carcass of a dead gray whale moments after helping tow it close to shore in the harbor at Neah Bay, Wash. An administrative law judge on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, recommended that the Makah be allowed to resume whaling along the coast of Washington state, as their ancestors did.

Tribe wins major step toward resuming whaling off Washington

September 27, 2021, 9:43am Latest News

An administrative law judge has recommended that a Native American tribe in Washington state once again be allowed to hunt gray whales — a major step in its decades-long effort to resume the ancient practice. Read story

Research: Pets really can be like our babies

September 24, 2021, 6:05am Life

Andrea Laurent-Simpson, an SMU sociologist and research assistant professor, argues that pets have become part of the American family. Read story

This time of year, you may see male white-tailed deer sporting bloodied antlers, often with a stringy material dangling from them.

What’s behind the bloody deer in park?

September 24, 2021, 6:02am Life

Scary-looking deer with blood and strips of flesh dripping from their antlers have been seen roaming Great Smoky Mountains National Park in recent weeks. Read story

This photo provided by writer Solvej Schou shows Schou's neighbors' cat, Kevin as he sits on Schou and her husband's porch on Aug. 21, 2021 in Pasadena, Calif.

Neighbors’ cat brings comfort in pandemic

September 24, 2021, 6:02am Life

His name is Kevin. Read story

FILE - This July 16, 2004, file photo, shows a gray wolf at the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake, Minn. Dozens of American Indian tribes are demanding the Biden administration enact emergency protections for wolves. Groups representing the tribes sent a letter Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland asking her to place wolves back on the endangered species list on an emergency basis for 240 days.

6 tribes sue Wisconsin to try to stop November wolf hunt

September 21, 2021, 10:47am Nation & World

Six Native American tribes sued the state of Wisconsin on Tuesday to try to stop its planned gray wolf hunt in November, asserting that the hunt violates their treaty rights and endangers an animal they consider sacred. Read story

Abdullah Gohar, an Egyptian researcher at Mansoura University, shows the fossil of a 43-million-year-old four-legged prehistoric whale known as the "Phiomicetus Anubis" at the university's paleontology department lab, in Mansoura, Egypt.

Egyptian team identifies fossil of land-roaming whale species

September 19, 2021, 6:03am Latest News

Egyptian scientists say the fossil of a four-legged prehistoric whale, unearthed over a decade ago in the country’s Western Desert, is that of a previously unknown species. The creature, an ancestor of the modern-day whale, is believed to have lived 43 million years ago. Read story

Western lowland gorillas are seen in their habitat at Zoo Atlanta on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, in Atlanta. Nearly all of the zoo's 20 gorillas are showing symptoms of having contracted the coronavirus from a zoo staff worker, according to zoo officials. The confirmed cases of those gorillas tested have come back positive for the COVID-19 Delta variant.

18 of 20 gorillas at Atlanta zoo contract COVID-19

September 17, 2021, 6:06am Pets & Wildlife

At least 18 of the 20 gorillas at Atlanta’s zoo have now tested positive for COVID-19, an outbreak that began just days before the zoo had hoped to obtain a veterinary vaccine for the primates, officials said Tuesday. Read story

Detector dogs trained with protocols created by the Global Forensic and Justice Center at Florida International University are assisting with COVID detection at Miami International Airport.

Dogs sniff out COVID at Miami airport

September 17, 2021, 6:02am Life

Before they go to work, dozens of Miami International Airport employees have been put to the sniff test from a pair of specially trained dogs that can detect COVID-19. Read story