Browsing: Animals/Pets

A Brief History On March 3, 2018, the track and field world lost one of its greatest runners when Roger Bannister died, the first person to run a mile in under four minutes.  Prior to Bannister’s run in 1954, many people doubted that any man could break the “four-minute barrier.”  Obviously, those doubters were wrong! Digging Deeper Bannister was involved in another historic race, this time in the finals of the 1500-meter run at the 1952 Olympics, in which he finished 4th, the incredible part being that all eight runners in that race broke the Olympic record for the 1500!…

A Brief History On January 26, 2001, college lacrosse player and coach, Diane Whipple, was attacked by a pair of Presa Canarios, dogs that generally weigh well over 100 pounds.  Despite being a world class athlete, the 33 year old Whipple was killed by the fierce canines. Digging Deeper While the long and low Dachshund is often regarded as the fiercest of dogs, the little wieners are not likely to kill a human.  But what kind of dogs are likely to attack people? Dogs big enough and aggressive enough to present real danger to people according to the MKP Law…

A Brief History On November 4, 1960, Dr. Jane Goodall observed Chimpanzees creating and using tools, behavior previously believed to be limited to human beings. Digging Deeper Goodall’s stunning discovery took place at the Kasakela Chimpanzee Community in Tanganyika, what is now Tanzania.  While many animals use various objects as tools, actually modifying an object into a useful tool is a bit rarer. Chimps even make spears for hunting Bushbabies and monkeys, and their use of tools has been documented to go back thousands of years. Other animals using tools include Sea Otters using rocks to break open shellfish, elephants…

A Brief History On October 8, 1982, actor Fernando Lamas died, probably best remembered for the Billy Crystal impression saying the phrase, “You look marvelous!”  Many other actors and celebrities have been attributed quotations they did not really say, and today we look at a few of those. Digging Deeper PT Barnum, showman and huckster, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Julius Caesar, Roman dictator, “Et tu, Brute?” Albert Einstein, physicist and genius, “If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live.” Greta Garbo, actress, “I vant to be alone…”…

A Brief History On September 27, 1962, the book, Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson was published.  The book dealt with environmental science and focused on the widespread use of pesticides and the disinformation provided by the manufacturers of those chemicals. Digging Deeper Carson made a case that the indiscriminate use of these chemicals was poisoning the environment and killing off many beneficial insects along with the pests.  Additionally, many birds suffered ill effects from the pesticides, and Carson projected that one day the birds would be gone, hence the title of the book. You might have thought a cataclysmic environmental…